Physicians are the lifeblood of many a healthcare organization. As competition increases for their attention whether it be a hospital, specialty pharmacy, medical device manufacturer, or pharmaceutical company to name a few, cutting through the din of messages and relationships can be a daunting task.
For hospitals failure to build successful relationships and sales strategies mean that your docs could admit patients elsewhere. Note to hospitals: If you are not selling to docs, then you're missing a great opportunity to build volume by creating a more committed medical staff than if you just doing "relations or liaison" activities. You can sell legally and effectively if you know what you are doing.
For medical device manufacturers, failure to sell the doc mean a more difficult time selling your product into the venue where the physician practices medicine.
For specialty pharmacies, the physician sends his or her patients elsewhere.
So how do you cut through all of the chatter and have marketing and sales work together effectively?
No magic answers here.
No pixie dust either.
But here are 10 rules of thumb for moving forward:
1) Your sales people must be using a common sales strategy across the enterprise. I have seen too many organizations where everybody's left to their own methods resulting in incorrect messaging and using poorly designed home-grown materials which could have some significant legal repercussions for the organization. Your sales force activities are about relationship selling and acting as the liaison for the physician to your organization. If you don't have a method and training, chances are you will not be as effective as your competition.
2) Use a sales database system to collect information and the marketing department needs to have full access. If your just starting to look at one, marketing needs to be at that table. Don't assume that sales or IT knows what marketing needs. They don't. Systems breed accountability on all sides of the ledger.
3) Create an interdisciplinary marketing and sales advisory committee. Where most organizations fall down is the poor communication and working relationships between sales and marketing. You have to get past the "the feet on the street" don't deliver the brand messages and promise in the right way, and all that marketing is good for is creating stuff, because I need more stuff to leave behind attitudes.
4) Train your marketing department in the sale approach that your sales people are using. This way marketing begins to understand the opportunities and challenges faced, and how your sales staff is trained to overcome them. This means that all marketing materials should be created to be applicable and useful at some point in the sales cycle. It's all about shortening the sales cycle. Effective materials will assist in that goal.
5) Let your marketing people go out on sales calls and major presentations. They can be a new set of eyes and ears as well as providing them with new perspectives on how difficult the job is. Insights from other areas will make you a stronger organization.
6) Cut down on the number of slide you use for presentations. An 80 page slide deck is all about you and nothing about your potential customer. If you have to use more than 10 slides, you don't know what you are talking about and don't understand your audience. Talking head are boring.
7) Marketing departments need to see what sales people have created for use in their markets. Sales people are creative and resourceful. You may find some useful material to use and distribute across the entire organizations.
8) Have marketing attend you sales meetings and weekly funnel calls. It's about relationships and dialogue. Marketing should have a roll in explaining the organizational strategy, and what they are doing to generate meaningful leads for sales to follow-up on.
9) Joint marketing and sales goals and objectives should be established. Share in the pain and share in the gain.
10) Constantly evaluate and begin again.
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments. 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.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Marketing Healthcare PACS & RIS IT Solutions
This post is a little different for me. Usually, I am looking at the hospital side of the marketing equation and not so much the sales vendor side. Having worked on both the hospital and IT vendor side Radiology Information System, (RIS), Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR), it is most interesting to compare. The great challenge is selling into two spaces simultaneously, the physician and the C-Suite. Messages may be the similar and different at the same time. Once size does not fit all. Additionally, this is not an all inclusive look at marketing PACS and RIS.
I am not addressing the sales side of the equation. That's a discussion for another topic at a later date. I am not anti-sales by any means being Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni. The integration of marketing and sales is for another day.
Just an observation but everyone is starting to look the same. It's easy to lose that differentiation that every company craves when selling similar products and services .
Key Messages
Reducing cost, improving quality, reducing medical errors, innovative, next generation, improving productivity and efficiency, easy to use, interoperability with all systems, IHE, user groups that deliver real information, increasing satisfaction for the physician, C-suite and patients are key messages everyone is using. What is wrong with this picture? The pun is intended!
So let's take a short look at some common marketing techniques and what could be done to break the log jam? Less is more....
Case Studies
Case studies are important and I would think everyone agrees on that point. Our audiences suffer from information overload. Where the observation is that those documents are way too long. Sometimes it seem like we get paid by the word, or we are so enthralled by our own system prowess that we must write in excruciating detail. If I have learned anything about case studies and white papers for physicians and the C-Suite it's two pages tops. And even that needs white space. Organize as follows; Background , Solution, Outcomes. And yes they can be written in two pages or less. Just because they are shorter doesn't mean you're treating your audience like an idiot. They most likely will appreciate the brevity.
Also, if you keep them shorter you can use them as the basis for email campaigns. But that too requires creativity. Use a video spokesperson to introduce the white paper or case study to drive the audience to your web site. Its electronic and can be done for $15,000 or less, including email list procurement.
White Papers
White papers it is believed, add a measure of thought leadership to your space. They do, provided you are putting them out on a regular basis and (this is the important part) are more than you writing about what you know about. White Papers need to be used as mechanism for thought-leadership, not simply writing what you know about. To be a thought leader in your field you need to write like a "thought- leader". That means taking on topics you may not feel so comfortable about. It may mean becoming a visionary and projecting out where an industry may be going. To be seen as a thought-leader you must generate though-leading content and that is content beyond what you know.
For example, those vendors who operate in the international space, think of the lessons you have learned in single payer government sponsored healthcare systems, or in Europe where there is a mix of payers where everyone has health coverage. How do those lessons translate into the transformation of the American healthcare system? That is thought leadership.
Association Meetings
Here is not so much exhibiting which some do allow, but being a co-presenter with a hospital or doc on how working together the hospital lowered cost, improved quality, increased efficiency etc. You are not the focal point but the doctor or hospital is the focal point, You play the supporting character with your product. Yes, you do have a role as a presenter but this is the soft sell and credibility established as a the content expert as well as showing you understand the pain and can make it go away. Consider being a major sponsor as well to access key decision makers one-on-one.
Webinars
Yep another me too category. However it seems that most people are still in the 9-5 mentality. Most physicians and professionals I know are usually working in their office or the hospital. So why not have these webinars in the evening or early morning before they start reviewing x-rays, digital or film? If they are not reading x-rays then they are not making money. Don't infringe on that valuable time. Be more responsive. For the C-suite, lunch time is usually good for them scheduled later in the week rather than early in the week or the middle.
Internet usage
Interactive, interactive, interactive. Way too much copy heavy web pages. Readers neither have the patience nor the desire to have to read the fine print to see what they want. Make sure your site is user friendly; no more than 3 clicks to find information. Use video messaging. Don't forget about facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, blogs, YouTube etc. Your audience is out there. Messages delivered across multiple channels are more effective then a one size fits all approach.
Customer Evangelists
Got to have them. If your hospitals, doctors and others won't stand up for you, then you have a problem. You're just another vendor who can be replaced. Testimonials, patient success stories, outcomes, data transparency, anything that can show others are passionate about your product. Third party conferred credibility is a powerful medium and message. Don't lose sight of it. Find them and leverage. Shame on you if you don't.
Media Relations
More than just press releases, this is the down and dirty of getting coverage. Major stories in targeted publications will do more for you than any advertisement, banner ad, webinar etc. people do believe what they read. You need a steady stream of news and information. Be proactive, build press relationships. Use the Business Wire. Target your messages for the specific press you are trying to attract. Build your news around current events in healthcare. Don't be afraid to issue a statement on your position on a topic of importance. Be seem as a content expert so that when news develops around the industry you're in, you become the go-to organization for the quote. it confers strong expert credibility for you and your companies solution products. Copies of articles can be used a leave behinds and in campaigns. Can't buy that kind of coverage and credibility. Build more than a press page- build a bio of the senior team and a speakers bureau for conference, seminars etc. If you are not out in the market presenting, then you are not being seen. Presence builds preference.
I have gone on long enough and probably too long for that matter. But from what I have seen in the segment of the healthcare industry, everybody is starting to look the same. And that could lead to a commoditization of the PACS & RIS environment where people buy only on price and nothing else.
So seller beware.....
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments.
I am not addressing the sales side of the equation. That's a discussion for another topic at a later date. I am not anti-sales by any means being Huthwaite SPIN selling trained and a Miller Heiman Strategic Selling alumni. The integration of marketing and sales is for another day.
Just an observation but everyone is starting to look the same. It's easy to lose that differentiation that every company craves when selling similar products and services .
Key Messages
Reducing cost, improving quality, reducing medical errors, innovative, next generation, improving productivity and efficiency, easy to use, interoperability with all systems, IHE, user groups that deliver real information, increasing satisfaction for the physician, C-suite and patients are key messages everyone is using. What is wrong with this picture? The pun is intended!
So let's take a short look at some common marketing techniques and what could be done to break the log jam? Less is more....
Case Studies
Case studies are important and I would think everyone agrees on that point. Our audiences suffer from information overload. Where the observation is that those documents are way too long. Sometimes it seem like we get paid by the word, or we are so enthralled by our own system prowess that we must write in excruciating detail. If I have learned anything about case studies and white papers for physicians and the C-Suite it's two pages tops. And even that needs white space. Organize as follows; Background , Solution, Outcomes. And yes they can be written in two pages or less. Just because they are shorter doesn't mean you're treating your audience like an idiot. They most likely will appreciate the brevity.
Also, if you keep them shorter you can use them as the basis for email campaigns. But that too requires creativity. Use a video spokesperson to introduce the white paper or case study to drive the audience to your web site. Its electronic and can be done for $15,000 or less, including email list procurement.
White Papers
White papers it is believed, add a measure of thought leadership to your space. They do, provided you are putting them out on a regular basis and (this is the important part) are more than you writing about what you know about. White Papers need to be used as mechanism for thought-leadership, not simply writing what you know about. To be a thought leader in your field you need to write like a "thought- leader". That means taking on topics you may not feel so comfortable about. It may mean becoming a visionary and projecting out where an industry may be going. To be seen as a thought-leader you must generate though-leading content and that is content beyond what you know.
For example, those vendors who operate in the international space, think of the lessons you have learned in single payer government sponsored healthcare systems, or in Europe where there is a mix of payers where everyone has health coverage. How do those lessons translate into the transformation of the American healthcare system? That is thought leadership.
Association Meetings
Here is not so much exhibiting which some do allow, but being a co-presenter with a hospital or doc on how working together the hospital lowered cost, improved quality, increased efficiency etc. You are not the focal point but the doctor or hospital is the focal point, You play the supporting character with your product. Yes, you do have a role as a presenter but this is the soft sell and credibility established as a the content expert as well as showing you understand the pain and can make it go away. Consider being a major sponsor as well to access key decision makers one-on-one.
Webinars
Yep another me too category. However it seems that most people are still in the 9-5 mentality. Most physicians and professionals I know are usually working in their office or the hospital. So why not have these webinars in the evening or early morning before they start reviewing x-rays, digital or film? If they are not reading x-rays then they are not making money. Don't infringe on that valuable time. Be more responsive. For the C-suite, lunch time is usually good for them scheduled later in the week rather than early in the week or the middle.
Internet usage
Interactive, interactive, interactive. Way too much copy heavy web pages. Readers neither have the patience nor the desire to have to read the fine print to see what they want. Make sure your site is user friendly; no more than 3 clicks to find information. Use video messaging. Don't forget about facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, blogs, YouTube etc. Your audience is out there. Messages delivered across multiple channels are more effective then a one size fits all approach.
Customer Evangelists
Got to have them. If your hospitals, doctors and others won't stand up for you, then you have a problem. You're just another vendor who can be replaced. Testimonials, patient success stories, outcomes, data transparency, anything that can show others are passionate about your product. Third party conferred credibility is a powerful medium and message. Don't lose sight of it. Find them and leverage. Shame on you if you don't.
Media Relations
More than just press releases, this is the down and dirty of getting coverage. Major stories in targeted publications will do more for you than any advertisement, banner ad, webinar etc. people do believe what they read. You need a steady stream of news and information. Be proactive, build press relationships. Use the Business Wire. Target your messages for the specific press you are trying to attract. Build your news around current events in healthcare. Don't be afraid to issue a statement on your position on a topic of importance. Be seem as a content expert so that when news develops around the industry you're in, you become the go-to organization for the quote. it confers strong expert credibility for you and your companies solution products. Copies of articles can be used a leave behinds and in campaigns. Can't buy that kind of coverage and credibility. Build more than a press page- build a bio of the senior team and a speakers bureau for conference, seminars etc. If you are not out in the market presenting, then you are not being seen. Presence builds preference.
I have gone on long enough and probably too long for that matter. But from what I have seen in the segment of the healthcare industry, everybody is starting to look the same. And that could lead to a commoditization of the PACS & RIS environment where people buy only on price and nothing else.
So seller beware.....
Michael Krivich is Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association and can be reached at michael@themichaeljgroup.com or 815-293-1471 for consulting services in strategic marketing, media relations and interim marketing executive leadership assignments.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Using Marketing to Brand and Leverage Your Human Resource Recruiting Efforts
Is there a reason why most healthcare organizations do not use internal marketing expertise to improve their Human Resource (HR) recruitment efforts?
I can hear it now and have seen it myself:
No budget.
It's expensive.
Doesn't matter.
Employees leave, then we have to change everything.
How can a brand help us to attract qualified individuals?
Don't have the time for all the creative.
Non-traditional ways won't work.
And so forth and so on.....
Most help wanted ads, traditional and online in healthcare continue to look like they have over the past 25 years. Come join us! We are a (fill in the blank) organization. We care.. You're family here.. And the beat goes on. A missed branding opportunity if there ever was one. A few forward thinking organizations have embraced the concept of branding their HR efforts within the larger organizational brand. Unfortunately, those are far and few between.
A missed opportunity.
And it's not just adding the logo and tag-line to the advertisement.
Employee within the context of the organizational brand can be a powerful force in recruitment. What speaks better for you, an employee with your branded organizational values and brand promise, or an effort that looks really no different than all the other? With a nurse and primary care physician shortage, you need any edge you can get. You need an organizational HR marketing plan that supports and complements the organizational staffing plan.
Why not leverage the your brand in the context of employment?
Your healthcare organization over time has spent millions in creating a brand architecture, designing and implementing marketing plans, web sites, engaging in community outreach, marketing product lines etc. Human Resources is a product line and needs the full force of marketing, the organizational brand structure and messaging that goes along with it. You can attract those individuals that will enhance the organization and its brand while demonstrating to all your key audiences another quality value of your brand.
Employee have a much larger effect, positive and negative on your brand than you may wish to admit. So leverage that influence to the positive side of the ledger.
Healthcare will never be the same because of reform. It's time to step out from the practices of the past and embrace the innovation and change that is needed today. Your future and your ability to attract highly qualified staff depends on it.
Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, and I can be reached at 815-293-1471 or michael@themichaeljgroup.com
I can hear it now and have seen it myself:
No budget.
It's expensive.
Doesn't matter.
Employees leave, then we have to change everything.
How can a brand help us to attract qualified individuals?
Don't have the time for all the creative.
Non-traditional ways won't work.
And so forth and so on.....
Most help wanted ads, traditional and online in healthcare continue to look like they have over the past 25 years. Come join us! We are a (fill in the blank) organization. We care.. You're family here.. And the beat goes on. A missed branding opportunity if there ever was one. A few forward thinking organizations have embraced the concept of branding their HR efforts within the larger organizational brand. Unfortunately, those are far and few between.
A missed opportunity.
And it's not just adding the logo and tag-line to the advertisement.
Employee within the context of the organizational brand can be a powerful force in recruitment. What speaks better for you, an employee with your branded organizational values and brand promise, or an effort that looks really no different than all the other? With a nurse and primary care physician shortage, you need any edge you can get. You need an organizational HR marketing plan that supports and complements the organizational staffing plan.
Why not leverage the your brand in the context of employment?
Your healthcare organization over time has spent millions in creating a brand architecture, designing and implementing marketing plans, web sites, engaging in community outreach, marketing product lines etc. Human Resources is a product line and needs the full force of marketing, the organizational brand structure and messaging that goes along with it. You can attract those individuals that will enhance the organization and its brand while demonstrating to all your key audiences another quality value of your brand.
Employee have a much larger effect, positive and negative on your brand than you may wish to admit. So leverage that influence to the positive side of the ledger.
Healthcare will never be the same because of reform. It's time to step out from the practices of the past and embrace the innovation and change that is needed today. Your future and your ability to attract highly qualified staff depends on it.
Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association, and I can be reached at 815-293-1471 or michael@themichaeljgroup.com
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
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
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
Monday, July 19, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Driving patient volumes and revenue via RN-based physician referral call center
Okay it is quiz time.
What is the fastest way to build brand awareness, drive patient volumes and revenues, reconnect with patients that haven't used your hospital in several years, build your physician practices and can be analyzed in financial terms to prove Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)?
Hint- the answer is in the title.
That's right, physician referral brand building marketing activities via an RN-based call center.
Here's the premise and it's something that I have used successfully over the years to drive volume and revenue for all products lines. At the end-of-the-day, nothing happens in any way, shape or form in your healthcare organization without a physicians order. In the case of an ER utilization, the docs there already will be your surrogate for admissions, tests and follow-ups and for referral to physicians in the event an ER patient does not have one.
It is a classic push pull strategy.
Push the patients to your physicians, pull the physicians to your organization.
Inherent in the concept and activity is the process improvement you are undertaking internally to make your healthcare organization the easiest place in the known world for physicians to practice medicine.
For you see, with all the brand building marketing activity that goes on for a hospital or multi-hospital system, changes in market share are due more to physician admitting behavior than anything else. In longitudinal market research studies that I have participated in over too many years to tell, when you look at changes in the marketplace over time, competing hospitals market share only changes usually by one or two percentage points annually.
Sometimes the gain or loss is only for six months. It's the same one or two points among all competing facilities. Meaning that physicians are moving patients between competing hospitals. Patients don't move themselves, the physicians are. When all things are equal, the physician will tend to move to the hospital that makes it easier (i.e., efficient and effective) to practice medicine.
Also with your physician referral marketing, you need to run all community activities, wellness programs and events registration, speaker bureau opportunities and product-lines through your physician referral as well. It's all about capturing a patient name and getting them to your docs.
What follows now is an actual Return on Marketing Investment analysis that the CFO and members of the Finance department were involved in looking at an RN-based call center- physician referral, speakers bureau and event registration.
The method can be adapted to any campaign and provides you with the data fields and logical analysis you need. This has been heavily edited to hide the organization. The full report was quite large and contained an entire programmatic evaluation of the Physician Referral Call Center with recommendations for improvement to increase scope and capabilities. This portion is most applicable for today’s conversation.
PRCC ROI
An analysis was undertaken to look at the ROI of the Physician Referral Call Center. The analysis matched a database of call center name records for the period to financial records which had already been downloaded. The analysis produced the following results:
9,102 call records were matched with utilization and financial data.
9,102 calls resulted in a total of 9,121 encounters in the ER, Inpatient and Outpatient categories of service.
751 encounters were ER
177 returning encounters
573 first time encounters
1,105 encounters were Inpatient
530 returning encounters
699 first time encounters
7,267 were Outpatient
2,014 returning encounters
5,253 first time encounters
Total charges for all encounters equaled $22,522,649
Charges for new encounters all services totaled $16,085,198 or 71 percent of the total charges
Average charge per ER encounter $1,304
Average charge per Inpatient encounter $13,581
Average charge per Outpatient encounter $903
Gallup measures loyalty at 68 percent (would return for service) which means that for every 100 patients 32 would not return for care- therefore:
ED- 57 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Inpatient – 170 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Outpatient- 645 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Incremental charges counted returning encounters not loyal
ER - $74,337
Inpatient- $2,308,851
Outpatient- $582,505
Subtotal charges counted: $2,965,693
Overall market share in primary and secondary service area is 14.53 percent. The number of first time encounters have utilized us above market presence is therefore:
ER 573 first time encounters, 83 not countered, 490 counted –
Inpatient – 699 first time encounters, 101 not counted, 598 counted
Outpatient – 5,253 first time encounters, 763 encounters not counted, 4,490 counted
Based on an overall market share of 14.5 percent the incremental charges counted for new encounters not because of market presence:
ER - $638,960
Inpatient – $8,121,438
Outpatient – $4,054,470
Total Charges counted: $12,814,868
Discount from gross charges for Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care, Bad Debt and Charity Care @ 65% is $8,326,644
Net Revenue: $4,488,224
PRCC program costs: $233,410
Net contribution: $4,254,814
ROI 18.22:1
This is the one way that you can have an immediate and lasting impact in driving patient volumes and revenues. This is all about creating internal value and accountability. Here is value. Here is accountability.
Physician referral activities pay off in a big way.
I can be reached at 815-293-1471.
What is the fastest way to build brand awareness, drive patient volumes and revenues, reconnect with patients that haven't used your hospital in several years, build your physician practices and can be analyzed in financial terms to prove Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI)?
Hint- the answer is in the title.
That's right, physician referral brand building marketing activities via an RN-based call center.
Here's the premise and it's something that I have used successfully over the years to drive volume and revenue for all products lines. At the end-of-the-day, nothing happens in any way, shape or form in your healthcare organization without a physicians order. In the case of an ER utilization, the docs there already will be your surrogate for admissions, tests and follow-ups and for referral to physicians in the event an ER patient does not have one.
It is a classic push pull strategy.
Push the patients to your physicians, pull the physicians to your organization.
Inherent in the concept and activity is the process improvement you are undertaking internally to make your healthcare organization the easiest place in the known world for physicians to practice medicine.
For you see, with all the brand building marketing activity that goes on for a hospital or multi-hospital system, changes in market share are due more to physician admitting behavior than anything else. In longitudinal market research studies that I have participated in over too many years to tell, when you look at changes in the marketplace over time, competing hospitals market share only changes usually by one or two percentage points annually.
Sometimes the gain or loss is only for six months. It's the same one or two points among all competing facilities. Meaning that physicians are moving patients between competing hospitals. Patients don't move themselves, the physicians are. When all things are equal, the physician will tend to move to the hospital that makes it easier (i.e., efficient and effective) to practice medicine.
Also with your physician referral marketing, you need to run all community activities, wellness programs and events registration, speaker bureau opportunities and product-lines through your physician referral as well. It's all about capturing a patient name and getting them to your docs.
What follows now is an actual Return on Marketing Investment analysis that the CFO and members of the Finance department were involved in looking at an RN-based call center- physician referral, speakers bureau and event registration.
The method can be adapted to any campaign and provides you with the data fields and logical analysis you need. This has been heavily edited to hide the organization. The full report was quite large and contained an entire programmatic evaluation of the Physician Referral Call Center with recommendations for improvement to increase scope and capabilities. This portion is most applicable for today’s conversation.
PRCC ROI
An analysis was undertaken to look at the ROI of the Physician Referral Call Center. The analysis matched a database of call center name records for the period to financial records which had already been downloaded. The analysis produced the following results:
9,102 call records were matched with utilization and financial data.
9,102 calls resulted in a total of 9,121 encounters in the ER, Inpatient and Outpatient categories of service.
751 encounters were ER
177 returning encounters
573 first time encounters
1,105 encounters were Inpatient
530 returning encounters
699 first time encounters
7,267 were Outpatient
2,014 returning encounters
5,253 first time encounters
Total charges for all encounters equaled $22,522,649
Charges for new encounters all services totaled $16,085,198 or 71 percent of the total charges
Average charge per ER encounter $1,304
Average charge per Inpatient encounter $13,581
Average charge per Outpatient encounter $903
Gallup measures loyalty at 68 percent (would return for service) which means that for every 100 patients 32 would not return for care- therefore:
ED- 57 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Inpatient – 170 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Outpatient- 645 returning encounters captured that would not have returned
Incremental charges counted returning encounters not loyal
ER - $74,337
Inpatient- $2,308,851
Outpatient- $582,505
Subtotal charges counted: $2,965,693
Overall market share in primary and secondary service area is 14.53 percent. The number of first time encounters have utilized us above market presence is therefore:
ER 573 first time encounters, 83 not countered, 490 counted –
Inpatient – 699 first time encounters, 101 not counted, 598 counted
Outpatient – 5,253 first time encounters, 763 encounters not counted, 4,490 counted
Based on an overall market share of 14.5 percent the incremental charges counted for new encounters not because of market presence:
ER - $638,960
Inpatient – $8,121,438
Outpatient – $4,054,470
Total Charges counted: $12,814,868
Discount from gross charges for Medicare, Medicaid, Managed Care, Bad Debt and Charity Care @ 65% is $8,326,644
Net Revenue: $4,488,224
PRCC program costs: $233,410
Net contribution: $4,254,814
ROI 18.22:1
This is the one way that you can have an immediate and lasting impact in driving patient volumes and revenues. This is all about creating internal value and accountability. Here is value. Here is accountability.
Physician referral activities pay off in a big way.
I can be reached at 815-293-1471.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Don't forget about direct mail
Don't forget about direct mail
The other day I was going thru the mail and received a direct mail piece from a hospital system. Then the "news flash - film at 11" type of realization hit. It had been some time since I received any direct mail materials from any of the local healthcare providers. Truth be told, it has probably been a couple of years or more now that I remember receiving any healthcare related direct mail. And that is a mistake in my opinion.
If you have been in healthcare long enough, you can remember a time when besides newspaper ads, Sunday newspaper stuffer, billboard and radio campaigns, TV ads etc., that the majority of healthcare marketing was direct mail- health and wellness magazines, magnets, newsletters, postcards etc. Replaced today no doubt by facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, web sites, banner ads, emails and all other types of social media. Like lemmings rushing over the cliff, healthcare organizations fast abandon messaging distribution channels in favor of the new and more expedient methods of communicating. But is anybody listening, or should I say reading?
Not everyone clicks through on banner ads. Everyone is not on facebook. Not everyone has an Iphone. And guess what, people still read their mail and newspapers.
Are you missing an opportunity via a little used, or should I really say, "out-of-fashion" communication and distribution channel to get your brand messages in the marketplace?
An interesting question.
My opinion is yes, direct mail is still important and can strengthen your brand messaging in the market.
Your brand message needs to be communicated in multiple ways, using multiple communication channels. That would include traditional and online. The healthcare industry tendency is to abandon one communication and distribution channel in favor of another. Many reasons can be sited for not using direct mail, long production times, printing and mailing costs, list acquisition etc.
But if you are the only provider out there in that communication channel, then what is the value to you of having your brand message in an uncluttered healthcare messaging space?
If you think that direct mail is old and passé, then why do Verizon, Kohl's and other retailers continue to spend organizational resources in that medium? It might not hurt for you to take a look at your own mail to see who still uses the technique. Learn from other industries. You may find that your marketing communications plan to carry your brand messaging is not as integrated and comprehensive as it needs to be.
So as we rush to embrace all the new technologies and methods of communicating that our competitors are using, don't abandon the traditional side of marketing brand messaging channels. To do so is a missed opportunity to build your brand and shame on you for missing an important brand building opportunity.
You can reach me at 815-293-1471.
The other day I was going thru the mail and received a direct mail piece from a hospital system. Then the "news flash - film at 11" type of realization hit. It had been some time since I received any direct mail materials from any of the local healthcare providers. Truth be told, it has probably been a couple of years or more now that I remember receiving any healthcare related direct mail. And that is a mistake in my opinion.
If you have been in healthcare long enough, you can remember a time when besides newspaper ads, Sunday newspaper stuffer, billboard and radio campaigns, TV ads etc., that the majority of healthcare marketing was direct mail- health and wellness magazines, magnets, newsletters, postcards etc. Replaced today no doubt by facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, web sites, banner ads, emails and all other types of social media. Like lemmings rushing over the cliff, healthcare organizations fast abandon messaging distribution channels in favor of the new and more expedient methods of communicating. But is anybody listening, or should I say reading?
Not everyone clicks through on banner ads. Everyone is not on facebook. Not everyone has an Iphone. And guess what, people still read their mail and newspapers.
Are you missing an opportunity via a little used, or should I really say, "out-of-fashion" communication and distribution channel to get your brand messages in the marketplace?
An interesting question.
My opinion is yes, direct mail is still important and can strengthen your brand messaging in the market.
Your brand message needs to be communicated in multiple ways, using multiple communication channels. That would include traditional and online. The healthcare industry tendency is to abandon one communication and distribution channel in favor of another. Many reasons can be sited for not using direct mail, long production times, printing and mailing costs, list acquisition etc.
But if you are the only provider out there in that communication channel, then what is the value to you of having your brand message in an uncluttered healthcare messaging space?
If you think that direct mail is old and passé, then why do Verizon, Kohl's and other retailers continue to spend organizational resources in that medium? It might not hurt for you to take a look at your own mail to see who still uses the technique. Learn from other industries. You may find that your marketing communications plan to carry your brand messaging is not as integrated and comprehensive as it needs to be.
So as we rush to embrace all the new technologies and methods of communicating that our competitors are using, don't abandon the traditional side of marketing brand messaging channels. To do so is a missed opportunity to build your brand and shame on you for missing an important brand building opportunity.
You can reach me at 815-293-1471.
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