Jane Weber Brubaker named Executive Editor of Plain-English Health Care

I’m very pleased to announce that Jane Weber Brubaker has been promoted to the role of Executive Editor of Plain-English Health Care. Jane has been the editor of eHealthcare Strategy & Trends since 2015 and is chair of the eHealthcare Leadership Awards. She contributed several of our most popular articles to Strategic Health Care Marketing between 2013 and 2015, and currently produces and moderates Plain-English Health Care’s webinars.

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Call Intelligence Improves Conversions by 50 Percent for Mobile Urgent Care Provider

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // As measurability, attribution, and ROI become imperatives for hospital marketers, one key channel — the phone — has yielded less actionable information than digital channels that are far more trackable. In healthcare, consumers may begin their search for a provider online, but eventually the journey often still leads them Read More

Dr. Google, You’re Fired

Froedtert Health Implements Buoy, an AI Tool That Provides Patients Possible Diagnoses and Recommends Treatment Options // By Jane Weber Brubaker // A Google search is often the starting point when someone has a health concern. But many consumers have been scared out of their wits by the results they find. “The joke you hear Read More

Customer Experience and Healthcare Consumerism: Are Providers Meeting Customer Expectations?

How well are providers meeting the expectations of healthcare consumers? Two recent surveys shed some light on the issue.

Doctor.com surveyed 1,718 patients in 2018 to assess their needs and preferences regarding the customer experience of healthcare.

The latest survey from Kaufman Hall, on the other hand, focuses on consumerism from the provider side, and offers an analysis of where 425 respondents from 200 healthcare organizations rate.

Health Literacy: How To Provide the Customer-Focused Online Experience Your Visitors Expect

“As many as 50 to 90 percent of adults struggle with health literacy,” states Stacy Robison, MPH, MCHES, president and co-founder of CommunicateHealth, Inc. “This is because medical information is very complex and full of jargon.” In addition, she points out that the stress of a patient’s healthcare journey further hinders that person’s ability to wade Read More

Ochsner Innovation Lab’s AI Tool Helps Predict — and Prevent — Patient Health Crises

The drama of a “code team” racing to a patient’s bedside is a frequent scene in the myriad of hospital-based television shows that are popular today, but the innovationOchsner team has plans to replace the emphasis on teams that respond after a cardiac arrest. What if you could predict a potential event in the next Read More

Penn Medicine’s Secret to Success? Analytics.

When you consider the elements needed for quality content, what do you think of? Skilled copywriters may come to mind, or maybe you think of killer creative from a professional graphic designer. But what about data? It may not be the first thing that pops into your head, but analytics are a key part of Read More

Research Update: Looking at Consumer Expectations from Both Sides

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // How is healthcare doing in terms of meeting customer expectations? Doctor.com surveyed 1,718 patients in 2018 to assess their needs and preferences regarding the customer experience of healthcare. Kaufman Hall’s latest survey focuses on consumerism from the provider side, and offers an analysis of where 425 respondents from 200 healthcare organizations rate themselves on everything from improving customer experience to providing price transparency. In this article, we’ll share highlights from both surveys, one confirming that consumers have high expectations of providers, the other showing positive movement but slow progress in meeting those expectations.

Health Literacy 101: Don’t Frustrate Your Site Visitors

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Remember the last time you booked airline tickets, reserved a hotel room, or shopped online? Whether it was last week or last year, chances are that you had an excellent customer service experience. That’s because most major brands today understand the importance of catering to their online visitors and Read More

AI and Digital Medicine Provide Real-Time Data to Improve Patient Care

In the Lab // By Sheryl S. Jackson // The drama of a “code team” racing to a patient’s bedside is a frequent scene in the myriad of hospital-based television shows that are popular today, but the innovationOchsner team has plans to replace the emphasis on teams that respond after a cardiac arrest. What if Read More

Content + Analytics: Penn Medicine’s Formula for Success

// By Melanie Graham // When you consider the elements needed for quality content, what do you think of? Skilled copywriters may come to mind, or maybe you think of killer creative from a professional graphic designer. But what about data? It may not be the first thing that pops into your head, but analytics Read More

Data-Driven Marketing, A Successful Bariatric Campaign, and More

There’s so much to keep up with in our world of healthcare marketing, and in our new feature, Snippets, we want to give you brief highlights from some of the things that catch our attention in the digital realm, snippets of webinars, podcasts, and other content that just might help you solve your latest challenge. Read More

From Discovery to Post-Care: How Is Technology Facilitating the Customer Journey in Healthcare?

Ask the Expert with Andrei Zimiles // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Andrei Zimiles is co-founder and CEO of Doctor.com. The company’s marketing automation platform incorporates provider solutions for directory listings and reputation management, and in August 2017, Doctor.com launched a universal online scheduling capability. In December, Doctor.com merged with Connect Healthcare, and the combined Read More

How and Why To Create Customer Journey Maps for Hospitals

“Great content marketing starts with understanding the customer’s journey,” says Shawn Gross, chief digital strategist, healthcare practice lead, at White Rhino. “Journey mapping has become a favorite marketing tool for visualizing the customer’s experience. But what exactly are journey maps, how do you create them, and what is the best way to apply them to Read More

How To Solidify Your SEO Fundamentals Now … to Prepare for What’s Coming in Search

“Ranking high on search engine results pages (SERP) is probably the most important endeavor for any healthcare marketing department,” says Mark Samber, senior vice president, digital strategy, at MERGE Atlanta. “After all, 60 to 70 percent of your potential customers (patients) search Google for providers. It is imperative that the bulk of your resources — Read More

Innovation Shaping the Future at Jefferson Health

It’s appropriate that a health system named after the author of the famous document that begins with “When in the course of human events…” should demonstrate a strong commitment to human-centered design. Under the leadership of chief executive officer Steve Klasko, MD, MBA, recently named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People for 2018, Jefferson Read More

Craft Your Messaging To Each Stage of the Patient Journey

You don’t need to be an industry expert to know that today’s healthcare structure is experiencing tremendous change. Organizations are grappling with new technology as well as adjusting to reimbursement models that involve taking on more risk for patients’ health and well-being. These changes affect healthcare operations and administration, and they also trickle down to Read More

Inventive Minds Chart the Future at Jefferson Health

[In the Lab] // By Jane Weber Brubaker // It’s appropriate that a health system named after the author of the famous document that begins with “When in the course of human events…” should demonstrate a strong commitment to human-centered design. Under the leadership of chief executive officer Steve Klasko, MD, MBA, recently named one Read More

Stages of Behavioral Change + CRM: A Winning Strategy for Healthcare Marketers

// By Melanie Graham // You don’t need to be an industry expert to know that today’s healthcare structure is experiencing tremendous change. Organizations are grappling with new technology as well as adjusting to reimbursement models that involve taking on more risk for patients’ health and well-being. These changes affect healthcare operations and administration, and Read More

Snippets: Novant Health’s Marketing Chief Weighs In; New Case Study from Legacy Health

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // There’s so much to keep up with in our world of healthcare marketing, and in this new feature, Snippets, we want to give you brief highlights from some of the things that catch our attention in the digital realm, snippets of webinars, podcasts, and other content that just might Read More

The Science of Hospital Journey Mapping

// By Shawn Gross // Great content marketing starts with understanding the customer’s journey. Journey mapping has become a favorite marketing tool for visualizing the customer’s experience. But what exactly are journey maps, how do you create them, and what is the best way to apply them to hospital marketing? At first glance, a customer’s Read More

Benchmarking Reveals Whether You’re a Leader or a Laggard

“Benchmarking your organization against your peers is something every health system wants to do,” says Ben Dillon, chief strategy officer at Geonetric and eHST Editorial Advisory Board member. “But in reality, how you compete is more nuanced than just comparing your organization to others by team or bed size. It’s neither easy to compare yourself to an average of Read More

Crawl Before You Walk, Walk Before You Run: Get Your SEO Fundamentals in Order

// By Mark Samber, PhD // Ranking high on search engine results pages (SERP) is probably the most important endeavor for any healthcare marketing department. After all, 60 to 70 percent of your potential customers (patients) search Google for providers. It is imperative that the bulk of your resources — infrastructure and marketing spend — Read More

New Asthma App Facilitates At-Home Care

In 2018, the patient digital toolkit is ever expanding. Between electronic health records, smartphones, texting, and telehealth, patients have access to a wide range of digital resources. The problem is that multiple resources come with multiple logins, passwords, and in-app experiences. Digital health can be a little overwhelming and disjointed. Recently, innovators at Nemours Children’s Read More

New Technology Platform Automates Market Research

Can traditional market research keep up with the need for speed in today’s digital environment? Maybe not, if studies are carried out in the traditional way. A new technology platform, Methodify, is helping health systems in our neighbor to the north accelerate the traditional market research process. Methodify enables organizations to collect feedback and insights Read More