Healthcare is returning as a campaign issue, as special interest and advocacy groups are prepared to spend at least $60 million to push politicians to embrace universal healthcare. The efforts, one by a coalition of labor and liberal groups and another by AARP, also include direct appeals to the presidential contenders and congressional candidates to change the healthcare system.
Charlotte, NC-based Hospital Partners of America has retained Merrill Lynch to shop around St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston in the hopes of finding a new buyer for the facility. HPA bought the facility from Christus Health Gulf Coast less than two years ago, but HPA is suffering from liquidity problems and is trying to sell all of its hospitals. St. Joseph representatives said the facility is financially healthy, and many hope the new buyer continues to operate the hospital.
Erickson Retirement Communities, a Catonsville, MD-based developer of retirement communities, plans to open its first free-standing medical practice for senior citizens and will consider expanding with similar off-site offices in Maryland and throughout the country. The new Erickson office will serve adults 65 and older who are covered by Medicare. The move comes at a time when threatened cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates could make it increasingly difficult for physicians to treat Medicare patients.
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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