Nemours Children’s Launches Clinical Logistics Center, Bringing Air Traffic Control Strategies to Healthcare

More than a decade ago, Stephen Lawless, MD, senior vice president and chief clinical officer at Nemours Children’s Health System, recognized similarities between hospitals and airports, and decided to adopt an air traffic control “command center” model to streamline operations in the Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando. Nemours’ initiative, called the Clinical Logistics Center, is Read More

Is a Central “Command Center” in Your Future?

Learn how one health system developed a centralized unit to monitor its pediatric patients. // By Lisa D. Ellis // Managing the many events and crises that occur in a major children’s hospital requires a lot of oversight and coordination, not unlike skills used by air traffic controllers who coordinate flight patterns for busy airports. Read More

Voice Search Redefines The Healthcare Consumer Experience

“I’m Sorry, Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That…Yet.” // By Keir Bradshaw // In 1968, MGM Studios released the Stanley Kubrick/Arthur C. Clarke movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Although not the first representation of voice interaction with computer-based artificial intelligence, the narrative elements between the lead characters, Dave and HAL 9000, foreshadow the aspirations 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

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

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

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

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

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

3 Platinum Award Winners Show How Digital Marketing Is Done

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // As healthcare organizations grow in digital marketing sophistication, they raise the bar for others, creating powerful multichannel campaigns that drive measurable results. Three organizations achieved top honors in the category of Best Marketing Campaign in the 2017 eHealthcare Leadership Awards, winning Platinum Awards. This category gives organizations the opportunity Read More

Creating a Seamless Digital Experience for Pediatric Patient Families

Nemours Launches Powerful App for Asthma Patients // By Melanie Graham // 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 Read More

Ask the Expert: What Differentiates a Healthcare Digital Marketing Leader?

Learn How Leading Healthcare Marketers Do Digital Differently and How to Propel Your Organization Forward // By Ben Dillon // Benchmarking your organization against your peers is something every health system wants to do. But in reality, how you compete is more nuanced than just comparing your organization to others by team or bed size. Read More

Agile, Automated Market Research Platform Accelerates Insights

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // 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 Read More

eHealthcare Leadership Award Winners: They’re Simply the Best

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // It’s that time of year again. The call for entries for the 2018 eHealthcare Leadership Awards is open as of May 1. This year’s award winners will be announced at a gala luncheon on November 7 at the HCIC conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. Winners are selected from nearly 1,000 Read More

Call for Entries — 2018 eHealthcare Leadership Awards

The Call for Entries for the 2018 eHealthcare Leadership Awards is now open. This leading awards program, which draws some 1,000 entries, exclusively recognizes the very best websites and digital communications of healthcare organizations (both large and small), online health companies, pharmaceutical/medical equipment firms, agencies/suppliers, and business improvement initiatives. These awards highlight the role of Read More

Consumer Understanding Drives Consumer Experience

“Gaining an understanding of what drives the choice-making and loyalty of healthcare consumers is complex,” says Kyra Hagan, senior vice president and general manager, marketing & communications at Influence Health. “What we do know is that consumers’ expectations for healthcare interactions are being shaped by the personalized and convenient experiences they have grown accustomed to in other Read More