While social marketing was originally developed from the desire that companies had to capitalize on commercial marketing techniques, it has evolved into a more integrative and comprehensive discipline that draws on a wide array of technology, from the traditional media to new media, referred to as "social media." As more and more companies invest resources into social media and marketing, it's natural to ask the value of this investment is to be measured, and this article in Marketing Profs tries to answer that question.
Recent audits showed that hand hygiene compliance for Blessing Hospital was in the 95-100% range, but Becky Crane, infection preventionist for Blessing, was still concerned.
"The data didn't match what we were seeing with more covert audits," she said. "So we decided to get together, review the national patient safety goals, and revise our policy so we could expand the scope to expect only 100% compliance."
Though hand washing campaigns aren't new to healthcare, those at Blessing Hospital in Quincy, IL, were determined to create a campaign that would help them reach their overarching goal of total compliance.
However, to put a plan in place the team at Blessing knew they needed full buy-in to the concept. A committee comprised of the medical director of quality, members of the infection control group, as well as administrative directors from every service line, got to work brainstorming what creative concept would be most appealing and memorable for the staff.
Originally the team considered focusing their campaign message around a parody of the ‘Got Milk' slogan. "We quickly decided that was overdone and worked to come up with something new," says Donna Rupert, communications specialist for Blessing.
Rupert says what kept sticking in her mind was the array of acronyms used on a daily basis in a hospital. With that concept in mind the team chose to use the acronym from the comedic TV series SCRUBS to get the messages out in a modern and somewhat light-hearted way. The full scope of the campaign will include a different message every month on posters placed throughout the facility that work off the SCRUBS acronym. For example, one month will feature the message: Scrub Continuously Rubbing Until Bubbles Stop.
The team also wanted to bring the staff into the campaign as much as possible, so each poster features members of the staff illustrating the campaign message of the month. "I thought it would be difficult to get people to be a part of it but I don't think anyone turned us down to have their picture taken," Rupert adds. "This campaign really brought out a lot of internal spirit which was an added bonus."
Prior to the campaign Crane says internal audits were seeing hand washing compliance at about 87%. Now, after only a short run with the new and direct campaign messages and the disciplinary actions put in place as a part of the initiative for noncompliance, compliance is at approximately 97% and the product usage for antibacterial soap and foam has increased dramatically as well.
Kandace McLaughlin Doyle is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kdoyle@healthleadersmedia.com If you are a marketer submitting a campaign on behalf of your facility or client, please ensure you have permission before doing so.
There are three distinctly different generations (and soon to be a fourth) practicing medicine today. And marketers want to know how to best reach out to all of them when crafting internal campaigns and when marketing to physicians to increase satisfaction and referrals. It's tempting—especially in tough economic times—to try a one-size-fits-all approach. But as the results of a recent national study suggest, that's just not going to cut it.
Like any other audience, if you want to successfully market to physicians from the greatest generation (ages 63-83), boomers (ages 44-62), and generation x (ages 28-43), you've got to create a message that resonates with their unique needs and viewpoints.
Speaking at the Healthcare Strategy Institute's recent hospital and physician relations summit, David Rowlee, vice president of research at Morehead Associates in Charlotte, NC, said members of each generation have the following in common:
Each generation reacts to the generation before them in a negative way.
Each generation is skeptical about the generations that follow them.
Each generation thinks they are the best generation—the benchmark against which all other generations should be measured.
Even their commonalities highlight their differences. That's further evidenced in the results of Morehead's most recent physician engagement survey. The survey produced a lot of data. But a peek at some of the top-line results should get you started thinking about how you can embrace these very different groups.
Get engaged
In the 2008 survey of physicians, nationwide engagement, on average, came in at 4.02 on a five point scale. The most loyal physicians are older docs, at 4.27. Baby boomers follow at 4.06. And generation x is lagging behind at an average of 3.91. (In fact, generation x physicians are significantly less satisfied across every measure, Rowlee said.)
As they've done in previous years, Morehead asked physicians to name the key drivers of engagement and satisfaction. Nationwide, physicians of all ages said the following were most important:
The hospital cares about its patients.
The hospital makes use of new technology and clinical practices.
The physician has confidence in the administration's leadership.
But when broken down by age group, the generations diverge again.
The following are the key drivers for the oldest group of docs:
The overall performance of the hospital administration.
The physician's confidence in the hospital administration's leadership.
The physicians are treated with respect.
The following are the key drivers for the boomers:
Openness of the hospital administration.
Responsiveness of the hospital administration.
Adequate input into decisions that impact medical practice.
The following are the key drivers for generation x:
The hospital makes use of new technology and clinical practices.
The physician has access to tools and resources needed to care for patients.
Timely results from laboratory and radiology services.
Talk it over
Despite their differences, physicians of all ages have one thing in common. And lucky for you, it's one of the marketer's specialties: communication.
What if differentiating your organization was as simple as talking about it? Young physicians won't know what you're doing to report lab results faster unless you tell them about it. Older physicians won't know that administrators want their input unless you seek it out.
So how do you make everyone happy? Well, I don't know if you can make everyone happy, but there are a few tactics you should consider.
Clearly, older physicians are concerned not only with the health of their patients, but also with the health of the hospital and the strength of its leadership. Treat them with respect and give them input. Reach these physicians by giving them access to senior leaders, either one-on-one during visits to physicians in their offices or in a group social setting. Consult them before making big decisions instead of informing them after the decisions are already made.
Meanwhile, younger physicians don't want easy access to administrators; they want you to make it easier for them to practice medicine. If you can find ways to make their life easier, it will be easier for them to choose your hospital when it comes time to refer a patient. You have to work extra hard to earn their trust. But it can be done. Yes, a lot of them say now that they don't know if they'll be working for the same organization five years from now. On the bright side, it means you have time to earn their loyalty.
Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.
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Reaching out and engaging members of consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) may help slightly, but if health insurers really want to make a dent on costs and quality they need to reach out to providers.
Case in point: A recent study called Are Primary Care Physicians Ready to Practice in a Consumer-Driven Environment? showed that most primary care physicians don't understand CDHPs and medical savings accounts, can't advise patients financially about procedures outside of their practices, and don't trust quality-of-care information on health insurers' Web sites.
"I think it's an open question about what role the doctors should play in these plans," says Craig Evan Pollack, MD, MHS, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation clinical scholar at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and co-author of the study.
Less than half of 528 physicians surveyed said they are ready to discuss medical budgets with patients. About four out of 10 surveyed said they had "low knowledge of CDHP cost sharing" and about one-third said they had "low knowledge of how medical savings accounts function."
The survey also found that physicians are comfortable advising patients on the costs of office visits, medications, and laboratory tests, but they were less comfortable educating patients about the financial impacts of procedures outside of their practices, including specialist visits and hospitalizations.
In another sobering finding, less than one in 10 physicians surveyed trust quality-of-care information on health insurers' Web sites. Sites that compare quality and costs are seen as an important component of CDHPs because they allow consumers to make educated decisions. Without doctors' support though, health plans can't expect these sites to become part of point-of-care discussions between physicians and patients.
These findings should concern health plan leaders. Here's why:
Patients trust their doctors more than health plans and employers. Payers can promote the cost-effectiveness, choice, and quality of CDHPs, but consumer-driven plans are doomed if the most important player in healthcare (the doctor) is not an active participant.
Point-of-care decision-making is a key component to containing costs and choosing the most cost-effective care. If a doctor is not ready to advise a patient about care and cost options, health plans can't expect the best options are being chosen.
"I think the transparency of price information is something that I know insurers are actively working on and I think it's going to be increasingly important under these plans to have that information at the point of service," says Pollack.
Sander Domaszewicz, principal at Mercer in Newport Beach, CA, says physicians delivering the message of healthcare finances holds promise. For instance, physicians can recommend less costly alternatives, such as x-rays rather than MRIs when appropriate. Without physician participation, health plans can expect only marginal cost reductions, says Domaszewicz.
Part of the problem is that physicians are already swamped. If given the choice between whether to stay abreast on medicine or financial planning, the doctor is going to choose the former every time. Plus, for doctors who want to understand their patients' health plan options, there are simply too many plans to keep track.
What's a doc to do?
There are technological solutions, including point-of-care kiosks that provide information about patient out-of-pocket costs. A recent white paper published by Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati listed two products that physicians believe will help:
A price calculator that predicts expected health plan reimbursement and subtracts that amount from the expected total billed amount and then estimates the patient's payment responsibility. The calculation also factors in copays and deductibles to estimate the patients' total financial responsibility.
Tools that forecast a patient's propensity to pay their bill, such as building it on a credit score or key elements of credit reports.
Meanwhile, the researchers in Pollack's study suggested health plans and employers educate physicians about deductibles, cost sharing, and medical savings accounts.
Those suggestions coupled with the Fifth Third Bank white paper's wish list are steps in the right direction. There is mistrust on both sides, but if health plans expect CDHPs to succeed they need physicians onboard. That goes beyond a quarterly newsletter about healthcare finances and a greater emphasis on continuous education and technology solutions.
Getting the physicians involved is the only way CDHPs will ultimately live up to their potential.
Les Masterson is senior editor of Health Plan Insider. He can be reached at lmasterson@healthleadersmedia.com.Note: You can sign up to receiveHealth Plan Insider, a free weekly e-newsletter designed to bring breaking news and analysis of important developments at health plans and other managed care organizations to your inbox.
Family and friends recently protested outside Tampa Bay, FL-based University Community Hospital Carrollwood waving signs and handing out flyers. The parents of 9-year-old Nicole Lang-Veru said they wanted to share their daughter's story with other families. Lang-Veru died from the flu on December 26, 2006. Her father took her to UCH, but she was released from the hospital. Now her parents are saying the doctor never should have released Nicole from the hospital.
Use of antibiotics at U.S. hospitals is rising despite concerns about fueling bacterial resistance, with Wyeth's Zosyn and the older drug vancomycin driving the trend, researchers said. Use of antibiotics at a group of U.S. academic medical centers rose 7% from 2002 to 2006, Ronald Polk of Virginia Commonwealth University and colleagues reported in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine. As doctors prescribe more antibiotics, experts are alarmed that drugs that once killed the germs no longer do so, meaning an illness may last longer and be more likely to be fatal.