Technology and Patient Care

Integration and Forethought Key To Success of Digital Healthcare Initiatives

Danny Fell

“One of the most important things marketers and digital strategists can do is align their digital activities with marketing and organizational business goals,” says Daniel Fell. “But often, in the urgency to adopt these new technologies and move projects forward, good strategic thinking can take a back seat to just getting things done. That’s unfortunate Read More

Is Open-Source Software the Right Solution For Your Hospital, Health System, or Physician Group?

Ken Rickard

“Medicine, like science, depends on the free exchange of information to produce the best outcomes for patients,” says Ken Rickard. “Software should be designed with the same goal in mind.” Rickard is the Director of Professional Services at Chicago-based consulting and development firm Palantir.net. He believes software decisions are a crucial element of healthcare strategy. “Software Read More

Open Source or Proprietary? 5 Key Issues to Consider

Ken Rickard

// By Ken Rickard // Imagine a healthcare world in which you had to pay a license fee to perform each angioplasty. Or one in which breakthroughs in cancer treatments were never published, but were instead reserved only for a select few doctors and institutions. Medicine, like science, depends on the free exchange of information Read More

Predictive Analytics Platform Optimizes OR Utilization at Boston Medical Center, Improves Bottom Line

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Hospitals today are coping with severe financial pressures driven by cuts in reimbursement, penalties, and the shift from fee-for-service to value-based models. One company is helping health systems drive out waste and improve efficiency by applying operations management and quality improvement principles developed and refined in manufacturing. “There’s a Read More

Should You Provide Online Physician Reviews?

Your health system’s marketing messages focus on the positive attributes of your organization and all the great services you have to offer. They capture the essence of your brand. But what do your patients actually say about you and the care they receive from your providers? Are you delivering on your brand promise from their Read More

Are You Ready to Post Physician Ratings on Your Hospital Website?

Leading-Edge Healthcare Organizations Now Promote Physician Reviews Online—Why It Works // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Your health system’s marketing messages focus on the positive attributes of your organization and all the great services you have to offer. They capture the essence of your brand. But what do your patients actually say about you and Read More

Text Messaging Increases Satisfaction and Reduces No-Shows

Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, Indiana is one of the largest safety net health systems in the U.S., providing care to nearly a million outpatient visitors a year. Some of its 38 multispecialty clinics were experiencing no-show rates for office visits of up to 40 percent. “One of our clinics, which you would think would have a Read More

New Partnership Models Connect Healthcare Providers and Entrepreneurs

In June, Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin announced its investment in StartUp Health, a global entrepreneurship development company. “Aurora Health Care is taking a lead investor role in StartUp Health to help expedite the review and adoption of innovations designed to transform the delivery of care,” says Rick Klein, Executive Vice President of Aurora’s Enterprise Read More

What Happens to Patients With Chronic Diseases Between Office Visits?

Vivify Health Logo

As hospitals and health organizations move toward population health and engage in value-based contracting, managing patients with chronic diseases effectively and efficiently has risen to the top of the agenda. “It would be great if the patient is giving you information every day in a way that helps drive workflow around urgency and kicking out Read More

WellSpan Health Uses LionShare’s CRM and Marketing Automation Platform to Crack the Code on Portal Sign-ups

// Ask the Expert, with Caty Wolf // Caty Wolf is Manager of Marketing Communications at WellSpan Health, an integrated health system in central Pennsylvania. She is responsible for CRM and marketing automation, and works with LionShare’s business intelligence and CRM platform, DIATA®. WellSpan is using marketing automation to acquire and activate consumers on its Read More

Aurora Health Takes a Lead Investor Role in Digital Health Accelerator StartUp Health and Joins AVIA Innovator Network, Signaling Commitment to Innovation That Improves Patient Care

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In June, Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin announced its investment in StartUp Health, a global entrepreneurship development company. “Aurora Health Care is taking a lead investor role in StartUp Health to help expedite the review and adoption of innovations designed to transform the delivery of care,” says Rick Klein, Executive Read More

How a 200-Year-Old Hospital Prioritizes Digital Innovation

Shawn Gross, Chief Digital Strategist at White Rhino

One way to accelerate consumer-facing digital technologies in established health care organizations is to carve out a dedicated team focused on innovation. “When Massachusetts General Hospital formed the Healthcare Transformation Lab, a startup group within the 200-year-old institution, the organization made technology in healthcare delivery a priority,” says Shawn Gross, Chief Digital Strategist and Health Read More

4 Ways Healthcare Organizations Are Using New Technologies to Deliver Personalized Service and Patient Experience

Mass General’s Healthcare Innovation Lab and White Rhino’s Addictive Health Lab explore consumer-centric apps and technologies with the goal of delivering a higher level of personalized service, satisfaction and a better overall patient experience. // By Shawn Gross // “As patients behave more like consumers, healthcare organizations need to deliver a higher level of personalized Read More

Are Wearables the Cure for Chronic Disease Management?

Dr. Richard Milani

Chronic diseases cause 70 percent of deaths in the U.S., and hypertension is one of the most pervasive chronic diseases. “A third of all adults in the U.S. have it,” says Dr. Richard Milani, Ochsner Health’s Chief Clinical Transformation Officer. “Only half of adults with high blood pressure have it under control. It’s a big Read More

Inside Look at Ochsner Health’s Apple Watch Hypertension Pilot

eHealthcare Pulse April 24 was a big day in the technology world. The Apple Watch was released. On the same day, Ochsner Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in Louisiana, announced that it was the first hospital in the nation to manage patients suffering from chronic diseases, using the new Apple Watch. “Chronic disease is Read More

B2C Marketing Predictions 2015

The results of an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, commissioned by Marketo, indicate that 99% of marketers plan to invest in marketing technologies in the next year. Here are other key findings: Impact on Revenue Of the B2C marketers surveyed, more than half (55%) feel that their marketing departments are regarded as little more than a Read More

Compelling Mission, Native Content, and Word of Mouth Drive Medstro To #3 Spot on Rankings of Physician Social Networks

Pressures abound in healthcare, and for some young physicians, change can’t come soon enough. “I experienced the pains a lot of people are expressing with the healthcare system in terms of the inefficiencies, care delivery, time with patients, what it means to have the patient-physician relationship, and administrative burdens now as compared to 10 years Read More

Learn How Kaiser Permanente Achieved a 69% Patient Portal Adoption Rate

Jane Weber Brubaker, Editor of eHealthcare Strategy & Trends

Patient retention is one of the many things healthcare marketers need to stay on top of. Can your patient portal help you retain patients? Kaiser Permanente thinks so. “A 2012 Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Managed Care found that patients with online access to their patient information were 2.6 times more Read More

Kaiser Permanente, With 4.8 Million Portal Users, Says All Healthcare Systems Should Strive to Provide Easy and Convenient Care

In a recent article, we presented a recap of the HIMSS15 Patient Engagement Symposium. One of the presentations during the daylong symposium got our attention and we wanted to take a closer look. Judy Derman, Director of Member Engagement at Kaiser Permanente, shared impressive statistics on Kaiser’s portal, and how patients and providers are using Read More