How can you successfully market your ACO?

Now that PPACA is the law of the land, private and public ACOs will be springing up like weeds in a field. It may really be the last best chance to bend the cost and quality curve of the American healthcare system which is unsustainable. After all, its now about the right care; at the right time; for the right cost; in the right care setting.

In the end though, the basic premise remains the same, to engage the patient, aka the healthcare consumer, in the care and treatment decision making process. The marketing challenge before you is to attract members to your ACO, engage and retain them with outcome and price transparency delivered with an exemplary customer/patient experience.

In entering the brave new world of ACOs, here are some things that you need to consider for marketing:

1.) Transparency and Quality dashboards. This is about improving care, using best practices, learning and improving as a system to the individual level, by engaging the patient. If you do not plan to report back on at least a quarterly basis to your audiences, you will not be successful. You must be prepared to provide individual level utilization and quality patient reports, to engage the person in a meaningful way, to create change health behaviors, foster appropriate utilization of services and reduce costs.

2.) Voice of the Customer (VoC) program. You gave to be in constant contact and monitoring member attitudes, beliefs and reactions to you. VoC. It's all part of the patient experience program and process. These are open networks, if you are not fully and completely customer focused, trouble will ensue and it won't be pretty,

3.) Ongoing customer experience management program and process. This isn't just about delivering a exceptional customer service at the point of care. You must identify all customer touch-points, from beginning contact to end point, and mange that experience across all of those touch-points.

4.) Highly integrated marketing plans. You will need to integrate your messaging like never before across the traditional, online, mobile and social media platforms. You can't afford not too. You also need a presence in all platforms. One that is sustainable over time through dedicated marketing resource allocation. One shot ads won't work ; develop sustainable integrated campaigns.

5.) Comprehensive member communications. Ongoing communications beyond health and wellness tips. Communications that are individualized, engage the patient and are meaningful. They must also be delivered the way that the member wants them, be it on an Ipad, member web portal, email, hard copy etc. One size does not fit all.

6.) White pares and case studies. This is about transparency and quality that is data driven. It's about accountability to your members, payers, employers and physicians. Medical device, pharma and specialty pharmacies have been engaged in white papers and case studies driven by data for years. And it works. But, it will make you uncomfortable if you have never engaged in this type of activity and communication vehicle .

7.) Marketing leadership. Marketing especially in most, not all hospitals and health systems, needs to move from the basement and take its seat at the senior management table, reporting directly to the CEO. . Marketing now needs to be seen in hospitals and health systems as a defined, accountable strategy , that is fully integrated into the business plan. That doesn't happen if marketing is not present and engaged in the discussions at the highest possible level.

8.)Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). In an ACO, there is just no doing things because someone wants them. Every action must be measureable against a defined goal and objective. Every action must have a call to action. Every action must evaluated against a predetermined ROMI. If you are not held accountable and your activities are not measured, then how will you know you were effective and produced results. What gets measured get done.

9.) Marketing automation systems. Need I say more. Marketing needs these systems to understand markets, track activities and campaigns, as well as produce various marketing reports and dashboards. This really in concept is no different than financial reporting, clinical reporting, quality reporting systems etc. Capital budgets will have to be allocated to marketing in order to automate marketing functions and planning.

10.) Marketing staff evaluation. This is probably the hardest activity, but few have the level of staff with the expertise and capability, to operate in an ACO environment. You don't know, what you don't know. Clayton Christensen understands and says, " ACOs are a disruptive business model and they must compete for consumers. Providers that are not accountable and transparent will lose, and those that meet patient needs and improve care will win." Your marketing staffing, organizational structures and resources will be to be changed and adjusted in order to meet new market conditions.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 4,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide. He is founder of the michael J group, a healthcare marketing consultancy dedicated to creating value through strategic marketing for hospitals and health system regardless of payment mechanism, either fee-for-service or value-based to increase market-share, revenue , brand and demonstrate actual return on marketing investment. Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.

Have you put the value of you in your healthcare marketing?

With healthcare changing so rapidly, is it time to move healthcare marketing beyond "all about us" to the value and benefit we bring to the healthcare consumer? Unless you are a brand new provider in the market, you have been telling your audiences all about your features and benefits for years now. They get it.

In today's world, it's about value and benefit to the healthcare consumer.

In today's world, it's about the answering the healthcare consumers question of what is my ROI for using you?

In today's world, you need to have a compelling value proposition with messaging that provides clear and understandable benefits to the healthcare consumer.

Value Marketing

Value marketing really, is making the case to your healthcare consumer how you are solving a problem, offering a solution, giving results and even making them happy.

Value marketing is a creative exchange between people and organizations in the marketplace. It is a dynamic transaction that constantly changes based on the needs of the individual vies a vie what the healthcare organization has to offer.

So instead of talking about what you do every day, talk about what the value and benefit is of what you do.

Instead of talking about programs and serves that everybody else has, talk about the value and benefits those same programs and services and what they bring to the healthcare consumer.

Instead of saying we have the latest high-tech gizmo, talk about the value and benefit of what that latest, greatest high-tech gizmo brings to the healthcare consumer.

Instead of just talking about Healthgrades or Thompson Reuters Top 100 awards for care, talk to your healthcare consumer about the value and benefit of that award.

Instead of talking at your audiences, talk to them. Talk to them about your value and how you can solve their health problem by offering a value based solution to their healthcare concerns.

It's time for healthcare CEOs, Boards and healthcare marketers to stop doing over and over again those things that are out-of-touch with the new reality that is healthcare. The healthcare consumer is awakening and demanding more. More proof. More value. More benefit for them, not for you.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 4,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide. He is founder of the michael J group, a healthcare marketing consultancy dedicated to creating value through strategic marketing for hospitals and health system regardless of payment mechanism, either fee-for-service or value-based to increase market-share, revenue , brand and demonstrate actual return on marketing investment. Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.

Can hospitals use webinars drive volume and revenue?

In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your patient/customer needs.

And it's pretty easy to do.

Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.

Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.

For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.

For physicians a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient to them.

For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say there not coming on site.

The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.

Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.

Your Return on Marketing Investment

This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're improving customer experience.

So, its 2012 and change in healthcare, well it will be never ending. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty , volume and revenue.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 4,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide. He is founder of the michael J group, a healthcare marketing consultancy dedicated to creating value through strategic marketing for hospitals and health system regardless of payment mechanism either fee-for-service or value-based to increase market-share, revenue , brand and demonstrate actual return on marketing investment. Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.

How Will You Market Your ACO Solution?

Now that the final rules for ACOs have been released by CMS, it seems that there is more positive interest in the ACO model first proposed under PPACA. The basic premise remains the same, to engage the patient, aka the healthcare consumer, in the care and treatment decision making process. Medicare ACOs remain open networks, meaning that members can go outside the ACO for service.

The marketing challenge before you is to attract members to your ACO, engage and retain them.

You must be prepared to deliver an individualized experience that meets the needs of that patient. A mass customization, of your patient experience process, down to the individual level. One size does not fit all.

In entering the brave new world of ACOs, here are some things that you need to consider for marketing:

1.) Clear and easily stated Value Proposition. Not a mission statement, this is crucial for communications and focusing the message to members, employers, payers, government and community. Not flowery or full of jargon. It's your elevator speech that can be delivered in 30 seconds about your ACO, what you do and the value it brings. Twenty-five words max.

2.) Transparency and Quality dashboards. This is about improving care, using best practices, learning and improving as a system to the individual level, and by engaging the patient. If you do not plan to report back on at least a quarterly basis to your audiences, you will not be successful. You must be prepared to provide individual level utilization and quality patient reports, to engage the person in a meaningful way, to create change health behaviors, foster appropriate utilization of services and reduce costs.

3.) Voice of the Customer (VoC) program. You gave to be in constant contact and monitoring member attitudes, beliefs and reactions to you. VoC. It's all part of the patient experience program and process. These are open networks, if you are not fully and completely customer focused, trouble will ensue and it won't be pretty,

4) Ongoing customer experience management program and process. This isn't just about delivering a exceptional customer service at the point of care. You must identify all customer touch-points, from beginning contact to end point, and mange that experience across all of those touch-points. Here is what a customer experience program looks like:

5.) Highly integrated marketing plans. You will need to integrate your messaging like never before across the traditional, online, mobile and social media platforms. You can't afford not too. You also need a presence in all platforms. One that is sustainable over time through dedicated marketing resource allocation. One shot ads won't work; develop sustainable, integrated campaigns.

6) Comprehensive member communications. Ongoing communications beyond health and wellness tips. Communications that are individualized, engage the patient and are meaningful. They must also be delivered the way that the member wants them, be it on an Ipad, member web portal, email, hard copy etc. One size does not fit all.

7.) White pares and case studies. This is about transparency and quality that is data driven. It's about accountability to your members, payers, employers and physicians. Medical device, pharma and specialty pharmacies have been engaged in white papers and case studies driven by data for years. And it works. But, it will make you uncomfortable if you have never engaged in this type of activity and communication vehicle .

8) Marketing leadership. Marketing especially in most, not all hospitals and health systems, needs to move from the basement and take its seat at the senior management table, reporting directly to the CEO.  Marketing now needs to be seen in hospitals and health systems as a defined, accountable strategy , that is fully integrated into the business plan. That doesn't happen if marketing is not present and engaged in the discussions at the highest possible level.

9.)Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). In an ACO, there is just no doing things because someone wants them. Every action must be measureable against a defined goal and objective. Every action must have a call to action. Every action must evaluated against a predetermined ROMI. If you are not held accountable and your activities are not measured, then how will you know you were effective and produced result?. What gets measured get done.

10.) Marketing automation systems. Need I say more. Marketing needs these systems to understand markets, track activities and campaigns, as well as produce various marketing reports and dashboards. This really in concept, is no different than financial reporting, clinical reporting, quality reporting systems etc. Capital budgets will have to be allocated to marketing in order to automate marketing functions and planning.

11.) Marketing staff evaluation. This is probably the hardest activity, but few have the level of staff with the expertise and capability, to operate in an ACO environment. You don't know, what you don't know. Clayton Christensen understands and says, " ACOs are a disruptive business model and they must compete for consumers. Providers that are not accountable and transparent will lose, and those that meet patient needs and improve care will win." Your marketing staffing, organizational structures and resources will be to be changed and adjusted in order to meet new market conditions.

Is there more? Yes. But you have to start somewhere. Marketing can't be just an after-thought. Too much is at stake.

Using Healthcare Focused Webinars to Drive Revenue

Recently, I have been seeing a large amount of advertising directing individuals to come to a hospital or physicians office, clinic etc., at a specific date and time, usually at the physicians or clinicians convenience, for a health and wellness program.

That is so 1990s.

In this day and age, with internet savvy audiences and patients who are networked to the web, social media, information and such, it seems silly that most healthcare providers would continue to offer only one way for individuals to access health and wellness programs. If you're not using webinars, then you're not meeting your customers needs.

And it's pretty easy to do.

Using WebEx, Talk Ready, Go To Meeting for example, a 30-45 minute health and wellness seminar can be given on a day and tme more convenient for your audience. They can be recorded and archived on your web site for consumer play back at anytime of their choosing. You now begin to build up a library of self-generated health information that is branded to your organization, contains your key messages and promotes a specific service line or targeted capability.

Think about the possibilities for reaching out to employers this way as well. A webinar directed at Human Resource professionals in local companies.

For Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), a way to keep in constant contact with your members providing targeted health information.

For hospital physician relationships a way to hold a department meetings or offer CEU program that can be more convenient.

For the media and local press, a way to hold a press conference or announce a new service or technological application when they say their not coming on site.

The possibilities really are endless. Your imagination is your only limit here.

Okay, you can't do wellness screens this way, but it could be used to drive volume to the screens as a follow-up to the webinar.

Return on Marketing Investment

This strategy and tactic is designed to capture downstream volume and revenue. Let's face it, initially there is little return on a webinar. It's the post webinar relationship management and communication activities that bring the return. By capturing a webinars attendees information, you now have actionable data on which to design more effective marketing and communication programs. Mass marketing that is individualized. You can create a relationship that is more meaningful because it is based on their needs. You're building a customer database for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and loyalty programs.

So, its 2010 and change in healthcare is accelerating and will only continue to do so. Time to expand your arsenal of strategy, tactics, tools and techniques to build relationships, loyalty, volume and revenue.

You can continue the conversation with me on:

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich

Michael Krivich is a senior healthcare marketing executive and internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger read daily in over 20 countries around the world. A Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives as well as a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, he can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive , for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.

Marketing the Re-emerging Center of Excellence

Previously, I authored a couple of blogs on the Re-emergence of Centers of Excellence (CoE) due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as well as starting a most interesting discussion on LinkedIn in the American College of Healthcare Executives Group. Those blogs and discussion really focused more on the operational and quality of care characteristics of a CoE than marketing. The point being that with the rise of healthcare consumerism driven by many factors outside the control of healthcare providers, that you could no longer look around and just say that you have a CoE in a particular service-line or disease -state.


So, if as a leader in your healthcare organization you have come to realize that the healthcare consumer deserves more than just the old ways of doing things, you have really looked at your self-described CoEs and beefed them up to true reflections of organizational and quality of care excellence, then just maybe you are ready to begin marketing a CoE. If not, it will come back to haunt you in the end, influenced by PPACA and demands of the healthcare consumer.

Marketing the CoE

This is really a reintroduction for most healthcare organizations. That being said, the opportunity immediately before you is to corrects some past mistakes. Mistakes I would like think were made with the best of intentions, but reflected a lack of understanding about the organizational brand, brand messages, and brand equity that was lost.

Probably the most important correction or for starting out with a new CoE is- scrap the new logo, color palette and messaging for the CoE. Too many organizations went down the path of we need a new logo, tagline, color palette, etc., from what is the already established brand of the organization. Shame on the marketing departments for not exercising the leadership to stop the madness.

I don't care that a CNO or director likes to "dabble in marketing". Except in some circumstances where the CNO or director has marketing training and education, CNOs, directors of Nursing etc., are clueless about brand, brand equity and marketing for that matter. How about I dabble in nursing?

In the Age of Healthcare Consumerism, your brand is everything.

The only logo that matters is your brand logo, color palette and messaging. Period. Change it at your own risk. Leverage what you have because it makes life a lot easier and more cost effective.

Do create a value proposition that shows the benefit to the healthcare consumer that your CoE brings to the market.

Do talk to the healthcare consumer not at them.

Do integrate the CoE campaign into the broader organizational marketing efforts.

Do use patient and physician testimonials if available.

If you have Joint Commission CoE certification or the Blue Cross Blue Shield CoE certifications or others, use them, but explain the value of what that means. Just don't throw it out there.

Talk about your outcomes and why they are important. Be transparent in your use of data.

Use all communication channels, print, direct mail, billboard, radio, email, social media, web site, call center, etc. Integrate those efforts.

Make your marketing efforts sustainable. Fund them accordingly to last a long period of time to be in front of the healthcare consumer for months at a time.

Be creative. Be interactive. Start and maintain a conversation with the healthcare consumer.

Evaluate constantly. Change on the fly. Show ROI.

Take a market position of superiority along either the product, price or service offering and dominate. Pick one, set meaningful benchmarks in the others.

Don't overpromise and under deliver.

You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.

Value Marketing in Healthcare

What really was the impetuous for today's blog was a two-page, full-page spread from a major healthcare system. It caught my attention for the fact that there was a lot of copy and it was all about us. I looked for the value proposition and the compelling reason why this is important to me, but could not find any. A very expensive way to talk at someone.

With healthcare changing so rapidly, is it time to move healthcare advertising beyond "all about us" to the value and benefit we bring to you, the healthcare consumer. I mean, unless you are a brand new provider in the market, you have been telling your audiences all about your features and benefits for years now. They get it.

In today's world, it's about value and benefit to the healthcare consumer.

In today's world, it's about the answering the healthcare consumers question of what is my ROI for using you?

In today's world, you need to have a compelling value proposition with messaging that provides clear and understandable benefits to the healthcare consumer.

Value Marketing

Value marketing really, is making the case to your healthcare consumer how you are solving a problem, offering a solution, giving results and even making them happy.

Value marketing is a creative exchange between people and organizations in the marketplace. It is a dynamic transaction that constantly changes based on the needs of the individual vies a vie what the healthcare organization has to offer.

So instead of talking about what you do every day, talk about what the value and benefit is of what you do.

Instead of talking about programs and services that everybody else has, talk about the value and benefits those same programs and services and what they bring to the healthcare consumer.

Instead of saying we have the latest high-tech gizmo, talk about the value and benefit of what that latest, greatest high-tech gizmo brings to the healthcare consumer.

Instead of just talking about Healthgrades or Thompson Reuters Top 100 awards for care, talk to your healthcare consumer about the value and benefit of that award.

Instead of talking at your audiences, talk to them. Talk to them about your value and how you can solve their health problem by offering a value based solution to their healthcare concerns.

It's time for healthcare CEOs, Boards and healthcare marketers to stop doing over and over again those things that are out-of-touch with the new reality that is healthcare. The healthcare consumer is awakening and demanding more. More proof. More value. More benefit for them, not for you.

Note:


Back in August, I wrote about revenue opportunities under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Well, starting on Januarys 1, 2011, preventive services must be covered for all health plan members. So better get that preventive screening solution in place. It's a loss leader but the downstream revenue opportunity is large. Please see that August 2010 blog on what to do.

You can continue the conversation with me on:

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich

Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, integration of sales and marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.