As stroke care advances, South Florida hospitals are lining up to create centers to treat strokes with as much urgency as they treat trauma patients. The hospitals are being propelled by a 2004 Florida law that sends ambulances to stroke centers even if another hospital is closer. Florida leads the nation in the number of stroke centers because of the law, the state's large population, and older demographic. Doctors say the centers provide a better approach to stroke care, but say care can be inconsistent.
Medical tourism is gaining in popularity, as is India as a destination for North American and European citizens. Although India began focusing on attracting patients outside of the country a decade ago, it still lags behind some other countries. But now, healthcare providers such as India's Apollo Hospitals, the largest healthcare group in Asia, are growing at a rate of 10% each year.
Healthcare providers have long depended on consumer word-of-mouth, even before it became one of those hot marketing buzzwords. After physician referrals, consumer-to-consumer referrals are perhaps your most powerful marketing tool.
Laurie Wilshusen, the word-of-mouth expert for Mayo Clinic, once told me that "one word-of-mouth recommendation is worth 600 media impressions." Mayo is healthcare's leader in this area of marketing, so she knows what she's talking about.
It's no different for global hospitals. The catalyst for the medical travel industry's growth has really been its successful interactions with early adopters. After all, leading all those feature stories about medical travel in the mainstream press this year are anecdotes of satisfied healthcare consumers.
The one problem with word-of-mouth marketing is that it assumes you already have a steady flow of customers from your target regions. For instance, if North America is the region global hospitals covet—and it's safe to say that it is—there simply aren't enough people from this region who have experienced medical travel first-hand.
But some industry leaders are taking steps get around this and show the patient experience to key stakeholders. The Medical Tourism Association has recently produced a short promotional video (this link requires Windows Media Player) about an American who travels to Costa Rica for double-knee replacement surgery. The 10-minute segment that I watched lets you see what medical travel is like from the patient's point-of-view.
The patient—identified as "Bob"—gives us some personal insights as he experiences care at a Costa Rica hospital. "My actual blood work was 12 minutes from the time I walked into the hospital until the time it was finished," he says.
And there is an amusing moment when Bob lumbers on his two bad knees from the x-ray department to consult immediately with a physician. "A doctor waiting for me?" he says. "That's a new one!"
Bob, who we're told lives in Orlando, FL, and has some form of health insurance, saved about $80,000 by having the procedure in Costa Rica. In the end, the procedure is a success, and Bob tells us that it was well worth his time, effort, and money, especially considering that he could never afford this level of care in the United States.
Jonathan Edelheit, president of the Medical Tourism Association, told me the video shows that Americans are willing to travel overseas and love the experience. "You would be amazed by the reaction we are getting from employers and insurance agents who have watched this," he says.
And that's just what the industry needs to do—get more of these first-hand testimonials to the public to generate that word-of-mouth buzz. Having great doctors, international accreditation, and getting good ink from the mainstream press is no substitute for actually seeing someone like you who experiences the ups and downs of medical travel and can attest to its quality and value.
For global hospitals, the way to sustain the buzz the industry is generating is to take a lesson from the healthcare marketers at places like Mayo and Cleveland Clinic. Craft marketing strategies that focus on continuing the relationship you have with past patients in an effort to create loyalists, like Bob, who can do the marketing for you. Do whatever you can to make it easy for these satisfied customers to get the word out about their experiences.
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The most remarkable aspect about the Internet is how it has morphed into one of the most free-wheeling free speech vehicles imaginable. The sheer number of individual blogs alone is astounding. According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a new weblog, aka "blog," appears every 5.8 seconds. That roughly translates into 15,000 new blogs every day, adding to the millions upon millions already in existence. The healthcare space is not immune, and it seems like every week, I hear of another related blog. On the IT front, some belong to thought leaders like Mark Frisse and John Halamka. One curious one is anonymous, the author being the mysterious "Mr. HisTalk," who apparently has served as a hospital CIO. The author of this blog is no fan of trade magazines, dismissing us journalists as mere mouthpieces for IT software vendors.
Well, if I may digress for a moment, we do have our flaws, but anonymity is not one of them. We reporters are listeners as much as anything, and I for one, do not take my marching orders from software vendors. If anything gets my dander up, it's their relentless stream of hyperbole and jargon, which only serve to distance their own products from intended users. The very word "solution"—which vendors freely substitute for "software" —is a case in point. The only solutions are those carved out by hard-working teams of hospital and medical group staff trying to figure out how to resolve difficult information-sharing questions.
A difference in opinion about the value of journalists, however, underscores the value of the blogs. Where else but in the blogosphere could such a debate play out? If you look at Mr. HisTalk's site, you will find several examples.
Two health insurance plans that are part of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association are attempting to capitalize on the allure of online communication—by turning the blog soapbox over to members. No, these are not the personal blogs of the corporate leaders of the plans. Moreover, they go well beyond the patient portal where you can look up benefits and get a new member card. At sites launched by the Minnesota (thehealthcarescoop.com) and Florida (thepowerofthehumanvoice.com) plans, patients sound off on the industry in their own unedited words. The sites are fairly new and have already drawn a fair amount of consumer feedback—both positive and negative.
In contrast to these sites, so many of the sites in the vast blogosphere are little more than one-man-bands whose purpose in life seems to be playing for an audience of one. It is encouraging to see the Blues plans trying something new. If healthcare needs anything, it is more listening to the patients and consumers who foot the ever-mounting bills.
PS. This marks my final issue with HealthLeaders IT. Starting with the next issue, Kathryn Mackenzie will take the reins of the technology beat. It has been my pleasure to serve you over the past 15 months. Please join me in welcoming Kathryn. I know she will do a great job for you.
Gary Baldwin is technology editor of HealthLeaders magazine. He can be reached at gbaldwin@healthleadersmedia.com.
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A new Web site has been created for medical and information technology professionals to access timely educational resources and information about clinical engineering and IT-related issues affecting the healthcare field. The Web site was developed by a coalition of three national associations—the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, the American College of Clinical Engineering, and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society—which recently formed the CE-IT Community.
The Medical Banking Project is organizing the 7th National Medical Banking Institute, March 11-13, 2009, in Nashville, TN. The project is accepting submissions for presentation at the event.
For submission guidelines see: www.mbproject.org. Topical areas under consideration include:
Information privacy, confidentiality and security that focuses on cross-industry issues in banking and healthcare
Treasury and cash management programs targeting healthcare
Card-based platforms and technologies that link healthcare and banking platforms
Independent Health Record Banks
Consumer-driven healthcare technology tools that integrate with banking platforms