I came across an old post from December 2010 written with the passage
of the Affordable Care Act on how the role of hospital marketing needed to change
to meet the new evolving consumer-directed marketplace.
Then in 2012, a reader asked if hospital
marketing had changed nearly two years later. My answer is 2012, sadly enough not much has changed in the current
state and role of hospital marketing.
Today on May 20, 2018, nearly eight-year
after the original post, I decided to revisit the question. The answer is still; not much has changed overall.
Oh, we have added an expanded social media and online practice, but
much of the changing role and strategic marketing leadership that I envisioned
with the passage of the Affordable Care Act hasn't taken place. It's pretty much standard operations as in
the past. And that is disappointing.
Understand that I am not talking about pharma, medical device
manufacturers, insurance companies, suppliers, and retailers moving into the
healthcare space. They get it. A few hospitals and health systems get it. They
understand the power and importance of marketing.
What I wrote about eight years ago, still stands. Hospitals are falling
behind daily in their overall marketing, engagement of the healthcare consumer
and managing the patient/consumer experience.
One new concept added to the post
is marketing to the health insurance exchange consumers. Why? It’s an opportunity
to have people select insurance plans in which you are a network provider. It’s
is potentially a brand marketing opportunity
that few if any hospital tries to take a competitive
advantage. Hoping the buyer of an insurance plan where you are one of the network hospitals is not a strategy.
Here we go….again.
Marketing Leadership
Marketing is a strategy first, tactics second. The voice of marketing should reflect the
voice of your customers and not be a second thought. Your future programs and services should be determined by the needs of the
market, not your gut feeling. You cannot
become a customer-driven or market-driven organization if the skills and
experiences of marketing are not at the
leadership table.
Managing the Patient Experience
If anyone is prepared to understand and manage
the patient experience across the organization, it's marketing. Patient
experience means just that- understanding what that patient experience is at all touchpoints. And then
changing or managing that experience to its fullest potential for the benefit
of the patient and the organization. Patient experience is an integrating process
across the entire organization internally and externally. One organization to the patient, one patient
to the organization. It is not simply another quality program or flavor of the
day.
Understanding and Executing Demand
Management
The hospital is no longer the center of the healthcare universe. It isn’t about “putting heads in the beds” anymore. The Affordable Care Act is
designed to keep people out of the hospital.
Outside of emergency care, care for complex acute medical conditions, and
intensive care, hospital admission is a
defect in the process of care. Marketing needs to understand what the demand
for healthcare services will be, when they will be needed, and manage that demand is making sure that the hospital or
health system has the right resources, in the right place, at the right time to
meet demand. Gone are the days where marketing
departments will be driving demand to fill hospital beds. They will drive
demand to the appropriate place and location of service.
Becoming a Revenue Marketer and
Having Revenue Accountability
Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) is necessary for anything
marketing accomplishes, traditionally, socially, or online. Marketers in
healthcare organizations need to become revenue producers, not resource
consumers that show little value beyond, it looks nice. In fact, marketing should have P&L as
well as an SG&A accountability for many of the products and services offered by a healthcare organization.
Marketing the Manager of Change
Who better in an organization than for marketing to manage the
healthcare organizations transformation from an inward-focused it's all about
me, to an outward-focused market and consumer-driven
organization? Open to much debate, this
is probably the most controversial look at the expanding role of
marketing. Individuals who have worked
at their organizations all of their careers, do not necessarily have the
skills, training or abilities to change an organization in any meaningful, transformative way.
Marketing to the Insurance
Exchange Consumer
Marketing to the exchange consumer is more
than negotiating with every plan available and being included. In the new world
of consumer-directed healthcare, purchasing health insurance is a big deal. Consumer shopping behavior is clearly at play in the
exchanges. When there is a 10 percent difference in premium, the
healthcare consumer exhibits consumerist shopping behavior and chooses the lower-cost health plan with the narrower
restrictive provider panel limiting their choice.
If
I were running a hospital, you can bet my marketing department would be
figuring out the educational campaign to target those healthcare consumers buying
health insurance in the exchanges, teaching them how to buy insurance that
included the hospital and the affiliated physicians. And that doesn't mean a
list of insurance plans or doctors.
The role of hospital marketing needs to change sooner
rather than later. Eight years is time
enough.
Michael is a healthcare business, marketing, communications
strategist, and thought-leader. As an
internationally followed healthcare strategy blogger, his blog, Healthcare
Marketing Matters is read in 52 countries
and listed on the 100 Top Healthcare Marketing
Blogs and Websites ranked at No. 3 on the list by
Feedspot.com. Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives,
Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. As an expert in digital
marketing & social media with a Klout score of 64, Michael is in the top 10
percent of social media experts nationwide. Michael is an established influencer and inquires for strategic
consulting engagements can be made by calling
815-351-0671. Opinions expressed are my own.
