instantly health

Image by pearson0612 from Piaxabay   Hospitals and health systems made great strides in leading and engaging their communities through the teeth of the first wave of the pandemic, and establishing themselves as the credible source of information and resources, communities, who responded positively for the most part. Once the first wave passed, most healthcare organizations moved away from the pandemic messaging and quickly reverted to pre-pandemic marketing efforts.   It was too soon to completely drop the pandemic community leadership and patient messaging activities, as I have written before. Now with SARS-CoV-2 infection rates skyrocketing daily across the country, thousands of deaths per day, and hospitals at or near ICU capacity, and canceling elective surgeries, hospitals have a high stake in the success of the vaccination efforts now underway. As reported in The Hill, "About half of Americans willing to receive COVID-19 vaccine, AP poll finds" only 47 percent of the...

  From Newsy, “Surgeon General, Others Warn Hospitals Can’t Handle Surge,” “ Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted Monday that hospitals can't sustain high levels of care during a COVID-19 surge. In New York, ICU occupancies have quadrupled. And in Ohio, doctors say hospitals are struggling to keep up. Dr. Helen K. Koselka, chief medical officer at Trihealth, said: "We're tired of seeing the fear on faces and tired of seeing people who are passing away. We're trying to blast a siren. We need the community's support." Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay What are hospitals accomplishing with their marketing and public relations to provide leadership in partnership with State, County, and local health departments to actively engage and lead the community out of the pandemic surge? It’s a valid question underlying the concept of the hospital’s responsibility in the execution of hospital and health system mission statements focused on community health and wellness,...

Are you telling your patients what they want to hear, or are telling them what you want them to hear? It’s a valid question in the age of pandemic because there is a difference between the two thoughts—a large chasm in some cases. Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay As a potential answer to the headline question, there is one question you should ask yourself that is fact-based.  But the adage “never ask a question you don’t want an answer too” applies.  You may get an answer you never wanted in the first place. Is telling patients what you want them to hear driving changes in your hospital or health system market share? Since the 1990s, when the talks began about consumerism in health care in the Clinton administration, hospitals and health systems have been telling patients what they want them to hear, not what the patient wants to hear.   I see print and electronic advertisements. I see social media and banner ads. etc., etc., etc. When the primary research market sh...

  Image by Sebastian Thone from Pixabay Over the past several months, I have written in Healthcare Marketing Matters about the hospital response to the pandemic requiring the patient, community, and marketing engagement. Critical themes in these troubled times focused on leadership, accountability, engagement, and becoming credible sources of information via marketing and public relations. Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Some blog posts addressed that since your community was no longer a hot spot and hospital admissions declined, the hospital could not fully return to business as usual with the pre-pandemic marketing messaging. It was incumbent on the hospital to maintain the momentum and reinforce its leadership and credible source of information standing by leading the community to bolster efforts to slow down community spread. Especially important considering the coming flu season. Some hospitals continued their SARS-CoV-2 leadership of the community once the first wave pass...