Is it time for hospital advertising to change?

With the healthcare consumer having a higher cost stake in healthcare choices with larger deductibles and co-pays, combined with the availability of price and outcomes data; it would seem that the time for change has come.

If one was to look at healthcare consumer in terms of interaction with the brand, only one-third of the time is spent as a patient during diagnosis and treatment. Two-thirds of the time they are healthcare consumers making choices and decision about where to receive care.

What should hospitals be advertising to create an unassailable market position, a strong brand, as well as an enlightened and informed consumer?  

Is it the "we are unique and world-class", have best doctors and locations that are accessible and convenient?

Then there is the ever popular, the technology is state-of-the-art, photo of the shiny new building or the doctor looking skyward like they are in great deep thought.

Another winner; we have the most shiny trophies and quality awards for several services. Oh, and even though we don't have a quality award for all services, if everybody else was as good as us message to go with it, “100,000 lives would be saved annually".

I think, that pretty much for the most part, sums up the current state of hospital advertising.  And when several hospitals are staying all of these things at the same time in a market, does anyone really believe that the consumer is paying any attention at all, when there is so little differentiation?  It all looks like "me too" and just shouting for attention.

It makes the Board, senior management and physicians feel good, all the while your audience receives absolutely no information that will help them make some of the most critical choices and decisions in their life.

The time has come healthcare providers to provide meaningful information in the marketplace that will allow the healthcare consumer to become informed, educated and participatory in the care decision-making process. 

The hospital or health system should be transparent and talking about outcomes and prices.  The healthcare consumer is hungry for information and searching the internet as well as other sources about you and how you perform. They are paying more of the cost and demanding more say in the process. And they don't like being treated like they are some small child who can't make a decision.

To use an often quoted metaphor, the wave of change is upon the hospital industry as we move from provider-dominated and controlled decision-making model, to a healthcare consumer and patient-directed controlled model, that is evolving into a semi-retail environment. 

Changing markets unless responded too can be a harsh mistress. 

And how will you be paying for your care?

Seems like an innocuous question/statement.  But it’s a question that can be fraught with staff unease, unexpected healthcare consumer resentment, missed opportunity and bad PR if it is not handled correctly.

It’s not a question of whether not you should ask that question as a healthcare provider. No margin, no mission.  There are very appropriate reasons for asking, and includes walking a fine line with tax exempt status and the legal requirement of caring for all who come through the doors seeking medical treatment. The real question is how is the organization preparing to engage the newly insured, current patients and the healthcare consumer making choices in which healthcare providers to engage?

How one handles the question goes beyond staff training, scripting and role playing. The conversation and ask begins well before anyone ever sets foot in door of the healthcare provider. It may be that the healthcare provider has lost the potential advantage in securing the high ground in this part of the healthcare reform equation.

Individuals and families are selecting high deductible plans to reduce their premium costs. Employers are going to defined contributions, creating private exchanges, increasing employee contributions for not only the cost of insurance, but the deducible and co-pays as well.  And even the newly insured that could be eligible for the expanded Medicaid programs will still have to meet spend down requirements of the Medicaid program before full coverage will kick in. Just because the program is expanded for initial eligibility requirements doesn’t mean in the least that the base regulations of the program have changed.

Several months ago I wrote about the opportunity in the market place that healthcare providers had in educating the healthcare consumer abut exchanges, plans and choices.  It was at that moment in time that those discussions could have begun with the process of the payment ask, connecting it to high deductible plans and general changes in how they will pay for healthcare. Little if any activity on the part of hospitals, health systems and other providers recognized the new dynamics and took marketing and PR steps to head off the coming challenges.

Now that the ship has sailed, how are you going to actively take control of the conversation and educate the healthcare consumer before they ever walk in the door seeking treatment? This is about setting realistic expectations in the context of experience as well as establishing the role and responsibility of the healthcare consumer in all of the discussions.

Easier said than done and we all know that.  But with all the issues around the exchanges and failures therein,  the news that people are selecting high deductible plans and the coming sticker shock because they really don’t understand what they are buying,  you have the chance to hit the reset button and start anew.

So instead of advertising those wellness bus tours, free gifts for a colonoscopy or even connecting with all those high quality physicians on staff without outcomes transparency in any of it, maybe it should be meaningfully engaging the healthcare consumer about the real cost of high deductible plans, prices, the value of the medical service and their accountability and portion of cost they will bear?

The risk is because as we all know, that the process for asking for payment after the fact or even when someone walks in the door and is sitting at the desk, is not going to go well and there will be human error.   As a tax exempt healthcare provider, you will be the evil greedy healthcare provider, and it's a perceptional battle that is unwinnable.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

How will you explain pricing to healthcare consumers?

The eight hundred pound gorilla is in the room and it’s not going away any time soon if ever. With the newly insured, current and former patients and the healthcare consumer all facing increasingly larger out-of-pocket expenses for healthcare, how will you explain pricing?

Case in point. A couple of weeks ago I was exhibiting the signs of a heart attack. So after being sent to the ER by my primary physician, an EKG and blood work was done and after several hours I was admitted to the 23 hour observation unit. The other day I received the bill for $23,000 which works out to around $1,000 an hour.  And yes it was sent to my insurance carrier and I have my portion to pay. But there was no explanation of how those charges were determined.  Here is the bill; you owe; so pay it.

But it got me to thinking. I had no idea how the $23K was arrived at and whether or not that was representative of the most accurate value for the care received, especially when the total bill would buy a nice car for that type of money. I mean, a less than friendly radiologist, an arrogant hospitalist who was an internal medicine physician, and a cardiologist who seemed like he did not want to be there added to the wonder if it all. I especially liked being awakened at 12:30 PM for a saline IV that had to be started because a doctor ordered it.  My biggest chuckle was that I could not get a Tylenol for a headache, but there was a physicians order for morphine. Go figure. It’s probably a standard order set and no one is paying attention.

 

I wonder how many meals I was charged for since I only ate once because no one explained to me that I had to order each meal off a menu and never did have breakfast because of that little omission?

As healthcare evolves to a semi-retail model with the healthcare consumer aka the patient at the center of it all, explanation of pricing, what care and test were provided is no longer something that hospitals, health systems and other providers can afford to ignore.  Can you really imagine going to buy a large ticket item and not knowing all charges? And healthcare is a large ticket item.

This is a reasonable expectation for the healthcare consumer, to be able to know all that was done and how much it cost in detail.  The healthcare consumer is paying more out of my pocket. You can bet they want to look at billing by line item. And they really don’t have the time to chase down with your billing department the detail.

It’s called accountability and it’s a two way street.  Accountability on my part to understand the who, what and where of treatment, and accountability on your part to be price transparent. This will lead to some uncomfortable discussions with the healthcare consumer as they seek to understand it all, but that is why you have a marketing department. They need to be involved by understanding the informational needs of the healthcare consumer, design of the bills and training of staff to handle inquiries.

Healthcare is changing and the old ways of doing business no longer work.  Because if you don’t change billing practices and become more price and treatment transparent, someone legislatively, or through the courts will force you too.

Its your choice on price transparency. Inform the healthcare consumer now, or inform them later when you are forced too. Either way it’s going to happen.

Now where is the address for the FTC and my Senator and Representatives?

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer,American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Why isn’t hospital advertising changing with the times?

I have to admit, this is a pet peeve of mine, disingenuous hospital advertising. In a day and age where healthcare is evolving to a consumer centric, semi-retail model, some hospital marketers and C-suite leadership continue to treat the healthcare consumer like they are incapable of making informed choices.

With the healthcare consumer having a higher cost stake in the process with larger deductibles and co-pays, your price, and outcomes data readily available, it would seem that the time for change has come.

Remember, when you are marketing to individuals, they don't become a patient until they receive a service from you.  So in one-third of the time in their interactions with you, the healthcare consumer is only a "patient" during diagnosis and treatment. Two-thirds of the time they are not patients, and most likely are arguing with your billing department about the charges.

Arguments aside, what should hospitals be advertising to create an unassailable market position, a strong brand, as well as an enlightened and informed consumer?  

Is it the "we are unique and world-class", best doctors, hundreds of locations, even though The Joint Commission was just there for a sentential event?

Our technology is state-of-the-art.  Never mind that a new technology was just introduced and you don't have it.

Another winner; we have the most shiny trophies and quality awards for several services. Oh, and even though we don't have a quality award for all services, if everybody else was as good as us message to go with it, “a 100,000 lives would be saved annually"! Really.

How about the ever present focus on the physicians with messaging about having the best primary care or specialists in the region that drones on about everything other than healthcare.  Prove it.  Maybe the healthcare consumer will take you seriously when you finally report Dr. Hodad and remove him from your medical staff.

I think, that pretty much for the most part, sums up the current state of hospital advertising.  And when several hospitals are staying all of these things at the same time in a market, do you really believe that the consumer is paying any attention at all, when there is so little differentiation,  it all looks like "me too" and just shouting for attention?

It makes the Board, senior management and physicians feel good, while your audience receives absolutely no information that will help them make some of the most critical choices and decisions in their life.

The time has come healthcare providers to provide meaningful information in the marketplace that will allow the healthcare consumer to become informed, educated and participatory in the care decision-making process. 

You should be transparent and talking about your outcomes and prices.  The healthcare consumer is hungry for information and searching the internet as well as other sources about you and how you perform. They are paying more of the cost. Demanding more say in what goes on. And don't like being treated like they are some small child who can't make a decision.

To use an often quoted metaphor, the wave of change is upon the hospital industry as we move from provider-dominated and controlled decision-making model, to a healthcare consumer and patient-directed, controlled model. 

Your choice so chose wisely, the future of your organizations depends on it.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executivesand a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

What is your market position- superior, equivalent or inferior?

With the reformation of  healthcare in the U.S. about to hit full speed ahead, most healthcare providers will need to undertake a full detailed examination of their position in the market vies a vie their competitors.   A simple question really that is not so easily answered unless you're being honest, and are doing the market research.

Positioning is not a tactic. It is a strategy.

There are really only three positions you can have in a market, superior, equivalent or inferior. And just saying you have the newest hi-tech equipment, offer world-class care, revolve around the customer,  uild a new building, or produce a white paper does not, let me repeat, does not mean you hold a superior market position, or even a thought-leadership position for that matter.

If your market share has not changed much over the last few years, you’re not in a superior position. If revenue has not grown, but stayed steady, you are not in a superior position. If your products, solutions and services are haven't changed much, then you are not in a superior market position.

If customers keep asking you about what you are doing in an area, then you are in an inferior market position.  If your market segments can't tell the difference between you and someone else, you are in an equivalent position.

And when all things are equal, people buy on price.

And with all the potential families and individuals with health insurance becoming available, if you haven't established a superior market position, then an equivalent or inferior position gets you into a price war. In value-based and P4P payment programs, superior brings more revenue. An equivalent market position brings less; while inferior positions will penalize you.

So before you start marketing, you need to take a closer look at your market position, how you are positioning your healthcare organization and the market position you need to dominate and control. 

That is marketing strategy first. Tactics to get you to that position, second.

No more do-over's. You either position yourself correctly first and control the market, or it controls you.

Your choice superior, equivalent or inferior. Choose or it will be chosen for you.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association.  Like us on  facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pheed

Is your healthcare consumer/patient experience disappointing?

Seriously, this is not just a sarcastic attempt to get your attention. It's an honest question about what hospitals and health systems do not get regarding the importance of the patient and healthcare consumer experience from first touch-point to last. The experience story for the patient or searching healthcare consumer isn't just about the patient care or the test. It is for all practical purposes the entire experiential encounter.

Let me relay a story of an encounter with a health system hospital. By the way it's about my recent experience, so no HIPPA is involved here and it's not hearsay. It wasn't bad, but sure did not met my healthcare consumerist expectations.

My personal physician orders a test and faxes it to the hospital central scheduling department. Central scheduling calls during the day when I am work so I call back the next day. Now, if they had really had been on top of the experience and technology, when I called back it would have gone straight to an individual and they would have had some basic info. This is quite common in the PBM and specialty pharmacy industry when calling back and they already know who you are by the number dialed.

Instead I get the "please hold for the next available representative". Okay, it feels like I am calling in for some kind of repair with no idea of how long the wait may be. I am finally an transferred to someone and go through doctors name, my name, date of birth, insurance, test etc.

Then they ask, "Where do I want to have the test done, hospital outpatient or satellite radiology diagnostic center? I thought hmmm, a choice of convenience. I make my chose based on location, distance and travel time. Then I get, "We can do the test on this day and time". So my needs and choice go out the window at this juncture of the conversation. "Sorry I work downtown and that's not convenient to me. I need a Saturday". Silence for a short period. "Okay what Saturday can you do this?" I gave date. "No we are closed that Saturday." Really? We finally settle on a date and time that is convenient for me not the hospital or staff.

The next part actually caught me by surprise because I was expecting a different outcome in the process than what happened. Here's is the experience disconnect, and it goes on everyday thousands of times in hospitals across the country and they don't even know it. I was expecting something very simple that happens in other industries every day, every time without failure.

"Will I receive an email confirming the test, date, time, and any special instructions prior to the test?" "No, just do what I told you and if you forget when the test is just call us back and we will tell you." It was the wrong answer. The answer should have been, "Yes, what is your email address, and you will receive written confirmation of all the details."

When I make a dinner reservations, buy something online, book a hotel room etc, I get written confirmation and all the detail electronically. Now that being said, scheduling a test is no different than any other those other experiences. And that's the point.

As you focus on all the internal experience stuff from your perspective, the healthcare consumer and patient's have very different experience expectations that you don't fully understand.

It's not about you anymore. Healthcare is evolving to a consumer-driven industry and its about the healthcare consumer and patient.

Maybe you should be paying more attention to what's going on in the world around you, and not be so internally focused with the answers that you think that you know about the experience? It's really not that hard.

But what it does take is a focus on the experience from first touch-point to last. It takes enabling technologies, and simple things that go on every day, every time without failure in other service industries that make the experience worthwhile and special. And that is what the healthcare consumer expects.

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pheed.

How do you market the big box hospital in an era of reform?

From what I have seen its pretty much the status quo when it comes to hospital marketing. Smiling happy patients, fluffy messaging that are all about you, shiny and dramatic shots of hi-tech equipment, new buildings with assorted other visuals, and copy that leaves one with more questions than answers. Not much really in the way of experience, outcomes or framing of expectations that a healthcare consumer could use to make a reasonable decision about seeking treatment.

So given the rapid change and evolution of the healthcare market place, with some wondering if the day of the big box hospital is coming to an end, it is time for hospital marketing to change. Bundled payments, ACOs, public health insurance exchanges, private health insurance exchanges, narrow networks, bartering for care, retail medicine, price competition, massive shifts to outpatient providers not hospital based, etc., and here's the kicker, healthcare consumer directed choice in all of this means that you had better change or be left in the dust of the competitive market.

Ten marketing strategies to saving your big box hospital.

1. Brand and competitive position.
Consumers and patients are ready for convenient technology-enabled access to care. Healthcare providers that are capable of identifying consmer needs, and how they want their healthcare needs meet though technology focused on them will gain new patients and the next-generation of physicians. It's not a crime to use text messaging to send people information or confirmations about appointments, health reminders, or use QR codes to link to specific education or health offers.

2. Engage existing customers and patients.
An individual is only a patient 1/3rd of the time they come in contact with you. That is during the diagnosis, treatment and recovery phase. Pre and post this, they are a consumer not a patient. So why then is it the only time you meaningfully engage them is during the period when they are a patient? Doesn't make a lot of sense really. Consumer and patient engagement is about all of the time, not just some of the time. Engaging the individual on a continuous basis builds loyalty and return use or repurchase behavior.

3. Engage the physicians.
No matter the payment model you will still need a physicians or physician extenders order to get anything done in a healthcare setting. That means engaging physicians in meaningful ways, using the methods, technology, and systems that will make their life easier, improve their productivity, and protect or increase their income. An effective efficient physician has more to do with the impact of cost, quality in your organization then you may have considered in the past.

4. Focus on the physician experience.
How hard is it for a physician or physician extender to practice medicine in your organization. Have you looked at the hassle factor that physicians encounter when they try to get things done in your care setting? Understand how the physician experiences your organization at every touch-point they encounter you. Understand their experiences overall from beginning to end, not just in an isolated segment. Fix what is broken, keep what is working. The more satisfying the experience, the better you will do financially.

5. Focus on the consumer/patient experience.
A healthcare provider's ability to deliver an experience that sets it apart in the eyes of its patients and potential patients from its competitors - traditional and non-traditional - serves to increase their spending and loyalty to the brand. You need to actively manage the customer experience in total by understanding the customer's point of view. That is, all touch points internally and externally that a customer/patient comes in contact with which in turn creates the experience. Exceptional experience means gains in market share, brand awareness, and revenue.

6. Embrace retail healthcare.
It's not going away as some may still think. There is a reason why Walgreens is considering the purchase of a health plan with millions of potential customers coming online for insurance and medical care in 2014. Traditional ways of delivering healthcare will go by the wayside in many cases. Price, convenience, access are the drivers in retail healthcare. Find the need, understand the consumers behavior drivers, design offering around the consumer not you in a convenient location and price it appropriately. End of story. If you can't compete in this way, your market position, share and revenue will erode.

7. Agility
Be nimble. Be agile. Be quick. Keep repeating that over and over again. Healthcare marketing needs to move from the tried and true to the exceptional, the innovative, the engaged and the motivational. You can't reach the healthcare consumer on an emotional level to make the right choices, treatment and lifestyle decisions as well as purchase decisions in your favor unless you are sufficiently engaged. And purchase decisions in this case can mean not going out of your network for care.

8. Integration
Integrate your marketing plans deeply within the organization. The healthcare consumer is at the center of all that you do. Pay special attention to social media. Social media is not a billboard but an efficient and effective engagement strategy that enhances all the other marketing channels you use.

9. The multiplicity of markets
Remember that not everyone will be in an ACO or a patient medical home. Not everyone will have employer sponsored insurance. Some won't have health insurance of any kind. Not everyone will be in expanded Medicaid programs. Small business will decrease employees hours to not have provide health insurance. Large employers will create the own exchanges or go to defined contributions and tell employees to go shopping. Oh and Baby Boomers will demand that there healthcare experience be delivered their way, the way they want. And retail medicine is here to stay and will expand. Tailor you marketing accordingly. One size does not fit all.

10. Quality Transparency
This is the one that causes the most fear and trepidation among hospital executives and physicians. Patients getting access to meaningful quality data that they can understand and use to make meaningful choices. Get ready it's coming whether you like it or not, and it's just not a marketing technique. It's the right thing to do. Because if you don't someone else will. And your quality data is out there. All it takes to some creativity to develop a Kayak type web site for healthcare and you're at the bottom of the food chain.

If a hospital has no beds, is it still a hospital?

Michael J. Krivich, MHA, FACHE, PCM, is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views read in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. These views are my own. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. Like us on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pheed.

Is your patient experience matching the expectations of the healthcare consumer?

The evolving healthcare consumer is seeking information on great experiences and outcomes. That's right, great outcomes and experiences, not ordinary outcomes or experiences. You are expected to care. You are expected to provide high-quality care. Telling the healthcare consumer that you provide compassionate care and high-quality medical care, is falling on deaf ears. Especially when the experience doesn't even come close to the claim. So when the healthcare consumer matches their expectations with your experience, chances are you are falling short somewhere.

And in the reality of a healthcare market place that is evolving to one driven by cost, outcome and choice, healthcare consumers will bypass those hospitals, healthcare providers and insurance plans that have less than great outcomes or experiences.

I am not saying that is fair, or right. It is a reality of a changing marketplace.

When healthcare executives are surveyed, the majority say that patient/customer experience improvement is a critical business success factor along with patient safety and cost reduction. But at the same time, the majority of healthcare CEOs admit that they really don't know where to start on successfully improving the patient experience.

And it is just not hospitals. Insurance companies, specialty pharmacies, PBMs, home health and others, that are experiencing the same challenges in managing patient, consumer or member experience and expectations.

But before you manage and improve the experience you have to understands the totality of the experience from the eyes of your consumer, as well as understand what their expectations are.

Experience Management is about changing the way you deliver care to the healthcare consumer by your employees, based on an understanding of what their expectations are, not yours. Experience Management is culturally and organizationally uncomfortable. And that is because it's not about you anymore. You have to have a formal definition of patient experience and that only comes from talking to patients, or consumers, or plan members.

The speed of change in healthcare has accelerated beyond the point of no return. Healthcare providers no longer have the time to engage in endless internal dialogue and paralysis by analysis planning loops before moving forward. Individuals expect you to care. Individuals expect you to have high-quality outcomes.

The only way you can differentiate is through creating and maintaining that exceptional patient experience and meeting their expectations. And that only comes through active management of the experience process.

In the end if you want your experience to meet the expectations of your healthcare consumer, do the market research. And get ready for some uncomfortable truths. But in the knowledge about the healthcare consumer gained, you will uncover truths that will set you free to change and change for the better is good.

This week is the American College of Healthcare Executives Congress on Leadership in Chicago. I will be there Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14. Let me know if you want to meet or just say hi.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. He is founder of the michael J group, a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. Like me on facebook at the michael J group, and connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter and Pheed.

Will big data set healthcare marketing free?

Or, send you to ligation hell because some data was misused, HIPAA was violated or patients just don't like the idea of marketers have access to data no matter how confidential and the security steps taken to keep it that way?

Me, I believe big data will set healthcare organizations free and in the process their marketers as well.

You see, healthcare marketing should be driven by data. Data used to identify unmeet healthcare consumer medical needs, where those unmet needs are located and in the design of the healthcare consumer friendly offering, priced at a point that they will be willing to pay. This is the way it always should have been, but hasn't. Goes for some healthcare IT and medical device manufacturers too.

Now that Walgreens and other non-traditional providers of healthcare services are expanding and taking a retail approach which is driven by big data, hospitals and health systems as well as others need to start paying attention and looking at their healthcare services from a big data standpoint. That means analysis by taking big data chunks, down to smaller chunks of data looking for trends and insights into healthcare consumer behavior. And if you are going to manage population health and develop effective messaging on an individualized basis, then you better be looking at big data. Going away are the days of generic messaging seeing that we entering an age where individualization of messaging is the key.

The healthcare consumer will use you in pretty novel ways going forward.

And that will become apparent in the data. It's not all about you and controlling the flow. If you want the healthcare consumer to make "healthy choices". If you want the health care consumer to stay in network. If you want the healthcare consumer to pay attention. Then you are going to have to be analyzing the data, developing individualized health care consumer messaging and sharing the same. Big data will lay your organizational soul bare for you and others to see. Hope you're ready for that.

So while you are taking a clinical or administrative view of the data, take a step back and think that that means to the healthcare consumer. They are people too. Not just clinical values, Not just whether or not they are going in or out of network. Not whether 600 or 1 person missed a health screening. Your answers as to why are in the data. Think how marketing can assist in all of the above. And it's not making things sound good, read well or look pretty.

Big data will improve your brand.

Big data will improve your patient experience.

Big data will improve your marketing.

Big data will provide you with differentiation.

Big data will free your outcomes, because whether you like it or not, the healthcare consumer already has access to a lot of it.

Big data is marketing measurable.

Don't use big data in your marketing and you will be scratching your head wondering what happened when that healthcare consumer train runs over you.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. 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. Like us on facebook at the michael J group. 

Is healthcare provider of choice possible for a hospital or health system?

It's a valid and serious question given Walgreens publically stated goal of being the "healthcare provider of choice for everyday health". Walgreens took a big step in that direction with the approval of three ACOs. Interestingly enough in my 30 years of healthcare marketing, being the provider of choice has long been a staple of hospital and health system goals and objectives, business plans and presentations to the Board and medical staffs.

Has anyone ever really accomplished that?

That is more of a rhetorical question than anything else. But I am willing to bet that the answer is no. And I seriously doubt that it can be achieved from a hospital or health system marketing perspective. At least not to the extent that Walgreens and other non-traditional entrants into the healthcare marketplace that are well funded, understand consumer behavior and marketing, service development, pricing, customer experience and brand recognition can achieve.

If you're serious about being the "healthcare provider of choice" in your market  here are some of the steps you have to take.

1. Stop doing marketing communications and calling it marketing. It's not about making things look pretty, snappy or running events. It is about understanding the needs of your healthcare consumer in a logical and systemic way and designing those programs and services along dimensions of provable outcomes, location, experience and price, realizing that in the new healthcare business environment, that the hospital is not the beginning, or end of all medical care options. It's about leadership and marketing being present on the senior management team and in the boardroom.

2. Now your brand really counts and it's about your brand. Your brand promise. Your brand reputation. Your brand value proposition. Your brand architecture. You have to understand every dimension of your brand from how it is viewed in the market place to its financial value. From its pricing power to its representation of the patient experience. Good, bad or in between you need to know. Only then can you make meaningful and relevant changes.

3. Are you ready to make changes in the way you do things? Being the "healthcare provider of choice" is also about making changes at all levels of the organization to meet the needs of your healthcare consumer. Status quo or tinkering around the edges because you may anger someone won't cut it. You are either all in or not at all. It's about your healthcare consumers in whatever form they come in, not about you.

4. Be responsive to changes in the market. You can no longer afford to be reactive, but must become a market leader. Flexibility going forward in how you price, deliver and locate healthcare services is a must.

5. Continuously improve the patient experience. Not just the clinical service line but the entire patient experience at all touch-points. In this environment and far into the future, the healthcare consumer is only a patient in one-third of the encounter with you. You had better be making sure that the experience is firing correctly on all cylinders all of the time at all experience touch-points.

6. Answer this question honestly, can you really become the "healthcare provider of choice"? It takes time and most importantly it takes money. It's not free and it's not a platitude. If you can't fund the marketing effort in terms of staff expertise, market research and budget- human and capital that it will take internally and externally, then is there really anything at all to talk about here?

So the choice going forward may be really simple in the end. Are you going to be the "healthcare provider of choice" in your market and take the actions necessary? Or are you going to find a way to attach yourself to the recognized market "healthcare provider of choice" leader and live off of that relationship?

Your phone is ringing, and it just may be Walgreens.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. 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. Like us on facebook at the michael J group.=

Will the Walgreens ACOs bring real competition to healthcare?

Last week with the CMS announcement of an addition 106 ACOs, scant attention was paid to who those ACOs were awarded too. Buried in the 106 new ACOs announcement, you will find the Walgreens Company had three market applications awarded to them in partnership with 3 physician groups. The ACOs are in Texas, Florida and New Jersey. Their employer worksite clinics have been certified as medical homes. It is rumored that Walgreens is making plans for their own private health insurance exchange. A formidable competitor in the retail clinic space, they just became the 800 pound gorilla in the room.

I have written about Walgreens eight separate times and their retail health efforts that would fundamentally change healthcare from a competitive and marketing standpoint since I started writing this blog. (If you're interested you can use the search function of the blog and find the posts. Just search the term Walgreens.) And for the most part the reaction has been "it's just a fad and the consumer won't go for it."

Are you paying attention now?

This make perfect sense and is another important development in the "retailization" of healthcare.

Who's brand do you think will make more of an impact when the time comes for people to enroll in ACOs, your hospital, health system or brand new name for the ACO, or Walgreens and the associated physicians?

Who has more brand impact and recognition when someone drives by, your hospital or a Walgreens?

Who provides better customer and patient experience, you or Walgreens?

Who completely understands the market, consumer healthcare needs and can price appropriately and aggressively the service to make it attractive to the healthcare consumer, you or Walgreens?

Who is going to be able to mount a formidable consumer marketing campaign that is research driven that will deliver the intended enrollments and ROI, you or Walgreens?

Anyhow, you get the idea.

There is a lot more and I for one do not doubt the ability of the brain trust over on Wilmot Ave in Deerfield, Illinois to pull this off and be successful along any number of quality, outcome or financial measures. After all, I worked for them for a couple of years as the senior marketing manager responsible for all specialty pharmacy marketing and understand how they think, work and accomplish things. So this isn't a surprise for me and makes perfect sense. Fits right in with the Take Care retail clinic, Workplace Health the employer worksite clinics, specialty pharmacy, home infusion, respiratory care and durable medical equipment businesses they have been building since 2007.

If you weren't serious about upgrading your marketing talent, resources and operations for getting ready for some real competition in healthcare, you better. Walgreens entry into ACOs changes the healthcare competition and marketing game.

Now, where are those hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, free-standing diagnostic centers and nursing homes for sub-acute care that will build out their retail healthcare system?

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. 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. Like us on facebook at the michael J group.

How can you create a high performance healthcare marketing operation in 2013?

With healthcare changing so rapidly, 2013 promises to be even more challenging as the implementation of ACA moves forward. The healthcare industry whether they like it or not is becoming more consumer oriented. Those individuals enrolled in Consumer Directed Health Plans are shopping for healthcare services based on price and are price sensitive for example. Many more changes are coming that will put the healthcare consumer in charge and they will be demanding answers.

Here are 10 more steps that healthcare marketing departments need to take right now to be relevant and lead their organizations to a more healthcare consumer focused environment.

10. Educate your organization about the value of your department and work. Lead and prove your departments ROI. Marketing just doesn't make things "look pretty".

9. Scan the B2C companies for their marketing successes. Learn about them, adapt them to healthcare, and implement successfully. Healthcare will take giant steps in 2013 to become consumer driven, so you had better learn how to market effectively to the healthcare consumer. And that means meeting their needs not yours.

8. Invest in market research. It's the only way you can obtain an unbiased view of your healthcare consumers and their needs. I think I know, the physicians know or senior management knows without the quantitative data won't work anymore.

7. Integrate traditional, online and social marketing strategies. All are complementary to one another and drive multiple successes. Figure out how the healthcare consumer wants information and give it them their way

6. Focus the company on the Voice of the Customer and the entire Patient Experience and work tirelessly to improve both. From your VoC efforts will come innovation.

5. Use data to drive change. There is so much healthcare data available, now is the time to learn how to manipulate the data sets and use outcomes to your advantage. No more guessing.

4. Define the brand, brand promise and show what the value of that brand is to your internal and external stakeholders.

3. Stop using the words "unique", "state-of-the-art", and anything that is considered "buzz word" terminology in marketing communications. Unique can be duplicated easily. State-of-the-art refers to yesterday's systems as things change so fast. Buzz words quickly fall out of favor.

2. Bridge the divide between sales and marketing. Without effective working relationships neither will be successful.

1. Be agile in your plans, execute crisply, measures and evaluate often and change immediately. Fail fast.

Get ready for the healthcare world to be turned in its head in 2014.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. 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. Like us on facebook at the michael J group.

Where does healthcare marketing go from here?

If you think because reform and the Affordable Care Act that marketing is just an unnecessary expense and you don’t need to invest resources, then you are in for a rude awakening. In the coming days, weeks, months and years ahead, marketing will become as important a department in healthcare organizations as another other department.

Here are the 10 market factors impacting why you need an “A” level marketing operation. Now.

1. Brand. Your healthcare brand will take more of a front and center stage in the new healthcare environment. It’s not just the logo or how displayed. It’s now about what your brand stands for, your brand promise and how you deliver on that each and every day in every encounter. Do you even know what your brand promise is?

2. Competition. Here it comes on a lot of different levels. On price. On outcomes. On organizational transparency. On patient experience. Long gone are the days of build it and they will come. Also gone are the days when you could get way with talking about private rooms, internet access, HD TVs, or how you are such wonderful people because you care. Patients, consumer’s employers and others are demanding information along meaningful attributes.

3. Patient experience. Still a top concern of senior leadership, patient experience across all touch-points needs to be improved. Not just the single clinical service un-integrated internal focus that most healthcare organizations take. Patient experience is about the totality and only improving one aspect of that experience leaves you vulnerable in other areas. It’s also about market research in understanding every detail and facet of that experience from the patient’s viewpoint, not yours. And that only comes from talking to your healthcares consumers.

4. Patient engagement. Different than experience, engagement is about actually developing a meaningful relationship with your healthcare consumers to build loyalty, change health behaviors and keep them from going out of network in a risk-sharing arrangement like an ACO to receive care. How do you expect to engage patients when you still send information “To our neighbors at” direct mail?

5. Demand management. Now, with a potential 40 million plus healthcare consumers having some type of insurance, the pent-up demand for healthcare services will be unleashed. That's good from the standpoint of the market in meeting the needs of healthcare consumers, but bad from the market standpoint of insufficient capacity to meet that demand. Healthcare marketing departments are going to have to learn how to manage demand and move that demand for service to the appropriate care setting and medical practitioner. Market some services and de-market others.

6. The networked healthcare consumer. The networked healthcare consumer is someone who has an intense curiosity about their health condition, expects to have an active role in making healthcare decisions and this is most important, they want control of their health information. They actively use the internet, social media , blogs, web site, apps and seek out others. They read and study about their health condition. They ask questions and will seek out alternatives. They look at providers from a quality standpoint and make judgments based on outcomes information. They want an answer to their own needs. The patient is asking what is their ROI by using you?

7. Physician Optimization and Integration. Marketing? Really? While you focus on integrating the newly employed physician or group practice and making them or keeping them profitable, how are you integrating them culturally into your healthcare system? Scant attention is devoted to such matters, but they are not trivial by any means. Culture is important and marketing should be playing a leading role in that acculturation process. Besides, you still have to work to continuously build the practice, so marketing better be there leading that effort. I have seen the physician practice operations consultants say they are strategic marketers and can do that. The great majority are clueless about marketing strategy and confuse strategy with tactics. Keep them in operations and out of marketing.

8. Marketing Strategy. Strategy and effective marketing operations is everything today in healthcare marketing. And if you have a bad strategy or no strategy, combined with marketing operational deficiencies, then no amount of tactical execution will overcome ineptitude. If you don't have a good strategy, any old road will get you to where you want to go, with significant inefficient resources utilization in cost, human capital and loss of return. Some of the verticals in the healthcare industry, are notorious for no strategy and just plain bad marketing operations, following the herd and just keeping the internal audience happy with what they want.

9. Return on Marketing Investment. No longer a nice to have, its a got to have. Unless you are measuring the outcomes of your marketing efforts along the dimensions of financial indicators, market share, brand, satisfaction, experience, brand, and its impact on organizational profitability, then why are you doing marketing "things". Marketing accountability is no different than accountability for any other part of your organization. And oh by the way, that accountability doesn't mean nice shiny marketing awards.

10. Marketing leadership. It's is time for marketing to get back to the leadership table. The healthcare marketing leader needed today must have a clear understanding of healthcare, clinical and business operations, as well as the business and financial plan. The healthcare marketing leader should be able to articulate those plans and integrate them into the strategic marketing plan of the organization. They should be able to step in and hold their own in discussions with CEOs, COO, CFOs and Boards. And that means holding those discussions in their terms. That requires a broad and deep understanding of healthcare operations to supplement your marketing education and experience.

You have a lot of work to do. No time like the present to start.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. 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. Like us on facebook at the michael J group.

How do you market to the networked patient?

Now that more healthcare information general and personal is available today than at any previous time, and healthcare reform is only going to accelerate the information exchange including outcomes transparency, how can you market and leverage in a comprehensive fashion, all that information and change?

What do you think the networked patient is saying about you in social media circles, after CMS announced the penalties for 2013 because of your high readmission rates and you greeted that with silence?

Welcome to the age of the networked patient.

The networked patient is someone who has an intense curiosity about their health condition, expects to have an active role in making healthcare decisions and this is most important, they want control of their health information.

They actively use the internet, social media , blogs, web site, apps and seek out others. They read and study about their health condition. They ask questions and will seek out alternatives. The look at providers from a quality standpoint and make judgments based on outcomes information. They want an answer to their own needs. The patient is asking what is their ROI by using you?

There are some key to keep in mind when starting to market to the networked patient:.

• Your brand, your brand promise and messaging is all important;

• Quality data transparency, reporting and patient access to that information is everything;

• Access to their own health information 24/7 is a deal breaker if not provided;

• Talk about the patient experience and outcomes;

• Don't insult this patient with messaging that is all fluff, about us or is just plain condescending;

• All communication needs to be personalized talking to the patient not at them;

• Use all available communication channels- Iphone apps,, email, social media, web site blue button, email, etc.

Be creative, this is uncharted territory so limits are nonexistent and don't place any on yourself. Stop saying, why we can't do something, start saying how we can. This is a major change in the way healthcare is administered and delivered in the U.S.

Providers need to recognizing that the age of the healthcare consumer is upon us.

I would to say thank you to my followers and readers of Healthcare Marketing Matters (HMM). HMM is now consistently over 5,000 page views a month and read in 52 countries. The heat map is from blogger stats and shows the countries where the majority of readers reside. I guess in the end, healthcare. healthcare marketing and the issues we all face are pretty much the same.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 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. Follow us on facebook at the michael J group.

Have you seen any goofy hospital advertising lately?

I have to admit, this is a pet peeve of mine, stupid hospital advertising. In a day and age where healthcare is experiencing great change, some hospital "marketers" and C-suite leadership continue to treat the healthcare consumer like they are some kind of idiot, incapable of making informed choices.

Do you believe that by offering a massage with a digital mammography, that women will choose to have their mammography at your facility? I would like to see the market research on that one. But then, odds are on that there wasn't any market research.

Remember, when you are marketing to individuals, they don't become a patient until they receive a service from you. So in one-third of the time in their interactions with you, the "person" is only a "patient" during diagnosis and treatment. Two-thirds of the time they are not patients, and most likely are arguing with your billing department about the charges.

And healthcare marketers wonder why no one takes them seriously.

Arguments aside, what should hospitals be advertising to create an unassailable market position, a strong brand, as well as an enlightened and informed consumer?

Is it the, "we are unique and world-class"? Even though The Joint Commission was just there for a sentential event.

Our technology is state-of-the-art. Never mind that a new technology was just introduced and you don't have it.

Another winner; we have the most shiny trophies and quality awards for several services. Oh, and even though we don't have a quality award for all services, if everybody else was as good as us message to go with it, "a 100,000 lives would be saved annually"! Really.

Or, how about the ever present focus on the physicians with messaging about having the best specialists in the region. And just so happens that these same physician practice medicine at the hospital down the street or across town. Hmm, does that make less qualified at the other place?

Then there is the here are the insurance plans we accept, you're the center of our world, followed by the we have big screen TVs and private rooms!

Let us not forget for a new hospital that just opened, "the air in your room is like the clean air in surgery."

I think, that pretty much for the most part, sums up the current state of hospital advertising.

And when several hospitals are staying all of these things at the same time in a market, do you really believe that the consumer is paying any attention at all, when there is so little differentiation, it all looks like "me too" and just shouting for attention?

I am sure it makes the Board, senior management and physicians feel good. All the while your audience receives absolutely no information that will help them make some of the most critical choices and decisions in their life.

And that can't go on any longer.

Time really to stop treating the healthcare consumer like they are some kind of idiot. People are coming to the realization that healthcare is not such the "black box that the consumer can't possibly "understand the complexity of medical care".

Time for meaningful information in the marketplace that will allow the healthcare consumer to become informed, educated and participatory in the care decision-making process. Time for marketing to begin to lead in hospitals instead of being order takers, and talking nonsense in their markets.

You should be transparent and talking about your outcomes. You need to engage in a meaningful dialogue that gives individuals the information that they want and need. The healthcare consumer is hungry for information and are searching the internet and other sources about you and how you perform. They are paying more of the cost. Demanding more say in what goes on. And don't like being treated like they are some small child who can't make a decision.

To use an often quoted metaphor, the wave of change is upon the hospital industry as we move from provider-dominated and controlled decision-making, to consumer and patient-directed, controlled healthcare. Your choice, change, be responsive and surf the wave to success, or be washed over and deposited on the ash heap of history.

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.

What is your market position in healthcare?

With the reformation of healthcare in the U.S. moving forward full speed ahead, most healthcare providers will need to undertake a full detailed examination of their position in the market vies a vie their competitors.

A simple question that is not easily answered. That is, if you're being honest.

Positioning is not a tactic. It is a strategy.

If someone in your organization tells you it's a tactic then they are once again showing that they don't marketing, and don't know what they are talking about. And just because you think you are superior, and say so in your marketing, doesn't mean the market sees you as superior. Too much organizational group think at play perhaps?

There are really only three positions you can have in a market, superior, equivalent or inferior. And just saying you have the newest hi-tech equipment, offer world-class care, revolve around the customer, build a new building, or produce a white paper does not, let me repeat, does not mean you hold a superior market position, or even a thought-leadership position for that matter.

If your market share has not changed much over the last few years your are not in a superior position. If revenue has not grown but stayed steady, you are not in a superior position. If your products, solutions and services are haven't changed much, then you are not in a superior market position.

If customers keep asking you about what you are doing in an area, then you are in an inferior market position. If your market segments can't tell the difference between you and someone else, you are in an equivalent position.

And when all things are equal, people buy on price.

And with all the potential families and individuals with health insurance becoming available, if you haven't established a superior market position, then an equivalent or inferior position gets you into a price war. In value-based and P4P payment programs, superior brings more revenue. Equivalent market positions brings less; while inferior positions will penalize you.

So before you start marketing, you need to take a closer look at your market position, how you are positioning your healthcare organization and the market position you need to dominate and control.

That is marketing strategy first. Tactics to get you to that position, second.

No more do-over's. You either position yourself correctly first and control the market, or it controls you.

Your choice, superior, equivalent or inferior, choose or it will be chosen 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.

Is the SCOTUS reform ruling a healthcare marketing change opportunity?

The die is cast and the way forward never more clear. Value-based payment, physician integration, bundled payments, population health, demand management, ACOs, P4P structures evolving and leading the transformation of healthcare as we know it. All of which is followed by the slow and painful demise of fee-for-service payments. Enter now into the reality of healthcare where quality, accountability, reduced care fragmentation, value for the price paid and innovation are king.

And with great change comes great opportunity.

How do you market in a time of upheaval and charge? Especially as healthcare providers must compete on outcome transparency, quality and cost. A triple threat and uncharted territory. Outcomes data will be the driver and available to the consumer to make an informed choice. A monumental shift in the market place of who controls the information. What worked in the past won't work tomorrow.

Brand

Your message needs to be clear and concise, echoing your brand promise and the value that you bring though your care system to the consumer or the insurer. Focus on outcomes not high-tech or touchy- feely. Consumers are too sophisticated for such a simple message.

How you position yourself a vie others is critical and you get one shot. You need to do it right. Remember, you can only take one of three positions in the market, superior, equivalent or inferior. The initial positioning of your brand is one of the most critical tasks you face. With an informed consumer bearing more of the cost, you have one shot to get it right. No do over's anymore.

Make sure your brand name and logo is consistent throughout the organization. Commit to excellence in customer service and create a Voice of the Customer program to establish and maintain a continuous feedback loop with your key customers. This is not lip service; this is real change. Failure to do so will label you as inferior. Poor customer service is no longer acceptable.


Marketing Leadership

Marketing is strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services will be determined by the needs of the market, not your gut feeling. You cannot become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and experiences of marketing is not at the leadership table.

Patient Experience

Use patient testimonials in everything you do and physician testimonials for everything related to referring physicians. Make sure your docs are doing their part in outreach to other physicians and getting medical information and the patient returned to the primary care doc as quickly as possible.

Understand from the patients and family's viewpoint the entire customer experience from beginning to end and make sure that execution is flawless. Out-service the other hospitals and clinics. Shortened waiting time, faster results, technology you have etc. The object is to turn patients as much as possible into customer evangelists. Word-of-mouth referrals but you can only do that through service experience. I did series of posts on Customer Experience Management, read those they should help

Price Transparency

Out price where you can the other hospitals for the insurance payers. Lock down the network, make sure you accept all the plans that your patient and referring docs accept. Make sure in your materials that you list all of the insurance plans you accept. Work the payers to set yourself up as the preferred provider. And make a big deal of that. Get the payers and insurance companies to do some heavy lifting for you by getting them to let their members know you are a preferred provider.

Outcomes Data

One area that is greatly lacking in healthcare marketing, is an intelligent dialogue on your outcomes with your audiences. Payors', pharma and medical device, have recognized this and are leading in the use of quality and outcomes data to drive decision-making. It is time for the rest of the healthcare industry to catch up.

Use outcome data where you have it.

Population Health Education

Patient education is a great medium to reinforce your brand, your brand promise and create customer evangelists. But that of course assumes, that you are doing original work in patient education. And not, just throwing together one-page disease information sheets, or using information from associations or pharma. Just because you throw some patient education materials in a box, doesn't mean that you are accomplishing anything. Other than your materials possibly reaching the recycle bin.

This is by no means a knock on any association or pharma materials, for they are great sources of information and advice. They just lack an organizational imprint of who you are, your brand and brand promise, to be able to showcase the breadth and depth of your knowledge and expertise. And that imprint doesn't mean putting your logo on the materials.

Besides the pervasive fear of competitors seeing what you are doing, patient education materials need to be on your web site and in easily accessible and downloadable formats. You can use QR codes in your mobile marketing that take individuals to the patient education section. Reference them in your communications programs. Build a marketing strategy around them to differentiate you from other providers.

Hold wellness classes and seminars on topics that people want to learn about, even use the Internet to do doctor led webcast.

Traditional Marketing

Direct mail, it still works.

In advertisements, make sure that there is a photo of the physicians for the service and patient testimonials about that doctors care and treatment. Use outcomes data.

Advertise that you are more than just a hospital, but a comprehensive healthcare center that does many things.

Set your docs up as expert subject matter content experts for local print and electronic news outlets. It never hurts, crank out press releases when you can.

Make sure your employees deliver an very high level of customer/patient service. Look at your patient satisfaction scores and see where you can improve.

Work with your admitting physicians to make it as easy as possible for them to admit patients to your hospital or seek treatment for outpatient services such as lab, ex-ray etc.

Use Social Media

Don't forget social media and how powerful a medium it is to create customer evangelists.

Keep in constant communication with your patients/consumers/members. Use all the tools available. You are only limited by your imagination. Facebook, twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn etc. People are wired today and expecting the same of you. Integrate social media in all that you do.

Make sure your web site is user friendly and easy to scheduled appointments or pay bills and contain wellness information.


Build Loyalty

Create a loyalty program. This is not a taboo and except for government program beneficiaries in Medicare and Medicaid or other government funded programs. You can create a loyalty program. Fact is not all patients are the same so you might as well take advantage of it before others do. It can be a powerful differentiator. Step out and be creative.

Understanding and Execute Demand Management

The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. Marketing needs to understand what the demand for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed and manage that demand making sure that the hospital or health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to meet demand. The days are rapidly slipping away where marketing will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. You will drive demand to the appropriate place and location of service, at a price the market is willing to pay.

Live long and prosper.
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.