UConn Health Drives Service Line Volume in a Competitive Market with a Limited Budget

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // 

Connecticut is a small state with a large number of healthcare facilities to choose from — and now even drug stores turned health hubs are competing for the same patients. “There’s a lot of noise out there,” says Cathie Cannon, assistant vice president of health communications at UConn Health. “Consumers have a lot of options and you want to make sure that you’re reaching the right group at the right time.”

Besides the challenge of staying top of mind in a competitive landscape, UConn Health had limited budget available during the pandemic to grow volume in a key service line, OB-GYN, and had to make every dollar count.

Cathie Cannon, assistant vice president of health communications, UConn Health

During a presentation at the Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS21), “Integrate Digital and Marketing Automation to Grow Service Line Utilization” Cannon and co-presenters Cheryl Hodgson, senior account director at LionShare, Inc., and Jeff Steblea, director of business development at Eruptr, shared the strategies and tactics that led to a cost-effective patient acquisition campaign.

In an environment where marketers are increasingly expected to quantify the impact of their marketing efforts, measurable results answer the questions. “The strongest piece came when I was able to produce a list of appointments we delivered for this campaign,” Cannon says.

“We weren’t working with the biggest budget,” says Steblea, “but ultimately, we’re driving in the conversions, and we’re filling the pipeline for the doctors, so they’re very happy.” The campaign was also successful from an ROI perspective. “For every dollar UConn Health invested, they saw a return of almost $9 from this campaign,” says Hodgson.

Here we’ll see how UConn Health, LionShare, and Eruptr collaborated to develop a multi-channel campaign, monitor it over time, and adjust it to optimize performance.

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