Winning awards for aspects such as worthy medical performance, low mortality rates, customer satisfaction, financial astuteness and other achievements benefits hospitals and prospective patients, experts say. The awards help hospitals attract patients, recruit employees, boost employee morale, compare themselves against competitors and work to improve operations, as well as guide consumers in the complicated process of selecting a hospital.
Current and former patients at Victoria, TX-based DeTar Hospital can nominate a nurse for the the hospital's first Patient Choice Award. A committee will select a nurse who receives the most nominations or who stands out the most, and the award will be given out with a $500 prize during Nurses' Week.
Although marketers spend millions to gain data about their customers, they generally fail to use it properly, according to a CMO Council study. Only 16% of companies surveyed rate themselves as effective or extremely good when it comes to customer relationship management. Forty-five percent said they are deficient or need more work at integrating and leveraging customer data taken from customer relationship management software.
Detroit Medical Center has relaunched an air transport program that makes it easier for doctors at out-state hospitals to put critically injured or ill patients on a medical helicopter bound for its facility in downtown Detroit. The hospital has had the capability to bring in patients through its helipad for years, but DMC officials say they hadn't actively promoted its use until recently. The officials hope the expansion into the air will help grow its out-state customer base and make the hospital's medical specialties more accessible to patients in smaller communities.
Dealing effectively with the challenges posed by integrated marketing communications is top of mind among senior marketers' minds, according to the latest survey from the Association of National Advertisers. All of the issues ranked within the top five have remained the same since 2006, the survey found. For the survey, marketers are presented with 10 key issues and asked to choose their top three. The ANA then tabulates the top 10 list based on overall responses.
Fort HealthCare, a community healthcare system in Fort Atkinson, WI, was faced with opposition: from their own competing campaign messages. In a money and brand saving strategy, Fort HealthCare created a marketing campaign that would fuse the brand with a central message for all its facilities.
“We were spending a lot of time and money and it was problematic,” says James Shulkin, director of planning and market development for Fort HealthCare. “We had our ads competing in our local media outlets. You would turn a page in the local newspaper and there would be an ad for Fort HealthCare. On the next page there would be an ad for one of our medical groups. It looked ostentatious and wasteful. So, we decided to cut back and combine our efforts.”
Working with NOISE, Inc. Branding Communications, a full service agency in Milwaukee, Fort HealthCare used its budget to develop a multi-integrated brand and image initiative.
The campaign, literally, took on many faces. The print pieces were designed for four specific service lines and were centered on the concept of what conditions and symptoms Fort HealthCare’s physicians might face within each service line. In a time saving maneuver, the TV spots were shot at the same time a photo shoot was held on set for the print pieces. Then, body part shots from the pictures taken at the photo shoot were used to create symptoms of the patient in the print pieces. “We were trying to encompass the message that Fort HealthCare was here for everyone no matter what the problem,” says Mary Parodo, NOISE president.
Though the brand-line for Fort HealthCare, “Caring for Life,” was represented on each element of the campaign each element also had its own individual tagline, which gave each piece its own life. An example of this can be seen in the pediatric print piece that features the tagline, “So what brings you in today?” It’s exactly the casual response an experienced pediatrician would offer to a patient who might obviously have a toy car stuck in their nose—but it’s that simple, individualized message which helped to bring this campaign together and also helps it to stand out.
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.
It’s been a while since I opened up the mailbag and shared its contents with you, but over the past few months readers have weighed in on several issues, from new media to HCAHPS to physician relations to monkeys. As always, thanks for sharing your thoughts, opinions, and expertise--and keep those letters coming.
On new media Yes, I would love to start incorporating new media into our marketing [The New Marketing Mix, April 9, 2008] but it is still a struggle getting departments to even have a presence on the Web site.
I am a marketing director at a rural hospital with a small staff (one other employee). Technology and how it can be used is often a leap that the majority of people don’t think about in rural areas. I’m an early adopter and I could see potential for Internet since day one. But it takes a while for the rest to catch up. I hope we get to that tipping point because with technology, if you don’t adopt early you are behind and it takes so much more effort to catch up.
Another issue is first I have to educate myself on these new media options before I try to educate my superiors. I know that we won’t be hiring additional FTEs so anything we try will be my responsibility. After you can get their approval then you have to educate the directors in the product line area about the new mediums and how they can be used. I call this the cheerleading phase. Then there is the actual production on top of maintaining all the other forms of marketing that we can’t seem to let go of or reduce.
Meanwhile, I still plug away at some departments to just consider getting a presence on the Web site. Others I try to coax away from just doing the same old ads in the paper and branch out a little. Others we try to give them data to show the importance of establishing relationships through outreach clinics and other community events. And yes, I’m trying to get one department to think about YouTube and podcasting. There are too many options to reach the healthcare community today and so little time and staff. We do what we can. It’s exciting to me but sometimes daunting.
(Name withheld at reader’s request.)
On coffee shop talk To answer your question about a year from now (or next week for that matter): What will people say about which hospital has the most satisfied patients? I guess it depends on who’s in the coffee shop [Word-of-Mouth With a Bullhorn, April 2, 2008]. But in general you’ll get the same blank stares—they won’t know because 9 out of 10 wouldn’t have a reason to know. Most people don’t go to hospitals on a routine basis and they’re not engaged in their healthcare. But for those patients that are engaged and search this information out, it will only be a starting point and will compel them to look for more information, just like with any other Web search.
All in all it’s a good first step and, as you point out, for the average consumer the experience far out weighs any clinical outcome or mortality data that are published. Kudos to Alabama, that state with the best overall satisfaction, and it looks like Hawaii needs some help.
Kevin Lieb
Director, provider programs
J.D. Power and Associates, Healthcare Division
Westlake Village, CA
On physician stars
I just read your column on improving physician relations [Seven Simple Ways to Improve Physician Relations, March 5, 2008]. One thing that worries me in the article is the suggestion to make physicians "stars" in hospital advertising. I generally do not advocate this for a couple of reasons.
First, unless the physicians are employed by the health system, this can get hospitals in serious trouble with the Stark regulations. Second, there is always the danger that a hospital may invest in building the personas of "star" physicians, only to have the physician leave and set up shop with a competitor. (This happens to academic medical centers more than community hospitals, and can be devastating to a clinical program such as oncology or neurosurgery).
Patrick T. Buckley
President, PB Healthcare Business Solutions LLC
Pewaukee, WI
On training monkeys
You call it monkey-see, monkey-do in your latest column [Monkey Business, February 20, 2008]. I call it “me-tooism.” Whatever the moniker, your article hit close to home.
I’ve been talking about this topic for more than 30 years. Here’s a real-life example I use. A hospital administrator—frustrated with physicians throwing brochures and ads on his desk from competitors—used to respond this way: “Doctor, are you telling me that you would take your patient elsewhere because of an ad, mailer, or brochure? I would hope that you would recommend patients to the hospital that has been best quality, customer service, and staff—not a hospital that prints up pretty publications and ads.”
Every time, the particular physician would walk sheepishly out of the administrator’s office.
Marketing is not and has never been about pretty ads or prize-winning brochures. Marketing is the sum total of impressions, experiences, and the relationships people have with your healthcare organization.
It’s not about big ads … it’s about big ideas.
Rhoda Weiss
Rhoda Weiss & Associates, Santa Monica, CA
Chair and CEO of the Public Relations Society of AmericaGienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.
For the majority of critical-access hospitals, the financial impact of Medicare Advantage plans has been negligible since the plans were established by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 as a replacement for Medicare+Choice. Only 10% of rural Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in MA as of January, which probably explains why 26% of CAHs were unsure which type of plan—HMO, PPO, PFFS, etc.—accounted for the largest number of their hospitals' MA patients, according to a report by the NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health and the RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis.
If the number of rural beneficiaries signing up for these plans continues to increase, however, I suspect MA plans may have a more significant impact on CAHs’ financial performance in the future. As of January 2008, MA plans had enrolled 926,381 rural beneficiaries, up from 241,706 in 2005, the NORC study found. The report, "Critical Access Hospitals' Experiences with Medicare Advantage Plans," found that growth in rural enrollment has been mostly in private fee-for-service plans, which account for 61% of rural enrollment and 76% of the two-year growth. Yet PFFS plans are not required to follow the same reimbursement rules as traditional Medicare, including three CAH-specific policies: periodic interim payment based on 101% of cost, beneficiary cost sharing, and cost settlement at the end of the hospital's fiscal year. Payment rates are negotiated between the MA plans and CAHs, and can be above, below, or comparable to traditional Medicare rates.
The report found that of the 31 CAH respondents that held at least one MA contract:
29% were reimbursed for inpatient services on the basis of cost plus 1%.
13% were reimbursed on the basis of cost only, i.e., at 100% of costs.
26% were reimbursed on a per diem basis, but did not elaborate as to how these amounts compared to traditional Medicare reimbursement.
22% reported reimbursement that was greater than that offered by Medicare, including one CAH administrator who had negotiated a contract reimbursing 105% of inpatient costs.
10% were unclear as to how the MA plan covering the largest number of their Medicare beneficiaries reimbursed the hospital for inpatient services.
Additionally, only 10 administrators indicated that their contract included a provision for an annual or year-end cost settlement.
While MA enrollees still account for a minimal amount of CAH total revenue, some forward-thinking administrators are already raising concerns about the levels of reimbursement, lack of cost settlements, timeliness of payment, and to a lesser extent, beneficiaries’ understanding of their benefits.
The study did offer some advice for CAHs interested in negotiating with MA plans:
CAHs located within the same region should enter into negotiations with MA plans as a group to secure the best reimbursement terms possible.
When negotiating contract terms, CAHs should explain the Medicare cost report and how it is used in the cost-settlement process to ensure that they receive 101% of their costs for treating Medicare beneficiaries.
CAHs should weigh the reduced reimbursement versus reduced access to care for MA beneficiaries when deciding whether to contract with MA plans or not.
I just wonder if any of these tips came from the administrator who negotiated a contract that reimburses 105% of inpatient costs.
Carrie Vaughan is editor of HealthLeaders Media Community and Rural Hospital Weekly. She can be reached at cvaughan@healthleadersmedia.com.
Nathan Kaufman, managing director and founder of Kaufman Strategic Advisors, offers advice and discusses the biggest mistakes that community hospitals make when it comes to negotiating managed care contracts.
Lousiana's charity hospitals need an additional $51 million in the 2009 budget to cover the cost of treating prisoners, paying doctors' salaries, and making equipment purchases that are not covered by federal indigent-care payments, according to Louisiana State University officials. The hospitals will have to dip into their maintenance budgets and delay some hires and service expansions if the money does not become available, said the officials.
