A new public service campaign that coincides with World AIDS Day on December 1 aims to educate Hispanic teens on the link between non-injection drug use and HIV transmission. The campaign features includes a television spot in a blend of English and Spanish; a Webisode series that will launch soon on www.hiv.drugabuse.gov, outdoor, transit, and print placements and community events and partnerships.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the new Hispanic spots build on an earlier English series, but continue the storyline from the point of view of a teen who used drugs and alcohol, engaged in risky behavior and now has HIV. In the new series, a young woman calls on her aunt for comfort and support.
Rather than simply translating the original spots that were launched in 2005, NIDA incorporated culturally relevant scenarios that would resonate with the Hispanic audience--in this case, turning to family in times of distress. There are two versions of the new series--one set for Spanish-language television stations and a bilingual set for English-language stations located in markets with large Hispanic populations.
More than 40 million people, or roughly one in five adults, have reported they do not have access to the healthcare they need, according to the annual report on the nation's health by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and compiled by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. The report, titled "Health, United States 2007," is a compilation of more than 150 health tables, and reveals that 20 percent of adults did not receive one or more of the following services, although they needed them because of cost: medical care, prescription medicines, mental health care, dental care or eyeglasses. Additional findings include:
Young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 were more likely to lack a primary source of care (30 percent) and to be without health coverage (30 percent).
One in 10 adults between the ages of 45 and 64 did not have a primary source of care, despite the fact that more than 5 percent suffered from high blood pressure, serious heart conditions, or diabetes.
One in 10 women between the ages of 45 and 64 with income below the poverty level had to delay medical care because of a lack of transportation.
Nearly 33 percent of children living below the poverty level did not have a recent dental visit in 2005, compared to less than one-fifth of their peers in high income families.
No matter how many different ways I ask the question, I can never get a straight answer: Are hospital and health system marketing departments playing a more strategic role in operations and helping to make business decisions? For example, are they getting involved with the development of service lines, or simply being asked to create an ad campaign for the line prior to launch? Do they have a role in keeping the internal customer happy, of turning the work force into an army of brand champions, or are employee relations solely a role for HR? Are they gathering market intelligence and reporting back to the COO or CEO? Or are they at the bottom of the organizational chart, somewhere above the volunteers but well below anyone on the senior leadership team?
The 2007 HealthLeaders Media Annual Marketing Professionals Survey has some of the answers to these questions. Our annual CEO survey has some intel on the subject, as well.
As for whether or not marketing has a seat at the leadership table, it turns out that the answer, at least according to our surveys, is anything but decisive. Our CEO survey asked top leaders which positions are represented on the senior executive team, the inner circle that works together on strategic planning. A little more than 41 percent listed the chief marketing officer or director of marketing. That is slightly behind the COO's 47 percent and ahead of the Chief Information Officer's nearly 24 percent. Other titles, including chief nursing and chief financial officers, got much higher percentages. (Volunteers weren't one of the choices.)
Healthcare marketers, on the other hand, see things in a slightly different light. In our marketing survey (stay tuned, the full results will be released soon) we asked how involved respondents' departments are in working with senior leaders to make strategic plans and decisions for the organization. Sixty percent answered "very involved" and another 30 percent said they were "somewhat involved." Only 10 percent said they were not involved at all.
Of course, different organizations answered the surveys, which were conducted separately. And we all know that numbers can be misleading. But I think the numbers do illustrate the fact that hospitals and health systems are still working out what role marketers play in the business end of running a hospital. This trend is obviously in flux, and marketers and CEOs aren't quite on the same page as to the direction it's heading.
A Love/Hate Relationship
I've received some interesting feedback from last week's column,When Marketers Dream. Based on the e-mails you sent me, as well as the responses to our 2007 HealthLeaders Media Annual Marketing Professionals Survey, hospital and health system marketing and advertising professionals are in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to their jobs. Overworked. Underpaid. Too much to do and not enough time, budget, or staff to do it.
As one of my co-workers recently said, "Well, we're not doing a musical, here."
For the most part, though, the responses to last week's question (What do you most love and/or hate about your job?) are not ones that the authors would want me to share with the whole world. But with our fancy new Web site comes the ability for readers to simply click that little talk bubble at the bottom of the page and leave a comment in response to this column. Instant gratification--who doesn't love that?
A new survey shows that when it comes to dealing with colleagues' mistakes or incompetence, physicians oftentimes abandon the high standards they espouse. According to the study, 45 percent of those surveyed they did not always report an incompetent or impaired colleague to the appropriate authorities, even though 96 percent said doctors should turn in such people.
A judge's instructions to a jury in a federal corruption case were too broad and allowed two former hospital executives to be convicted of conduct that was not illegal, according to an argument in appeals court. Robert Urciuoli, former president and chief executive of Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, RI, was convicted last year, along with the former vice president, of paying a state senator to advance the hospital's agenda at the Statehouse.
Citing the health benefits of doing so, virtually all Nashville-area hospitals plan to ban smoking outdoors on their property in 2008. Hundreds of hospitals nationwide have enacted total smoking bans, starting with the Mayo Clinic in 2002.