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The eye rolls commence from across the industry at the sight of the headline with everyone thinking ; I have a marketing plan. We are on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media channels. We even have the annual wellness calendar telling us when it’s time to be doing things.   And on and on. I don’t know about you, but I consider myself a healthcare consumer. So, what has this got to do with anything in the headline? A lot. To the consumer, it’s all random noise that is not connected. And it is random in part because there is no sustainable or continuous market presence. For example, the other day, I received a direct mail newsletter from a hospital. Well, saying “I received” is probably misleading. Whomever the person that lives here named Resident is the one who received the mail. It was the first time I had heard from that provider in years. Random. Out of the blue comes a direct mail piece. Which, by the way, though nicely produced, did not engage me in any meaning...

I always used to say that nothing is new in healthcare. It’s been done somewhere, someplace already in the world, or is just a recycled strategy prettied up to look like the present. In many ways, hospitals and health systems are like the teams of the NFL, the ultimate copy-cat league. When one or two teams have success with the strategy, tactics, and game planning, the rest of the league follows to varying degrees, same with hospitals, health systems, and other medical providers. The above statement is not, by any means, a slam. It just is what it is. This observation on my part comes from over 30 years of working in the healthcare industry. When you still see hospital marketing in 2020 as I did in the 1990s, it’s a “come on man” moment for me. Things are "a-changing". This time, however, the change feels real. The changing healthcare landscape feels different. And the change is not being driven by hospitals, health systems, or other medical providers, but by the government,...

I had the great fortune to interviewed by Chris Boyer and Reed Smith, MBA at Touch Point Media , for their healthcare podcast  TP157 – The Pursuit of Price Transparency in Healthcare . The topic was price transparency. In the 60-minute podcast, Chris and Reed explore the current regulatory efforts at forcing price transparency change providing excellent context and content.  Then comes the interview on how from a strategic marketing viewpoint, how hospitals and health systems need to get ready now, based on my LinkedIn post:    Hospital Price Transparency Equals Accountability and Healthcare Price Wars. Getting ready Starts Now – Update . As price transparency gains momentum in the provider space, namely hospitals and health systems, the time to get ready is now.  A complicated issue, the fact remains hospital and health system price transparency are not an issue of if, but when. Just click on the title to access the podcast. The podcast TP157 – The Pursuit of...

In August, I wrote about the coming hospital price wars as pricing transparency becomes a reality in,   “ Here it Comes. The Healthcare Price Wars. Getting Ready Starts Now.” http://bit.ly/2YVZupj . We ll, we all knew that the lawsuits would be filed once the final regulations were put in place. Sure enough, in this past week, the suits were filed with a variety of reasons as to why accountability and transparency is a bad thing for hospitals and health systems. The image of Foghorn Leghorn is what hospital and hospital association public statements are looking like to the healthcare consumer. (Image courtesy of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies.) The best reason I read was a hospital CEO stating that it would lead to higher prices.   Why may you ask? Because when hospitals learn that others in their market are charging more than they are for some of the 200 common procedures, we will raise prices. Really? Stop and think about that one for a minute. Mr. or Ms. Hospital CEO, do...

Healthcare price wars? Price Wars? The look on Marvin the Martian’s face (image courtesy of Looney Tunes) says it all. And much to the chagrin of healthcare provider leadership, who have managed to convince themselves that healthcare pricing is a black box so complex that the healthcare consumer won’t understand, is now an emperor with no clothes. That gross misconception sold to the unsuspecting patient and healthcare consumer after all these years is coming to an end. You can scream and yell, all you want to my friends. File all the lawsuits you want to too. But sooner rather than later, price transparency and price accountability are coming to healthcare. Oh, and saying that it’s a great trade secret in negotiations with payers to obtain maximum favorable reimbursement is just nonsense. Um, when the patient receives the EOB from their payer, I guess the “cat is out of the bag.” Your price is publicly known as well as the discounts, write-off, and other tangential pricing items. And ...

Let me repeat the headline a little differently. Is the hospital marketing experience channel for the consumer and patient, given its importance as a first-touch experience and engagement opportunity, been forgotten? Given all that has been and continues to be written about experience and engagement, then why is there not more careful consideration, time, thought and energy not given to the hospital marketing experience? Case in point. I just had my annual physical with my PCP. Now given my age and history of being an ex-smoker ( I quit 22 years ago and have never looked back), even though there was no indication of vascular disease, she thought I was fruitful for me to have a vascular scan. Since there was no indication, my PPO would not pay. My good doctor referred me to a screening service that regularly provides discount vascular scans at a discounted cash price to drive business. The service understands that in retail health, the most effective source of referrals will be the PCP....

It’s that time of the year where a; the Top 10 lists come out.   So, being a crowd follower (not), here are the Top 10 posts for 2018 from Healthcare Marketing Matters top to bottom. Thank you for reading and best wishes for success and prosperity in 2019. 1. Increase the Power of Hospital Brand Marketing Using Your Triple Aim – Earned Media, Public Relations & Social Media http://bit.ly/2umpiyy 2. Hospital Marketing Appears Random and Unconnected, Says the Insured Healthcare Consumer http://bit.ly/2nj17MY 3. “Hey Alex, I Don’t Feel Well. Find A Physician Near Me.” Hospital Marketer, Is Your Website Optimized for Voice Search? http://bit.ly/2MHMg9G 4. Social Media Use for Hospitals, the Easy Guide to Message and Channel Integration http://bit.ly/2IyTrzi 5. Hospital Marketing Has a New Mission http://bit.ly/2LbJTew 6. Hospital Marketing If Done Right, Will Look Like a Distributive Network http://bit.ly/2Nn7YR9 7. What is Your Hospital Marketing Strategy Around Micro-Influencers?...