Viewpoint: Strategies for Success

The Missing Elements in Health Systems' Digital Front Door Strategies

By The SHSMD Team posted 10 days ago
Written by: Aasim Saeed , Founder and CEO, Amenities In today’s rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, selecting the optimal digital front door solution has become a critical task for health system CIOs, innovation leaders, and marketing executives. The plethora of options available often leads to decision paralysis, costly DIY efforts, or the adoption of ineffective solutions. This blog aims to provide actionable insights on how to navigate this complex decision-making process, focusing on tips, best practices, and case studies while highlighting common pitfalls to avoid. Understanding Consumer Frustrations One of the primary ...
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How AdventHealth for Children Created a Mental Health Movement

By The SHSMD Team posted 05-20-2024
Written by: Jaeann Ashton , Marketing Director | AdventHealth | Orlando, FL What if one conversation can change, or even save, a life? That was the question AdventHealth for Children sought to answer last May, as the health system launched a movement that gets kids and parents talking about mental health. Hospitals are in a unique position to address the youth mental health crisis, and AdventHealth for Children has seen firsthand the alarming number of children struggling with anxiety, depression, and even self-harm and suicidal ideation. From 2018 through June 2020, at AdventHealth Orlando’s tri-county hospital system, 1,004 pediatric ...
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Instant Reaction: Walmart Health to Close Retail Health Locations

By The SHSMD Team posted 05-01-2024
Sometimes, industry news breaks that is both shocking and not surprising at the same time. That happened yesterday when Walmart Health announced a major change to its retail health strategy. Specifically, ending primary care services. Walmart will close all its health care clinics across the country. The change will impact 51 health centers across five states and shut down Walmart’s virtual care offering as well. The company will continue to operate nearly 4,600 pharmacies and more than 3,000 vision centers. Along with Amazon Health, Walmart was one of the big, original “disruptive” forces to traditional health care. This decision obviously ...
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Leveraging Creative Partnerships to Support Growth for Rural Health and Critical Access Hospitals

By The SHSMD Team posted 04-16-2024
Written by: Sally Mildren, CEO + Chief Strategist for ClarityPX Let’s face it, there is never a lack of work to do in health care marketing. The challenge is compounded when you are a team of one or two. Rural health marketers and leaders face additional challenges than larger urban competitors who may have better systems, infrastructure and funding. The American College of Healthcare Executives, says the health care CEO turnover ranges from 18-20% each year. That is hard on any organization, but on rural health and critical access hospitals it can have even more impact as recruiting costs and timeframes risk delay of strategic and operational ...
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4 Ways to Drive Transformational Change in Sustainability

By The SHSMD Team posted 04-02-2024
Like a growing number of health care organizations, New Jersey’s Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) system has been on a journey for some time now to reduce its environmental impact and boost sustainability practices. Recent achievements include: Investing more than $116 million in energy-efficient upgrades. Purchasing 99% of furnishings free of harmful chemicals. Ensuring that all the electronics it purchased in 2022 were EPEAT [Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool]-certified, meaning that they meet environmental compliance criteria that address issues like materials selection, supply chain greenhouse gas-emissions ...
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Go Beyond Celebration: Make Black History Month Meaningful

By The SHSMD Team posted 02-27-2024
Go Beyond Celebration: Make Black History Month Meaningful Black History Month is a powerful opportunity to deepen understanding, build bridges, and ignite action. This Black History Month, let's move past token gestures and create lasting impact. Invest in learning, support Black voices, and take action together. This isn't just about a month, it's about building a more equitable future, one step at a time. Here are 5 ways to engage your team in a journey beyond celebration: 1. Invest in Growth: Commit to personal and professional DEI development. Enroll in a DEI training together as a team to expand your knowledge and empathy. 2. Support & ...
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Why ADA Compliance Matters in Health Care Marketing

By The SHSMD Team posted 02-14-2024
Written by: Melissa Fors Shackelford; Managing Director, Evernorth In health care marketing, a commitment to inclusivity and accessibility is essential. By embracing accessible and inclusive marketing tactics, health care marketers acknowledge and show respect for the diversity within their patient base. Beyond regulatory compliance, building brand reputation and brand loyalty, one of the main benefits of accessible health care marketing is expanding your potential audience. Nearly 25% of the population is living with a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and would be missed if health care marketing ...
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Employers Will Be Focusing on These 3 Health Care Strategy Areas. Are You Ready?

By The SHSMD Team posted 01-30-2024
America’s employers will evaluate their health plans, partnerships and vendors more closely this year as they try to create value, achieve higher quality and procure cost-effective services. This will extend to high-focus areas like mental health, the rising costs of cancer care and drug prices, notes the 2024 Large Employer Health Care Strategy Survey from the Business Group on Health. 1 | Mental Health Challenges Rise Overall, 77% of employers reported an increase in mental health concerns, compared with 44% of last year’s respondents; another 16% in the 2024 survey said that they anticipate mental health challenges becoming a bigger concern in ...
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4 Ways to Address Top 2024 Challenges

By The SHSMD Team posted 01-16-2024
As health care continues to transform this year, executives will face challenges related to finances, technology, workforce and other areas. Across the field, thought leaders have been busy offering their best guesses, insights and predictions for how this year is likely to shake out. Here is what caught our attention. 1 | Align your digital health strategy as legacy systems are sunset. Many health care organizations are at the midpoint of their digital transformation and most leaders expect that the continued adoption of digital tools will impact their 2024 strategy, notes a recent Deloitte survey of providers and payers . Organizations should focus ...
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4 Ways to Build Your Talent Pipeline

By The SHSMD Team posted 12-19-2023
Clinical and nonclinical staffing remains a top concern for health care leaders. To grow and retain their workforce, hospitals and health systems need to pursue a multipronged approach, notes the AHA’s recently released 2024 Health Care Workforce Scan . This should encompass: Recruiting innovatively for clinical and nonclinical positions. Improving training and supporting practice readiness. Expanding career pathways. Building workforce diversity. Here are some of the innovative ways AHA members are executing a broad spectrum of strategies. 1 | Partner Productively Baltimore County, University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center ...
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A Message of Gratitude from the SHSMD Advisory Board President, Alan Shoebridge

By The SHSMD Team posted 12-15-2023
As this year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the incredible journey we have shared as SHSMD members. It has been my privilege to serve as advisory board president during 2023, and I’m so excited about SHSMD’s future. This last year has been one of remarkable achievements and unwavering commitment to empowering professionals like you who drive the success of health care organizations and solution providers. SHSMD provides a platform for members to learn, connect, and grow professionally, all while facing the significant issues that continue to challenge health care. Why does membership matter? SHSMD remains ...
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4 Ways Updating Workforce Models Can Deliver Big Results

By The SHSMD Team posted 11-21-2023
Hospitals and health systems are reexamining and redesigning clinical care delivery and staffing strategies. This primarily is a response to the nation’s rapidly changing demographics and the large numbers of clinicians leaving the field due to retirement or other factors. And even though it’s still early in this transformation, many provider organizations are making impressive gains, notes the AHA’s recently released 2024 Health Care Workforce Scan . The report provides a wealth of examples of how provider organizations are piloting new care models and leveraging existing and emerging digital technologies to augment, support and streamline workforce roles. ...
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Best Practices for Open Enrollment Advertising for Insurers

By The SHSMD Team posted 11-08-2023
Written by: Sharon Carothers , Managing Director, SensisHealth The health care insurance industry is preparing for open enrollment (OE) in the fall. Insurers are plotting their approach for effective use of consumer advertising to drive OE success . There are three unique and challenging characteristics of OE advertising for insurers: specific, short time period (October – December) marketplace is cluttered with advertisers enrollment is a complicated, multistep process The following are some OE advertising best practices using these ...
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5 Health Care Marketing Trends for 2024

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-31-2023
Written by Katie Sorce, Marketing & Content Strategist, Smith & Jones  2024 is almost here . Accelerated by the pandemic, the health care field is seeing profound transformation and change that won’t slow down. At the forefront of these changes is the surge in patient empowerment, consumerism, and the disruption from retail health providers.  #1 The Acceleration of Patient Empowerment and Consumerism In the past, the health care system was characterized by a hierarchical structure, with the revered physicians at the apex and patients taking a passive role in their care. But thanks to the internet, consumers ...
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Overcoming Bias: Unlocking the Mind

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-17-2023
Written by: Andy Semons , Founder, Strategic Planning Partner, IPNY The emphasis on Diversity , Equity and Inclusion (DEI) has been long overdue for health care marketers, and as we come to terms with how to broaden our appeal to the people in our communities and be more inclusive, we’ r e realizing that it’s not an easy task . W e’re also learning more about bias and the need to work with it – both the biases that our targets may have against certain health care issues or institutions and the biases we may have that guide how we think or feel about the populations we serve. In recent years, ...
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6 Ways to Build a Rewards Strategy to Retain Nurse Managers

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-03-2023
As hospitals and health system executives refine strategies to improve recruitment and retention of nurses, particularly nurse leaders, nonsalary forms of compensation may need closer scrutiny. Most strategies tend to focus on role, scope, span of control, empowerment, recognition and professional development, notes the AHA’s American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s (AONL’s) Nursing Leadership Workforce Compendium . While all are important, the evaluation of clinical practices explains that these strategies have limited impact if they do not address underlying market competitive compensation and rewards. The Benefits Nurse Leaders Value Most ...
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SHSMD23 Puts Digital Marketing Strategy and Its Role in Patient Care in the Spotlight

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-29-2023
Written by: Deanna Martin ; V ice P resident , P rofessional M embership G roups , American Hospital Association. The Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development will host the   SHSMD23 Connections Conference  Sept. 10 – 12 in Chicago . This annual gathering of hospital and health system professionals from marketing/digital engagement, communications/public relations, strategic planning and/or business development delivers three days of actionable content, networking and collaboration with the nation’s top health care strategists. Attendees can exchange transformative marcom strategies and future-focused ...
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How Mayo Clinic Hospital Has Built Authentic Partnerships to Assess and Address Community Health Needs

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-22-2023
Written by: Marion Kelly ; D irector of the Office for Community Engagement ; Mayo Clinic Hospital , Arizona. Ten years ago, the Affordable Care Act mandated triannual community health needs assessments to document how hospitals are meeting the health needs in their communities. The Mayo Clinic Hospital in Arizona, where I serve as director of the Office for Community Engagement, is a tertiary referral care hospital. Community hospitals that have patients who have complex health needs and who need specialty care send those patients to us. Though our patients come from across the state and across the U.S. — and even around ...
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Navigating Health Care in an Age of Misinformation

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-15-2023
With all of the information available surrounding health and health care, how do you know what’s accurate and what’s not? The infamous “Dr. Google” leads many individuals down a seemingly inescapable rabbit hole. It’s important to know how to seek out reliable sources, so you don’t panic when panic is undeserved. Kathy Wilets , Senior Director of Media Relations and Content Marketing, and Paul Gadd, Director of Internal Communications, both from the University of Utah Health , share helpful insights for anyone who is wrestling with the over-abundance of information at our fingertips. Truth: Straight from Physicians’ ...
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7 Ways to Encourage Underrepresented Groups To Participate In Medical Research and Clinical Trials

By The SHSMD Team posted 08-08-2023
Written by: Sharon Carothers; Managing Director; Sensis Health Medical research and clinical trials lack African, Asian, and Hispanic American participants, as well as participants who are 50 years old or older. This makes it harder to determine if discoveries will be effective among these unrepresented populations. Recruiting these groups is notoriously complex, and, unfortunately, many investigators, contract research organizations, and drug and device makers still fail to do so effectively. As a multicultural health care communications expert, Sensis set out to answer: What would encourage underrepresented audiences to participate in medical research ...
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