Subtopics: Patient Satisfaction, Surveys, Scores, Transparency, etc.
// By Wendy Margolin // The U.S. is the only high-resource country in the world with a rising maternal mortality rate. As shameful as that is, it gets worse. One group of women — Black women — are 2.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy than White women, according to CDC. In a 2017 study, Black women were five times more likely to die from postpartum cardiomyopathy, preeclampsia, and eclampsia than white women.
// By Wendy Margolin // When it comes to women’s health, there’s a lack of attention, funding, research, and education. From the moment we start menstruating, it’s a secret. Girls are often embarrassed to tell their mothers, which is partly what makes Judy Blume’s book and recent movie, Are You There, God, It’s Me Margaret, so charming.
DEI is about more than representation. It’s all about creating an environment where everyone feels heard, respected, and empowered. No other industry has more of an imperative to embrace DEI than health care as the path to a healthier future for everyone. At this year’s Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS23) in Austin, Texas, Read More
// By Ron Shinkman // Ethnographic research starts with the assumption that consumers are experts on themselves. Beebe Healthcare and Baylor Scott & White Health use this approach to gain deeper understanding of patients and their context.
As a health care provider, how can you ensure your patients are able to easily navigate your facilities to access care when they need it? Health care facilities lose an estimated $200,000 per year due to scheduling conflicts directly caused by patient navigation challenges, reports Clay Anderson in a new article. First impressions are crucial. Read More
// By Susan Dubuque // Executives from Connecticut Children’s, UNC Health, and Stanford Health Care share how they integrate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) into the organizational culture. Read on for important lessons on advancing and operationalizing DEI efforts in your own organization.
Improving the patient experience is an ongoing challenge for health systems—especially in the age of health care disruption. Leadership buy-in and actionable data are essential to driving meaningful change. When Matt Gove entered health care marketing, first with Grady Health and then Piedmont Health in Atlanta, he considered it “the ultimate consumer business because everyone Read More
// By Clay Anderson // First impressions are crucial. Those early moments can make or break a positive experience, especially when seeking to build long-lasting relationships with new patients and customers. Even before an appointment begins, new patients, existing patients, or visitors often take measures to prepare for their visit, including figuring out how to get to their destination, where to park, and time to travel.
// By Ron Shinkman // When Matt Gove entered health care marketing, first with Grady Health and then Piedmont Health in Atlanta, he considered it “the ultimate consumer business because everyone has to interact with us at some point in their lives.” But Gove, who recently left his position as chief marketing officer for CityMD/Summit Health in New York City, says it didn’t take him long to figure out “while everyone may have to interact with [the health care system], it was never designed to meet the needs of the customers other than their clinical needs.”
As hospital systems have merged and grown over the years, so have the number of executives occupying their C-suites. The chief information officer (CIO) was a creation of the 1990s, as hospitals began relying on electronic medical records. A more recent admittee to the C-suite is the CXO, or chief experience officer. So, what is Read More
Getting access to care has been difficult in many parts of the country for years. Even in densely populated urban areas, a shortage of physicians and clinicians often made setting appointments for primary and specialty care a frustrating experience. And then 2020 hit. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the staffing shortage and further restricted access. Today, Read More
// By Ron Shinkman // As hospital systems have merged and grown over the years, so have the number of executives occupying their C-suites. The chief information officer (CIO) was a creation of the 1990s, as hospitals began relying on electronic medical records. A more recent admittee to the C-suite is the CXO, or chief experience officer. Like the rise of the CIO, the CXO is a response to changing times in the health care sector.
Continuous improvement of patient access is an enterprise-wide initiative, deeply embedded in and supported by the culture, and now reflected in every patient touchpoint, beginning with how patients start looking for care. Providing start-to-finish patient care — whether it’s scheduling a patient’s appointment with the right provider, providing directions to the care facility, or determining Read More
// By Cheryl L. Serra // Providing start-to-finish patient care — whether it’s scheduling a patient’s appointment with the right provider, providing directions to the care facility, or determining if a health care provider is covered by the patient’s insurance — is now shepherded through a main point of contact at some Cleveland Clinic pilot sites. The process transformation is aimed at letting patients know they’re not alone in navigating the complex provider organization, and giving them easier, more personalized access to care.
Hospital billing practices have a direct and significant impact on a health care system’s brand reputation. Take this first-hand account shared by Suzanne Spruce and Vince Galloro in a new article: “In August 2022, the Portland Press Herald — the paper with the highest circulation in the state of Maine — published a long article Read More
// By Suzanne R. Spruce and Vince Galloro // In August 2022, the Portland Press Herald — the paper with the highest circulation in the state of Maine — published a long article on unexpected medical bills. The article, “In their own words: Nine Mainers talk about their medical billing nightmares,” covered policies and practices of health systems and insurers. A companion article offered advice to patients as consumers on “how to protect yourself” against hospitals and insurers.
The Healthcare Equality Index defines industry best practices for LGBTQ inclusion and recognizes progress achieved by health care organizations to reach their health equity goals. How does your health system measure up? Health care is a necessity. But not everyone has equal access to medical services, which can negatively impact a person’s long-term health outcomes. Read More
// By Alan Shoebridge // Getting access to care has been difficult in many parts of the country for years. Even in densely populated urban areas, a shortage of physicians and clinicians often made setting appointments for primary and specialty care a frustrating experience. And then 2020 hit. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the staffing shortage and further restricted access. Today, access to care remains constrained by that staffing shortage. Yet this is just one barrier to getting care. Systemic societal issues pose additional barriers for many communities.
There are many ways to expand health care access through virtual care. When CHRISTUS Health launched its “On Demand Care” urgent care service in May 2022, some clinicians were concerned about visit erosion from the primary care provider patient base. That didn’t happen. “Our primary care physicians who were initially skeptical, as you can imagine, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // When CHRISTUS Health launched its “On Demand Care” urgent care service in May 2022, some clinicians were concerned about visit erosion from the primary care provider patient base. That didn’t happen. “Our primary care physicians who were initially skeptical, as you can imagine, have come around to be champions of this because it’s allowed us to keep and grow that volume off hours,” says Jeff Stewart, vice president of strategic marketing for CHRISTUS Health.
// By Cheryl L. Serra // Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada is a 650-bed facility and the region’s only Level II Trauma Center. Renown serves over a million people across 100,000 square miles, much of it in remote, rural communities. Like most health systems, Renown is facing greater demand for health care services while being squeezed by provider shortages.
// By Althea Fung // Health care is a necessity. But not everyone has equal access to medical services, which can negatively impact a person’s long-term health outcomes. In the U.S., racial and ethnic minorities, people of lower socioeconomic status, people who live in rural communities, and sexual and gender minorities often experience disparities in the health care they receive, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Assuring timely access to care — an individual’s ability to obtain health care services — has always challenged payers, providers, and without doubt, consumers. The industry’s constant back-and-forth blame game over cost and access must end. Customers are listening, and so are competitors. Recent market moves are making care more widely available than ever before. Read More
In the middle of the pandemic, Michigan Medicine launched a new brand campaign, Michigan Answers, spearheaded by Rose Glenn, the organization’s chief communications and marketing officer. In explaining the meaning of the campaign, the branding guidelines emphasize, “At Michigan Medicine, we believe there’s a difference between an answer and a Michigan Answer. Michigan Answers are Read More
// By Lindsay R. Resnick, MHA // Assuring timely access to care — an individual’s ability to obtain health care services — has always challenged payers, providers, and without doubt, consumers. The industry’s constant back-and-forth blame game over cost and access must end. Customers are listening, and so are competitors. Recent market moves are making care more widely available than ever before. Billions upon billions of dollars are being invested in products and services that promise expanded access. The combination of retail clinics, telemedicine, homecare, digital health, and public/private insurance options has opened the access floodgates for many Americans. But access continues to be problematic. The thinking is that if you build it, they will come. But can they?