Marketing the Re-emerging Center of Excellence

Previously, I authored a couple of blogs on the Re-emergence of Centers of Excellence (CoE) due to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as well as starting a most interesting discussion on LinkedIn in the American College of Healthcare Executives Group. Those blogs and discussion really focused more on the operational and quality of care characteristics of a CoE than marketing. The point being that with the rise of healthcare consumerism driven by many factors outside the control of healthcare providers, that you could no longer look around and just say that you have a CoE in a particular service-line or disease -state.


So, if as a leader in your healthcare organization you have come to realize that the healthcare consumer deserves more than just the old ways of doing things, you have really looked at your self-described CoEs and beefed them up to true reflections of organizational and quality of care excellence, then just maybe you are ready to begin marketing a CoE. If not, it will come back to haunt you in the end, influenced by PPACA and demands of the healthcare consumer.

Marketing the CoE

This is really a reintroduction for most healthcare organizations. That being said, the opportunity immediately before you is to corrects some past mistakes. Mistakes I would like think were made with the best of intentions, but reflected a lack of understanding about the organizational brand, brand messages, and brand equity that was lost.

Probably the most important correction or for starting out with a new CoE is- scrap the new logo, color palette and messaging for the CoE. Too many organizations went down the path of we need a new logo, tagline, color palette, etc., from what is the already established brand of the organization. Shame on the marketing departments for not exercising the leadership to stop the madness.

I don't care that a CNO or director likes to "dabble in marketing". Except in some circumstances where the CNO or director has marketing training and education, CNOs, directors of Nursing etc., are clueless about brand, brand equity and marketing for that matter. How about I dabble in nursing?

In the Age of Healthcare Consumerism, your brand is everything.

The only logo that matters is your brand logo, color palette and messaging. Period. Change it at your own risk. Leverage what you have because it makes life a lot easier and more cost effective.

Do create a value proposition that shows the benefit to the healthcare consumer that your CoE brings to the market.

Do talk to the healthcare consumer not at them.

Do integrate the CoE campaign into the broader organizational marketing efforts.

Do use patient and physician testimonials if available.

If you have Joint Commission CoE certification or the Blue Cross Blue Shield CoE certifications or others, use them, but explain the value of what that means. Just don't throw it out there.

Talk about your outcomes and why they are important. Be transparent in your use of data.

Use all communication channels, print, direct mail, billboard, radio, email, social media, web site, call center, etc. Integrate those efforts.

Make your marketing efforts sustainable. Fund them accordingly to last a long period of time to be in front of the healthcare consumer for months at a time.

Be creative. Be interactive. Start and maintain a conversation with the healthcare consumer.

Evaluate constantly. Change on the fly. Show ROI.

Take a market position of superiority along either the product, price or service offering and dominate. Pick one, set meaningful benchmarks in the others.

Don't overpromise and under deliver.

You can continue the conversation with me on:
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/krivich0707
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/mkrivich

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 1,000 monthly pages views reviewed in over 20 countries around the world, and is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. I can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for hiring as your senior marketing executive or for interim assignments in all aspects of healthcare marketing whether it be strategic or tactical market planning, rebuilding and revitalizing your existing marketing operation, integration of sales and marketing teams, media relations or service line revitalizations. Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni, both highly respected and successful international sales training organizations , I can lead your organization though the challenge of integrating sales and marketing.

The Re-Emergence of Centers of Excellence- Part 2

An interesting discussion started on LinkedIn in the American College of Healthcare Executives Group regarding my original blog on the Re-Emergence of Centers of Excellence. The questions as asked by Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group, LLC., was how would I define a Center of Excellence? A fair question since I had not done that in the original post. My thanks also to L. Elizabeth Mullikin, FACHE, Executive Director, Neurosciences Institute at John Muir Health, Leon Harris, Administrative Resident, Providence Hospital and Roy Orr, FACHE, Consultant, Firethorne Interim Hospital Consulting for their contributions to the discussion.

I have seen healthcare organizations all over the board on the topic of Centers of Excellence. Here are the attributes that I consider to make up a Center of Excellence for any disease-state. The ones added by Elizabeth, Leon and Roy are an asterisk. These attributes are not necessarily in order of importance.

Board certified specialist and subspecialties in the disease-state
Current diagnostic and treatment technology
Standardized (where applicable) care plans
If surgical services are involved standardized surgical and medical device packs
Unique or innovative service not found in the service area*(Elizabeth)
Long-term sustainable business plan* (Roy)
Dedicated full-time CoE director or manager
Defined quality program
Center of Excellence P&L
SG&A costs below 23% of revenue
Center defined capital budget for acquisition of new technology, devices etc
Outcomes better than the national average
Active satisfaction measurement of physicians, payers and patients
Patient referrals from what would be considered outside of the normal hospital or health system service area
Fully developed patient disease-state educational materials (and that doesn't mean a pamphlet from an association or pharma)
Outcome case studies
Transparency dashboard which reports surgical and treatment outcomes, case mix index, mortality and morbidity data, financial indicators, satisfaction rates for physician, payer and patient, quality measures, market share, etc
Joint Commission CoE certification*(Leon)
Other third party external accreditation's if available for the disease-state
The disease-state is a core competency of the organization
Centers brand name and brand architecture is consistent with and fully integrated into the hospital or other providers brand plan.

Excellence means excellence. There is no half-way. If the organization is not committed to do it right, then it's just another program of the healthcare provider all dressed up with no place to go.

Michael is a fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at 815-293-1471 or michael@themichaeljgroup.com

The Re-Emergence of Centers of Excellence

Are you ready?
Ready for the re-emergence of Centers of Excellence under healthcare reform?
Centers of Excellence for the longest time were really nothing more than someone in a hospital or a group of doctors telling everyone that they were a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Cardiology, or Oncology, or Neuroscience, or Women's Health to name a few of the more "popular" CoEs. With little objective data- outcomes in areas such as financial, quality, satisfaction etc, many healthcare institution simply said they were a CoE for a particular service line. A little paint here, new wallpaper there, designate an unused hospital floor or wing the area, maybe even generate some fundraising and donation opportunities to name it after someone of community note and presto, a Center of Excellence.

Okay, that was probably a little overboard for some organizations took CoEs seriously and did have objective financial and quality measures which they communicated the benefits of to Board, payers, physicians and community. They built a brand that was sustainable. But as with most things over time, the concept was short lived and unsustainable as practiced across the healthcare industry.

I digress a little.....

Foolish me, thinking that this kind of practice has declined. Recently some of the smaller for-profit companies in the specialty pharmacy industry are doing the very same thing and making the very same mistake the hospital industry made in creating CoEs. Just because you say you have a CoE, doesn't mean it is one. When physicians and nurses are not involved in creating the care protocols (and that means more than one nurse and two doctors), just because you say something doesn't necessarily make it so. When its driven by Sales, the nightmare is beginning. Delivering a medication on time is expected and not a single CoE measure.

Now the game has changed
Due to healthcare reform, I am predicting that Centers of Excellence will be making a big come back. Healthcare organizations going forward over time will be paid based on quality, not quantity. That means quantifiable quality and best practice medicine. Indicators yet to be developed that are standardized so that all hospitals or clinics stating that they have a CoE for any service line, disease state or treatment will have to meet. Your reimbursement will depend in it.

Marketing needs to be at that internal product development table for the reemergence of CoEs. Pick what you do best.

What to do
First and foremost, learn from your past mistakes. And please, please do not use "world class" in your communications. Hint - if you are not treating individuals from around the world, you are not world class. Few healthcare organizations can make that claim. And the majority of you out there are not the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic or the University of Chicago to name a few.

Develop those outcome indicators based on current research and best practice for a service line or treatment and other quality, financial and patient satisfaction indicators. Identify your target market segments and messaging about what you are doing for physicians, payers, patients and community. Talk in real terms not fuzzy you love use because we are a CoE.

One last point, make your marketing plan strategic first, tactical second, and sustainable thirdly for over a long period of time. Use traditional and online channels. And most importantly of all, bring value; for the healthcare consumer of the near future will be buying based on price and quality. The sooner you start demonstrating quality and price, the better off you will be.

Mike Krivich is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. He can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471.