ACOs Widen Marketing's Scope

Chances are if you've clicked on this story, "accountable care organizations" have caught your eye. In fact, ACOs have caught the eye of the healthcare industry as a whole.

Our editors joke that anything with ACO as a buzzword will snag hits online, as leaders try to tackle the can of worms—or proposed regulations--the Obama administration released on March 31. ACO models pay providers a share of savings based on their ability to lower costs and meet quality metrics.

Even if organizations have decided to forgo becoming an accountable care organization, under the Center for Medicare & Medicaid proposed regulations, many are contemplating tighter management of care or a continuum of care from separate silos to a fully integrated system.

Over the last month or so I've had the privilege of meeting with two experts in the field of marketing accountable care to discuss how it will change the role of the healthcare marketer in the future.

"There are people in a holding pattern as they seek ACO info. It all depend on what CMS comes back with – they may even dismiss it despite the fact there is a whole host of prepping to do for healthcare reform," says Tadd Pullin, vice president of marketing at Nebraska Medical Center.

Michael Barber, MD, lead consultant at Barlow/McCarthy, echoes the thought that leaders should not let the ACO regs scare them away from planning accountable care strategies.

"My concern is that many providers will spend too much time in the contemplative state. Health systems should not be sitting on the sidelines. Get in the accountable care game in order to save insurers from being the dominant player in the marketplace," says Barber.

Increasingly, larger insurance agencies are aquiring practices to impose cost-cutting strategies. The result is that the line between insurer and provider is disappearing as health plans take a more active role in care. Physicians are incentivized to cut costs by doing less.

So where do marketers fit in to this accountable care picture? From what I've heard from Pullin and Barber, there will be shift in the role of marketing to include other audiences from payers to the community.

"For people working in the marketing field, the challenge is to maximize a strategic position in today's environment while positioning for the future," Pullin says. "Effective marketing and communication strategies implemented today will need to consider and anticipate the paradigm shift that will be occurring among a health system's stakeholder audiences."

There are a number of ways to redesign care, but the role of the marketer comes with communicating a united message across the organization, and consolidating resources within a region.

"Health systems need to consider forming strategic alliances to reform health care in their community (what Nebraska Medical Center has done) or well-funded organizations outside of the community may become the dominate provider of managed risk populations," Barber says.

Last week, I covered this topic of forming a strategic alliance in order to consolidate resources and cut bottom line costs. For more tips and strategies, register for the Creating an ACO Marketing Language webcast  which airs July 27.  

Speaker Tadd Pullin has provided consultation in ACO branding and communication strategies for the Accountable Care Alliance, a partnership formed in February 2010 by Methodist Health System, The Nebraska Medical Center, and their affiliated physicians.

Speaker Mike Barber has designed and implemented population health management systems for commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid populations during his career and is currently working with health systems, medical groups, long-term care providers, and disease management companies to develop their care management capabilities for ACOs and other risk-sharing relationships.