Viewpoint: Strategies for Success

Health System Develops Comprehensive Physician Engagement and Alignment Initiative That Features New Communication Vehicles

By Bruce Kennedy posted 11 days ago
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 18 days ago
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 26 days ago
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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How to Customize the Health Care Experience for Seniors

By The SHSMD Team posted 02-20-2019
This blog features interviews with Donovan French and Kathryn Lovrien. A gray wave is poised to wash over this country thanks to the aging of the baby boomers, and it is a wave whose effects will be felt from coast to coast. Today, seniors are 15 percent of the American population, but in less than 20 years, adults 65 and older will comprise 22 percent of our citizens, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 National Population Projections. Of course, there is a huge difference in the health status of those just turning 65 and people 30 years into retirement. That is why CHI St. Joseph Health in Texas is segmenting its senior population in order to ...
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Leading Through Times of Change

By The SHSMD Team posted 01-29-2019
As the nation’s medical system goes through a period of high uncertainty and disruption, Futurescan 2019–2024 brings together insightful experts and thought leaders to prepare hospitals and health systems for key trends that are shaping the future of health care. Following are highlights from the publication. Drug Crisis Michael Botticelli, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under the Obama administration,is currently executive director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center. In his article, Botticelli writes that “the nation’s opioid epidemic is one of the defining crises of our time and  ...
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Designing the Future of Health Care Consumerism: The Role, Relevance and Revelation of Patient Cohorts

By The SHSMD Team posted 01-22-2019
Three years ago, Navicent Health, which serves central and southern Georgia, identified four key objectives that would guide its strategy to become the health system of choice for consumers. One of these is "Engaging consumers in meaningful ways" with a focus on understanding Navicent Health's various types of patient cohorts and what motivates them when seeking health care. Specifically, the strategy team wanted to: Understand the value proposition for each patient cohort. Determine if Navicent Health was delivering on that value proposition. Address opportunities for improvement in real time through patient-journey mapping. Defining ...
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Video Advertising Strategies for Health Care

By The SHSMD Team posted 01-17-2019
This blog is sponsored by Comcast Spotlight As a health care provider, your continued success largely depends on patients having the confidence that you can deliver the high-quality care they need. A marketing strategy anchored in television and digital video advertising can help you foster an emotional connection and instill this trust in potential patients that may be seeking your services. Multiscreen Advertising in Health Care Video advertising offers several crucial benefits for health care providers: Influence – Television ads are shown to drive consumer action. Of people likely to change health care providers in the next ...
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Keys to the Success (or Failure) of Marketing Plans

By David Marlowe posted 01-15-2019
In Health Care Marketing Plans That Work we look at the key reasons why marketing plans succeed or fail. Some of the nearly dozen reasons examined include: The degree to which the marketing plan is coordinated with the organization’s strategic plan and critical business plans. The resources required to support the marketing plan are not available or are not made available. The marketing plan is based upon flawed data or a poor interpretation of that data. Perhaps the most critical success or failure factor for any marketing plan is the degree to which the organization prioritizes the usage of marketing resources and then ...
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Building a Strategy to Survive and Thrive During Mergers and Acquisitions

By Alan Shoebridge posted 01-08-2019
Health care mergers and acquisitions (M&As) have become a constant in recent years and there is no sign of a course reversal anytime soon. 2017 set a record with more than $60 billion in transactions. Although 2018 was a bit slower, activity is expected to remain strong and involve some of the industry’s largest players. If you haven’t been affected yet, the odds are that you will be (in one form or another) in the near future. It’s essential to be prepared. During the SHSMD Connections conference, M&A activity was a hot topic and the focus of a pre-conference workshop entitled “Navigating Uncertain Times: Building a Strategy to Survive and Thrive ...
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Advice for Hospitals on Responding to Media Inquiries Regarding New Price Transparency Rules

By Erin Stewart posted 01-02-2019
Effective January 1, hospitals are now required to publicly post their charges as part of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hospital inpatient prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year 2019. The information must be updated annually or as needed. CMS’ previous requirement that hospitals allow patients to view chargemasters upon request falls in line with the trend toward more transparency. However, the updated guidelines are the first time CMS has specifically required hospitals to post chargemasters online in a machine-readable format. Knowing this significant change is sure to generate inquiries from the news media, the Georgia ...
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The Role of the C-Suite in Marketing Planning

By David Marlowe posted 12-18-2018
One of the challenges facing virtually all health care provider-based marketing functions is the interaction with organizational leadership in the C-Suite (though the composition of that group can vary significantly from entity to entity). How do we get leadership to value the role of marketing? How do we get them to provide strategic direction and prioritization for the usage of limited marketing resources? How to do we keep them OUT of tactical marketing operations unless necessary?  The following blog is derived from a new publication I authored for SHSMD entitled Health Care Marketing Plans That Work, 2nd Edition and looks at the role of organizational ...
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Designing the Future of Health Care Consumerism Through ‘Patient Cohorts’

By The SHSMD Team posted 11-28-2018
Written by Christopher Cornue and Cyndey Costello Busbee with Navicent Health Three years ago Navicent Health identified four key objectives that would guide its strategy to become the health system of choice for consumers. One of these is “Engaging consumers in meaningful ways” with a focus on understanding Navicent Health’s various types of patient cohorts and what motivates them when seeking health care. Specifically, the strategy team wanted to understand the value proposition for each patient cohort, determine if Navicent Health was delivering on that value proposition and address opportunities for improvement in real time through patient-journey ...
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The Role of Marketing in Population Health: Part 3

By Susan Dubuque posted 11-06-2018
This is the third in a multi-part series of blogs presenting examples from around the country of how health care marketers are playing an integral role in deploying effective and innovative population health strategies for their organizations.  (Read part 1 and part 2 here). Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model There are a number of theories and models that marketers can use to help their organizations change the behavior of members of their community and thereby improving health. One such model is Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model (IMB), introduced in 1992 by Fisher and Fisher as a means of changing risk behavior related ...
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How to Launch a Clinically Integrated Network: The Communications Foundation

By Stephanie Helline posted 10-30-2018
The investment at the beginning of any new endeavor, like starting a clinically integrated network (CIN), can seem daunting. In 2017, Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC) set out to build one. While the actual network was in development, AAMC approached Strategic Design Studio to develop a communications plan to articulate its value, promote adoption and get everyone on board. The initial request was for key messages and marketing communications materials to drive awareness of the CIN. We knew exactly where to start: with a comprehensive Facilitated Discovery process. The goal of this process is to answer the four simple questions that build a solid communications ...
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How to Escape the Fate of Dinosaurs

By Scott Samples posted 10-24-2018
As I was packing for the trip to SHSMD Connections, my son decided I needed someone to keep me company. So he handed me a plastic dinosaur named Spiney, a ferocious looking beast who made the trek in my carry-on bag and roamed room 1412 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. A week after the conference I was reviewing the sessions I’d attended in order to present information on what I’d learned to my team. While there were a variety of themes throughout the sessions, I realized one stood out – change in health care is not only inevitable, it’s already happening. And in order not to suffer the same fate as Spiney’s species, we need to adapt or become extinct. ...
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SHSMD Celebrates the Excellence of Members

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-18-2018
The Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) has announced Larry Margolis, managing partner at SPM Marketing & Communications in La Grange, Illinois, is the recipient of the 2018 SHSMD Leadership Excellence Award. The award is the highest honor a member can receive from SHSMD. Margolis was selected for this award based on outstanding achievements in the following areas: Innovation in the practice of the strategy disciplines. Enhancement of the profession. Exceptional personal qualities and leadership abilities. Career achievements and progression. Stewardship. In the words of his nominators: “Larry ...
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