Viewpoint: Strategies for Success

Designing for Change

By The SHSMD Team posted 5 days ago
We’ve all seen the movies in which the hero or heroine comes up with a brilliant idea to solve a pressing problem, the idea gets immediate opposition, the lead persists in the idea and then the brilliant idea ends up saving the day. It’s a great movie plot but like most movie plots, it doesn’t really resemble real life situations. More often in the real world, people come up with great ideas and others nod along but when everybody walks out of the meeting or closes their email, the great idea goes no further. Source: Erwin, Kim. 2014. Communicating the New: Methods to Shape and Accelerate Innovation. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. In today’s environment and ...
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Welcome to the New SHSMD Brand and Website!

By The SHSMD Team posted 7 days ago
Today marks a new era for SHSMD, as we launch our new brand and website. The changes you see represent more than just a new color palette, creative design, logo or typeface. They are designed to reflect who we are today and our commitment to positioning our members for the future of a rapidly transforming health care field. As health care has evolved, so have you, our members – and we have too! Over the last several years, we’ve worked to provide you with the enhanced programs, tools and resources you need to advance both your career and your organization. “Rapid change is the new normal in health care, and it’s vital that SHSMD’s brand stays current and ...
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Marketing Measurement: How to Get Everyone on the Same Page

By The SHSMD Team posted 19 days ago
By Mimi Rasor and Allison Neikirk It happens at every organization: over-reporting. Teams create reports, then more reports and even more reports, each with their own format and level of detail. Then when it comes time for strategic planning or leadership team meetings, it’s nearly impossible to combine all the pieces to create a single point of view. Teams are pulled off their already burgeoning workload to pull together information for yet another report. Piles of insightful, informative data is set aside by marketing teams that don’t have time to sift through it. The future of millions of marketing dollars is thrown to chance without ...
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Health Care Organizations Are Focused on Growing Their Physician Networks

By The SHSMD Team posted 07-16-2019
Written by Amir Dan Rubin In light of the changing health care environment, there is a growing trend toward health systems aligning with doctors and growing their physician networks. In fact, the latest Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development Futurescan survey of health care leaders across the country found that 76 percent of respondents are expanding their networks by more than 25 percent or are likely to do so by 2024. Additionally, 75 percent indicate they are operating their networks at a loss or are willing to do so to achieve broader strategic objectives, such as: Aligning more attributable lives with their ...
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Harness the Power of a Vision for the Future and Storytelling to Supercharge Your Strategic Planning

By The SHSMD Team posted 07-03-2019
Why are novels or dramas like 1984 , Brave New World or The Handmaid’s Tale not just best-sellers but powerful cultural icons? Why do people with concrete visions of what they want to achieve succeed so much more often than those with vaguer wishes? Because each of them uses carefully crafted depictions of possible futures that grip us mentally and emotionally and fill us with determination to change the present to avoid or to bring about that future. Scenario planning can prepare your organization for what’s ahead by taking advantage of the same power of vision and storytelling to help your hospital or health system understand trends and their consequences, ...
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Loyalty Program Develops Strong Relationships with Patients at BayCare Health System

By The SHSMD Team posted 06-26-2019
Today's consumers expect the same transparency, convenience and personalization from their health care providers that they receive from retailers and banks. And that's not happening, according to Brian Wynne, vice president and general manager of NRC Health in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Edward Rafalski, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief strategy and marketing officer of BayCare Health System in Clearwater, Florida. NRC Health's own market research of more than 300,000 health care consumers from the 200 largest markets in the United States shows that 40 percent of respondents say they have no loyalty to one hospital or health system, while 80 percent would ...
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How to Successfully Pitch Your Marketing Plan and Budget to Leadership

By The SHSMD Team posted 06-19-2019
If you're a marketing leader, when was the last time you made a pitch to the C-suite for a budget request or to propose a new idea or campaign? Marketing consultant Rob Rosenberg, president of Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy, Ltd., in Chicago said these situations can be challenging because “there often is a disconnect between what marketers provide and what CEOs want.” Paul A. Szablowski, an independent consultant and former senior vice president of brand experience at Texas Health Resources in Dallas, agrees. "Seventy-five percent of CEOs want their chief marketing officer (CMO) more focused on return on investment and new customer acquisition," ...
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Benefits of Facebook Live for Hospitals and Health Systems

By The SHSMD Team posted 06-11-2019
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health in Richmond is successfully using Facebook Live to stream interviews, behind-the-scenes tours and other events. "According to Smart Insights, live streaming generates three times the number of viewers,” said Keith Kaufelt, VCU social media specialist, who also added that it results in 10 times the amount of engagement as pre-recorded video. Cynthia Schmidt, marketing chief at VCU said the benefits of the platform include: Improved visibility. Facebook Live is prioritized on the platform, providing an organic method of getting your brand into follower feeds. Shared content. The marketing team ...
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Creating a High-Performing Ambulatory Care Network

By The SHSMD Team posted 06-05-2019
As medical care continues to shift from inpatient to outpatient settings, there has never been a more important time for health care organizations to transition to an ambulatory care 2.0 strategy. “Our vision for ambulatory care at RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH) in New Jersey is to be the driver of change, innovation and growth for our entire health system,” said Annie Steelman, vice president of system strategy. “We view ambulatory care as the foundation for future sustainability by helping us secure covered lives, manage population health and create preference among consumers by meeting their needs in a retail setting.” A Tiered Approach In order ...
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Sports Sponsorships for Health Care Organizations

By Alan Shoebridge posted 05-31-2019
Smart Play or Risky Bet? Deciding whether a sports sponsorship makes sense is always a tough call. Upping the stakes, this decision often needs to be made under pressure from a senior leader who strongly supports the idea. Entering into sports sponsorships seems to be the rule rather than the exception today .In fact, three organizations where I’ve worked have agreed to significant sponsorships with professional franchises and sports arenas. If your health system is considering a sports sponsorship here are two reasons to go for it and four reasons to pass. Go for it #1: You lack name recognition In this scenario, your organization might ...
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Transforming Patients Into Hospital Advocates

By Kathy Selker posted 05-15-2019
Women have been a powerful force in purchasing decisions for decades, and nowhere is that more evident today than in health care decision making. Marketers who don’t have a strategy to target messaging to women in ways that reflect that reality are missing out. Here’s why: Women make 80 percent of health care decisions in America , and they’re more likely to be caregivers when a family member gets sick. They also visit physicians more often and ask more questions post-exam. Women are more likely to trust word-of-mouth recommendations than men, and women consider recommendations from friends a highly credible form of advertising — so social ...
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Health System Takes Data-Driven Approach to Demonstrate the Value of Marketing

By The SHSMD Team posted 05-08-2019
Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) marketing leaders have been on a three-year journey toward building a dynamic process that shows a precise and transparent return on investment for health system marketing initiatives. "It was clear that the marketing team needed a new marketing vision that would balance brand and demand generation efforts in reaching our customers," said Kelly-Anne Suarez, new acting administrator of marketing for LVHN, located in northeastern Pennsylvania. "And just as important, LVHN needed a new data governance vision that would give us a better understanding of its patients' needs and value at all touchpoints along the continuum." ...
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Health System Leverages Thought Leadership to Enhance Its Brand

By The SHSMD Team posted 04-24-2019
Several years ago, Ascension set out to position its health system as transformative and innovative. To accomplish this goal, Johnny Smith, national senior director of marketing and communications, said leadership focused on taking a “One Ascension” approach that required the organization to launch a national branding effort. Smith was recruited to lead the public relations (PR) efforts in the corporate office in St. Louis. His was just one department of four within Ascension's newly created marketing division. "Because we were just starting this journey, we needed to be very intentional and strategic in our approach," Smith said. One of the top PR priorities ...
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Health System Develops Comprehensive Physician Engagement and Alignment Initiative That Features New Communication Vehicles

By Bruce Kennedy posted 04-10-2019
Written with Joe Connolly, Regional Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Trinity Health Of New England. Trinity Health Of New England has created a multi-tiered approach to connecting physicians to health system priorities, consumers and each other. The formation of the health system in 2013 brought together over 800 employed doctors with 1,500 affiliated physicians from 11 previously autonomous practices, all of whom needed to be integrated into one new medical group. "Our goal was to take advantage of regional resources and capabilities, and build referrals within the regional provider network," said Joe Connolly, regional vice president, ...
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Baby Safety Showers Help Hospital Make an Impact in Addressing Infant Mortality

By Tiffany Conover posted 04-03-2019
In Indiana, the infant mortality rate is the seventh highest in the country, with 7.6 deaths per thousand births versus a nationwide rate of 5.9. That alarming statistic was the impetus behind the Indiana State Department of Health creating a grants program to address the problem. When trauma nurses at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes learned about the program, which established a state model for “Baby Safety Showers, they applied for and received $25,000 to develop such an event. Showering Parents with Knowledge “Because of the high number of infant deaths within our service area, our trauma department wanted to take action to help save babies’ ...
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Leveraging Strategic Storytelling to Produce Bottom Line Results

By The SHSMD Team posted 03-26-2019
More than ever before, health care communica­tors need to have a content strategy that directly contributes to meeting organizational objectives. Orlando Health is doing just that and reaping the benefits of increased expo­sure by positioning itself as a trusted health care system with compassion. “Content marketing isn’t just writing content, it’s getting exposure for that con­tent,” said Michael Schmidt, vice president of Orlando Health Foundation. Schmidt has collaborated with Lisa Arledge Powell, president of MediaSource, on generating media exposure for Orlando Health in central Florida. The New Content Process: Strategic Storytelling According ...
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Case Study Shows How Texas Health System Successfully Uses Automation to Deliver Personalized Content

By The SHSMD Team posted 03-19-2019
To enhance its digital marketing, Children’s Health in Dallas has implemented marketing automation to deliver personalized content to current and prospective patients. “In today’s competitive landscape, it’s a great way to deliver tailored messaging to help us achieve organizational business goals,” Kay Kerman, manager of email and customer relationship management. Getting Started The first step, according to Kerman, is working with your internal teams to determine the most important goals they want to achieve and what manual processes could be automated. In addition, marketers need to know who the target audience is and what the call to action should ...
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Health Care Marketers Are Best Suited to Drive the Patient Experience

By Matt Gove posted 03-13-2019
Several years ago, Matt Gove, chief consumer officer at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia, convinced his CEO that marketing was the most appropriate place to lay responsibility for the patient experience. His reasoning was persuasive. “We have a broad organizational perspective that extends far beyond the four walls of the hospital,” said Gove. “Marketers are focused on the entire patient journey, such as what happens before consumers come to the hospital and what happens after they leave. Traditional leaders of patient experience are concerned only with what happens in the medical center.” The entry of Walmart and CVS into retail health care ...
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Guidelines for Measuring Health Care Marketing Results

By David Marlowe posted 03-05-2019
This is the third in a series of three blog posts by David Marlowe featuring key takeaways from his recently released SHSMD publication entitled, Health Care Marketing Plans That Work . One of the key elements of any marketing plan is the quantification of results – whether positive or negative. Whether we call them metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) or some other terminology, it is almost impossible to call a marketing plan a success without a clear attempt to measure what came from the use of organizational resources dedicated to marketing. Related to metrics or the quantification of results is a discussion of how those measurements ...
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Integration of Strategic Planning, Business Development and Marketing

By The SHSMD Team posted 02-25-2019
At any hospital or health system, strategic planning, business development and marketing, are all dedicated to the execution of strategy. We spoke with three SHSMD members whose organizational structure integrates the three professional disciplines to learn more about how this affects strategy development and execution. The three strategists we interviewed are B.J. Krech, chief strategy officer at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, IL; Mike Sluzarz, vice president of marketing and business development at Cape Regional in Cape May, NJ; and Paula Widerlite, chief strategy officer at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis, MD. Both West Suburban (172 ...
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