// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Do you have a hard time getting your physicians to tweet or blog or post anything at all on social media? So did University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) before the organization found a way to crack the code. “I’m not going to lie, most of them needed some Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // By now, most of us have seen the 2014 chart that shows the number of mobile users finally surpassing desktop users. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean desktop is going away—78 percent of digital users use both desktop and mobile platforms, according to a 2015 report from ComScore—what is startling Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The time change between China and the U.S. made it relatively easy to connect with Lee Aase, Director of Mayo Clinic Social Media Network; it was Wednesday evening on the East Coast, and Thursday morning in Beijing—12 hours apart. Aase was on a two-week trip to China in June, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In our self-service, digitally enabled world, healthcare consumers wonder why they can’t do something as basic as scheduling an appointment online. Today, ignoring patient demands for access and convenience can be a costly mistake, resulting in low satisfaction scores, or worse, losing out to competitors who pay closer attention. Read More
// By Kyra Hagan // One of the most significant transformations in healthcare today revolves around consumers’ growing interest and involvement in their health. The consumerism of healthcare has profound implications for marketers, care delivery teams, and IT professionals. New challenges as well as opportunities are emerging, and deciding when and how to leverage technology Read More
Ask the Expert, with Ben Dillon // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Remember when Google was where you went to figure out where to go next? Now Google is more interested in having you find what you need right on the search engine results page. Google’s answers may be taking up much more of the Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // “Every single touchpoint you have in healthcare, we should have the same consistent experience,” says Chantal Stephens of Orlando Health, formerly of Ritz-Carlton and Disney, two organizations renowned for exceptional customer service (eHST, January 2016). The implied word in this sentence is “positive”—a consistent positive experience. When any aspect Read More
eHealthcare Pulse // By Jane Weber Brubaker // A March 2016 editorial in JAMA authored by three University of Michigan physicians, “Health System Loyalty Programs: An Innovation in Customer Care and Service,” begins as follows: “Many people belong to loyalty programs for coffee shops, hotel chains, or airlines. Despite a highly consumer-oriented approach in some Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Net Promoter Score is a mechanism that collects consumer feedback by asking the question: How likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague? Memorial Hermann uses Net Promoter Score to measure consumer sentiment across a range of online experiences. “We can get a gauge Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // While many health systems focus on driving volume in high-margin service lines, Gundersen Health System is beginning to think about things differently. “About two years ago we started looking at how to shift our marketing from driving volume to building relationships, and helping consumers engage in their health and Read More
// By James A. Gardner // “Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the Internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming.” —Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg If talk of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) brings to mind comically unfashionable goggles, Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // If you could get a physician to refer 100 percent of his or her patients to your hospital or health system, what would that be worth? If the physician refers to specialists, such as neurosurgeons or orthopedic surgeons, it could be worth $2.5 million to $3 million in annual Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // How many health systems do you know that could launch their first ever digital campaign on four weeks’ notice? When funding for a marketing campaign materialized in the fall of 2015, Lahey Health’s Specializing in You campaign was fast-tracked, with a mandate to be in market by October 1. Read More
// By Ken Robbins // Conversions are the goal of every marketer. But in healthcare, can you think of conversions the same way you do in other industries? Take retail, for example. Are tactics used to increase conversions in retail relevant to something as unique as healthcare? The answer to both questions is a resounding Read More
An Interview with Marketo CMO Sanjay Dholakia // By Jane Weber Brubaker // In early April, the Economist Intelligence Unit released results of its latest survey of top marketing executives, The Path to 2020: Marketers Seize the Customer Experience, commissioned by marketing automation company Marketo. The report captures the insights and opinions of global marketing Read More
// By Suni Munshani // Massive amounts of private health information (PHI) are stored in Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) ready for analysis by those in the healthcare industry for the benefit of all. But mobile and cloud technologies have blurred traditional enterprise perimeters and the healthcare industry must find new ways to defend itself and Read More
Ask the Expert, with Mike Schneider, Co-Founder, and Farrah Hunt Thompson, Director of Consulting, at Greystone.Net // By Jane Weber Brubaker // When it comes to selecting software, implementation, or design vendors for major technology upgrades such as a content management system (CMS) or customer relationship management system (CRM), there’s a lot on the line. Even Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // “The easiest bill to understand and pay I’ve ever seen…” “Awesome way to pay—prompt and efficient…” “Very easy to use…” These are just a few examples from the 2,000+ comments Memorial Hermann has collected since implementing an online payment solution from Simplee. “We understand that paying a healthcare bill Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // After Ashley Hodge finished the book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9 ½ Things You Would Do Differently, she was thinking about ways to make the experience of the families at Nationwide Children’s Hospital even better. But how do you improve on an 80 percent patient satisfaction score? The Read More
eHealthcare Pulse An Interview with Patrick de la Roza, CEO, EASE Applications // By Jane Weber Brubaker // In this interview eHST Editor Jane Weber Brubaker speaks with de la Roza to learn more about the EASE application that is credited with raising patient satisfaction scores from 80 percent to 97.5 percent at Nationwide Children’s. (“EASE” Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // St. Louis Children’s Hospital was an early adopter of mobile apps. Kid Care, its first app, launched more than six years ago as a symptom checker for parents. “Back in January 2010 it was just cool to have an app,” says John Odom, Webmaster at St. Louis Children’s. “But Read More
// By Marlene Kurban // An ever-increasing number of consumers search the Internet for medical and health information, and within healthcare, as in many industries, there is fierce competition for search traffic. A targeted SEO strategy, combined with relevant, original content that maintains the interest of the intended audience, is key to boosting overall Web Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // You’ve been working on your website redesign for many months. At key points along the way you solicited feedback from your physician committee and other stakeholders in your organization. Now you’re finally ready to let internal users test the site before the public launch. Or maybe you revamped your Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Patients don’t make allowances for healthcare. They expect to have the same seamless, integrated digital experience they have using Amazon Prime or Uber when they interact with their health system or provider. “That ease of mobility is what’s important to them,” says Pamela Landis, Vice President of Information Services Read More
Ask the Expert with Adam Dorfman // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Adam Dorfman is Senior Vice President of Product and Technology at SIM Partners, a technology provider that optimizes location-specific content and business information to enhance local, mobile, and social search results. “Healthcare systems sometimes have thousands of physicians and hundreds of clinics and Read More