instantly health

Health systems, and hospitals, for that matter, have an experience problem. The problem, while complicated, can be summed up as the inability to present an experience to the patient that is consistent across the entire health system. Connection image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Hence one patient to the health system, one health system to the patient. Here is an example from an actual patient. A patient is seen at one hospital of a multihospital system for several years - inpatient, outpatient, and rehab.  That person is medically complex with multiple comorbidities.  With numerous chronic conditions, no matter how well it’s managed, an acute episode will require a short-term hospitalization. An ambulance is called, and due to the disease, the patient needs to be transported to the closest system hospital, not the one where they regularly receive care. Hospital image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay This is where the fun begins for the family. Immediately new specialists unfamil...

  Image by Peter Linforth from Pixabay. Marketing changes a lot. Sometimes driven by leadership in providers and vendors. It could be an old idea they used in their early leadership days, “with it worked, then it could work now.” It could be from reading an article, attending a conference, a recommendation from the Board of Directors, or private equity ownership.   But in any case, leadership always chases the shiny new marketing nickel. Fads and trends come and go in marketing all the time. What is old is new and what’s new is old. But some things do remain the same. While tactics, messages, and channels change all the time, it can be a case of the tail wagging the dog. Don’ take me wrong. Marketers need to innovate, create engaging content, and drive an exceptional experience while finding the mediums that patients, providers, and vendors inhabit with an attention span of a newt . It can explain why so many providers and vendors focus on features, not benefits, which in ...

People Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Do you know who your patient hospital brand evangelists are, and are they posting User Generated Content (UGC)? I ask this question for a fundamental reason.  In an age where it’s challenging to define differentiation clearly and me too messaging amongst hospitals, in a pandemic that shows no signs of ending soon, how is a healthcare patient to make a choice? I realize that many healthcare leaders will dispute the above statement.  However, hospital marketing -traditional, digital and social, fall into one of four general buckets, ‘it’s all about you”, “look at at our technology,”  “our facilities and locations,” and “look at our awards.” In an age of pandemic uncertainty, the marketing and communication efforts focus on features, not patient benefits. Consider for a moment.  1.        Patients are now engaged in shopping behavior .  2.        Patients are pay...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.  Change can be good in the leadership of healthcare providers and vendors. Conversely, change, if not managed correctly organizationally, can be debilitating. And the professional sports world is full of examples of good and bad change, from leadership to players. The point is that major professional sports teams in leagues worldwide live in a continuous cycle of evaluation and change regardless of the sport. In the professional sports world, the common saying from GMs and coaches to owners, players, staff, and fans when explaining change is “if you’re not changing, you’re falling behind.” Thinking image by Pexels from Pixabay. When you think about that statement, there is a pearl of intuitive wisdom for healthcare providers and vendors, working in a sea of change coming from all directions. This was never truer as we continue to experience upheaval driven by seismic shifts in technology, diagnosis, treatment, care delivery, and innovative new e...

Clarity image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Suppose there are some intuitive insights that have occurred during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic for hospitals. In that case, it may very well be that to gain organizational efficiencies, increase cash flow, and provide a higher quality of patient care, experience, and engagement, that outsourcing will be required.    It is understood that one does not outsource every department in the hospital as some functions still need direct organizational control, such as nursing.  However, it has become increasingly apparent as healthcare 3.0 is further defined with digital healthcare, the decentralization of care to community-based sites, innovations in treatment, technology, and pharmaceuticals, the hospital or health system faces formidable challenges. Changes and reductions in reimbursement also have significant impacts are that can negatively impact cash flow and the ability to meet internal or external demands. While leadership understa...

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 ...

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 Gerd Altmann ffrom Pixabay I could have written a rant about how healthcare vendor sales executives are using LinkedIn to prospect. It doesn't matter if it's revenue cycle management, medical device, pharma, information technology, analytics, or any other vendor segment. But I didn't as that would have been too easy.  Unfortunately, there are some common characteristics in prospecting using LinkedIn, causing wasted time, effort, and rejection. But in thinking it over, I decided to provide some helpful tips for using LinkedIn for becoming more sales productive .   And maybe in the process, stop getting useless, poorly targeted, as well as disjointed sales emails and calls. Oh, and this goes for their employing companies too. Now that being said, I get that currency for being on LinkedIn is relationships, connections, networking, and the ability to prospect. I am good with that.   What I am not okay with is the seemingly increased amount of inappropriate ...

  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...