instantly health

The last 20 or so months have seen an unprecedented wave of change in healthcare. The way patients search for information, access care, and its delivery due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Direction image by Kalhh from Pixabay The patient is more in charge with the adaption of telehealth, new entrants stepping into areas that were previously the domain of the hospital, and other care delivered in more convenient, affordable, and accessible locations. Add on top of all of this access to pricing information, and you can see why I call it Healthcare 3.0 Healthcare 3.0 Healthcare 3.0 is an entirely different market animal from anything hospital leadership has ever had to contend with.  The competitive animal has teeth with little regard for whether a hospital or health system survives. Highly competitive, innovative, and retail, the sole focus is on understanding and meeting patients' needs.  Most hospital marketing by focusing on features of the hospital- facilities, technology, s...

  Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay First, let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever used an alias and tried to access the hospital services like find a physician, schedule an appointment, or used the hospital or health system website to find information? Have you ever gone to your website and reviewed the informational content that a new patient searching for a physician would find to verify that the content is correct? How about calling central scheduling for a test or getting a call back from your call center after completing an online request to schedule an appointment with a physician service? Was the website easy to use? Was the information on the physician correct? When you completed the form, how long was it before you heard back? When you heard back, could you schedule the appointment easily, or were you told information opposite of what your website contained like you have to call the doctor because they schedule their appointments?   Was the call center repre...

  Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Since 2016, much has been written and experimented with regarding the three marketing buckets to patients: engagement, experience, and choice. Much of what we wrote was applicable for the times, but the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic changed everything. Everything from how care is delivered and accessed to patient paying a more significant role in accessing care through telemedicine and other innovations, hospitals are forced to become more patient-focused and responsive then they may have been in the recent past.    Society is now beginning to emerge from the pandemic, returning to some semblance of normalcy, so marketing should not be focused on freshened up pre-pandemic messaging. The hospital should concentrate on communicating the hospital brand promise for today's changing healthcare market. Understand that with the new healthcare reality, engagement, and experience of the patient, initial steps with searchable prices for consumerism and ...