“As the Affordable Care Act continues to alter the profile of health care in America, hospitals are challenged to meet the objectives of the Triple Aim and offer access, quality, and affordability in their care delivery even while reimbursement continues to be ratcheted back,” says Dennis Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Aethena Healthcare Holding Company. Read More
It’s common today for people to buy their food and clothing online, and to arrange their travel reservations through web-based services. Now many health systems also allow patients to view and pay their health care bills online. In addition to increasing patient satisfaction with this offering, health care systems can also save valuable staff time Read More
// By Ross K. Goldberg // It has been said that all motion is relative. If that is indeed true, then it’s entirely possible to go backward by simply standing still if the world around you is changing. Over the past half-dozen years, those entrusted with health care communications have pushed forward by focusing a Read More
Placing your service lines, retail clinics, and outpatient facilities in optimal locations may mean the difference between success and failure in today’s competitive marketplace. These days, it’s no longer enough to make decisions about where to locate new offerings based on available sites or what an organization “thinks” might work. Rather, the savviest organizations are Read More
// By Lisa Ellis // It’s common today for people to buy their food and clothing online, and to arrange their travel reservations through web-based services. Now many health systems also allow patients to view and pay their health care bills online. But this process can be complicated if it isn’t managed well, and can Read More
// By Dirk G. Schroeder, ScD, MPH // Nowadays, when I travel for a conference or meeting, I don’t rent a car, preferring just to jump in an “Uber.” I often end up with a Hispanic driver and use the ride to conduct an informal, in-depth interview about the U.S. health care system. This can Read More
// By Lisa Ellis // Placing your service lines, retail clinics, and outpatient facilities in optimal locations may mean the difference between success and failure in today’s competitive marketplace. These days, it’s no longer enough to make decisions about where to locate new offerings based on available sites or what an organization “thinks” might work. Read More
It used to be that if you built a good health system, people would come. But in today’s hectic world, many organizations find it necessary to extend their services to places their patients frequent instead. In fact, these days, organizations providing the highest-quality care are a given, but how that care is delivered—and where—have become the Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // It used to be that if you built a good health system, people would come. But in today’s hectic world, many organizations find it necessary to extend their services to places their patients frequent instead. In fact, these days, organizations providing the highest-quality care are a given, but how that Read More
// By Dennis Knox // As any golfer knows, even the most powerful swing won’t get your ball where it needs to go if you don’t follow through on the backswing. This premise also holds true off the golf course. In fact, health care organizations today need to keep the idea of follow-through in mind Read More
Piedmont Health Services really means business, especially when it comes to protecting the health of the community. Back in 2009, it started a unique partnership with Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to provide access to more affordable health services for employees of small businesses and their families. Since the high price tag associated with most Read More
Copywriter and SHCM columnist Peter Hochstein recently spotted an interesting advertising tactic for an urgent care center: A billboard displaying the word “OOPS?” in an upward-slanted, rounded rectangle, along with the word “OUCH!” in a similar but downward-slanted rectangle. Adjacent to OOPS? and OUCH! is a headline that says “Crystal Run Urgent Care!” Hochstein was curious to know Read More
How much do you really know about your patients? If you and your staff haven’t asked the people you treat to talk about their personal experiences, their families, their careers, and the things they care about, you could be missing a valuable opportunity to connect with them on a deeper level—and you may also be Read More
How much do you really know about your patients? If you and your staff haven’t asked the people you treat to talk about their personal experiences, their families, their careers, and the things they care about, you could be missing a valuable opportunity to connect with them on a deeper level—and you may also be Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Piedmont Health Services really means business, especially when it comes to protecting the health of the community. Back in 2009, it started a unique partnership with Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce to provide access to more affordable health services for employees of small businesses and their families. Since the Read More
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // This somewhat complicated story starts, at least for me, with a clever graphic trick on a highway billboard. The billboard displays the word “OOPS?” in an upward-slanted, rounded rectangle. And then the word “OUCH!” in a similar but downward-slanted rectangle. Adjacent to OOPS? and OUCH! is Read More
You can help your patients become authors of their own life stories. These tips from Beth Sanders, BA, Founder and CEO of LifeBio and Dr. Daniel C. Potts, FAAN, Founder and President of the Cognitive Dynamics Foundation will help get you started and guide your efforts:
// By Lisa D. Ellis // How much do you really know about your patients? If you and your staff haven’t asked the people you treat to talk about their personal experiences, their families, their careers, and the things they care about, you could be missing a valuable opportunity to connect with them on a Read More
An Exclusive Report from Strategic Health Care Marketing
// By Susan Dubuque //
These days, says health care marketing expert Susan Dubuque, health care organizations across the country are racing to stake their claims as champions of wellness:
They shout, “We are no longer dedicated to treating you when you’re sick or injured. Now we are committed to keeping you well—and out of the hospital.” The unspoken words: Like our financial lives depend on it.
What is the best approach for health care marketers to calm the frenzy, she asks, and help their organizations remain focused and smart?
In this exclusive report, Dubuque, a nationally recognized expert in health care marketing and a member of the Strategic Health Care Marketing Editorial Advisory Board, deftly examines this question in three thoughtful chapters. We know you will appreciate her take on what “wellness” means to health care consumers these days, how to align wellness with
your strategic goals, and more.
At Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, several customer-oriented programs are deeply integrated into the facility’s framework to help people feel truly comfortable with the care they receive. Such customer-focused programs include (among many others) concierge services through the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Heart & Vascular Center. Barnes-Jewish is Read More
Want to connect with your target audience on a more powerful level and motivate behavior change? Denise Aube, Executive Vice President and Healthcare Practice Leader at Crosby Marketing Communications, suggests turning to the principles of behavioral science to make your efforts more effective. “The challenge is how do we engage patients and motivate healthy behavior. It’s Read More
“The key to successful health care marketing is being able to anticipate how patients will react to and engage with the messages you are putting out,” says Kirstan Cecil, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, which is part of the Ascension Health System. Saint Agnes Hospital is a 276-bed, Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // One size doesn’t fit all—especially when it comes to health care. That’s why one of the challenges facing health care organizations today is figuring out how to tailor their services to accommodate patients who represent a wide range of needs, beliefs, and risk factors. Perhaps no one knows this Read More
We live in a DIY age, observes Michael Del Gigante, President of MDG Advertising. Which is why it’s no wonder that consumers have eagerly hopped aboard the “DIY health care” train. “People are increasingly comfortable with using everything from websites to activity sensors to monitor their own health, diagnose problems, and self-treat issues without having to Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Today, the patient comes first in many health care facilities. This is thanks to developments brought about by health care reform that put an increased emphasis on stronger teamwork between clinical staff and health care consumers to ensure high-quality, value-focused care and patient satisfaction. But how organizations are putting Read More