Hospital Marketing Chiefs Get Strategic

Gary (3/2/2011 at 5:29 PM)

One of the areas most overlooked by hospital marketing dept's is the hospital's managed care contracts. A hospital's (claim) write-offs for managed care rates/discounts SHOULD BE viewed as marketing dollars - because there is certainly a defined 'cost' for the contracted payer/network delivering the patient to your facility - and that 'cost' is your contractual adjustment. If your system or hospital has entered into managed care contracts that typically render reimbursements that are less or only slightly more than your actual costs of providing the services - any add'l marketing or advertising dollars only diminish your reimbursement.