The COVID-19 outbreak has been challenging for healthcare organizations, but one positive for marketers is that the pandemic has presented new opportunities to engage consumers digitally. When patients can’t see their providers in the office, they use virtual care or telemedicine services. Rush University System for Health, a network of physicians and hospitals in the Read More
“Now more than ever before, reviews and star ratings influence consumers’ purchasing decisions, especially in retail,” says Ed Rafalski, Ph.D., MPH, FACHE, chief strategy and marketing officer, BayCare Health System. Here’s an excerpt from Ed’s new article: When it comes to healthcare, consumers are factoring pandemic safety measures taken by physicians and care facilities into Read More
Health systems and hospitals can use data they already have to help set marketing priorities and determine the best use of their budgets, according to Brandy Hill, director of marketing and public relations at Riverview Health in Noblesville, Indiana, and Mahek Thakkar, manager of integrated marketing at Healthgrades. Hill says Riverview’s experience showed that brand Read More
In this digitally saturated age, we’re all running as fast as we can to keep up with the latest marketing trends and technology innovations. But for Cleveland Clinic — a digital juggernaut — a simple reactivation program designed to bring back patients with chronic conditions is working well. Cleveland Clinic has been running reactivation programs Read More
What does a healthcare logistics company that’s had success distributing medical supplies to remote healthcare facilities in rural Africa have to offer large, technologically advanced, geographically distributed health systems in the U.S.? Plenty. Zipline, whose mission is “to provide every human on Earth with instant access to vital medical supplies,” developed a system for delivery Read More
Physician liaison and outreach departments should focus on more than volume growth and instead use data and analytics to help hospitals and health systems achieve their population health objectives. That, in turn, will help make outreach departments indispensable to senior leadership as they work to guide their organizations out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Intermountain Healthcare Read More
Connecting the dots. That’s the value provided by a customer relationship management (CRM) database, a tool health system marketing and communications leaders increasingly use to deliver precision marketing to consumers and calculate accurate return on investment (ROI). Yet having a CRM is only one part of the digital marketing puzzle. Hospitals experiencing the highest level Read More
It’s time to stop thinking about marketing as two separate components — traditional vs. digital — and blend the best tactics of each discipline. “Tradigital” combines the best of both strategies and is redefining healthcare marketing today. That is the message of healthcare marketing consultants Kathy Divis, president and co-founder, Greystone.Net, and Rob Klein, founder Read More
When the pandemic blocked the normal channels of consumer access to healthcare, physicians’ groups, hospitals, and health systems around the country scrambled to establish or expand their telehealth capabilities. The question is, what happens next? What is the roadmap to scale and improve telehealth while the pandemic still rages, and what is the plan when Read More
“There’s no doubt that recent circumstances surrounding COVID-19 have reshaped the way hospitals and healthcare facilities connect with their patients,” says James Ramey of DeviceBits. “Shelter-in-place ordinances and stay-at-home mandates have forced many provider organizations to rely on technologies like chatbots and knowledge management tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning (ML) to Read More
Today’s environment is incredibly challenging for healthcare leaders, as the pressures and changes brought by COVID-19 have impacted the way they plan and implement marketing/communications within their organizations. Many have been asked to “do more with less,” but what does this mean? And how can organizations prepare for a post-COVID future rife with unknowns? Jenny Read More
“In 2019, Optum’s medical algorithms were flagged for underestimating the needs of the sickest Black patients in its system,” writes Ndome Yvonne Essoka. “Hospitals and insurers all over the country use these algorithms daily to make healthcare decisions for hundreds of millions of Americans in the U.S. each year. The error highlighted flaws within healthcare Read More
When Adventist HealthCare, a three-hospital system based in Gaithersburg, Maryland deployed a chatbot on its website in late 2018, it did so to connect with two distinct audiences. First, it asked the chatbot to give moms-to-be answers to their pregnancy and childbirth-related questions. Next, Adventist used the chatbot to provide customer support for the August Read More
COVID-19 brought about the explosion of telemedicine for obvious reasons — quick and convenient access between patient and provider, maintaining patient load to prevent appointment cancellations, and — most important — safety for both patients and providers. “Why would I want to go to a doctor’s office now if I don’t have to?” is today’s Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced hospitals and health systems to quickly adopt new technology that has changed how Americans receive healthcare. One change has been a dramatic increase in the adoption of telehealth, says Dave Wieneke, healthcare innovation leader at PK, an international experience engineering firm. One large telehealth provider, Wieneke says, talked of experiencing Read More
In Part I of a special two-article series for eHST, Dan Dunlop and Jared Johnson discussed a phased approach to marketing during the peak of the crisis and a plan for coming out of it. In Part II of the series, they discuss some of the new opportunities that are emerging during a time of Read More
If you’ve ever used Microsoft Office, you’re familiar with the ribbon — the horizontal toolbar at the top of the document loaded with icons that make it easy for users to change things like fonts, formatting, colors, layouts, and alignment with a single click. Now take that same concept and drop it into the electronic Read More
“It’s hard to believe we’re only seven months into 2020, which has brought us enough twists and turns to last a decade,” says Andy Gradel, director of digital marketing for Wolters Kluwer, Health. “From a global pandemic and coast-to-coast protests over police practices to a presidential impeachment and even murder hornets, the 24-hour news cycle Read More
“More than ever, today’s consumers are conducting research online before making healthcare decisions,” says Andrew Rainey of Binary Fountain. “Organizations need to work harder — and smarter — to provide exceptional patient experiences reflected in their brand’s online reputation, to ensure that patients choose them for their healthcare needs.” Here’s an excerpt from Rainey’s new Read More
COVID-19 has challenged the American health system. As the disease spread across the country infecting more than a million people, hospitals jumped into action to save lives and minimize the virus’ spread. Part of that lifesaving care has been happening outside of the hospital grounds — it’s happening in the homes of the marketing and Read More
Hitting the pause button on elective procedures has resulted in deep financial losses across all U.S. health systems, and they now face immense pressure to recover financially, as quickly as possible. In Ohio, nonessential elective procedures stopped on March 18 and didn’t reopen until May 1. Even now, only elective procedures that do not require Read More
The COVID-19 pandemic brought health system leaders a myriad of brand-new questions, and precious little time to find solutions. How can we effectively triage COVID-19 patients? How can we predict COVID-19’s impact on our health system going forward? How can we estimate our capacity for elective surgeries and other vital services when the time comes? Read More
If there’s a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, it is that there appears to be renewed respect between communities and the hospitals that serve them. “A lot of healthcare providers have suffered from the loss of their leading roles in their communities,” says Jean Hitchcock, president of Hitchcock Marketing and Communications in Woodstock, Read More
As healthcare consumers nationwide are still being urged to stay home when possible, the surge in demand for virtual visits has provider organizations nationwide scrambling to scale up telehealth capabilities if they have them — or stand them up if not. What does it take to completely change the way you deliver care, practically overnight? Read More
Not long after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 hit the United States, hospitals began to cancel on-site programs and events, particularly those for at-risk populations. Expectant mothers are among the group of people considered to be vulnerable to the coronavirus because their immune system is compromised while they’re pregnant. According to the CDC: “Pregnant Read More