Blog Promotes Hospital as Quality Leaderpromos.hcpro.com/pdf/HMA_10_12.pdf · Del.–based agency ab+c, recommends reviewing social media campaign analytics monthly. “This ensures

HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR

October 2012 Vol. 13 No. 10

Blog Promotes Hospital as Quality Leader

Positive Association Propels Colonoscopy Campaign

by Marianne Aiello

© 2012 HCPro, Inc. For permission to reproduce part or all of this newsletter for external distribution or use in educational packets, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com or 978-750-8400.

2 HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR » OCTOBER 2012

GARY ADAMSONChief Experience OfficerStarizon

ERIC N. BERKOWITZ, PhD ProfessorIsenberg School of Management University of Massachusetts

CHRIS BEVELOPresident and founderInterval

PATRICK T. BUCKLEY, MPA, IHCPresident and CEOPB Healthcare Business Solutions, LLC

ROBERTA N. CLARKE, PhDAssociate ProfessorHealth Sector Management ProgramBoston University

LYNNE CUNNINGHAMCoachStuder Group

LESLIE DEANEDirector of Planning and MarketingFirstHealth of the Carolinas

TOM DESANTOTom DeSanto Strategy and Communications

GABRIELLE DETORAHealthcare Marketing StrategistGabrielle DeTora Consulting

SUSAN DUBUQUE PresidentNeathawk Dubuque & Packett

DAN DUNLOPPresidentJennings Co.

JOEL ENGLISHExecutive Vice PresidentBVK

MARGO H. FRANCISCO, FACHE Executive Vice PresidentThe Roberts Group, Inc

BROOKE TYSON HYNESVice President, Public Affairs and CommunicationsTufts Medical Center

KATHLEEN LEWTONPrincipalLewton, Seekins & Trester

JOHN LUGINBILLCEOThe Heavyweights

SCOTT MACSTRAVIC, PhDPrincipal ConsultantDurable Value Marketing

LARRY MARGOLISPresident & Chief Marketing OfficerSPM Marketing & Communications

LUKE A. PERKOCHA, MD, MBAAssociate Director of Surgical Pathology and Associate Professor UCSF

DEBRA PIERCEAssistant VP of MarketingCarolinas HealthCare System

ANGIE PRATHERMarketing ManagerWichita Clinic

AMY PROTEXTERSenior VP and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Alegent Health

ROBERT ROSENBERGPresidentSpringboard Brand and Creative Strategy

ELIZABETH L. SCOTTCEORaven New Media and Marketing

MIKE SEYFER Vice President, Interactive and Account Manager H.T. Klatzky & Associates

SHARI SHORT Research Director, Strategist Aloysius Butler & Clark

DAVID A. SHORE, PhDAssociate DeanHarvard School of Public Health

PAUL SZABLOWSKIVP of Marketing, Communications, & Public RelationsCatholic Healthcare West

HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISORcontents»» E D I T O R I A L B O A R D

October 2012

V o l u m e 1 3 N u m b e r 1 0

cover story

PositiveAssociationPropelsColonoscopyCampaignGood Samaritan Hospital uses pop culuture to reach baby boomers who hesitate to come in for a colonoscopy.

MARKETINGSPOTLIGHT

BoostingHospitalFundraisingThroughSongMount Sinai Hospital of Chicago has launched a new online fundraiser, Sounds of Sinai, where anyone can upload a video of themselves performing a song; additionally, anyone can donate to support a video, patient, or Sinai clinician. The website is preloaded with video recordings from celebrities.

INFOCUSSTR ATEGY

TryingtoWinOverPatientsHospital leaders recognize the demands of delivering a high-level experience for the patient now that new federal metrics rely on patients interpreting how nurses, doctors, and hospital staff treated them during their hospital stay. Joe Cantlupe shares lessons from hospitals that focus on improving patient satisfaction through innovative training techniques.

MATT CANN, Group [email protected]

JACQUELINE FELLOWS, [email protected]

Healthcare Marketing Advisor (ISSN: 1937-7592) is published monthly by HCPro, Inc., 75 Sylvan St., Suite A-101, Danvers, MA 01923. Subscription rate: $299/year. • HCMA, P.O. Box 3049, Peabody, MA 01961-3049. • Copyright © 2012 HCPro, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Except where specifically encouraged, no part of this publication may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without prior writ-ten consent of HCPro, Inc., or the Copyright Clearance Center at 978-750-8400. • For editorial comments or questions, call 781-639-1872 or fax 781-639-7857. For renewal or subscription information, call customer service at 800-650-6787, fax 800-639-8511, or email [email protected]. • Visit our website at www.hcpro.com or www.healthleadersmedia.com. • Occasionally, we make our subscriber list available to selected companies/vendors. If you do not wish to be on this list, please write to the market-ing department at the address above. • Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of HCMA. Mention of products and services does not constitute endorsement. Advice given is general, and readers should consult professional counsel for specific legal, ethi-cal, or clinical questions. CPT codes, descriptions, and material only are Copyright © 2010 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. No fee schedules, basic units, relative values, or related listings are included in CPT. The AMA assumes no liability for the data contained herein. Applicable FARS/DFARS restrictions apply to government use. Magnet™, Magnet Recognition Program®, and ANCC Magnet Recognition® are trade-marks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The products and services of HCPro, Inc., and The Greeley Company are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the ANCC.

deliverables MARKETINGWEEKLYNow that there are more ways to measure the effectiveness of social media, hospitals are using it to build connections with patients and reinforce their marketing message and mission. ASKTHEADVISORSOur experts discuss the challenges and benefits of providing C-suite executives with marketing metrics.

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http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://www.soundsofsinai.org/


OCTOBER 2012 » HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR 3

HIGHLIGHTS FROM

M A R I A N N E A I E L L O

WHYHOSPITALSMUSTDIVEINTOSOCIALMEDIA

C A M PA I G NSPOTLIGHT

Orthopedic Conversations Highlight Community Hospital’s Servicesby HMA staff

Ellis Medicine (www.ellismedicine.org) recently launched its “Orthopedic Conversations” mar-keting campaign. The campaign is centered around three patient stories—Kayla Treanor, who received reconstructive surgery through the sports medicine program; Ron Baldwin, who received a hip replacement; and Lynne Dinon, who received a total knee replacement.

The campaign, which was developed by Troy, Mich.–based healthcare marketing agency Smith & Jones, uses candid interviews that focus on the patients’ interests and experiences at Ellis Medicine, a 455-bed community and teaching healthcare sys-tem in Schenectady, N.Y. For example, Treanor, an athlete who played in the World Cup on the U.S. women’s lacrosse team, touts her treatment at the community hospital, saying, “Any athlete would be lucky to have the care that I had.” Likewise, Baldwin, an avid motorcyclist, says, “We are very fortunate to have Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.”

The advertising and branding campaign focuses on the healthcare system’s joint replacement and sports medicine programs. Ellis Medicine’s website features long-form videos, as well as display and Facebook ads inviting consumers to watch the patients’ stories. HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR

New York City’s Continuum Health Partners re-cently dove into the social media waters, and its results prove why hospitals should welcome social media into their marketing strategies.Continuum Health partners began to plan a social media

strategy for its Friedman Diabetes Institute and Child and Family Institute in late 2011, launching in January 2012. It also launched a multi-author health blog in July. The goal was to engage targeted audiences, some of whom marketers suspected weren’t being reached through traditional tactics.

“We work hard to provide valuable content that will engage patients and other key audiences—referral sources, peers, media, and stakeholders—in a conversation about what is important to them,” says Terry Cavanaugh, vice president and director of marketing for the health sys-tem. For example, Continuum nutritionists participate in a weekly diabetes tweet chat, which has resulted in some great exchanges of ideas and relationships, Cavanaugh says.

Another benefit is that you can truly engage the audience with pure content, rather than hitting them with rapid-fire messages as with traditional marketing. “The content is about our services and clinical expertise, but it is delivered in a genuine way,” Cavanaugh says. “We have found that work-ing closely with the clinical experts helps produce content that captures the personality of the individual programs.”

With traditional marketing campaigns, there is a lot of waiting for results—sometimes you’re left relying on anec-dotal evidence. Not so with social media. Look for answers to these questions: “Who is responding to content?” “Are they looking for the services provided?” “How did they find out?”

Stacy Speicher, account supervisor for Wilmington, Del.–based agency ab+c, recommends reviewing social media campaign analytics monthly. “This ensures that you can course-correct and put your resources where they are most successful,” she says.

Course correction is perhaps the greatest benefit to social media marketing. “Use audience feedback to evaluate what’s working, and tailor your strategy as your campaign grows and technology changes,” Cavanaugh says. HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR

http://www.ellismedicine.orghttp://www.ellismedicine.orghttp://www.friedmandiabetesinstitute.com/http://www.wehealny.org/services/slr_cfi/index.htmlhttp://www.wehealny.org/services/slr_cfi/index.htmlhttp://healthbytesnyc.com/http://www.ellismedicine.org/orthopedics/orthopedic.aspx#



Positive Association Propels Colonoscopy

CampaignBy Marianne Aiello


POP CULTURE REFERENCES are a fun way to help baby boomers realize the time has come for them to take their commitment to staying healthy one step further by getting a colonoscopy.


About 48 years ago, seven misfits set off on a three-hour boat tour, soon becoming hopeless castaways doomed for eternal syndication. And little did Gilligan, the skipper, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor, and Mary Ann know that nearly half a century later their theme song would be used to prompt baby boomers to schedule colonoscopies.

In January 2012, MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore launched an integrated campaign that played to its target audience’s sentimental side. Good Samaritan had a reputation for caring for older adults, but had recently developed services and programs specifically designed to help maturing adults age actively.

“We wanted to position ourselves as a trusted resource

for this audience—and the best way to do this is to empathize,” says Kris Roeder, associate vice president of marketing and communications for Good Samaritan. “Everyone over age 50 knows they need a colonoscopy, and it’s something most of us put off as long as possible. I consciously sought out an iconic reference point that would help alleviate the fear about getting a colonoscopy and remind consumers approaching that age that we’re all in this together.”

The campaign, which consisted of print, radio, and online ads, ran through April 11. Roeder conceived of the campaign theme because she liked the idea of using nos-talgic images as a way to connect with the audience in an engaging and fun way.

cover story



ORGANIZATION

MedStar Good Samaritan Hospital

LOCATION

Baltimore

SIZE

346 beds

WEBSITE

www.goodsam-md.org

MARKETING CONTACT

Kris RoederAssociate Vice President of

Marketing and Communications

LOOKINGCLOSER

You can listen to the jingle on page six. Here’s a sample of the lyrics:“If you were a kid when Gilligan was marooned on a desert

isle / it’s time for your colonoscopy / it only takes a while / to prevent one of the most curable types of cancer that we see / just throw yourself a lifesaver / get a colonoscopy.”

“The juxtaposition of ‘Gilligan’ with ‘colonoscopy’ was meant to lessen the anxiety and taboo associated with the screening, a gentle nudge to those over 50 that they were grown up and ready to be screened,” Roeder says. “I had a lot of fun searching for these iconic trigger points—we may still have a few up our sleeves.”

This approach was the right move for Good Samaritan because it gave the marketing team leeway to push the boundaries of the brand and have fun with the advertis-ing, says Maria Stearns, healthcare team director and account supervisor for ab+c, the Baltimore-based agency

that worked on the campaign. “It was a message that was completely different than anyone else’s in the market,” Stearns says. “It’s also a campaign that has legs and can continue to evolve and maybe even cross service lines.”

REACHING BOOMERS ONLINEIn addition to its unique message, the campaign

was set apart by its strategic online ad buys, chosen by Good Samaritan and its media buyer, San Diego’s CerasoliStafford Media Management. Many healthcare organizations might shy away from placing online ads for a campaign targeting the 50+ demographic, but Roeder and her team knew this was a surefire way to reach poten-tial patients.

“With such a compelling message and engaging creative, online radio was a natural fit,” says CerasoliStafford’s Interactive Manager Gia Cruz.

“A THREE HOUR TOUR” lyrics are turned around in this radio jingle to tell consumers that getting a colonoscopy doesn’t take too long and is one of the most curable types of cancer.

file:///Users/sdinis/Desktop/In%20Progress/01_Newsletters/02_From%20Philippines/HMA_10_12/Cover/www.goodsam-md.orghttp://www.gettingbettertogether.org/



The majority of the online ad budget went to online radio site Pandora. Cruz also placed ads on Facebook because of its ability to target specific demographics as well as geographic areas.

“Consumers are online for everything—whether it be on their mobile device, tablet, computer, or now even smart TV,” she says. “Display and mobile adver-tising are extremely important components to any hospital marketing campaign. Local news sites can be helpful in assisting clients and making campaigns as turn-key as possible.”

The online ads garnered click-through rates that were seven times the national average for healthcare campaigns.

“We understood that many [in our target audience] are plugged in out of necessity—to monitor, keep up with, or stay connected to kids or grandkids,” Roeder says. “And, of course, many are hip to begin with. The differentness of the campaign resonated well—the unexpectedness of seeing Gilligan mentioned in terms of getting a colonoscopy.”

RESULTSAll in all, the campaign resulted in 968 landing

page views in one day, with the average visitor spend-ing nearly four minutes on the customized page.

The campaign also netted 44 colonoscopy appoint-ments. Of those 44 appointments, 13 were current Good Samaritan patients and 31 were new to the hospital. Forty-three of the 44 scheduled an appoint-ment through the call center, and one booked online.

HOSPITAL WEBSITE shows profiles of the doctors as well as their background so that patients can feel comfortable knowing who they’ll be well taken care of.

cover story



IF YOU WERE A KID WHEN

GILLIGANWAS FIRST STRANDED,

IT’S TIMEFOR A COLONOSCOPY.

You’re over 50 now—time to grow up and face the fact that a colonoscopy is no big deal. Fifteen minutes, a little discomfort, the chance to diagnose and wipe out one of the most preventable and curable types of cancer.

Throw yourself a lifesaver—get a free referral today. Call 443.444.4100 or visit medstargoodsam.org/time.

THE PRINT AD taps into the pop culture nostaligia of old TV shows such as Gilligan’s Island that hit home with baby boomers who need a little nudging to believe that it really is time for a colonoscopy.

Of those who called, 27 cited the radio spot as how they found out about the service. More than half of the patients were in the target group of 50-to-59-year-olds, with 24 females and 20 males.

Roeder believes the campaign resonated so well with consumers because of its positive affiliation. “Virtually everyone in our target audience can relate to Gilligan, a sweet, nostalgic television show that reminds all of us of our

youth,” she says. “The Gilligan reference helps put the audi-ence’s age in context. It serves as a positive, gentle reminder of good times, and of our need to hang onto our best health by acting our age and getting screened.”

Furthermore, the campaign differentiated itself by pro-moting a sensitive procedure in a way that didn’t make the audience squirm. “It’s a service that pretty much any hospital offers—there aren’t many differentiators,”



Stearns says. “Traditionally, you see a couple different approaches, either scary statistics with clinical messages, the patient testimonial with an ‘it saved my life’ mes-sage, or some good old potty humor. Recognizing that our primary targets for this campaign were turning 50 and should be having their first colonoscopy, we wanted to have some fun with this and take them back to the pop culture of their childhood.”

Good Samaritan already has a second jingle, this time to the tune of “The Hustle,” the disco hit from the 1970s. “In addition to the Gilligan ad, we also developed a ‘Hustle’ ver-sion that targeted African Americans, 50-plus,” says Roeder.

“We’re considering creative ways to keep up the momen-tum and encourage a healthful approach to aging for the full spectrum of care,” Roeder says. “We are still having fun with it.” HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS give answers to basic questions patients may be too self-conscious to ask their doctor or the nurse when making the appointment.

HIGH MARKS FOR MARKETING SUCCESSES

marketing

SPOTLIGHT



Boosting Hospital

Fundraising Through

SongBy Marianne Aiello



LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA TO ENHANCE FUNDRAISING Mount Sinai Hospital recently launched Sounds of Sinai, an online video campaign to promote awareness and increase donations.

Each day thousands of YouTube users with an affinity for singing upload recordings of their performances—the good, the bad, and the dreadfully awful—to the Google-owned video site. Most of those videos, aside from the rare viral hit, lay dormant on the site: forgotten, collecting cyber dust, and—let’s face it—serving no real purpose.

But one Chicago hospital has created a website with the hope of harnessing the power of online video in order to promote awareness of the organization and increase donations. Mount Sinai Hospital of Chicago launched Sounds of Sinai in September, a website preloaded with songs and videos from celebrities, such as Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Tony Lucca. Anyone can upload a video of themselves performing. The uploaded videos then become part of the fundraiser for Mount Sinai Hospital,

which is part of Sinai Health System (www.sinai.org), an urban healthcare delivery system that also includes Sinai Children’s Hospital, Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Sinai Medical Group, Sinai Community Institute, and Sinai Urban Health Institute.

For example, you can upload an original or cover song, and it can be in any style—karaoke, a cappella, or a band performance. The video can be shot with any type of equipment, from smartphone to professional technology. Anyone can donate to support a video, patient, or Sinai clinician —in fact, the site enables performers to alert friends and family members to support their music with a donation. In addition, performers can dedicate their music to a friend, a patient, or a caregiver. Currently, Sinai is using its own YouTube channel to host the videos.

http://www.soundsofsinai.org/http://sinai.orghttp://www.soundsofsinai.org/

MARKETING SPOTLIGHT



WHY MUSIC VIDEOS? The website states that music and medicine are tied

together more than ever now that musical therapy is gaining mainstream acceptance in healthcare. But more than that, hospital marketers recognized that there was an untapped opportunity in the online musical perfor-mance space.

“Sinai was seeking to develop a breakthrough com-munications concept leveraging social media to enhance our fundraising efforts,” says David Frankel, vice presi-dent of planning, marketing, and communication for the hospital. “It is a unique and inspiring way for Sinai to raise money that is so needed to help purchase anything, from new hospital beds to lifesaving medical equipment, that will help us provide the best possible care for patients in our underserved communities.”

Frankel and the hospital’s executive leaders worked with a small team of outside marketing and Web professionals to create and implement the Sounds of Sinai concept. The initiative is being rolled out externally and internally over the next several months.

There’s also a cute performance of an original song called “Suddenly Sinai,” which explains the music video concept, on the About Us page on the Sounds of Sinai website.

MUSIC RAISES FUNDSIn addition to increasing awareness of Sinai Health

System’s services, Sounds of Sinai is expected to raise $250,000 or more during the next 12–18 months, Frankel says. Funds raised will be earmarked for the hospital’s greatest needs, according to the website.

“SUDDENLY SINAI”Todd Kessler and Molly Kirk Parlier sing their original song, describing the music video concept behind Sounds of Sinai.

http://www.soundsofsinai.org/performer-fundraiser/molly-kirk-parlier/suddenly-sinai#.UGX8Tq7N3Pg



Since the site just launched in September, Frankel says it is too early to really gauge results. But a quick look at the homepage shows that the current top-per-forming song, The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride,” performed by hospital staff at a function, has raised more than $900.

The next highest performing, “You Better Shape Up,” from the Grease movie soundtrack, has raised more than $500 to date. In third place is Tony Lucca’s “Love Light,” which has pulled in more than $200.

Some videos will make you glad the cameras weren’t rolling the last time you were at a karaoke bar, but all of them are entertaining, and a few actually show sparks of talent. That said, the site is meant to showcase more than the singing voices of Sinai’s staff, patients, and patient advocates.

“The Sounds of Sinai concept is meant to celebrate the emotional power of music as part of the healing process, but it also provides a platform that we can use in the future to highlight all of the wonderful sounds coming from Mount Sinai Hospital Chicago—the cry of a healthy new baby, the rhythm of heart monitors, and the sounds of patients, doctors, nurses, and other caregivers talking about how best to improve health,” Frankel says.

It’s too early to say if the concept will be successful, but it certainly has made waves in the community and has been a hit—often literally—with staff and patients, he says.

After adding up the amounts raised on each video on the homepage, the campaign appears to have brought in more than $2,000 in its first week. If it can keep up that momentum, a new era of social musical performance and fundraising may have been born. HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR

MAGIC JOHNSON PERFORMS “MY GIRL”Not only did Magic Johnson lend his support to Sounds of Sinai by explaining the campaign on the website, he also offered up his own a cappella version of the Temptations song “My Girl.”

http://www.soundsofsinai.org/performer-fundraiser/sounds-of-sinai/magic-johnson-my-girl-karaoke#.UGYAma7N3Ph

inFOCUSinFOCUS

Trying to Win Over Patients

Providing top-notch care is not good enough—leaders recognize the demands of delivering a high-level experience for the patient as well.

By Joe Cantlupe



The Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Medical Center’s staff role-plays scenarios about what can go wrong with patients at the 597-staffed-bed hospital and how to make things right. In these make-believe scenarios, “patients” may fuss, demand, and ask for above-and-beyond assistance. They are being, well, impatient patients, and the idea is for hospital staff, especially nurses, to keep their cool, while showing that they are concerned, that they’re doing the right thing for their patients, and—most importantly—that they care.

The medical center on Long Island’s North Shore finds that playacting improves its staff’s performance in real life, and it uses this approach to learn more about keeping patients satisfied during their hospital experience. While a hospital stay often lasts for fewer than four days, the patient may encounter dozens of healthcare profession-als and other hospital personnel during that time. “We have actors pretending to be patients, and these four-hour sessions are scenario-based for nurses specifically to hone their communication skills,” says Michael Maione, director of customer relations for Stony Brook. Maione is responsible for evaluating patient satisfaction measures for the hospital.

Indeed, the hospital is among thousands across the nation trying to not only improve patient satisfaction, but also obtain ROI for doing so. Under the govern-ment’s value-based purchasing program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans to pay bonuses from an $850 million pool to hospitals that score above average on certain quality measures. In fiscal year 2013, patient

satisfaction scores will account for 30% of the bonuses, while clinical process of care will make up 70%.

Stony Brook is among many high-achieving clinical facilities that have done well at improving patient satisfac-tion scores in some areas while struggling in others. For instance, Stony Brook won awards this year for its cardiol-ogy care, but scored only a 73% from patients—compared with the national average of 77%—for how well nurses always communicate with patients. The hospital also scored just 57% from patients about receiving medication information, compared with the national average of 61%.

The scores are part of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 27-question survey given to a random sample of eligible patients after discharge to assess their perspectives on their healthcare. Questions include:

» Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family?

» How often did nurses explain things in a way you could understand?

» How often did doctors listen carefully to you? » How often did the hospital staff do everything they could

to help you with your pain? » How often was the area around your room quiet at night?

THE HIGH BAR OF ‘ALWAYS’In HCAHPS, most of the questions offer four response

choices: never, sometimes, usually, and always. But healthcare organizations only receive credit for the

Trying to Win Over Patients

SOURCE: HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey 2012, Overall Cross-Sector Report and HealthLeaders Media Industry Survey 2012, CEO Report, February 2012; www.healthleadersmedia.com/pdf/survey_project/2012/Overall_Cross-Sector_2012_f.pdf; www.healthleadersmedia.com/pdf/survey_project/2012/CEO_2012_f.pdf.

A MATTER OF EMPHASISHealthcare leaders clearly rank patient experience and satisfaction as their top priority in our annual Industry Survey, but among CEOs, the emphasis, while strong, differs somewhat.

Rank your organization’s top three priorities for the next three years.

Priority 1strankedchoice,allleaders 1strankedchoice,CEOs

Patient experience and satisfaction 30% 21%

Clinical quality, safety 18% 9%

Payment reform, reimbursement (VBP, accountable care) 12% 21%

Physician-hospital alignment 12% 14%

Cost reduction, process improvement 10% 9%



“always” responses. “The patient has to feel every single interaction has been correct and there is a right interac-tion, and that’s a high bar,” Maione says. “It’s a challenge and we’re looking for ways to make an impression for patients to have a great experience.”

To that end, Stony Brook isn’t just playacting its way toward better performance for its patients. It also has taken steps to improve educational programs for physi-cians and nurses, with hopes of making them more sen-sitive to the needs of patients and more aware of their concerns. The hospital initiated weekly rounds in which members of hospital leadership visit patient rooms, ask patients questions, and evaluate the responses in inter-nal reporting and committee meetings. The goal of this effort is to continually improve the process.

Wendy H. Solberg, FACHE, CPHQ, vice president of quality and patient safety at Baptist Health System in San Antonio, Texas, which has 1,674 beds at five acute care hospitals, agrees that a standardized protocol for nursing

staff is a key element for improved patient scores—and the hospital is still working on that element. “Nurse communi-cation is the domain driving the focus [of patient satisfac-tion]. If you nail that, you can get a lot accomplished,” she says.

Although much has changed over the years, some patients still have a lower expectation of physicians in their day-to-day care. “If a doc saved your life, do you really care about that stuff?” Solberg asks, referring to meeting the patient’s daily needs. “But a hospital staff has to care about that. It has to be accomplished with a number of nurses, the ratio of nurses on the floor, and the education compo-nent”—meaning how nurses talk to patients to meet their needs.

For many hospital systems, improving clinical tech-niques is the path they pursue to improve patients’ attitudes about their facilities. These medical providers focus on reducing readmissions after 30 days, address-ing patient medication adherence, and initiating

IN FOCUS

A MATTER OF CONCERNGetting good HCAHPS scores is an undoubted difficulty in the eyes of healthcare leaders, who face reimbursements linked to certain metrics under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ hospital value-based purchasing program.

In which particular measure do you expect the most difficulty in reaching improvement or performance initiatives?

HCAHPS

Heart failure

HAIs

Pneumonia

SCIP

AMI

Other

50%

16%

8%

8%

7%

2%

8%

SOURCE: HealthLeaders Media Impact Analysis, Value-Based Purchasing: Facing the HCAHPS Hurdle, February 2012; www.healthleadersmedia.com/intelligence-impact-analysis/275699.


medical homes to let patients know that their healthcare system cares.

REGULAR, PERSONAL INTERACTIONTwo Fridays a month at Stony Brook, administrators

and senior staff personally make rounds and interview patients and staff to ensure quality goals are achieved. If there are any problems, emails are sent to the responsible hospital official, whether it’s a nurse manager, adminis-trator, or physician, Maione says. “It’s very comprehen-sive in areas ranging from how well the room is cleaned, to the quietness of the room, to how well they have main-tained the patient’s pain.”

“We really have to put ourselves in the same area as hotels. Patients expect hotel-like service, with the food and people responding to their calls. We have to be able to do that,” says Solberg. But a hospital is not really a hotel, and that’s a big issue for hospital leaders, she acknowledges.

One of the problems is that “you are dealing with per-ception,” Solberg says. “You can treat [patients] great, but if you aren’t nice to them, it takes some of the shine off a great thing you’ve provided in healthcare.”

Hospitals want to give patients that one-on-one feeling whenever they can. They are improving bedside reporting by increasing how frequently nurses relay updates to each other on patients’ progress throughout the day; adding time to nurses’ visits in patients’ rooms; and encourag-ing physicians to sit down near patients’ beds, possibly holding the hand of older patients, and definitely look-ing them in the eye. Hospitals call patients or write to them—within hours after discharge. An oncology patient recalls just returning from the hospital, still sorting out the prescriptions on the kitchen table, when the phone rang. It was the hospital, asking, “How did we treat you?”

Hospitals tell the frontline staff, “Be nice. Be friendly.” And, they hope, the patients will notice their outstanding efforts to care. HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR


What makes you stand out from other hospitals in your market? We’ll helpyou figure it out and shout it to the world! Experience Creative Intelligenceat a-b-c.com. Then call Paul Pomeroy at 800.848.1552—or email him [email protected]—to get the conversation started.

http://a-b-c.com



ADVISORSINSIGHT AND KNOW-HOW FROM THE FIELD

ask the

What types of marketing measurement data does the C-suite truly want? ROI? Impressions? Engagement? Objectives?

GOTAPRESSINGQUESTIONFORUS?Having trouble finding the best way to go about advertising? Wondering what the hottest trends and topics in healthcare marketing are? Ask the Advisors! We’re looking for questions about the topics you’d like to see answers to, so please submit any and all questions for our advisors to Editor Jacqueline Fellows at [email protected].

Eric N. Berkowitz, PhD, Professor, Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts

As has long been the case with marketing expenditures in any healthcare o r g a n i z a t i o n , be it a hospital,

medical practice, or health plan, measurement of the effectiveness of these dollars has always been ques-tioned because of the scarcity or competition for resources.

In the early days of healthcare marketing, measures of return were often limited to awareness results of advertising campaigns. The C-suite pushback was beyond awareness; was the return leading to revenue? The CMO was often in a difficult position because of the limits of the technology that was available at the time (in the 1980s and 1990s) to effectively track these expendi-tures or the range of marketing tac-tics being implemented. Justifying a marketing budget was also often difficult. Ideally, the closer one can assess the ROI of those dollars in terms of appointments scheduled or patient volume (sales in the more

traditional world), the more com-fortable everyone is in the sense that the return is tracked and the investment can be counted. Building out space for an expanded lab or new program can lead to reimburse-ments for particular procedures, and thus the value of those dollars can be projected and the ROI forecasted.

Today’s Web 2.0 environment has increasingly made the tracking of marketing investments more man-ageable, assuming an integrated program is in place that shows the flow of a customer from the Web to the appointment to the dollars gen-erated from that appointment or referral. Such a program should be closely monitored and calculated on a large and significant scale. It is also increasingly easier to assess where the responses can be greater, in what forum they occur, and to which tar-get markets.

The sophistication of today’s marketing strategies to data mine and refine strategies does increas-ingly allow for measures of ROI beyond the earlier days of aware-ness. Additionally, many healthcare systems today have, as a major part of their marketing program, sales

QUESTIONTHIS

ISSUE’S

personnel to serve in missionary or actual sales roles. The implementa-tion of these functions has also seen, however, a greater sophistication in the tracking mechanisms to follow the effects of these sales calls on phy-sicians in terms of the referrals that are generated or the patient volume that is observed. All marketing per-formance metrics to demonstrate the effectiveness of the investment are a necessary requirement.

Tom DeSanto, President, Tom DeSanto Strategy and Communications

The types of marketing mea-surement data comprise a long list , and the answer to what the C-suite truly

wants can be found only by recon-ciling the preferences of the C-suite with data that is readily available and actionable. Providing too much data, or the wrong type, can be worse than not having enough.

The key to determining the most effective constellation of data is establishing ongoing dialogue with the CEO and other leaders and facili-tating consensus around the priority

mailto:cvaughan%40healthleadersmedia.com?subject=Question%20for%20Ask%20the%20Advisors



and value of the measurements you will supply.

A good guideline for types of data is striking a balance. I like to cat-egorize data sets as the three R’s: reach, response, and revenue. The individual types of measurements within those categories will be based on your strategies, marketplace, and culture.

It may seem self-evident, but it has to be reiterated: Marketing mea-surement data must be rooted in the business and marketing plans. Those plans must then provide strategies with clearly defined goals for suc-cess and quantifiable points of mea-surement. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Sometimes clarity is lost in translation or among compet-ing priorities.

I wish the answer to this ques-tion could be as simple as providing a basic checklist. Experience tells me that it’s not. Highly customized data, carefully chosen through col-laboration and presented with sim-plicity, will win the day with the C-suite.

Gabrielle DeTora, Healthcare Marketing Strategist, Gabrielle DeTora Consulting

G e n e r a l l y speaking , the C-suite is look-ing for key mea-surements that directly impact the organiza-

tion’s bottom line, such as inpatient and outpatient case volume shifts, payer mix variances, and ROI. As a marketer, you need to come to the table with data that illustrates how your efforts are supporting these core areas. So, before you even get to the table, it’s important for you, as a marketing strategist, to determine

what’s working and what isn’t, so you can continually improve your efforts.

Whether the return on objective is in the form of physician refer-rals via your liaison sales, conver-sion rates for appointment requests from the hospital’s call center or website, or additional patient engagement records captured in your customer relationship man-agement data warehouse, all of these elements are pieces to the larger puzzle that should be out-lined and separated from the busi-ness goals.

You can share individual results from these puzzle pieces with the C-suite, but you should present them in a neatly rolled-up manner to show how the bigger picture is driv-ing tangible results.

You can also share with the C-suite what isn’t working and how you are addressing those areas to deliver greater marketing value.

For example, you can present data that identifies where patients are dropping out of the pipe-line, and outline how marketing is adjusting efforts to get them back in.

For marketers who run the physician liaison program, in addi-tion to providing referral, leak-age, and procedural statistics, the C-suite will most likely also want to see measures that are reflective of the physician enterprise such as issue resolution and recruitment status.

In short, you don’t simply want to “pull your numbers” when it’s time to meet with the C-suite. Build a marketing culture that lives and breathes these measurements on a daily basis.

Dan Dunlop, President, Jennings Co.There are lots

of benefits that the institution and our patients d e r i v e f r o m marketing that have nothing to

do with money, but if we’re talking about true, financial ROI, then it boils down to margin.

That said, the marketing team should maintain a campaign dash-board that can be shared with leadership. The dashboard should show the referrals generated by the campaign, the sources for those referrals, and how many referrals actually turned into patients. It should also report the contribu-tion margin for whatever service or procedure is being marketed and tracked, allowing for easy cal-culation of the short-term financial impact (ROI) of the campaign. The dashboard can also report measures of audience engagement, along with reach and impressions of the campaign.

There should also be a calculation for the long-term value of the new patients brought into the system by way of the marketing program. In other words, over a lifetime, what is the projection of their financial impact?

It is time to acknowledge that marketing needs to be aligned with the business objectives of the organization, and that includes the financial objectives. Ultimately, we need to be held accountable for generating measurable financial results. That is not a bad thing. As marketers, it is time to make margin part of our professional vocabulary. HEALTHCARE MARKETING ADVISOR



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Blog Promotes Hospital as Quality Leaderpromos.hcpro.com/pdf/HMA_10_12.pdf · Del.–based agency ab+c, recommends reviewing social media campaign analytics monthly. “This ensures