instantly health

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. If you’re a hospital CEO or a Board of Directors member of a tax-exempt hospital, you’re not going to like this post. I know hospitals don’t care much about optics unless they get caught, but there are times where an action crosses the line of ethical behavior. No matter how well-intentioned the idea was of the senior leader in the hospital who thought of or approved the idea, it’s still wrong. There is a growing trend in hospitals in adding job candidates to their fundraising efforts by Development departments. I don’t know who the rocket scientist was in the hospital that came up with that idea, but it’s a breach of trust and confidentiality. Especially after receiving the standard HR “thank you for your interest email” and never hear another word from the hospital. Until, of course, they receive a communication from the hospital Development department asking the applicant to contribute to the latest Capital Campaign or give us some money becaus...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. The new year brings excitement all its own. A fresh start where the calendar resets with a look forward with anticipation of provider and vendor marketing success. Plans, execution timelines, content calendars, and KPIs are in place. Maybe there is a new hire or two completing the build-out on the marketing department for today’s fast-paced and challenging healthcare ecosystem. All well and good, but did you make any new year resolutions? Funny as it may sound, new year’s resolutions can propel organizations beyond the accomplishments of the anticipated goals described in the operational, financial, and marketing plans.  In considering the 2022 market that healthcare providers and vendors face with great uncertainty, I decided to compile a list of ten healthcare marketing resolutions for 2022. Plans change, innovative new entrants disrupt markets, governments change regulations, payers squeeze harder, and public health crises wax and wane. Cha...

Image by Kristin Riemer from Pixabay Where did 2021 go? It was a challenging year for providers with changes in reimbursement, a pandemic that continues unabated, innovations in care delivery away from the hospital, innovative new competitors, and significant declines in revenues. I am glad that it’s ending. I will not go into the litany of good and adverse events for 2021. The news organizations and others will all do their year-in-review pieces. It should be interesting to see what they choose to publish or broadcast. It was a good year from a blog writer’s perspective. I had what seemed to be a never-ending flow of topics. I di start a new feature in some of the posts called “Lessons from the Field,” which were well received. Topics ranged from characteristics of success for mid-sized healthcare vendors, leadership, and operations to new ways to look at markets.  Image by Alexas Fotos from Pixabay I am thankful and appreciative of you for taking the time to spend it with me fro...

Image by Andrezj Rembowski from Pixabay. The hospital quality award season is underway as various organizations and magazines, with their black-box analytics, tag community hospitals and health systems as the best or tops in specific care categories. I am not making light of the accomplishment as quality awards are essential for the patient information in the decision-making process. I have to admit that a newly proclaimed award category of the “Triple Crown of Healthcare” for a Fortune/IBM Watson Health Top 100 Hospital Ranking , CMS 5-Star Ranking , and Leapfrog for Safety is a hard-earned series of awards. My question for your consideration is, how is the hospital and health system positioning the quality award contextually? This is an important question and goes beyond the traditional look at our claims and how good we are.   The question is asked since there is little if any, context or content on the value and meaning of the award. Why, in that case, should the patient a...

Image by Rudy Anderson from Pixabay, A funny thing happens when you get older.  Brands, especially those in healthcare, suddenly decide that based solely on age, one is now in need of senior services, specialized care, and other age-based items. Ageism and inaccurate stereotypes occur not only in healthcare but in many consumer brands. Based on legend, past practice, misguided beliefs, and stereotypes, ageism is harmful. Ageism harms society, the individual, and employment opportunities.   It’s nonsense how Boomers, Gen-X, Gen-Z, Millennials, and other age groups are perceived by marketing harmful and inaccurate stereotypes. It is ageism and it is wrong. Image by Brandon Roberts from Pixabay Age-based stereotyping is wrong on many levels. Age assumption-based marketing does not reflect the new market realities of how someone of any age uses technology, their experiences or expectations as individuals, and how they relate to the world, beliefs, self-perceptions, attitudes, an...

  Gay pride image by naemi_a from Pixabay And meet their healthcare needs in the process. In an interesting article wittier by Eric Burger in PRWeek on September 22 nd , “ More than one-third of LGBTQ individuals say healthcare companies don’t understand them. The data comes from a study by CMI Media Group with Wells Fargo and Human Rights Campaign.” If you’re a healthcare marketer, I would suggest that you read the article and consider how you can become the champion in your provider setting to change the narrative internally and in your community. You can’t market what you don’t understand. That is the issue given the scant attention in most healthcare providers who ignore the LGBTQ+ community. Political and religious views aside, failure to understand and create those marketing communications messages, content, and appropriate LGBTQ+ friendly images is a deal-breaker. I don’t think it’s necessarily intentional. Still, as healthcare marketers focus on traditional markets, i...

UGC image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. User Generated Content (UGC) is the holy grail for healthcare vendors when all is said and done.  It doesn’t matter what vendor segment you’re in; the content and potential thought leadership from clients and prospects turned into customers are worth its weight in gold. Why? Having worked both sides of healthcare in providers and vendors, UGC has far more value and meaning. Providers expect vendors to produce the usual case studies, white papers, research briefs, blog posts, webinars, speaking opportunities,  press releases, media position statements, or any other brand tactical content forms used in a well-designed and executed thought leadership program. That does not mean you throw away case studies et al.,  but what it does mean is that if the vendor is unsuccessful at obtaining UGC, those other activities do not carry the same weight in supporting the vendor’s position. Platform image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay Providers ...

Over the last couple of weeks in the Lessons from the Field series, we looked at the ten deadly sins that midsized healthcare vendors make daily that stall growth. ( In case you missed parts one and two, here are the links "Lessons from the Field - 10 Deadly Sins Stopping Midsized Healthcare Vendor Growth Part 1" http://bit.ly/300vgUS and "Lessons from the Field - 10 Deadly Sins Stopping  Midsized Healthcare Vendor Growth- Part 2" http://bit.ly/2N3aP7a .) Image by Peter Linforth from Pixabay This week we're going to take a look at essential leadership characteristics needed to drive growth. There is no way around the fact that leadership and company growth are highly intertwined.   It makes not a bit of difference if you're a start-up, small or midsized healthcare vendor, or a large multinational company whose revenue counts in the billions of U.S. Dollars or Euros. Leadership determines whether you're growing or stalling growth. Leadership? I'm a...

  Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Part two of a two-part series. In part one of “Lessons from the Field - 10 Deadly Sins Stopping Midsized Healthcare Vendor Growth”   http://bit.ly/300vgUS , we examined the first five reasons why midsized healthcare vendors are not growing organically. To recap, the first five reasons were:  1.        The person or group who started the company or came in and grew it to a certain level is still there.  2.        The entire focus of the management team is making money.  3.        A comprehensive business vision and strategy is lacking.  4.        Internal communication is limited and focused on a transactional basis.  5.        There is no organizational culture, or the culture is broken .   In part two, we continue our journey with reasons six to ten. Reasons six to ...