#1: Legislators don’t bite.

# 2: There’s a lot to consider in an election year. The keynote speaker, Kellyanne Conway, republican strategist and President/CEO of The Polling Company, Inc., presented on “The Pulse of the Nation.” Good timing in an election year. Here are a few tidbits I learned:

• Wisconsin is a key swing state, meaning no one candidate has overwhelming support.
• The political pendulum swung from Wisconsin being a democratic blue state in 2008, to a red republican state in 2010 with newly elected republican officials.
• While the 2008 election was very much about inspiration, the 2012 election will be more about aspiration and who can lead this country.
• Voters are more concentrated on real issues that are affecting them, such as the economy, access to healthcare and government spending. Note pollsters reflected voters are more concerned about the access to health care, than the cost of health care.

Conway sited predictions in voting for the 2012 election:

• Conway predicts the white working class households and women voters are key to this year’s election.
• President Barack Obama would need 58-59% of all women votes to win a re-election. In the 2008 presidential race, 56% of women voted for Obama.
• Sixty-six percent of 18-24 year-olds voted for Obama in 2008. Their current approval rating of Obama is 46%.
• For the first time in history, there is more student loan debt than credit card debt. Total student loan debt looms large at one trillion dollars.

#3: Women continue to manage household healthcare decisions. They often manage the health care needs of their spouse, kids, parents and even pets! Women spend two of every three health care dollars in the United States.

#4: Women not only play an important role at home managing the health care needs of their loved ones, but they have a significant impact in the medical field. Following are the percentages of women in particular health care roles.

#5: Wisconsin hospitals are leading by example. Our hospitals focus on quality and cost to improve health care value, making Wisconsin more competitive.

The following are examples of initiatives that set our state apart from the pack.

• Ninety-eight percent of Wisconsin hospitals are enrolled in “Partners for Patients,” and initiative to reduce inpatient health care associated complications by 40% and readmissions by 20% over three years.
• Hospitals across Wisconsin are engaged in multiple efforts to improve quality and outcomes.
• Better quality, better outcomes, and better value–three factors that make Wisconsin more competitive in a global economy.
• Our hospitals are an asset to our communities, employing 110,000 individuals; providing more than $232 million in charity care; and delivering total community benefits valued at $1.4 billion in 2010.

#6: Proposed federal cuts to hospital Medicare and Medicaid payments must be considered in state-level policy making and will impact access to care. We can take the time to send a letter to our legislators raising awareness of these issues that will affect access to care in our community. Click here for a sample letter you can use to send to your local legislators.

• Wisconsin hospitals are taking billions of dollars in Medicare and Medicaid payment cuts due to current federal policies.
• Congress continues to target hospitals for cuts, which will affect access to care for Wisconsin’s most vulnerable citizens and negatively impact the entire state budget.
• Wisconsin hospitals are leaders in delivering high-quality, high-value health care, but continued cuts impact that delivery system and access to care in Wisconsin communities.

#7: We need to train, hire and retain more physicians in Wisconsin! Action must be taken to meet the challenge of 100 more physicians a year to address Wisconsin’s shortage of 2,000 physicians by 2030.

• Talk to your local legislators and encourage them to collect physician workforce data to assist in retention policy; continue to maintain Wisconsin’s favorable medical malpractice environment; and continuing to fund the Wisconsin Rural Physician Assistance Program.
• Interesting fact: WI graduates 340 physicians per year, of which only 38% stay and practice in WI.

#8: It’s time to get engaged in the legislative process. The greatest thing I learned from Advocacy Day is we all have a voice and play an important role in our local communities. We can take our industry experience, day-to-day experiences with patients, health care providers and administrators, and get involved in the legislative process. Volunteer in community organizations or task force teams within the hospital setting, and listen to the needs of those we serve.

Whether we are directly involved in patient care or not, we are all in a position to listen to the pulse of our local communities. It’s part of our job, and critical in these changing times, to relay our experiences and insight to our legislators who create policies on our behalf.

For more information, and to stay engaged with changes in health care policy and legislative issues, visit the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s web site at: www.wha.org.

If you are interested in helping shape your own hospital’s future, consider joining the Hospitals, Education and Advocacy Team (HEAT). HEAT provides you the information, the insight, the strategy and the assistance you need in order to bring light to legislative issues that impact your hospitals and communities you serve. Visit HEAT online at: www.wha.org/speakUp/heat.aspx

Additionally, watch for the Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Society’s (WHPRMS) monthly blogs, in partnership with WHA, where we feature monthly blogs exploring new issues impacting Wisconsin’s hospitals and health systems. You can find our blogs at: www.whprms.org/blog.

Heather Sullivan | WHPRMS president

Visit us on our website or Facebook.

1. Nearly 700 RSVP’d for Advocacy Day
2. CMS promotes coverage with texting service
3. 3 new Wisconsin ACOs
4. Medicaid waiver changes
5. Why patient satisfaction and quality don’t always line up

Each month, in addition to marketing and communications posts, we will be exploring new issues impacting Wisconsin’s hospitals and health systems. In partnership and orientation with the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA), this blog will feature headlines and hot topic issues concerning Wisconsin hospitals, clinics and organizations. Here, you’ll read about information on new legislation, hospital measurement and performance initiatives and the tools and resources you need to understand and manage today’s current, complex and controversial health care issues. We look forward to bringing you this information!

1. Nearly 700 RSVP’d for Advocacy Day in Madison

On April 24, nearly 700 Wisconsin hospital employees, trustees and volunteers will come together to talk personally with their legislators by taking part in WHA’s Annual Advocacy Day at Monona Terrace in Madison.

WHA’s Advocacy Day is an annual legislative event designed to motivate, involve and educate health care employees, volunteers and trustees on health-related issues and grassroots advocacy opportunities.

Eric Borgerding, WHA executive vice president said in a recent video this event is more than just a showing of support. “Advocacy Day allows health care leaders to talk personally with policymakers and legislators on the most important issues affecting your hospital right now,” said Borgerding.

There is no fee but participants must register to attend Advocacy Day. WHA encourages and invites hospital CEOs, CFOs, managers, nurse executives, public relations professionals, WHPRMS members, volunteers, trustees, WHA HEAT grassroots members, Partners of WHA members, WHA corporate members, and other hospital staff interested in helping to shape the future of health care in Wisconsin communities to attend.

To register, CLICK HERE.

CMS to promote health coverage through texting service for new moms

In February, The Centers for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) partnered with a new text messaging service to promote health information and enrollment in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to pregnant women and new mothers. The free Text4Baby service provides health information over mobile devices.

Marilyn Tavenner, CMS acting administrator, said in a recent article, “Text4Baby users will be alerted to the availability of health insurance options, and we are encouraging our partners and other organizations working to help get children enrolled in health coverage to make sure that new moms know how to sign up with Text4Baby for all kinds of health tips and reminders.”

Three new ACOs in Medicare Shared Savings Program

On April 10, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced it had selected 27 new health organizations to participate in its Accountable Care Organization (ACO) program, the Medicare Shared Savings program, including one organization in Milwaukee.

Three Wisconsin health systems and one physician group now participate in federal ACO models.

The Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin, LLC formed in partnership between Independent Physician Network, Inc. (IPN) and Collaborative Health Systems (CHS). CHS will partner with seven other organizations in other states as well, and will provide various administrative services, including care coordination, analytics and reporting, and technology. IPN was established in 1984 and has grown to include more than 900 member physicians who serve more than 130,000 patients in southeastern Wisconsin. This ACO is expected to serve 10,000 beneficiaries.

CMS received a lot of negative feedback from the ACO rules it first proposed last year. To address some of the criticism and concerns, the agency created two other ACO models in addition to the Medicare Shared Savings Program.

Earlier this year, CMS announced the participants in the Pioneer ACOs and two of those are in Wisconsin: Allina Hospitals and Clinics and Bellin-ThedaCare Healthcare Partners. The Pioneer ACO was an option for organizations with experience offering coordinated, patient-centered care, and operating in ACO-like arrangements. In the first two performance years, the entity will receive a fee-for-service payment, but it will have higher levels of reward and risk than in the Shared Savings program. In year three, these hospitals have to show savings over the first two years. They are then eligible for a “population-based” payment model. This would then replace some or all of the ACO’s fee-for-service payments with a prospective monthly payment. Pioneers also had the opportunity to suggest alternative payment arrangements in their applications.

What is the advance payment program?

This program is available for ACOs and includes only critical care hospitals and/or Medicare low-volume rural hospitals and that have less than $80 million in total annual revenue. These ACOs will receive advanced payments to help offset their up-front costs. These payments would have to be paid back to the federal government from any savings generated by the program. No Wisconsin hospitals were chosen at this time.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

DHS wants to modify its modified changes to the Medicaid waiver

In March, The Department of Health Services (DHS) announced it is looking to further modify its Medicaid waiver. DHS wants to implement sliding scale premiums from 3% to 9.5% of household income for nondisabled, non-pregnant adults making between 133 and 400% of the federal poverty level.

The department originally went for a 5% flat premium for families above 150% of the poverty level. But after negotiations with CMS, it changed that to a sliding scale premium starting at 3% of income for adults making 133% of the federal poverty level up to 6% for adults at 200%. They also removed children from the mix and backed down on plans to eliminate the Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) Program.

Secretary Dennis Smith noted in a letter to the state’s budget committee (via Wisconsin Health News) that because a TMA case may be eligible at income levels exceeding 200% federal poverty level, we propose to adjust the sliding premium scale upward.

Study finds patient satisfaction and quality don’t always line up

Hospitals with consistently low performance measure rankings also received a thumbs down in patient satisfaction, according to a study published online April 10 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. Authors of the study say that without understanding the factors that contribute to poor performance, value-based initiatives may make problems at these hospitals worse and impact care in a negative way.

Researchers at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and colleagues looked at Hospital Compare 2006 to 2008 data for acute myocardial infarction and heart failure process measures, as well as Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) 2008 data to compare hospitals. Low-performing hospitals tended to have fewer beds, fewer nurses per patient and were more likely rural hospitals in the South.

Makes sense, right? A low performing hospital would have low patient satisfaction. But the study also found that 61% of patients (at a cardiac hospital) said they would recommend a low performance hospital. In addition, nearly 40 percent of the low-performing heart failure hospitals were in the top half of patient satisfaction ratings, and 40 percent of the top-performing hospitals were in the bottom half.

If hospitals and health organizations can learn to better understand the factors associated with poor performance (such as organizational values and communication as well as their community benefit and patient options) there could be a better match up between quality and patient satisfaction scores.

As marketers and communicators, it’s our job to understand that our patients consider many different factors when making decisions about or surveying our hospital.

To read the full study, CLICK HERE.

Feel free to connect Trish Skram on my Facebook page at Trish Skram “PR Gal” or on LinkedIn.

Truth is, marketing campaigns aren’t always successful. It doesn’t matter how big of a marketing budget you have, if it doesn’t do what it is supposed to (bring in new patients or promote current patients to stay) then your organization could bite the bullet. There is a direct correlation between a successful marketing campaign and how well you brand your business. If you are asking yourself why your marketing campaign failed after all the research you did, you will want to take a look at your brand.

Here’s what a few local and national strategic consultants say about why hospital campaigns fail and what you can do to avoid another failure in the future.

Focusing on what you care about, not what the patient cares about.

“The needs of your audience should come first,” said Dan Weinbach, Executive Vice President of The Weinbach Group. “Flip through your daily newspaper and you’ll see many hospital advertisements that highlight the hospital’s rating or recently purchased surgical robot — but those may not be the qualities that attract patients,” he continues in a recent blog. “Maybe instead of putting up a billboard advertising your surgical robot, you could put up a billboard advertising same-day appointments.”

He also says to conduct market research to figure out the needs of your community, whether it’s affordability, accessibility or technology, and base your campaign on those findings.

Mike Milligan, President of Legato Marketing & Communications Inc., says not doing a creative brief that is based on actual strategy is an issue. “After the creative brief, you then should match the creative work with it,” he said. “Ask yourself: Did we specifically focus on the desired target audience? Did we ask the all important question: Why should they care?”

Goals weren’t clearly defined at the start

Not everyone is clear on the order of these terms—goals are quantified and at the top; strategies support goals; and tactics implement the strategies. However, if you don’t track the source of every new patient, you’ll never be able to determine the effectiveness of each of your various marketing tactics.

“This is a common one,” Mike said. “Remember, there are two types of goals: ones that focus on business measurements such as market share, but others are communication goals such as website hits, attendance at an event, YouTube views, etc.”

He also says it’s about relating to goals, not simply just about defining them. It’s about working upfront with your organization’s leadership to establish these goals and to agree upon them. “I’m a big proponent of research, and research to establish and measure your goals,” he adds. “Often we use research to test measurements for various service lines that assess awareness, and likelihood to use. Then we base goals on these measurements for different demographics within our primary and secondary service areas.”

Dan Weinback says many hospitals, practices and other organizations don’t have a reliable tracking system to identify the source of new patients and to measure the effectiveness of their marketing, advertising, promotion or referral efforts. “Regardless of the size of the business, the program or any of the strategic or tactical parts—if you don’t track you just don’t know what’s working,” he said. “Do you have a tracking system? Is it working? Is it reliable and accurate? It’s impossible to manage the plan or calculate your ROI without this part of the equation,”

Bad timing.

Ryan Weckerly, president and CEO of MorningStar Media Group says inappropriate timing can be a large reason for a failed campaign. “Just because you have a need for a certain type of patient to fulfill, does not mean that your audience has the same need,” Ryan said. “Seasonality does effect the medical industry and your patients make decisions based on their insurance requirements.”

Lacked sufficient measurement capabilities

Laura Barten, founder and president of Barten & Associates says marketing gets a bad rap for being a “softer” discipline and this shouldn’t be the case. “We strive to build measurables into every campaign, regardless of the tactics. With the proliferation of simple-to-use online tracking tools, this process has never been easier,” Laura said. “If you can’t demonstrate the value of your campaign, it’s difficult to justify ongoing expenditures and, over time, efficiently and effectively tailor your message and its delivery to ensure you’re getting the most value per campaign.”

“I can’t stress enough to define your results prior to implementation,” Ryan continues.  “It sounds rather simple, but this step is commonly missed in most planning processes.” So, when you are thinking of your next campaign, Ryan advises to ask yourself: “What measurements and tracking will I implement to define the success of this campaign?” How do I define those results?”

Laura Barten also says that any consultant or department that hesitates to provide some form of tangible measure probably hasn’t done the hard work of building fiscal discipline into its campaign planning process. “A strategic marketing plan should define how each campaign will be measured and what constitutes a success,” Laura said. “Not every campaign will hit the mark, but by planning head and measuring progress even an unsuccessful campaign holds value, helping you learn from mistakes and do better next time.”

Letting your doctors have too much say in it.

We aren’t sure why, but when it comes to marketing, everyone seems to have an opinion. Partners, staff, associates, spouses, patients and friends all want to give their two-cents.

We all know that almost every time, during the creation of a marketing campaign, hospital administrators and marketing staff are frequently asked to address the needs of individual physicians that may not have considered the overall strategic marketing plan. “A doctor will come to you and say, ‘I need a brochure, I need a newsletter, I need an ad,’” Dan Weinbach said. Instead, ask the physician, “Why do you need a brochure? What are you trying to accomplish? What are the issues you’re trying to address with a print ad?” Dan says you may find the physician has misconceptions about your marketing campaign. Instead of blindly meeting your physicians’ needs, ask questions that will make sure an individual physician’s advertisement is integrated with your overall message.

Trying to “push” or force the message

This seems to happen when the message is lost or too complex and most of the consultants I interviewed agreed. A simple, clear message and a nonintrusive opportunity for further dialog is always key.

Another issue is trying to say too much at once. When hospitals try to put too many messages in their marketing campaigns, they lose their impact. Your patients need to know all the positive things a product or service can provide them, but if they are bombarded with too many messages at once, it can have the opposite effect of driving them away. The message gets lost. The best way to avoid sending mixed messages in a marketing campaign is to narrow the focus and stick with one main message.

“They say too many cooks spoil the broth for a reason,” Laura Barten adds. “Multiple studies have demonstrated that creativity doesn’t thrive in a team environment.” According to a recent New York Times article, a sort of “group think” emerges. This is deathly to campaigns that rely on creativity.

“By diluting the original message you risk losing the message’s efficacy entirely,” Laura said. “Of course, this isn’t to say that teams or group brainstorming are bad per se, of course not. Instead, it’s critical that the marketing professional leading a creative team is strong enough to hold the line when group input threatens the core creative concept.”

Lori Bruss, executive vice president of The Roberts Group says a successful marketing campaign takes work, requires time, money and effort. Here is a list of questions Lori advises you should ask yourself to help plan better for the next campaign:

1. Are you trying to market something that shouldn’t be marketed?
2. Did you have clear goals and objectives?
3. Did you have a clear message?
4. Did you define your target audience correctly (and know your target customers?) and did the marketing message reach your target?
5. Could they have perceived your marketing message wrong or misunderstood?
6. Did you do adequate research?
7. Could your marketing copy or design be at fault for the lack of response? Did you test it?
8. Did you use creative that broke through the clutter?
9. Did you use the right tactics?
10. Did you use the right media (and technology) to the fullest?
11. Did you put all the eggs in one basket?

Lori also says the purpose of advertising is to get noticed and draw attention. “You need to be interesting and take an educated risk. Boring and uninteresting marketing is just that,” she said. “Take a step back and look at your campaign from the eyes of the audience. Answer the questions and see where you went off track.”

What would you add? Please share below and join the conversation!

Feel free to connect with me on my Facebook page at Trish Skram “PR Gal” or on LinkedIn.

Is customer service the new marketing and are online communities mainly an opportunity to engage customer service? I researched five well-known, vertically-integrated hospitals that create marketing strategies around customer service to help change the perception of health care marketing.

Scripps Health • California

Scripps Health focuses on customer service best practices in its social media marketing efforts. Marc Needham, director of web technology for Scripps Health, said social media is a “tough nut to crack” because it blurs the lines between public relations, customer service, marketing and risk management. “It seems to make sense that you always lead with your customer service hat on but have the other three disciplines in your back pocket.”

He also says in Ed Bennett’s blog, Found in Cache, that his hospital spends its social media marketing time on customer service efforts.

Scripps found so much value in its customer service and social media marketing strategy that they created a new position–electronic customer service representative.

“I’m sure everyone reading this knows that there simply aren’t the hours in the day to do everything you want to with social media; as such it always feels like we’re falling short of the real potential,” said Needham. “It’s important to have someone on staff dedicated to reaching out to angry and confused patients through social media, responding to negative (and positive) online reviews and appropriately handling the slew comments online.”

How does this fall into the marketing umbrella? Perhaps customer service and/or customer relations should be more closely connected, working side-by-side.

St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids • Iowa

We all have heard about the live Twitter surgery and its magnitude of buzz online but do we understand how this type of strategy can serve as an excellent customer service tool? At St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids, one family was able to enjoy an incredible level of customer service, as their 70-year-old mother underwent a hysterectomy and uterine prolapse surgery. Nearly 700 people followed along with the surgery. Laura Rainey, St. Luke’s Cedar Rapids’ hospital spokesperson pointed out that live-tweeting is a “more gentle” way to inform patients and consumers, allowing them to follow what’s going. The family appreciated the opportunity, pointing out that it made the time go by faster and they enjoyed having real-time information and staying informed while in the waiting room.

Oakwood Healthcare System • Michigan

“Between 15 percent and 50 percent of emergency room patients become inpatients at most hospitals,” says Stevan Bosanac, director of marketing for EMPATH, a health care consulting firm in Richmond, California. “It just makes sense to concentrate on customer service in the emergency room.”

I think many of us can agree with Stevan’s comments. If you have a well-working ED, you should boost up your marketing strategy starting in this area. But only if it’s a well-oiled machine.

Health care marketers have long known that ED marketing can help raise slumping hospital volumes. But nationally speaking, that strategy is falling apart because many EDs are becoming overwhelmed with patients and service problems.

Although minor care programs for less serious illnesses are ordinary, Oakwood Healthcare System highlighted the service during flu season. They developed a system that offers same-day or next-business-day appointments with primary care physicians through its ambulatory network. The program has proved highly popular with local residents.

Children’s Hospital Boston • Massachusetts

I personally was impressed with Children’s Hospital of Boston’s Facebook page–having over 691,000 likes/fans. Their landing page includes content that I really do want to read. But they wouldn’t share the content with me until I was a fan. I think that type of interaction works well to convert online users to brand fans.

Through its photos of the week, Children’s Hospital Boston highlights families and patients, who in turn spread the word to their friends and family on Facebook, bringing fans and patients to its Facebook page to interact. Who needs a traditional marketing campaign when you have a social strategy that is paving the way for you?

Magellan Health Services • Arizona

Every company talks about the importance of great customer service. Magellan Health Services took customer service to a new level when they implemented a new internal marketing campaign/strategy and created its STARS campaign. Not many implore employees to provide good service to each other, successfully.

Christine Barnhart, senior communications generalist for Magellan said in a recent Ragan.com article that because they rely on cross-functional work teams and internal collaboration with HR and marketing to operate efficiently and effectively, it is critical that employees recognize the importance of extending the same level of customer service excellence through their working relationships with internal colleagues.

In short, the STARS campaign (Support, Thank, Assist, Respond and Smile) was designed as a call-to-action to Magellan’s 5,000-plus employees: Treat each other with respect.

Magellan’s communications department also keeps the campaign’s key messages top of mind throughout the year by incorporating that same idea in its marketing and public relations campaigns and it doesn’t change.

A formal post-campaign survey after the first year of the campaign revealed that 71 percent of employees believed the STARS program provided useful information that demonstrated how good internal customer service impacts organizational and professional success. Additionally, more than half of respondents said the campaign encouraged them to provide better service to their Magellan colleagues, developing their best brand ambassadors.

What ways have you capitalized on customer service in your marketing strategies? Share below and join the conversation.

Feel free to connect with me on my Facebook page at Trish Skram “PR Gal” or on LinkedIn.

By now, you’ve heard about 80 percent of Internet users have looked up health information online.

But what you may not know is 57 percent of consumers have noted a social media connection with a hospital was likely to have a strong impact on their decision to seek out treatment at that particular facility. Plus, 81 percent saw a social media presence as indicative of being “cutting edge.”

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of serving on a panel for Social Media Breakfast Club of Madison, a local non profit business group with a focus on social media as a channel.

The meeting consisted of panelists representing four Southern Wisconsin hospital and health systems who shared their experiences in initiating and managing social media tools as part of their marketing-communications mixes and business best practices. The discussion centered around communication, awareness, responsiveness and buy-in.

Although the panel covered a lot of health care communications, marketing and public relations topics, an interesting topic for discussion was the reasoning behind starting a social media strategy and presence in the first place. Plus, being able to align those reasons with the changes in the health care communications landscape.

This is a large reason Social Media Club of Madison was interested in the local health care scene.

Wendy Soucie @wendysoucie, Madison-based social media strategist and president of Social Media Breakfast Club says the goal in planning programs this year and into the new year is to bring diverse practitioners into the discussion.

“We need to align with business goals, we need to make sure our clients are in the social spaces, we need a strategy and tactical plan so we get manager buy in and don’t waste precious time,” she said. “We may start with toes, and then jump into the water to create our own ‘lake effect” for social media in our industry. All this done with some type of measurement and benchmarking so we know we are progressing.”

Wendy said her team was interested in what Madison, with several major hospitals and the University, was doing around the topic of health care and social media. Like most of us, she had been following Lee Aase from Mayo Clinic as a social media professional early on and very much admire what he had accomplished.

“I think Madison-area professionals needed to also understand the direction that various-sized hospitals and health care organizations were going,” said Wendy.

So, let’s talk about that “direction” and how the strategy may change over time.

Here are a few reasons (take-a-ways from the panel) why local hospitals took the plunge into the social media world:

HIPPA and patient engagement

A major perk to developing a social media strategy is the availability to connect with patients and provide a space or open forum for discussion about the hospital or health system’s  products and services. But as health care marketers, we all understand we’re constrained under HIPAA regulations and it’s always in the forefront of everything we do in the development phase of any campaign. It’s very true in the social media realm as well. This was a major point of discussion. In fact, Steve Van Dinter from St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison told guests that if you are unsure of how to start, or what information you can share, visit HIPPA, the governing body and patient privacy advocate. “As you develop a policy, consider what your current policies cover, especially with regard to patient privacy,” said Steve.

All panelists referenced the “elevator policy” which precludes talking about patients in any form that might compromise their privacy – from conversation to email. In fact, St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison has a sign in each elevator to remind patients and staff about patient privacy when having conversation in public areas of the hospital.

Almost all panelists also agreed their health system took a “cautious approach” to social media right at the beginning. Using their social media accounts as a one-way (receiving) medium first. “Then, after realizing the power of social media and patient relationship building and trust opportunities, it changed to two-way conversation immediately,” said Jennifer Walker from UW Health.

What’s interesting is all of the organizations represented, Mercy Health System, St. Mary’s Hospital, UW Health and Fort Health Care, began engaging in social media for their organization before their organization was motivated or before they were given direction on where to take the social media plan. “This first came in the form of a Facebook page but then expanded into a Twitter account used to announce events held at the organization,” said Bridget Thomas of Fort Health Care. “Then a blog followed and now it is a full time social media management of the interface between these tools and their patients and families.”

Approachability

I think transparency within our organization (Mercy Health System) is pretty critical as well as approachability, education to all employees on social media and how it all played in to HIPPA regulations and the protection of our patients’ privacy online.

Which brings me to one of the main reasons we (Mercy) dived in to social media in 2008. We wanted to leverage social media to make it easy for us to reach out to our community, our patients, not just be another brand logo.

Re-energize the brand

All panelists agreed that convincing administrators that more and more patients are online and social media is one more tool in the marketing mix, and most effective at developing the conversation that builds the relationship between the institution and providers and patients.

The panelists all agreed to having a positive, interactive relationship with fans and followers using social media and how it can help a company recover from negative feedback and promotes the brand of the organization.

UW Health, Fort Health Care and Mercy Health System allow employee access to social media sites. “Your employees and patients can also be your strongest advocate, as well as your biggest fan base,” Bridget said. “When managing unhappy customers, address the issue immediately and offline just as any other business would. Your loyal fans will also help take care of you with positive comments and experiences.”

Education

All panelists shared the same thoughts on health education. “Promoting health events, seminars etc. not only helps with patient engagement, it also helps the news media track for story ideas,” said Steve. “Our social media accounts are also a trusted place for reporters to find their stories, testimonials and ideas.”

Which brings me to another reason Mercy jumped into the social media was to correct the incorrect information that is published on the web.

Ten years ago, there was a lot of information on the web, but today, there is so much that it gets confusing for the Internet user. We like to use our social media sites to be the go-to place for health information locally – a local source our community can trust.

Jennifer said that many of the UW Health doctors know and realize that their patients are using social media as a way of gathering medical information — often from one another.

“Patients are sharing information among themselves; we need to be there too,” she said.

The future of social media within health care in some ways will be like many industries. Consumers will drive the level of activities just by sitting in your waiting room and using social tools. Heck, it’s already happening.

So, why did your hospital or health system jump on the social media bandwagon? Join the conversation and share your ideas and comments below.

The truth is, as we market our physicians, we need to help them generate referrals and deepen relationships with medical staff through a physician-focused campaign featuring high-quality clinical content that spotlights your skilled specialists and state-of-the-art technology. But those traditional ways are running thin and we need a new way to market them in an effective way.

Here are a few ways to make sure you’re taking your physician campaigns to the next level:

1) Create a physician profile online.

Think for a moment about how you create and develop your physician intro ads right now. Just as you develop the ad with a photo, bio, specialties, office address, phone number and website; create that same profile online and spruce it up with a personal touch. Remember, health care marketing is more about connecting your physicians and staff with your patients on a more personal level. Add their favorite hobbies, sport or even a story about why they got in to health care. Bring out their warm and fuzzy side if you can.

2) Advertise the physician’s availability through social media.

Do you have a new plastic surgeon who performs a unique skin surgery that you know your competitors aren’t doing? Great. Look into discount sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial or even Facebook ads to create buzz (and bring money to the system) about that service or procedure. Offer a unique discount on a service exclusively offered by your physician.

Also note, social media brings in solid leads. Dr. Natasha Burgert, pediatrician in Kansas City says after 12 months of committing to social media, she received an average of one new patient family a week. “I know this because they tell me, ‘I am here to see you today because I found you on Facebook,’ or ‘I found your blog,” Dr. Burgert said in a blog. “Fifty-two patients a year (times) $2,700 (average pediatric care for 0-24 months) = $140,000 of average billable income over two years.”

For her practice, Dr. Burgert says social media has increased new patient traffic and created revenue for the medical group she works for.

3) Start a physician blog or create an intro video.

As mentioned above, content is king. Think about doing a short video about his or her practice, as well as blogging. Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson of Seattle Children’s Hospital blogs as Seattle Mama Doc and has recently been using Seattle Mama Doc 101 videos to deliver important messages on things parents want or need to know.

If you need some inspiration, watch some of Seattle Mama Doc’s videos to see how it’s done.

Now, of course, this may not work for every physician campaign. Not every doc is in to social media, media savvy or even good on camera.

4) Think of your physicians’ practice as a business.

As health care marketers, we tend to forget that—doctors have a hard time doing that as well.

In a recent blog post, former international sales executive Christ Westfall listed “The 12 Most Important New Sales Strategies.” The post was intended for sales professionals, but I find several of these work in physician practice marketing and advertising as well.

5) Be patient and persistent.

This last tip is not considered so nontraditional, but it’s darn important. Building a practice takes time. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a medical practice. A new physician can get discouraged with the slow and steady build of a new practice. Encourage him or her to use the downtime wisely – to keep visible with referral sources, make presentations in the community, and get involved with community support groups. The visibility, along with outstanding service to patients and referral sources, will result in increased patient volume.

Have you implemented any of the above strategies? What nontraditional ways have you used to market your new and existing physicians? Share below and join the conversation.

QR Codes are so hot right now in the marketing community, but it certainly feels like many marketers who implement QR Codes in their campaigns skipped the chapter on how they really work.

A QR Code (or Quick Response Code) is a type of matrix barcode that consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data. They are displayed so people can scan it with their smartphone.

A QR Code is a shortcut to quick information. They direct people to a website or application. It’s starting to take the place of writing down a web address or texting a number—you just scan a QR Code to get there instead. Kelly Hellickson, national sales manager at Image.works in Madison says QR Codes are incredible marketing tools that are being used more and more by health care organizations everywhere. “These barcodes can be scanned by a mobile device—leading consumers directly to online sites that contain relevant information such as sign-up forms, videos, virtual tours, etc.”

I developed a QR Code for my blog when they were introduced to the marketing world a few years ago and never did anything with it. I wish I had. However, I agree with Kelly. I do know marketers are using them and I also know that they are using them effectively. The adoption of QR Codes is slowly increasing. So, it would be wise  to say it would be in our best interest (as health care marketers) to know how and why to use them.

Here are a few examples of how hospitals and health systems are thinking ‘inside’ the little black box.

Increase patient engagement

TriStar Health System now incorporates a QR Code in its Fast ER Wait Times campaign to link consumers to information about the average emergency room wait times. This puts real-time information in people’s fingertips when time matters most.

This is a postcard Image. Works created for Community Healthcare System. The QR Code led to a personal website that contained physician biographies and allowed individuals the opportunity to request additional information on any of the featured physicians simply by clicking on the appropriate checkboxes.

Poudre Valley Health System wanted to increase the amount of patients who shared their experiences with the community. To do this, it placed QR Codes in birthing unit rooms and waiting rooms, so patients can scan the codes and be taken to its mobile-friendly Facebook page to share stories.

Jeanne Barnett, president at Medrise and writer at Eye on Pharma, says that pharmaceutical companies “should aim to have specific QR Codes leading directly to the product’s website for each product. The codes should be imprinted on prescription bottles, boxes, delivery devices and more, leading directly to the product’s website.”

Barnett says this would allow patients to learn more about correct dosage and other safety information, regarding the medicine. QR codes on products would give patients direct access to pertinent educational information about use, dosage, safety, and cleaning instructions.

Patient education and customer service

Athens Regional Health Services is now making appointment scheduling much easier. The hospital launched a QR Code that links to a site where woman can instantly and easily book a mammogram appointment.

“It came down to wanting to be able to track where people were reading about our services and pulling up our services on the website,” Courtney Alford-Pomeroy, website marketing manager for Athens Regional Medical Center told the Athens Banner-Herald. ”I want to make sure that we’re targeting people in the places that are most convenient for them.”

Introducing staff and physicians

At SSM Healthcare implemented a new initiative called, “Experience Exceptional: Our People.” The new site featured a series of two-minute clips to introduce staff to the community it serves. To increase the views of these clips, SSM Healthcare developed QR Codes that link to each clip, which get placed in its magazine, OptimiSSM.

Crisis communications

Harris County Hospital District uses QR Codes in their emergency protocol. QR Codes now lead to an emergency and disaster staffing hotline and to the emergency communications website. Talk about fast communications—think about how fast they can now disseminate information and inform the public if a crisis happens.

As I sit here and research, I can’t help but wonder how my hospital, Mercy Health System, can use them in the future. One thought I have is to implement medical information via QR Codes such as linking to events that load into a mobile calendar. The opportunities are seriously endless.

With that said, let’s brainstorm a bit. What types of information are you trying to communicate or market right now? How can it be encoded in YOUR QR Code? Please share below and join the conversation.

Do you have a blog or story idea? Connect with me and share your ideas with me on Facebook and Twitter!

So, how will your hospital or organization handle it? Here is a list of topics I gathered from the breakout sessions on health care reform that we will eventually need to address:

Structure.

According to a recent report from the American Hospital Association Committee on Performance Improvement, aligning hospitals, physicians, and other providers across the care continuum is described as a shifting paradigm from competition to interdependency. According to the report, “Aligning providers is essential to true partnerships and care coordination. For example, during a Medicare demonstration project, Wenatchee Valley Medical Center held preliminary meetings with all providers and acted on their suggestions, provided shared savings incentives to group physicians, and shared data, including testimonials from patients.”

Health care reform will involve change at every level of your organization and those changes need to be integrated throughout. In fact, I’m sure you’ve seen a few aspects of this already.

There was some talk about hospitals and health system’s eventually becoming Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). Jennifer Armstrong Gay, director of communication strategies for American Hospital Association says accountability and integration will be an integral part of the new health care landscape. “Quality improvements, cultural changes, cost reductions, patient satisfaction, and ACOs play a major part of how health care will shift in the future.”

Steve Benton, president of the Wisconsin Hospital Association says ACO regulations are universally “panned.” “Hospitals and physicians will have to recognize, embrace and leverage their growing interdependence to create organizational structures and incentive models that are strategically aligned and mutually rewarding.”

Branding.

With branding, it’s important to understand your brand’s value proposition how you will continue to deliver and support it when health care reform comes in to play.

Jennifer says it will be important to be able to communicate “your hospital story” in light of health care reform. This can be a great branding tool. “It’s more important than ever that we create a drumbeat of positive hospital stories,” she says. “The Wisconsin Hospital Association is doing a great job of that through its annual community benefit report-it’s a joy for anyone to read those life-changing stories.”

Rally up your staff

If your hospital hasn’t discussed and prepared staff for reform, you could really be missing the boat. Are you helping them to understand and prepare for the changes ahead? Jennifer says health care marketers should be communicating health care reform to staff and patients alike. “It’s our jobs as marketers to really understand health care reform and what it means to our community.”
Your physicians and staff are the ambassadors for your hospital. Jennifer says to make sure you are developing a communications plan to teach them over the next two years what they will need to know.

Educate your patients

Patient education, wellness programs and disease management will be more important than ever before. Organizations that fine tune their patient and/or community education and look for new ways to reward compliance will have an advantage.

Online social interaction and relationship building

Yes, we all know that social media and HIPPA regulations tend to scare us but social media is an opportunity to engage with your patients and develop a brand personality. Also, make sure your hospital is developing and tracking your patient visits, how they utilize your services and the feedback they give you on how you’re doing. All of that should be tracked in a database.

Measurement.

We’ve all heard this more than enough. Health care reform will force us as health care marketers to develop metrics that prove we are measuring ROI and ROE. Make sure you have the tracking tools in place to prove and justify your marketing budget in the future.More organization planning and overall system strategies will be of most importance in the future of strategy for the health care organization you work for. Marketing will be in an ideal position to think strategically about the implications of these changes on your internal and external audiences. Do you think you could provide more opportunities to help patients and staff achieve a greater understanding and acceptance of health care reform? What have you already done to communicate health care reform?

Please share below and join the conversation!

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Truth is, I know you know that, but it still happens. Health literacy is a hot topic right now and it should be at top-of-mind when you’re creating your marketing campaigns. Consider the following as a friendly reminder for the benefit of your hospital, company and/or patients.

Use simple terms

Using complex words such as too much medical terminology (complex, ambiguous or conflicting) can cause uncertainty. Nobody likes feeling uncertain. In fact, uncertainty is often what motivates us to look for more information. Uncertainty is a particular issue for patients who are chronically ill and/or have family members who are chronically ill. In addition, too much information or too little information can also bring on uncertainty.

The big idea here is to write and speak in plain language. Physicians and health care providers know a lot about medicine, but consumers don’t. Communicators and health care marketers need to fit words to the audience. Making things simple and easy to understand is never an issue if it communicates clearly.

We know your hospital has “The only 16 slice CT scanner in the area.” Or the list of cancer services include “peripheral blood stem cell transplantation,” “radiofrequency ablation” or even “renal cell carcinon” treatment. We get it, but your patients don’t. They don’t care or even understand what that means to them. Put the info in simple terms and create messaging that relates to them.

Talk with your heart and speak with compassion

When it comes to choosing hospitals and health care providers, consumers are thinking more and more with their hearts. Regardless of the research and statistics, the industry citations and even the insurance coverage, people consistently make life-and-death decisions based on the emotional connections they form with caregivers. As I noted above, your patients don’t want to hear only about equipment and research, they also want to know how it affects them in a personal way.

Kentucky’s Saint Joseph Health System Cancer Center’s “Survivors” campaign is an example of how one health care provider got the message right. The Tombras Group created a signature TV spot that is visceral and pulls on your heart strings, because it features real survivors and real stories. It’s authentic, genuine and focused on patients, not providers.

Use social media to lead patients

Social media really offers an opportunity for hospitals and health systems. Instead of having patients be frustrated and overwhelmed after seeking information on the Internet, we can use social media to establish a guide for patients and their families—a guide that contains information that is provided by your hospital or health system to assure reliability.

Use your physicians and medical experts to explain complex information in the language your patients understand. You can offer interactive question and answer sessions, interviews or webinars that can be recorded and accessed through your hospital’s website or social media pages.

Sherman Health in Elgin, Illinois, manages several blogs for its patients and community in four main areas: general system news, new hospital and health photography, heart and cardiovascular health and patient testimonials. Here, Dr. Malinski, guest blogs for “Ask the cardiologist,” and helps readers understand common health-related topics.

Empower your patients

More patients are starting to take control over their health, but doctors say they are worried about the quality of information patients are finding online. Dr. Richard Bedlack, a neurology professor at Duke University considers it this way. “Just because a have the tools to work on your sports car doesn’t mean you’re ready to do it,” he says. He explains “Patient 2.0″ in this article from Time Magazine here. I say, it’s our jobs as marketers to develop social media sites, public forums and other sharing sites as a place for information our patients and community can trust.

Primary Children’s Medical Center next to the University of Utah, developed a video game to help and empower young cancer patients. When a University of Utah professor, Grzegorz Bulaj, visited an 8-year-old patient, he realized the spirometer he saw in the boy’s room could be turned into a game to encourage healing. See how a university’s medicine and entertainment arts and engineering departments worked together so young patients could have fun while living with cancer.

So, think about how your hospital’s communication strategies and marketing messages are really translated. Could you provide more opportunities to help patients and their families achieve greater understanding and acceptance and diminish the fear and frustration of uncertainty? What communications campaigns have worked for you?

Join the conversation!

If you’re like many Americans using smartphones, you use it to do more than communicate. Everyday I use my iPhone to surf the web, listen to music, check my bank account, manage my desktop computer and update social media sites.

Smartphone applications have allowed us as communicators to do much more than we ever thought possible. On the same token, it’s completely changed the way consumers preview, research and buy products and services. With the growing popularity of smart phones and other mobile devices, having a website with mobile access is no longer just a novelty aimed at a few people lucky enough to have iPhones. A mobile site is a must.

So, what does this mean for you?

I’ve listed a couple of reasons why your hospital or health system website needs to be mobile-friendly:

1. Nearly 1 in 5 Americans access mobile web daily.
   And this rate is increasing annually. It is now essential to represent your hospital on mobile web before your competitor does.
2. 93% of Americans own mobile phones.
   Though not all the mobile phones have Internet access capabilities, it is the current trend. Internet accessibility is available not only in smart phones but also in some standard phones. But in the future, it is probable that all phones have some online access.
3. The average iPhone user only spends 45% of their time making voice calls.
   That means more than half of their time is spent doing others things like checking email, using applications and using the web.
4. Mobile web is expected to surpass desktop web in five years.
   A report by Morgan Stanley reported mobile web use will be bigger than desktop Internet use by 2015. So, in all honesty, you have a few years to make your website mobile-friendly but your competitors might be already developing a mobile-friendly site. It is obvious that a vast majority of your site visitors will be on a mobile in the near future. Take a look at how mobile phones are used right now. They are either used on the go or to look something up quickly.

   For instance, Sherman Hospital headquartered in Elgin, Illinois, has a mobile-friendly landing page that allows you to click on its main features fast and easy. I think it’s easy to use, fast and has a clear understanding of where to go for the information you’re looking for.

5. 83 million people worldwide are using their phones to surf the web.
   According to a report by The Neilson Company, 83 million people globally are mobile phone web users. That is a HUGE portion of people that will not be able to visit your site if it’s not easily accessible. Studies show that your website traffic increases the more mobile-friendly it is. Its user loyalty, they appreciate being able to access your website whenever they need.

   Mercy Health System, headquartered in Janesville, made its social network hub, MercyPulse.org, mobile-friendly when it launched a few years ago to connect with its online/social media communities.

6. Ads for the mobile web will surpass $6.5 billion by the end of 2012.
   If big-name advertisers are investing that much cash into their marketing budgets for mobile web, there’s obviously a good reason to do so.

Case in point: make your website mobile-friendly. Make sure your site’s navigation is simple and intuitive enough to use from either a phone or a tablet devise. Keep the content at the top of your website brief and make your videos mobile-friendly.

Is your hospital’s website mobile-friendly? To you, what are the pros and cons? Join the conversation!

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