A new survey reports that in 2009, 59% of companies intend to pass more health insurance costs on to their workers. For the employees who are going to have money taken out of their pockets next year, you can bet that most of them are going to assume that that money is going right into their local hospital's bank account, writes blogger Stephen Texeira.
The method of testing ad campaigns should be determined in the same way the rest of your marketing is determined: potential return on investment. Not every test is right for your marketing objectives. A test that works well against one strategy may not work well or provide the same ROI when applied to a different strategy.
The fundraising end zone is in sight at Riley Hospital for Children, thanks to a $1 million gift and pledge for continued support from the Indianapolis Colts.
Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis received the gift to assist with an ongoing capital campaign called "Riley's Hope Happens Here: The Campaign for Indiana's Children," which has a goal of $175 million. "This franchise had brought tremendous recognition to Indiana because of its athletic accomplishments but also because of its outstanding work on behalf of the community." Riley Children's Foundation Board of Governors Chairman Jim Morris said in a statement. "We are grateful that the Colts have chosen Riley Hospital as the recipient of their philanthropy and as an ongoing partner in helping children throughout our state."
The Colts also intend to work with Riley on several projects and activities to assist children throughout the state, one of which is Kids Caring & Sharing, a fundraising effort led by the Indiana Association of School Principals and Riley.
Colts head coach Tony Dungy recently visited Riley to film a commercial encouraging the community to support the hospital's cause. "I feel blessed to have met and spent time with so many children and families who are going through a difficult time" he said. "I am always deeply touched by their courage and overwhelmed by the skill and compassion of the Riley staff members who care for them."
"Children in the hospital thrive on seeing the athletes," says Jason Mueller, manager of communications for the Riley Children's Foundation. "The Colts had already partnered at some degree just by visiting the kids in the hospital. This gift announcement really just formalizes things and shows the Colts dedication to the Indiana community."
Kandace McLaughlin is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. Send her Campaign Spotlight ideas at kmclaughlin@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.
I've been thinking lately about the ways hospitals differentiate themselves. It seems as though, for hospitals, there's a limited number of market positions to stake out. High-touch/high-tech, top 100 hospital, best quality, most caring: Blah, blah, blah. At what point do these descriptors—and let's face it, they're clichés—become totally meaningless?
I'm thinking that point is just about now.
Enter Florida Hospital's new venture, The Disney Children's Hospital in Orlando. Slated to open in 2010, it's going to feature cutting-edge technology, employ world-class physicians, and pursue the highest quality standards.
Sorry, I nodded off there for a minute.
The 200-bed hospital will have also have family-centered pediatric rooms; a dedicated pediatric Emergency Department; an Advanced Center for Pediatric Surgery led by renowned surgeons; destination pediatric programs including oncology, neurosurgery, cardiology, transplant services; and an obesity program.
Yawn.
In the lobby, children will be able to draw on a cave wall, create jungle sounds on musical step pads, fish for virtual salmon, and play among popping bubbles and dancing sea horses. And each night as the sun sets, the lobby will transform into a celestial display, featuring constellations on the ceiling and a musical score created by the young patients. The décor will feature characters from "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," "Brother Bear," and "The Jungle Book."
Now that woke me up.
Other children's hospitals in Florida and elsewhere know how to treat children—in both the clinical sense and the personal, emotional sense. Other hospitals have similar technology. They have the same service lines. They have talented physicians and nurses.
But Florida Hospital has entered a whole different realm.
It remains to be seen if the self-proclaimed "hospital of the future" will be a model for other pediatric hospitals, as it claims. And maybe it shouldn't be—if in the future all hospitals are Disney hospitals, then we're back where we started, unable to differentiate ourselves in a crowded and clichéd market.
But there is a lesson, here. You have to search for your own different differentiator. You have to identify and market what makes you special in addition to all that other very important but slightly boring stuff.
Wake me up when you've figured out what that is.
Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.
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If you get a chance, read the testimony presented on Tuesday (Sept. 9) to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee by Greg Schoen, MD, regional medical director at Fairview Northland Medical Center in Princeton, MN, located about 50 miles north of the Twin Cities. It provides a blueprint for success for improving patient outcomes.
In its first year of participation in CMS' Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration project, Fairview Northland found itself ranked among the bottom 10% of participating hospitals. Within three years, after identifying and correcting a number of problems, the 54-bed hospital was ranked among the top hospitals in the program.
In my job, I've had the pleasure of speaking with executives and physicians from some of the nation's most successful hospitals and healthcare systems. So, there really isn't anything in Schoen's testimony that I haven't read or heard before. That's the beauty of it. It turns out, there is a recipe for success.
Yes, of course, no two hospitals are the same. Each hospital has a different set of challenges, some greater than others. However, there is a handful of common sense strategies that I have heard from every hospital executive and physician I've ever interviewed, strategies that all hospitals can undertake to measurably improve patient outcomes. And you can find them all in Schoen's testimony.
Lesson No. 1: Understand what your problems are. When Fairview Northland decided to take part in the HQID project, Schoen says he was "surprised by our poor performance." The tiny hospital scored in the bottom 10% of the 250 participating hospitals of varying sizes in the six areas that were being measured: heart attack, heart failure, coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, and hip/knee replacement. "The scores were a wake-up call that we had work to do," Schoen told the committee. The moral of the story: It's hard to correct a problem when you don't know you have a problem.
Lesson No. 2: Don't rule by fiat. Involve administrators and medical staff, and give them incentives. "The quest to improve quality started with a straightforward approach to physicians and staff: we can and will do better," Schoen told the committee. "Our employees—particularly physicians—responded positively to the fact that our hard work would not only improve patient care but it would also be rewarded with incentive pay from the demonstration project."
Lesson No. 3: Find workable solutions. Some problems are more nettlesome than others, but they can be solved. Schoen says Fairview Northland immediately found that some of its low scores were attributable to documentation errors. The care was being delivered but it wasn't documented either on charts or in billing.
After pruning that "low hanging fruit," Schoen says, Fairview Northland took on the more complicated problem of "good people using bad processes." Interdisciplinary care teams comprised of physicians, nurses, x-ray and lab technicians, support staff and administrators were told to fix the problem. "These were the best people to create new processes, since they would have to use them every day," Schoen testified. "They created new and better ways to provide care and then hardwired those processes into place." Those processes can be as simple as ensuring that chest pain patients receive an EKG and a dose of aspirin before seeing a physician.
Lesson No. 4: Monitor your progress. Changing the way you deliver healthcare is pointless if you don't continually monitor yourself to ensure compliance. Fairview Northland, for example, added prompts in paper documents and order sets for physicians, and hired additional staff to monitor compliance.
There you have it. Four steps to improving quality and patient outcomes at your hospital.
One other thing that Schoen didn't mention but that I feel is vitally important: Don't be bashful about success. If you improve quality of care and patient outcomes at your hospital, let people know about it. A press release is not sufficient. Set up an editorial board meeting with your local newspaper. Request an on-site interview with your local television station. And of course, make sure your patients and their families know. It's important that the people you serve know and understand the steps you are taking to improve their healthcare. Besides, to quote the immortal Dizzy Dean, "It ain't bragging if you've done it."
John Commins is the human resources and community and rural hospitals editor withHealthLeadersMedia. He can be reached at jcommins@healthleadersmedia.com.
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Humana expects to lose 308,000 members because of price changes in its Medicare Part D program. The company said its pricing for Part D beneficiaries outpaced CMS' benchmark premium rate in 34 regions, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.