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Grow Hospital Volume and Revenue with Employee Care

 |  By Marianne@example.com  
   August 01, 2012

Hospitals spend thousands of dollars each year trying to convince patients to receive care at their organization. Marketers plaster the community with newspaper ads, transit wraps, roadside billboards, and TV spots.

But when was the last time you looked at the percentage of patients within your organization? How many of your own employees are receiving care at their place of work?

It may be fewer than you think.

The opportunity

VCU Medical Center in Richmond, VA, recently discovered that many of its female employees were not receiving regular mammograms within the organization. In fact, many of them weren’t being screened at all. An internal analysis revealed that only about 38% of female employees over age 40 were getting regular screenings.

"We wanted to encourage our employees to have this crucial test in order to safeguard against breast cancer," says Geoffrey Chestnut, business development manager for VCU’s Department of Radiology. "As a healthcare provider, VCU Medical Center felt that it was important for its employees to have a high level of participation in this screening exam."

So Chestnut and his team, in conjunction with Richmond-based agency Neathawk Dubuque and Packett (ND&P), decided to roll out a campaign not only to encourage employees to schedule regular mammograms, but to schedule them at VCU.

"There are several compelling reasons for focusing on your own employees," says Susan Dubuque, president of ND&P.

Converting employees into patients is an easy way to grow volume (Dubuque uses the term "low-hanging fruit"), take care of your own, and create an internal sales force that will use first-hand patient experience to promote your organization to family and friends. 

You can also generate revenue. If your hospital is self-insured, you can curtail loss of revenue if your employees are going elsewhere for healthcare services.

The challenge

Before they created a campaign initiative, VCU and ND&P marketers looked into why more female employees were not receiving mammograms at their place of employment. The main problems they identified occur at many organizations:  a concern for privacy and a lack of awareness.

"Your personal healthcare is a very private matter and we are sure that there is an element of concern for employees having their mammograms where they work," Chestnut says. "There was also an element of our employees not really being aware of our department and the fantastic service that it can offer."

After conducting this research, marketers knew that in addition to telling employees about the mammography services offered, they also needed to communicate VCU's commitment to discretion.  "Assuring employees that you will respect their confidentiality is critical," Dubuque says.

The solution

With their research complete, Chestnut, Dubuque, and their colleagues created an internal campaign called "We Look Forward to Seeing You" that highlighted the VCU breast imaging department’s personalized customer service, convenience, clinical expertise, and state-of-the-art technology.

The integrated campaign used direct mail to employees and qualified dependents, as well as tabletop posters, large posters, targeted Facebook ads, and an iPad giveaway.

Marketers found the iPad enticement to be one of the most successful tactics.

"Our iPad giveaway promotion is doing a lot for awareness," Chestnut says. "Emphasis on customer service, convenience, expertise, and technology was utilized. In a large academic medical center, awareness is key."

In fact, since VCU began the iPad promotion, it has seen the highest level of employee participation at the breast imaging department in the past several years.

"The numbers have been very encouraging, though we would like to see them even higher," Chestnut says.

In order to do that, VCU is already brainstorming ways to keep the promotion fresh and on the minds of its target employees. Additionally, they are hoping to take the success of the internal campaign to the community at large.

"From the outset our plan was to start the campaign in-house and then extend to external audiences," Dubuque says. "We're now adapting messaging to consumers in the community and will reach them with direct mail, print ads, and online ads."

Marianne Aiello is a contributing writer at HealthLeaders Media.

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