Perry, IA-based Dallas County Hospital, which was managed for years by executives from Iowa Health-Des Moines, is now being run by Mercy Medical Center. Iowa Health had managed the public hospital since the 1980s, but withdrew from the contract because of undisclosed disagreements with the hospital's board. Iowa Health and Mercy dominate the healthcare market in central Iowa. They own all five of Des Moines' private hospitals, and provide management services for several smaller, rural hospitals.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield will begin disclosing the estimated cost of 39 common medical procedures and tests in southeastern Wisconsin. The information will be available on the health insurer's Web site, and will include such procedures and tests as mammography, colonoscopy, an MRI of the spine, and knee replacement surgery. Anthem Blue Cross will become the second health insurer in southeastern Wisconsin to disclose estimated prices. Humana Inc. began doing so for people in one of its health plans in early 2006.
Having a communication strategy is not new to the healthcare industry. Many hospitals have trained their clinicians to use techniques like SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation) when they are transferring or handing off patients to another clinician to ensure that vital patient information is forwarded to the next caregiver. Hospital executives understand that this type of formal communication is an essential step to providing the highest quality and safest care to their patients. Likewise, senior leaders understand that good communication is an essential component to the success of their organization. But how well do you really communicate your hospital's goals? Do your employees know the hospital's mission, or perhaps most importantly, do they know what their role is in achieving that mission?
Senior executives in community hospitals may mistakenly believe that because their hospital has a smaller staff or because they are located in a small town where everybody seems to know what everyone else is doing that an informal communication strategy is sufficient. But you don't want your employees thinking that they're always the last to hear about the organization's strategy, or worse yet, to hear about organizational announcements from someone else in the community.
Many hospitals have a monthly newsletter or quarterly meetings, but are these methods the best way to reach and engage your staff? Earlier this year, I heard Brian Shockney, the chief executive officer of Logansport (IN) Memorial Hospital, discuss the importance of "lavish communication" to align every hospital employee around the goals of the organization. He also discussed that it was the CEO's responsibility to communicate that message. At Memorial, Shockney holds roundtables with hospital employees once a month that consist of a 10-minute presentation followed by a 50-minute question-and-answer session. He also meets with senior executives once a week, managers once a month, and attends all of the hospital's department meetings at least once a year. In addition, Memorial has a policy against using healthcare jargon during its board meetings and its senior leaders use the employee parking lots.
While you may use different communication techniques in your organization, every hospital should be educating its employees on their role in helping the organization meet its goals. In addition, hospitals should encourage employees to voice their concerns or offer feedback. After all, the top priority on just about every hospital mission statement is providing high quality and safe care to patients. So would your security team or housekeeping staff offer assistance or get help if they saw a patient fall to the floor in the emergency room? Or would they just continue to do "their" job.
Carrie Vaughan is editor of HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly. She can be reached at cvaughan@healthleadersmedia.com.
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Jefferson County, FL, is focusing its limited tax dollars on prevention and transportation as the best ways to improve the health of its citizens. The county is looking to establish a more "walkable" community by developing more local parks and designing a more walker-friendly downtown. In addition, the county is trying to secure inexpensive methods of transportation to shuttle their residents to doctors' appointments.
The Health Resources and Services Administration has announced the renewal of $7.2 million in annual operating grants to public and private agencies that serve the most geographically isolated communities in the country. Since 1991, HRSA has supplied annual grants to sustain a nationwide network of State Offices of Rural Health, which act as the focal point for ongoing research and examination of the well-being of rural families and a source of advice to local, state and federal policymakers. This year, 36 state health departments, 11 academic institutions and a variety of non-profit groups will receive about $147,000 each in federal grants.
I recently found myself clicking on a link that opened an online video—one in a series of humorous ads urging men to check themselves for testicular cancer. The person who forwarded the link to me didn't even know I cover healthcare marketing—he just thought I'd get a laugh out of it. Because, you know, there's nothing funnier than testicular cancer.
One of the ads is a bouncy "sing-along" to the tune of the popular Boy Scout song "Do your ears hang low?" with lyrics comprised of the many different slang terms for testicles. Another is a take-off of a 1950s public health film—the kind they used to show in school to warn children about the dangers of poor hygiene and other life-threatening issues. Dr. Harold Rounds deadpans his lines: "Gentleman, there is an important issue you and I need to discuss," he intones. "Your balls."
The whole series of ads is designed to titillate. In fact, the ads are funny, in a bawdy, irreverent, adolescent way. They almost look like a spoof, a campy skit that might appear on a late-night comedy show.
Still, I wasn't sure how to react. Should I be offended? Or impressed?
In the end, I decided to be impressed. Here's why:
The organization behind the ads clearly knows its audience, males ages 15 to 40. I hate to generalize, but I'm guessing that the ads will appeal to 98% of them.
The ads are unique and they take a risk—something that's rare in healthcare advertising. Instead of dire warnings or heart-wrenching stories of survival, the campaign is upbeat. Punchy taglines include lines like "Be a man, self exam" and "Do your testicles feel OK?"
The ads have gone viral—a difficult accomplishment when the "product" is not the latest action movie or a brand of beer.
And finally, they grab your attention long enough to deliver the serious message and call-to-action. The bouncy sing along, for example, ends with the line: "If your balls are feeling lumpy or they're tender or they're grumpy . . . Go see a physician."
So what can you learn from this edgy campaign? A few things:
Take a calculated risk. It's OK to try something different as long as it is appropriate for your target audience. You might not want to try a similar approach when marketing an assisted living program, for example. (Then again knowing what today's "senior citizens" are like, maybe you would.) Knowing your audience is the key to success in any campaign.
Intentions count. The Kimerling foundation's mission statement is about as simple as it gets: "Raising public awareness about testicular cancer and the importance of self-examination." It's kind of hard to be offended once you've read that.
Let your audience do your marketing for you. A campaign such as this one is much more likely to go viral, spreading your message for free.
Define your boundaries. The main foundation site has a totally different look and feel and has a different URL than the site where the ads are posted. The main foundation site has pages with serious and straightforward information about testicular cancer, such as risk factors, how to perform a self-exam, and what you should do if you find a lump. There's no joking around here.
One last thing: Go ahead and click through to watch the ads—as a healthcare marketing campaign it's job-related after all. They're not exactly PG, but they're not rated X, either.
Still, you might want to turn the volume down on your computer before watching them.
Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.
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