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. 

Is social media in hospitals easy?

Last week I wrote about what don’t hospitals  get  about social media. This week’s topic, is social media in a hospital or health system easy,  is about some ideas to re-energize and move forward with a social media program.

In hospitals and health systems, it really comes down to three questions to be answered. First, is there an organizational understanding  standing of the power of social media to engage the healthcare consumer and patients and its place in the annual marketing plan? Secondly, do you have the marketing  talent  to construct, execute  and evaluate the effort? Finally, can marketing resources - capital and human, be allocated to the social media program?

I am not going to debate whether or not a hospital or health system should or should not have a social media program.  That train left the station a long time ago and its catch up time for healthcare organizations.  But, if you can’t answer all three question positively, then you have some basic ground work to do before you move forward.

In the new world of healthcare where price, quality and a newly insured healthcare consumer paying more out-of-pocket costs for healthcare, social media represents an opportunity that can be used advantageously  to meet healthcare consumer’s and patient’s for that matter, demands for better direct engagement and experience.

Social media is an opportunity for establishing a one-on-one relationship with the patient, aka the healthcare consumer, directed by the healthcare organization that breaks from the pack, by creating an  experience that is memorable and can exceed an individual or families experience and expectations.

When you have constrained marketing resources, and you have to have a continuous presence in the market place to shift healthcare consumer’s attitudes, preferences and choices, a social media strategy that is fully integrated into the marketing plan and the healthcare organizations can achieve that end for you.

Follow these steps and you're on your way to developing and implementing  a strategically-focused, comprehensive and fully integrated, organizationally transparent social media strategy:

1. Strategy first, tactics second. Any old road will get you to where you want to go without a clear identifiable strategy. This is no different than a traditional marketing approach. Integrate the tools and techniques of social media  into your overall marketing efforts.

2.  Be clear about  your messages and what value using these tools will bring to your healthcare consumers.  The purpose is to engage in a dialogue not shout at them.  You have to understand what type of information and content your consumers want.  Without that knowledge you can say whatever you want, but chances are no one will be reading, responding or listening.

3. Take an integrated approach.  What goes on your web site is also on facebook and used in twitter to drive traffic to you.  Twitter is a great way to send out links for health related articles or news and information.   Have a video? Post it on YouTube. Writing a healthcare blog? You should be if you're not. Make sure twitter, facebook, YouTube, flicker etc follow you buttons are on your site. Running  Back-to- School, Sports or Camp physicals? Put it on twitter, facebook and even those coupon sites like Groupon. Holding a health and wellness event, ditto.

4. Use QR codes with your web site or specific page links or phone number embedded  in them to drive them to your site, call center or service line. Through the use of QR codes you can make your print and traditional activities social in nature.

5. Remember at all times your are building brand, perception and experience. This just isn't nice to have, people will remember what you say and do.  Be right the first time.

6.  Devote resources, budget, time and personnel for the task.  Your challenge is to keep in front of your audience with relevant information, all the time.  Attention spans are short.  If someone sees no changes on a pretty regular basis in your content or information, they will fall away.

7. Measure everything.  Evaluate.  Adjust based on your findings.

8. Be creative, don't limit yourself to the tried and true or what a competitor is doing. Be an innovator.

9. Use social media with your physicians and employees to communicate, build organizational support and loyalty.

10. Build excitement around what you are doing.

The budding  healthcare consumer and patient of today is social media savvy and networked to the nth degree.  They expect the same of you.

Can 2014 be the year of healthcare marketing ROI?

With the start of the Chinese New Year and it’s the Year of the Horse, why not make 2014 the year of healthcare marketing ROI? As we all face increasingly reduced marketing resources both human and capital in hospital, health systems and other providers, the only way I know to even begin to turn that around is by proving to the organization the Marketing Return on Investment or ROMI.

It’s not the impossible task. And it does involve a high degree of collaboration with the finance department.

Depending on the type of health care organization that one is employed by the measures will be different. For example, if the healthcare organization is sales drive, then measure the generation of Marketing Qualified Leads, Sales Accepted Leads, and based on that increases in the long and short term funnel compared to YOY. Any organization using email can measure click through rate, open rate, unsubscribed rates, open rate and downloads. For hospitals and health system if you have the right systems then you can pull integrated clinical and financial databases by campaign to calculate the ROMI.

Below is an example of an actual computation that I completed for a multi-hospital health system. Now that being said, I did have the good fortune to have an RN staffed call center which was used heavily in all campaigns.  And because the call center and finance systems were linked, once you have that name then you can track and determine the customer value, revenues generated and a return on investment ratio.

The method can be adapted to any campaign and provides you with the data fields and logical analysis you need.  This is not prohibited under HIPPA, so that is not a reason to say no can’t.

An analysis was undertaken to look at the ROMI of the Physician Referral Call Center. The analysis matched a database of call center name records for the period to financial records which had already been downloaded.  The analysis produced the following results:

      9,102 call records were matched with utilization and financial data.

      9,102 calls resulted in a total of 9,121 encounters in the ER, Inpatient and Outpatient categories of service.

      751 encounters were ER

o   177 returning encounters

o   573 first time encounters

      1,105 encounters were Inpatient

o    530 returning encounters

o    699 first time encounters

      7,267 were Outpatient

o   2,014 returning encounters

o   5,253 first time encounters

      Total charges for all encounters equaled $22,522,649

      Charges for new encounters all services totaled $16,085,198 or 71 percent of the total charges

      Average charge per ER encounter  $1,304

      Average charge per  Inpatient encounter $13,581

      Average charge per Outpatient encounter  $903

      Gallup measures loyalty at 68 percent (would return for service) which means that for every 100 patients 32 would not return for care- therefore:

o   ED- 57 returning encounters captured that would not have returned

o   Inpatient – 170 returning encounters captured that would not have returned

o   Outpatient- 645 returning encounters captured that would not have returned

      Incremental charges counted returning encounters not loyal

o   ER - $74,337

o   Inpatient- $2,308,851

o   Outpatient-  $582,505

o   Subtotal charges counted:  $2,965,693

      Overall market share in primary and secondary service area is 14.53 percent. The number of first time encounters have utilized us above market presence is therefore:

o   ER 573 first time encounters,  83 not countered, 490 counted –

o   Inpatient – 699 first time encounters, 101 not counted,  598 counted

o   Outpatient – 5,253 first time encounters, 763 encounters not counted, 4,490 counted

      Based on an overall market share of  14.5  percent the  incremental charges counted for new  encounters not because of market presence:

o   ER - $638,960

o   Inpatient – $8,121,438

o   Outpatient –  $4,054,470

      Total Charges counted: $12,814,868

      Discount from gross charges for Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care, Bad Debt and Charity Care @ 65% is $8,326,644

      Net Revenue:  $4,488,224

      PRCC program costs:  $233,410

      Net contribution:  $4,254,814

      ROI 18.22:1

Let’s make 2104 the year of return on marketing investment in healthcare.

I am a healthcare consumer. Do you know what I need?

I am a healthcare consumer and spending more out of pocket than I ever have in the history of healthcare.  I see the data on price and wonder why it’s so different when you won’t tell me why? I have seen the quality data but wonder if I will get sick from a hospital acquired infection, have an accident or get the wrong medications?

I am a healthcare consumer and see the nice advertisements and billboards for the hospital or health system with shinny trophies and award logos, but I don’t know what that means. The hospital or health system claims world class care but how do I know that is really true? I see what people are saying about the hospital or health system in social media circles.

I am the healthcare consumer who is newly insured because my employer sent me to the marketplace to buy my own insurance, or my policy was canceled due to ACA. I am the healthcare consumer who never had insurance before so why should I use you?

I am the healthcare consumer.

I read an interesting article published by Healthcare Finance News, Healthcare 2.0: Patient as consumers the other day and it caused me to pause by catching my attention. Then I started thinking what does that mean for healthcare marketing?

As healthcare evolves to a semi-retail environment difficult choices and decisions by hospitals and health systems are on the horizon.  And hiding behind the “we’re healthcare and we are different” won’t make those choices and decisions go away.

Granted, healthcare will never be a fully consumer driven market in the traditional sense. Some healthcare treatments, screenings etc., are needed by patients because they just don’t know about those services but that doesn't mean decision-making any longer without consumer market research.

Healthcare providers need a deep understanding of who the healthcare consumer is, what their needs are both perceived and unmet.  Now that being said there will always be services that need to be offered, but if you are communicating with a 25 year old, should you really be taking to them about colon cancer screenings or the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse?

This market dynamic is really transformational. Market research to achieve a deep understanding of who the healthcare consumer across all you market segments is needed like never before. That includes a voice of the customer program as well. And marketing needs to be at the table in this discussion and playing an active role. It is no longer I think this is the right way because the Board, doctor’s, senior management or the clinician’s had an idea. It’s now I know this the right decision in program design, communication messages and market approach because it’s based on facts.

And these are topics I have been writing about for the past several years now.

I am the healthcare consumer. Now what are you trying to sell me?

How do you market the employed physician?

With dynamic changes taking place in the healthcare as it evolves to a semi-retail environment, employment of physicians is seen as central to the success of hospitals and health systems surviving in an era of reform.   A side note to physicians, I believe that there will always be independent practitioners, but that is a discussion for another day.   

With this new opportunity to reinvent, revitalize and recapture what previously before had been an adventure on the part of hospitals with mixed results, its time to discuss how one goes about marketing the employed physician.

It's easy to look at this and say we'll just do what we did in the past in promoting employed physicians and be done with it.  That is a dangerous mistake in the age of healthcare consumerism.  The newly insured are expecting to have some level of choice, are social media networked and will be controlling many of the purchase decisions where previously, the healthcare provider drove many of those decisions. 

What is needed is a new look at what you are doing and changing to meet the needs of the newly insured healthcare consumer.

With great change comes great opportunity.  That is if one is willing to embrace that change and find new ways of moving forward and creating value. 

Brand. Value. The Healthcare Consumers Choice.

Communicate very strongly how your brand and brand promise are associated with the employed physician.  Doesn't matter if he or she is in a Medical Office Building (MOB) you own, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Medical Home (MH) or a multispecialty group practice.  Bring your brand to the forefront and brand the doc to you. The physician represents the healthcare providers brand at an individual level.  Capitalize on that credibility transfer opportunity and leverage it.

Communicate the value that the employed physician brings to the community and the healthcare consumer.  Communicate the value that the doctor brings to the brand.  Stop talking at people, talk to them. Talk to them with compelling value driven reasons and stories as to why they should select that doctor, or even why they should even considering switching physicians. 

Stop wasting money putting ads in papers that expect people to take action simply because the doctor is on your medical staff. That treats the healthcare consumer like they are idiots.  They're not. They are demanding value and acknowledgement that they have a say in what's going on.  If you won't meet their needs they will go somewhere else.

The newly insured healthcare consumer is gaining market power as they reach into their pockets to pay those high deductibles and co-pays.  As the economic cost rises for the healthcare consumer, so does their attention to outcomes, quality, experience and price.

If you're not communicating brand, value and what's in it for them for selecting the employed physician, then you can put it in the bank that the healthcare consumer is will pass on by  and go where they perceive the value to be greatest for them in line with the price they are paying.

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 can service recovery impact the patient experience?

Mistakes happen; for as healthcare organizations we are only human. And those errors whether they are care or everyday decisions can impact the patient experience positively or negatively. So the question becomes do you recognize when service recovery is needed acting swiftly and decisively, or do you wait until there is a complaint and then act after it was already realized that an error occurred?

I think it’s a valid question from a marketing standpoint for several reasons. With the growth of social media and actively engaged adults, they have become the new paparazzi and can do wide spread reputational damage in literarily the blink of an eye.  Taking accountability and doing what is right improves the patient experience and satisfaction scores. And finally, when everyone is talking about what a high quality provider they are and to look no further, service recovery can positively impact brand by reinforcing the brand promise and brand message.

For example, I take 4,000mg daily of pharmaceutical grade fish oil to help me manage high triglycerides.  I am also in an auto ship program with omegavia. Lovaza is not on the drug formulary for my PBM so I worked with my physician to find a suitable replacement. Well in November I received two emails on the same day that my monthly supply has shipped. I thought that maybe an error had occurred and a duplicate email was sent out.  Sure enough the next day I received two separate shipments of my fish oil.

I contacted omegavia and talked to the off hours answering service and was told I would receive a call the next day. I also explained in the initial call that I wanted my December shipment suspended until January 2014.

The call did come the next day, but it wasn’t the please explain to us what happened call. The call was the customer service representative apologizing for the double shipment.  They were suspending my shipment in December and would resume in January 2014. Oh and that there was no charge for the second shipment because it was their error. Not only did I receive the call, but a confirmation email as well.

The omegavia service recovery effort was: timely; accurate, responsive, courteous; exceedingly satisfactory; improved the experience; and made me a customer evangelist.

And it does have a financial impact to the company in terms of the free months dose, the suspension of one month shipment, as well as shipping and handling costs of probably around $120 or so. I know it’s not a great amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but the point is there was no hesitation on their part to make it right.

The real kicker in all of this was when they told me that they were proactively working with their shipping department to understand the root cause of the process failure and understand how the double shipment resulted to fix the process.   Notice here that they did not throw anyone under the bus or say it was some unnamed person on the back office somewhere or a computer error. They owned up, realized the process had a built in error potential and saw this as an opportunity to improve.

Now when was the last time in a hospital or health system service recovery efforts did all of the above take place?

Please don’t go down the, “well this is pharma and retail and we are different argument”. Not really. While omegavia operates in healthcare retail environment, hospitals and health systems are moving to a semi-retail environment. In this  environment where the healthcare consumer with high deductible plans are paying higher premiums with significant out-of-pocket expenses,  they will be expecting more from providers in the service recovery effort and patient experience. It is no longer about what the hospital or health system wants do, it’s about making the healthcare consumer, aka the patient, a customer evangelist and that can only be done through the patient experience and a service recovery process that is second to none.

Repeat after me, service recovery and experience is about the healthcare consumer not the hospital or health system.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not receive any kind of remuneration either in payment or in-kind gifts.  This post was about my experience and where I believe hospitals and health systems need to go in their service recovery efforts as part of the  patient experience management program.

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 and Twitter.

Is your healthcare marketing driven by HIPPO?

I saw something the other day that really commanded my attention.  It raised that old question related to marketing effectiveness and efficiency.  Is your marketing regardless of the type of industry, driven by HIPPO?

Sounds interesting you say? What is this marketing by HIPPO?  Get ready because you may not like the answer.

HIPPO = Highest Internally Paid Person’s Opinion

And the marketing that I witnessed drove this point home. And the not so funny thing about it is that the marketing department will be blamed for the nonsense when really, the question should be was it a bad decision and performance by marketing, or was this driven in a large extent by a highest paid person’s opinion. 

That happens a lot in healthcare.  No marketing science, no qualitative understanding of markets, just opinion, hearsay and flavor of the day from reading an article or seeing a competitor’s advertisement. No primary or secondary market research or understanding customer needs except in the most superficial level. One maybe two people say something and then it’s the whole universe acts that way.  I am the highest internally paid person here, so go do this. A competitor does this, so you do this. I have made up my mind because I believe this to be true and I am the insert title here- CEO - EVP – VP, etc.

 

Do you work in a HIPPO marketing organization? Be honest now.

The characteristics of such an organization are as follows:  larger than life executive egos (big fish in a little pond); lack of sustained adherence to mission, vision and values beyond executive decree; short attention span due to constantly shifting plans and priorities; the inability to execute operationally; constant crisis and chaos; and adherence to that “this is the way we have always done it so way we are doing it that way”.  Or what I call slavery to the past because I say so.

As we continue on with HIPPO characteristics: communication is poor interdepartmentally;  marketing is seen as doing “stuff”;  and the best one of all - proposed marketing solutions are seen an “elegant” and not as the right way to build revenue and brand because they aren’t expedient.  It’s all about the HIPPO and what they believe regardless of any lack of foundation in reality.

In today’s world of lightning fast change, social media and the growing power of the healthcare consumer with more of an economic stake, you can’t afford ineffective and inefficient healthcare marketing.  That doesn’t build a strong brand. That doesn’t provide you with a competitive advantage. And most importantly, it doesn’t engage the healthcare consumer in any meaningful way.

HIPPO healthcare marketing is a prescription for failure.

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.

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.

Are you using social media marketing for an exceptional healthcare experience?

In the new world of healthcare where price, quality and a newly insured healthcare consumer is paying more out-of-pocket costs for healthcare, social media marketing represents an opportunity that can be used advantageously to meet healthcare consumers demands for a better experience.

Social media represents a great opportunity for establishing a one-on-one relationship with the patient, aka the healthcare consumer, directed by the healthcare organization that breaks from the pack, by creating a social media healthcare experience that is memorable, exceeding an individual or families experience and expectations.

Most healthcare organizations are still stumbling with using social media and the online experience to drive differentiation, meaningful information and experience. Think of this in terms of a channel of communications and engagement that meets the healthcare consumer on their terms but with your messaging.

In any case, when you look at your social media strategy and presence, does your social media experience:

Ø  Delight your customer?

Ø  Create sustainable differentiation?

Ø  Is adaptable to new opportunities?

Ø  Leverages your investment?

Ø  Deliver in every situation?

Ø  Connect with the newly insured?

Ø  Does it engage the healthcare consumer?

Ø  Provide answers or guidance looking for solutions to medical challenges?

Ø  Define experience, outcomes, price and value?

Or, is it just pushing out information that is that you have deemed valuable to you, but carries no relevant meaning for the healthcare consumer?  

This is the lens of criticality needed to objectively evaluate efforts.  If it's not doing these things, then chances are nil in delivering an exceptional social media experience. But for that matter, neither are your competitors. 

Make your social media presence not just "good enough" but exceptional.

On another note, my apologies for missing a post last week. I was out of town with my wife and daughter last weekend. Alex is a left-handed pitcher on a 16U a fastpitch softball college exposure team and we were in Des Moines, Iowa for the ASA 16U A Heartland Showcase Series College Exposure Tournament.   Saturday was playing for college coaches and scouts. Sunday was a single elimination tournament.  There were  27,16U A teams playing. We made it to the final four and a three way tie for 1^st place because the final games were canceled due to rain. It was a good time.

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.