// By Becky Barney-Villano // Reputation management has never been more important for healthcare providers and organizations that are actively seeking new patients. Why? The increase in high-deductible health plans has created a new breed of healthcare shopper. The rise of insurance exchanges where consumers pick their plans has resulted in more robust and careful Read More
Managing change is hard, even for innovative organizations like Boston Children’s Hospital. “That’s something I hear in all the businesses I’ve worked with, from GE to Cigna to here,” says William Gagnon, senior director of global digital strategy and customer engagement at Boston Children’s. Digital transformation at Boston Children’s is laser-focused on making the shift Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Managing change is hard, even for innovative organizations like Boston Children’s Hospital. “That’s something I hear in all the businesses I’ve worked with, from GE to Cigna to here,” says William Gagnon, senior director of global digital strategy and customer engagement at Boston Children’s. Change is risky, and healthcare Read More
A growing percentage of consumers with employer-sponsored health insurance are choosing high-deductible health plans that have lower premiums. Citing data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Becker’s reported that 24 percent of employees enrolled in high-deductible health plans in 2015, up from just 4 percent in 2006. The downside of HDHPs is that out-of-pocket costs are Read More
This leading awards program, which drew over 900 entries last year, recognizes the very best websites and digital communications efforts of healthcare organizations, online health companies, pharmaceutical/medical equipment firms, suppliers, and business improvement initiatives. Now in its 18th year, the awards program is presented by Plain-English Health Care, publisher of eHealthcare Strategy & Trends and Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The nature of our health system in the U.S. is that it is massively complicated, with many variables that impact price. It’s extremely challenging for health systems to give an answer to a patient who asks a seemingly simple question: How much will this cost me? First a provider Read More
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
Veteran Judges Discuss eHealthcare Leadership Award Program Recognizing Digital Initiatives // By Jane Weber Brubaker // When it comes to awards, landing on the podium is a cause for celebration. The annual eHealthcare Leadership Awards are the “Oscars” of healthcare digital marketing. Healthcare organizations of all sizes have the opportunity to shine the spotlight on Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // 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. But the motivation was not financially driven. “Patients were walking around with huge amounts of paper. You would see people—I’m not lying—with Read More
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
Ask the Expert, with Don Stanziano // By Jane Weber Brubaker // 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 Read More
[Hint: It isn’t size and budget that make a leader a leader.] // By Ben Dillon // For the past decade, Geonetric has performed its Digital Marketing in Healthcare survey to help healthcare marketers uncover industry trends, benchmark their own efforts, and better understand how to plan for upcoming digital initiatives. As part of the Read More
“Patients turn to online doctor profiles to learn something meaningful about the person who’s going to be managing their health,” says Shawn Gross, Chief Digital Strategist, Healthcare Practice Lead for White Rhino in Lexington, Massachusetts. “But often these profiles are little more than an abbreviated resume: an academic history, professional credentials, and a headshot. They rarely convey Read More
In a recent eHST “Ask the Expert” column with Avinash Kaushik, Digital Evangelist at Google and Co-Founder of Market Motive Inc., we briefly touched on the concept of economic value in the context of web analytics and website goals. “Without goals and goal values, you are not doing web analytics,” says Kaushik. Goals are conversions, Read More
3 Strategies to Build Patient Trust and Drive More Online Appointments // By Shawn Gross // Patients turn to online doctor profiles to learn something meaningful about the person who’s going to be managing their health. But often these profiles are little more than an abbreviated resume: an academic history, professional credentials, and a headshot. Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In a recent eHST “Ask the Expert” column with Avinash Kaushik, Digital Evangelist at Google and Co-Founder of Market Motive Inc., we briefly touched on the concept of economic value in the context of web analytics and website goals. “Without goals and goal values, you are not doing web Read More
New Survey Data Reveals Growing Number of “Health-Sumers” Engage Using Mobile Devices // By Ken Robbins // The Internet offers a vast universe of information for consumers to sink their teeth into, and one area where that appetite has proven to be insatiable is healthcare. In a June 2016 survey of 1,000 consumers conducted by Read More
The most influential source in selecting a physician may be a recommendation from a friend or family member, but it doesn’t stop there. “When you get a recommendation from someone you know, one of the first things you do is look online to find more information about that physician,” says Matt Gove, Chief Consumer Officer Read More
“Organic search is a valuable source of website traffic for hospitals and health plans,” says Jeremy Dietz, Executive Digital Editor at Coffey Communications. “To capture relevant search traffic, healthcare marketers need to build and maintain websites that meet current best practices for search engine optimization (SEO).” While the best way to make a site rank well is Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In 2014, Piedmont Healthcare was the second health system to go live with physician star ratings based on Press Ganey survey data. “The reason we did it was because there’s no more powerful voice in helping consumers understand the experience with a service or product than the voice of Read More
// By Jeremy Dietz // Organic search is a valuable source of website traffic for hospitals and health plans. To capture relevant search traffic, healthcare marketers need to build and maintain websites that meet current best practices for search engine optimization (SEO). It’s not always easy to know exactly what to do to make a Read More
Are your website visitors captive customers? When an organization fails to meet customer expectations—and the bar has been set high by industries outside of healthcare—the impact on brand can be great. More than a third of visitors to health system websites surveyed by Greystone.Net and Klein & Partners, creators of gSight™, a healthcare and hospital 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
Could your health system launch a brand-new digital marketing 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. “The first email I got from our [marketing and communications] team Read More
Is retail strategy relevant to your work as a healthcare marketer? The answer is a resounding yes, according to Ken Robbins, Founder and President of award-winning digital agency Response Mine Interactive (RMI). “Techniques used to increase conversions for larger retail organizations can be very successfully applied to healthcare,” he says. He offers the following stats in support Read More