// By Jane Weber Brubaker // As the number of users accessing the internet from mobile devices continues to climb, an optimized mobile experience is becoming a must-have for healthcare and other industries. Although many hospitals and health systems have incorporated responsive web design into their websites, that may be just the starting point. The Read More
Winners of the 2017 eHealthcare Leadership Awards were announced today at a special keynote presentation at the Healthcare Internet Conference in Austin, Texas. Over 200 organizations, representing a broad industry spectrum, received recognition for their outstanding websites and digital communications. A total of 116 individuals familiar with healthcare and the internet judged the entries. See Read More
From small operations to large-scale providers, human-first is the key to a successful chatbot platform // By Melanie Graham // For Jonno Boyer-Dry, creating a chatbot for cancer patients wasn’t a project based on financial goals or institutional efficiency. It was something that emerged out of personal experience. “Part of what is maddening about being Read More
Community benefit reports have been an important component of hospital communication strategies for many years. For nonprofit healthcare systems, this reporting mechanism is required to demonstrate the positive impact they have had on community health to retain tax exemptions and other benefits. But as consumers’ information consumption habits have changed, the format and role of Read More
Any marketer will tell you that Facebook is one of the most powerful tools your brand can harness. It continues to show its strength as the most popular social media app, growing its active user base to more than 2 million and posting one successful quarter after another. But with more competition, new users, and Read More
// By Ahava Leibtag // In the spring of 2016, the marketing team at Aurora Health Care (Aurora) turned to Aha Media Group (Aha Media) to help it enhance and optimize its Heart and Vascular website content. The heart and vascular content, while warm and friendly, did not include the standout differentiators—such as nationally renowned Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Community benefit reports have been an important component of hospital communication strategies for many years. For nonprofit healthcare systems, this reporting mechanism is required to demonstrate the positive impact they have had on community health to retain tax exemptions and other benefits. But as consumers’ information consumption habits have Read More
How healthcare brands are freshening up their Facebook strategy with testing, targeted audiences, and Facebook Live. // By Melanie Graham // Any marketer will tell you that Facebook is one of the most powerful tools your brand can harness. It continues to show its strength as the most popular social media app, growing its active Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In a March 2016 article, “Gentlemen, Start Your Engines! Lehigh Valley Health Network Revs It Up with Integrated CRM/PRM Strategy,” we got right up to the starting line with the health system’s CRM selection and implementation, and learned about its ambitious plans for the future. It’s been 18 months, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Hospitals and health systems think of their websites as the digital “front door” to their organizations, but before consumers get there, search engine results could steer them away to competitors with higher star ratings and more positive reviews. Reputation is everything. The sheer number of places consumers post information Read More
Ask the Expert, with Kathy Divis // By Jane Weber Brubaker // What keeps chief marketing officers up at night? We asked Kathy Divis, president and co-founder of Greystone.Net, to weigh in on the top concerns of marketing executives in healthcare organizations. While acknowledging that there are many and diverse challenges in today’s complex environment, Read More
// By Melanie Graham // As more and more patients look to online channels to find information and interact with providers, strong digital teams are becoming increasingly important in the healthcare industry. But creating a successful digital team is about more than just hiring talented individuals; it also requires a collaborative environment, a balance of Read More
#HCMKTG Short Takes // By Samantha Drake // As questions and confusion surrounding the need for childhood vaccines persist, healthcare organizations are creating easy-to-use digital resources to convey reliable vaccine information to parents. Mobile apps are a popular way to reinforce recommendations, dispel misconceptions, and build trust. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Vaccine Education Center Read More
How Healthcare Marketers Are Adjusting Social Strategies to Maintain Success on Twitter // By Melanie Graham // It’s no secret that Twitter is a mainstay of the healthcare marketing tool kit. But as the social media landscape evolves, Twitter’s role as a content marketing channel is evolving as well. Although it comes as no real Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Your brand is the sum of the experiences a customer has with you, says Matt Gove, chief consumer officer at Piedmont Healthcare in Georgia. This definition goes beyond the conventional scope of patient experience, or as Gove consistently refers to it: customer experience. Patient experience historically has been a Read More
// By Shawn Gross // The robotic yet charming voice of Alexa can help you find a good movie, make a payment on your credit card, get airline fares for a trip to Dublin, or see how many calories are in the banana you’re eating. With an estimated 11 million devices sold, the Amazon Echo Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Imagine that you’re lounging on the beach of a tropical island, listening to the waves lapping at the shore, feeling the breeze wafting over your skin, and hearing the seagulls squawk. With the latest virtual-reality tools that exist today, you—and your patients—can have this type of relaxing experience even Read More
eHealthcare Pulse // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Printing patient education pamphlets, brochures, and information kits isn’t cheap. It’s one thing if patients actually use them. But do they? Two hospitals thought mobile apps might be a better solution. Luke Poppish is executive director of the OB/GYN service line at South Shore Hospital near Boston, Read More
// By Samantha Drake // The internal communications team at Excela Health, a community health system outside of Pittsburgh, had numerous ways to connect with employees, from the HR newsletter to a variety of social media platforms. Yet employees continuously complained they didn’t know what was going on. “People would text ‘Nobody ever tells us Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Imagine if all of your older and chronically ill patients had personal assistants to help them monitor their vital signs, answer pressing health questions, and remind them to take their medicines. While this scenario may sound ideal, it’s also quite an unrealistic goal to expect to accomplish for an Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Lean business practices have been around ever since Toyota devised the “Toyota Production System” to transform its manufacturing processes. The idea was further refined in the book Lean Thinking, and distilled down to five core ideas¹: Value—specify the value desired by the customer Value Stream—identify the value stream for Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Advances in technology in recent years have made it possible for health systems to streamline their efforts on many levels, from evaluating and monitoring patients remotely to sharing medical information among multiple sites in real time. Some medical centers are also creating audio podcasts to educate patients, the general Read More
eHealthcare Pulse // By Susan Solomon // Programmatic advertising. Demand-side platforms. Private marketplace auctions.* It seems that there’s a “new next thing” in marketing every day. How does a savvy healthcare marketer keep up with it all? While it may appear that staying informed could be a full-time job, here are a few shortcuts and Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The old adage “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is aspirational for innovators. Thomas Edison’s approach to innovation boiled down to two ideas: rapid iteration and a focus on customer needs. He defended his process against detractors who asked how it felt to fail 10,000 times Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic are ranked #1 and #2 in the country respectively by U.S. News & World Report. But that doesn’t automatically mean that their websites will live up to their stellar clinical reputations. But they did, according to the 2016 eHealthcare Leadership Awards judges. These institutions Read More