Do you know who your patient
hospital brand, evangelists are? I ask this question for a very
important reason. In an age of little provider differentiation in the
actual retail medical marketplace with me too messaging, how is a healthcare
consumer to make a choice?
Now that being said, I
realize that many a health care leader will dispute the above statement. But the fact is there is little if any
messaging differentiation. I know as I
was there too but made a conscious effort to move away from the “me too” messaging.
And that was in the early 2000s.
So where am I going with
this?
Consumers are demanding price
and quality transparency. Maybe
in reality what they want is more price certainty
and know what the value is they are receiving for the dollar paid? But few in the Provider segment are listening to the needs and demands of the
healthcare consumer. Then they howl loudly
then a third party releases data that is
publically available on the hospitals or
health systems prices and quality.
Consumers of
healthcare are shopping.
Consumers are now paying one-third of the cost of care out
of pocket.
A consumer uses the internet
and social media 41 percent of the time
in gathering information to make provider choice.
And the answer by hospitals
and health systems is to market trust our
expertise with messages that are full of ambiguous claims and statements.
One way to answer those
questions is through the use of patient testimonials, aka the service line
patient brand evangelist.
Let me give you an example. When at a multihospital health system, I developed with BVK the
Third Opinion Oncology campaign.
Upon an individual receiving a cancer diagnosis,
the next step is the second medical opinion. But we found that there was a third step. The patient
then talks to everyone and anyone that went
through that cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Instead of going to the
market with a look at our great oncologists, technology, expertise and it’s all
about you messaging we went in a very different direction. The campaign focused
on three individuals along common cancer diagnoses of breast, colon, and
prostate. By the way, it was hard to find those three brand evangelists. That
tells one a lot about the hospital brand and experience too.
The simple message- “Ask me how I beat breast cancer”, Jane@hosptial.org with a professional photo of the individual, email, print, billboard and
direct mail. Calls and emails went to my RN based call center. Prior to the
campaign launch, a detailed Q&A was conducted with the three individuals,
clinicians and oncologists to identify the type of questions they had and the
answers. When a question came in that,
we did not have any answer for we went back to the individuals and clinicians
for an answer.
The entire campaign pulled
the consumer to the hospital, pushed through to the oncologist, then pulled the
oncologist to the hospital.
I did not message quality, technology,
drugs, surgery; we care about you or anything else. I didn't say best and brightest;
it’s all about you or we are the only choices. Those are arrogant and pejorative
vague claims that are indefensible. One message that was clear and unambiguous
offer a solution to a serious medical situation. Answering healthcare consumer questions
that are life and death in nature that a healthcare consumer has. That came in
the answers to real questions from real consumers.
Use of a patient brand
evangelist clearly differentiated the systems oncology services and established
a position in the market that no other provider could claim. The campaign drove appropriate utilization,
built the oncologist practices and increased hospital revenue, market share and
brand awareness.
And all of that was before a
change in the market that is becoming retail medical in nature. Today the stake are even higher, and the hospital
or health system brand needs to mean more than ever.
The hospital of 2015 still
operates in a market dominated by fee for service and the production of
care. In a market shift to value and
risk where the consumer has a growing portion of the expense and choice of
providers brand and value is everything.
Changing your marketing today
from ambiguous we are all the same features and benefits marketing to patient
brand evangelists and solutions marketing, will set one up for success in the future
whatever the payment system is. A strong
established brand will be in narrow networks, the provider of choice in
consumer-driven exchange plans and the dominant provider in the market.
Is it really that hard?
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