Electronic Health Records (EHR)

Blockchain-Enabled Solutions to Persistent Healthcare Problems

John Halamka

Remember the Winkleveii? The aggrieved Harvard twins of Facebook fame?  They’re in the news again, this time as the “first Bitcoin billionaires.” Moneywatch reported in December that the $11 million they collectively invested in Bitcoin in 2013, was valued at more than $1.7 billion. So what does Bitcoin have to do with healthcare? Or digital Read More

Is Blockchain the Next Big Thing for Healthcare?

Blockchain in healthcare

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Remember the Winkleveii? The aggrieved Harvard twins of Facebook fame?  They’re in the news again, this time as the “first Bitcoin billionaires.” Moneywatch reported in December that their collective $11 million investment in Bitcoin in 2013 was valued at more than $1.7 billion. So what does Bitcoin have to Read More

iPad Check-In Solution Provides Myriad Marketing Benefits

Sometimes a technology solution adopted by healthcare administrators and clinicians produces unexpected benefits for marketers. CHRISTUS Physician Group, with operations in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico, wanted to streamline patient check-in during office visits and improve collection of outstanding balances. To achieve these goals, the organization piloted, then implemented, a digital patient check-in solution Read More

Patient Check-In Tool Drives Benefits for Marketers

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Sometimes a technology solution adopted by healthcare administrators and clinicians produces unexpected benefits for marketers. CHRISTUS Physician Group, with operations in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and New Mexico, wanted to streamline patient check-in during office visits and improve collection of outstanding balances. To achieve these goals, the organization piloted, then Read More

How Texting Can Solve Patient Communication Woes

Lea Chatham, director of content marketing for Solutionreach

We use our cellphones to deposit money, send email, and track our daily step count. We also use them to constantly communicate, whether it’s through social media, texting, and (rarely, it seems) phone calls. With countless apps and new technology increasing our communication channels, shouldn’t it be easier to communicate with healthcare providers? Unfortunately, that Read More

Integrated CRM/PRM: A Strategy for Health System Marketing Success

Last year, in an article on Lehigh Valley Health Network’s 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, and we wanted to find out how it’s going. The short answer is, it’s Read More

Joe Healthcare Marketer, You Are Cordially Invited to the C-Suite

// 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

What Are the Top 3 Challenges Healthcare Chief Marketing Officers Face?

Kathy Divis, president and co-founder of Greystone.Net

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

Why It Pays To Broaden Your Concept of “Patient Experience”

Matt Gove, chief consumer officer at Piedmont Healthcare

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. While patient experience historically has been a clinical initiative, with the bulk of Read More

Customer Experience the Piedmont Way

Matt Gove, chief consumer officer at Piedmont Healthcare

// 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

Technology That Engages Patients Emotionally

Shawn Gross, White Rhino

“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,” notes Shawn Gross, Chief Digital Strategist at White Rhino. “With an estimated 11 million devices Read More

Alexa, Find Me a Doctor

Shawn Gross, White Rhino

// 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

Virtual Voice Assistants: Their New Role in Healthcare

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 entire population. But the newest generation Read More

Are You Meeting Healthcare Consumer Expectations?

Insights from New Study of Healthcare Consumers’ Digital Experience // By Becky Barney-Villano // Retail has done it for years. Restaurants have, too. Even the banking industry is now meeting consumer expectations for on-demand services with such capabilities as mobile deposits, and complicated mortgages are being closed with a few clicks from a smartphone. Healthcare Read More

The Value of Following Patients Through the Care Continuum

Kris Altiere, Director of Marketing and Creative at Sequence Health

“You’re spending a lot to attract potential patients, but how well are you converting them, or nurturing them once you get their attention?” asks Kris Altiere, director of marketing and creative at Sequence Health. “Are you able to see where they are in the sequence of actions you’re trying to get them to take? Do Read More

APIs: The Digital Glue That Will Save Healthcare From Itself

Emily Kagan Trenchard, associate vice president of digital & innovations strategy, Northwell Health

// By Emily Kagan Trenchard // I just got back from HIMSS 2017 in Orlando, Florida, and if this national conference of health IT professionals had a message, it was this: Patient engagement is the goal, so interoperability is the key. Why is that? Because to truly boost consumer engagement, we need to get our Read More

Making the Shift from Traditional PR to Digital Marketing

Don Stanziano is corporate vice president of marketing and communications at Scripps Health, an integrated healthcare delivery network in San Diego with five acute care hospitals; 30 ambulatory clinics; 14,000 employees; 3,000 physicians; and $2.9 billion in annual revenue. Stanziano leads branding, public relations, internal communications, and call center marketing, as well as digital-first demand Read More

How To Give Patients the Portal They Want

MD Anderson Cancer Center Logo

In 2002, years before patient portals were a checkbox to qualify for meaningful use incentives under healthcare reform, MD Anderson Cancer Center created its own patient portal. myMDAnderson was launched in 2002. It gave patients a personalized electronic hub to organize all their information, and 24/7 online access. The tool has stood the test of time, Read More

Former Amazon Execs Drive Innovation at a Nonprofit Health System

Mary Haggard, Vice President, Consumer Innovation, Providence St. Joseph Health

There is no shortage of digital innovation in any field these days, but in healthcare, there has been an explosion of interest in developing digital solutions for the industry’s most pressing problems. The challenge has been that the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship is often at odds with complex, risk-averse, highly regulated healthcare organizations. Amazon Read More