Digital Marketing and Analytics

What to Expect From WebMD’s Acquisition of Mercury Healthcare

Jeff Herman, senior vice president of product management, Mercury Healthcare

When WebMD announced its acquisition of Mercury Healthcare in June 2022, the press release focused on patient engagement solutions. The headline reads “WebMD Health Corp. Acquires Mercury Healthcare, Building on Leadership in Patient Engagement Solutions.” But we learned that WebMD’s strategic vision is broader, also encompassing provider engagement. In a video explaining the vision, Ann Read More

WebMD and Mercury Healthcare: What the Acquisition Means for Physician Strategies

Jane Weber Brubaker

WebMD Provider Services seeks to align physician and consumer strategies holistically, using data and analytics to guide the journey from both sides. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // When WebMD announced its acquisition of Mercury Healthcare in June 2022, the press release focused on patient engagement solutions. The headline reads “WebMD Health Corp. Acquires Mercury Read More

How Data Modeling Can Improve Your Health Care Marketing Strategy

George Danner Endeavor Mgmt

Sometimes, the best input on health care marketing comes from an outside party. In a new article, George Danner, chief data scientist at Endeavor Management, offers a fresh insight on how data modeling can help improve the health care marketing process. He puts it like this: “I am not a marketer, but I have listened Read More

Maybe It’s Not Marketing’s Fault

How to use data to identify the real culprits inhibiting encounter volume growth. // By George Danner // I am not a marketer, but I have listened to conversations among our marketing team members and their clients about the difficulty of the marketing role in health care. When patient volumes and/or market share are down, Read More

Tips for Effective Service-Line Marketing at Your Health Care Organization

Dara Krueger, executive director of international marketing and marketing account services, Cleveland Clinic

As a health care marketer, you’re acutely aware of how important it is to not only acquire patients and drive patient volume, but also to engage and retain those patients in order to establish long-term brand loyalty and improve ROI. The history of service-line promotion dates back to the early 1980s when marketers built brand Read More

The Strategic Marketing and HR Approach to Enhancing Nurse Recruitment

Susan Williams, vice president of talent management, LifePoint Health

Nurse recruitment is vital to the growth and survival of every health care organization today. A successful nurse recruitment effort requires that departments break down the silos and come together to ensure that best practices from operations, human resources, internal communications, marketing strategy, and analytics are brought to the table. So what does it look Read More

Marketing and HR Join Forces to Elevate Nurse Recruitment

Susan Dubuque

It’s not news that nurses are in demand. Here’s how one health system combined the talents of two disciplines — marketing and HR — to tackle it together. // By Susan Dubuque // Nurse recruitment is vital to the growth and survival of every health care organization today. A successful recruitment effort requires that departments Read More

Five Ways to Stop Patient Prospects from Ghosting You

Jessica Walker is founder and CEO of Care Sherpa

If you spend scarce marketing dollars to attract new patients to your high-margin service lines only to have them ghost you, a solution may be within your REACH. // By Jessica Walker // Does your practice invest heavily in generating leads through your marketing channels — social media, website optimization, paid search — only to Read More

Monigle Survey Ranks the Most Humanized Health Care Brand Experiences

Althea Fung

When providers demonstrate warmth and an empathetic, human view of health care, it matters to consumers. // By Althea Fung // People respond to people. But with the rise of technology in marketing, many brands sound less and less human. This is particularly true in health care, where organizations haven’t traditionally been consumer-centric. But some Read More

It’s a SHSMD Celebration — and You’re Invited!

Jane Weber Brubaker

SHSMD Connections 2022 will inspire, challenge, and empower health care professionals to reclaim their resilience, roll up their sleeves, and get creative in solving the industry’s biggest challenges today and in the future. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // When the Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development’s SHSMD Connections 2022 conference convenes September Read More

UCSF Health Is Leveling Up for Digital Transformation

Aaron Neinstein, MD, vice president for digital health at UCSF Health

In most industries, digital transformation is more than a simple buzzword. It’s a connected experience for customers looking for access, convenience, on-demand service, and an expected good outcome. In health care, a two-plus-year pandemic accelerated the forces underlying these challenges, continuing to raise consumer expectations in an industry that historically struggles with real change for Read More

Behavioral Nudges Can Move Patients Forward in the Care Journey

Cathy Turner, director of health promotion and senior health, VHC Health

With new tools for rolling out the welcome mat at the digital front door, health care organizations today have the opportunity to provide frictionless online interactions and guided, personalized user experiences to acquire and engage patients. Using digital conversion tools and marketing tactics that influence consumer behavior, health care organizations can prompt individuals to take Read More

Level Up and Lead Your Organization to Digital Transformation

Sarah Sanders, chief marketing and brand experience officer at UCSF Health

University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Health Creates a Coordinated Patient Experience with Persistent Cross-Functional Teamwork // By John Marzano // Incredible advances in health care over the past 20 years have dramatically improved patients’ outcomes and lives. Yet care remains difficult to access, expensive, inequitable, and falls short of consumer expectations despite advancements Read More

Content Marketing Builds Trust and Conveys Expertise Without Selling

Kathy Wilets, director of media relations and content, University of Utah Health

“When it comes to marketing health care services, content marketing provides an excellent platform for conveying the expertise of providers and building confidence and trust among prospective and current patients,” says Susan Dubuque, cofounder of NDP Agency. Here’s an excerpt from Susan’s new article: “Our overarching content strategy is to position U of U Health Read More

Platform Helps Improve Patient Communication Channels

Kelly Faley, vice president of digital strategy, Sharp HealthCare

Sharp HealthCare in San Diego believes in expediting change. To prove it, a little more than a year ago the organization partnered with Podium, a leading customer communication and payments platform, to improve its patient communication and feedback operations through text communication and online reviews. “Our goal was to help our patients provide timely feedback Read More

The Expanding Role of Content in Health Care Marketing

Cynthia Manley, director of digital content and engagement, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

// By Susan Dubuque // From podcasts and social media posts to infographics and blogs, content marketing is becoming a staple of today’s health care marketing departments — with a wide array of tactics that bolster brand recognition and support marketing goals. When it comes to marketing health care services, content marketing provides an excellent Read More

Hello Customers… Sharp HealthCare Is Listening

Rachael Jones, product manager, Sharp HealthCare

// By John Marzano // In health care’s “moment of need” demand environment, progress and innovation rely on time and patience. It takes time to orchestrate real change to better the patient experience, and patience by everyone to realize the benefit of seeing measurable results. Sharp HealthCare in San Diego believes in expediting change. To Read More

Avera Health Takes a Precision Approach to Improving the Patient Experience

Bruk Kammerman, senior vice president and chief information officer, Avera Health

// By Brian Griffin // Learn how one health care organization uses a unique new process supported by technology to enhance care and maximize the revenue potential of patient relationships. Avera Health is launching an innovative venture to improve the patient experience called Precision Patient Relationships (PPR)TM — a multifaceted marketing, clinical, and operational initiative Read More