File this under “If You’re Happy and You Know It” power tactics. This is a handful of highly effective little ideas anyone can put to work on short notice—at little or no cost—for greater mileage. #1: Publish, publish and republish. Consumer comments on review sites, as well as the direct testimonials of patients, are highly […]
Young adults are the patients and caregivers of tomorrow. And, collectively, they represent the future of patient engagement. They are researching, networking, and socializing every day through their mobile devices. Does your practice have a responsive or mobile-friendly website ready for them? Does your content marketing target them effectively? If you answered “no” (or “I […]
At a routine medical appointment yesterday, a friend of mine was greeted with a chilling: “Please sign in, and take a seat.” No warm hello. No friendly smile. And no way to treat a regular member of the internal audience of this practice. Here's why: The math is simple and straightforward. It costs at least five […]
Editor’s Note: In this guest post, Neil H. Baum, MD, presents doctor-to-doctor ideas founded in his 30-plus years of real-world experience as a practicing urologist in New Orleans. Want more patients? How about more patients without a big-budget investment? Can you attract more patients who won’t stress your staff? Want more patients who you can […]
A Guest Post by Dr. Paul Rosen about hasslenomics and patient satisfaction, and improving patient care. One day when I was out of town, our refrigerator started making a loud humming noise. It sounded like the motor was about to break. My wife called our regular appliance company for help. We wanted them to send someone right away--to […]
Geisinger Health System (GHS) made the news a year ago with a ground breaking commitment to patient experience. GHS was the first hospital group to offer money-back refunds on their care...and with no questions asked. The retail world provides patient experience lessons. The program is for “patients whose experiences and expectations were not met with kindness and compassion.” […]
A close friend of mine shared a personal story that’s worth re-telling. It illustrates a real-world patient experience that moved the measure of satisfaction from “simply satisfied” to “raving fan” status. Although this story comes from the dental profession, the core concept will easily transfer to other healthcare specialties. Consider how you can apply this […]
Real-world marketing stories come to my attention with increasing regularity. And, frequently, they reinforce the strategic importance and positive benefits of online reviews by patients. Prospective patients are doing their homework. As many as 85 percent of patients are choosing doctors based on, or assisted by, online reviews, according to the frequently cited study by […]
Many of us at Healthcare Success have visited many hospitals and health care campuses around the country; usually on business, and occasionally as a visitor or patient. More often than not, navigating a large and unfamiliar building is a confusing and unsettling experience. If simply finding their way around is a challenge for a patient […]
A breakthrough idea can be a scary thing. The nation’s healthcare delivery system has been a sea of change in general. But particularly off-putting are the notions that sharply depart from the comfort, familiarity and predictability of traditional ways of doing things. As a case in point, we might reasonably imagine the reactions of doctors […]
It would be difficult for the general public to miss the daily torrent of news media coverage about the run-up to the next presidential election. But hospital administrators and healthcare communications professionals are focused on Health and Human Services' increasing emphasis on “quality-based payments,” “patient-centered systems” and “delivery system reforms.” There’s far less mainstream news […]
A Guest Post by Paul Rosen, MD After reading Stewart Gandolf’s recent post, Patients Feel Healthcare Is Stuck in the Digital Dark Ages, I felt compelled to piggyback a few thoughts onto his astute observations. Stewart referenced the survey from Nielsen Strategic Health Perspectives, which demonstrates that healthcare is lacking in its ability to leverage […]
Picture this scenario. You have an unhappy patient in your office, and, frankly, nobody on the staff (much less the doctor) is eager to jump into that thunderstorm. Let’s hope that this doesn’t come up too often, but realistically it happens even in the best of practices. You and your staff should be prepared to […]
Healthcare is not short of controversy these days. Transformational change is disrupting every corner of the industry. One of the questions facing many physicians is how did I get here? Remembering back to medical school, we were passionate, committed, empathic individuals choosing to serve a higher calling. We took out loans to pay for medical […]
You don’t have to look far to find a chorus of concerns about the HCAHPS survey tools. But you need look no further than the enormously popular Facebook for real-people feedback. In a quest for a uniform means of comparison for the informed patient/consumer, hospital administrators and managers continue to be challenged by the ways and […]
For the sake of a convenient label, let’s call it the Nordstrom Syndrome. Doctors of various professional disciplines come to me, with some regularity, exhibiting symptoms of this (marketing) condition, and they want my business advice. It’s the first of two valuable marketing lessons that doctors can learn from retail stalwart Nordstrom. Lesson One… Physicians […]
An interesting thing about marketing for healthcare is that useful lessons can be found in unlikely places and unrelated enterprises. With a little imagination and creative thinking, good stories—business success stories—reveal ideas that transfer to a practitioner, group practice or even a hospital. Here’s one such story from the managing editor of Healthcare Success publications. […]
The concept of shared medical appointments (one doc seeing several patients) isn’t well known or widely available…yet. That seems to be changing. The pressures of “more patients” and “fewer doctors” (among other things) are straining the nation’s healthcare delivery system, but it’s fueling innovative approaches that save time, reduce cost, and improve access, outcomes and […]
If you ask a thousand US hospitals about their top priorities, nearly everyone would Patient Experience/Satisfaction at the head of the list. But surprisingly, upwards of half of those organizations do not have a formal mandate or mission to achieve that objective. Those two data points come from a recently released and insightful survey by […]
[Podcast] Today’s installment in our continuing series of healthcare and hospital marketing interviews spotlights University of Utah Health Care, a leading academic medical center in Salt Lake City. Healthcare Success Co-Founder and Hospital Division Director Lonnie Hirsch discusses AMC marketing issues with Senior Director of Marketing Dennis Jolley. When University of Utah Health Care began […]
It’s no surprise to any of us that we remember situations that have exceeded our expectations. It’s that unexpected bit of delight or reward that we experienced at a (now favorite) restaurant, in seeing an entertaining movie, or even while doing a bit of retail shopping.
For hospitals, health systems and practitioners, “patient experience” has gone from trendy buzzwords to strategic imperative. In fact, the totality of patient experience and satisfaction is a top-tier issue for individual providers, hospitals, group medical practices and executive decision-makers. With these folks in mind--just about everyone--the following are 10 Top Patient Experience articles, including best […]
The second in a two-part series about intelligent individuals that allow their personality or attitudes to block their potential for success. Read part one: Staff Secretly Takes Assertiveness Training. We continue with the second of our true tales from the field about doctors who step on their own marketing toes.
[Podcast] For a large healthcare system or any hospital for that matter, success with “patient experience” is far deeper than “making the patient happy.” Take it from Cleveland Clinic, the first healthcare organization in the United States to appoint a Chief Experience Officer. “It’s not just about satisfaction. This is about how we deliver quality […]
[Study] The number of “Likes” on a hospital’s Facebook page can be used as a proxy for patient satisfaction and an indicator of hospital quality, according to findings published by the American Journal of Medical Quality. This study—titled Do Patients “Like” Good Care? Measuring Quality via Facebook—is an eye-opener for hospital administrators and marketing executives […]
This is a brief post with a really big lesson… My fourth-grade daughter Natalie was asked to draw pictures of her vocabulary words this week. We asked her about one of the drawings, she said her word was "boring." The picture was of waiting in a doctor's office. (Apparently we've forgotten to teach her the […]
The many and various “doctor review” sites seem to be as popular as the flu bug floating around the office. Doctors don’t like them and patients don’t use them, according to two recent surveys. Related: 9 Essential Steps to Improve Doctor Ratings Online But here’s why healthcare marketing professionals and medical providers shouldn't dismiss consumer […]
Editor’s Note: Most physicians are completely comfortable with digital technology. Several studies confirm that they often look online for medical or professional information, and they frequently use email to communicate with colleagues. But when it comes to patient communications, as few as 20 percent are emailing patients. Not only do patients want email, text and […]
Patient satisfaction in medicine and healthcare can be a significant marketing driver for physicians’ offices and hospitals. But is that where it ends? As a marketing technique? Nope! The implications of a satisfied patient are far more wide reaching in medicine and healthcare. Fantastic business marketers understand all too well that customer satisfaction or the […]
Understandably, interpersonal and communications skill is one of the vital core competencies for physicians. But communications is also one of the biggest gaps in physician competency, according to the American Hospital Association’s Physician Leadership Forum. Some of the obvious applications for good communications include working effectively with provider team members, professional colleagues and doctor-patient interaction. […]
Some important national surveys about patient satisfaction have been in the news lately. The company credentials are highly respectable, and the healthcare marketing implications are significant. First on the street was the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute (PwC, HRI) data that concluded, for healthcare consumers, personal experience is the number one reason for choosing a doctor […]
Healthcare marketing is having a milestone moment. Because the nation’s healthcare delivery system has experienced sweeping changes in the past few years, the textbook list of medical marketing fundamentals needs a significant adjustment. Henceforth, PATIENT EXPERIENCE joins the classic “Seven Ps” of a marketing mix—PEOPLE, PRODUCT, PRICE, PROMOTION, PLACE, PACKAGING, and POSITIONING—for a new total […]
There's one vital step in shaping a positive patient experience that is often forgotten or neglected. In healthcare marketing terms, it's the one step that can make or break everything else you do to put the patient first and grow your brand and reputation. The nature of healthcare delivery is, more than ever before, focused […]
As the semi-fabled story goes, Toby Cosgrove, MD—CEO and President of the Cleveland Clinic—experienced a significant moment of awareness a few years ago. At a speaking engagement at Harvard’s business school, someone in the audience described a candid and personal experience about “empathy” over “outcomes.” The person in the audience told Dr. Cosgrove (a cardiac […]
Most of Seth Godin’s business books are little. He’s written more than a dozen best sellers that are tight and tiny, easy-to-read packages of advice for entrepreneurs and business. Although his observations are not particularly about medical practice marketing, sometimes he hits a homerun in our ballpark. Incidentally, we have no business connection with Seth […]
Puppy dogs (and kittens) are cuddly cute. Babies (and kids) are scene-stealers. But in healthcare marketing, there's nothing more convincing-and downright effective-than an excellent testimonial. Sorry canine cuteness, but testimonials have been called "the single most powerful marketing tool." They are a close relative to word-of-mouth advertising, and they are effective in "closing the sale" […]
We've all seen desktop-generated signs in the waiting rooms or reception areas of doctors' offices. Presumably the intent is to help the staff and help the patient. But the problem is that regardless of what they say, they are often a signal of a culture focused on admin and processing and not on a culture […]
If you live and work with the hints and helps in short maxims, there are dozens of “five-minute rules” to guide you in everything from computer science to digital discourse. Some of these “rules” are informal at best. In computer science, the five-minute random rule says to cache randomly accessed disk pages that are re-used […]
As medical practice marketing professionals well understand, the measure of patient satisfaction—or the lack of it—sometimes has little or nothing to do with a physician’s medical expertise. For some patients, the length of the “door-to-doctor” waiting time is a primary distinction between satisfaction and marching over to the competition. Individual provider offices—general practitioners and specialists […]
The surprising reason why patients leave and the impact to your bottom line. Most say nothing at all...they just don't return. Patient satisfaction is the cornerstone of patient retention. It's difficult to detect, but It is a perception of indifference that causes most people to quit coming back. And the financial loss to your business […]
Right about now you might be wondering exactly how the "Spanish Inquisition" catchphrase could possibly harbor a lesson for doctor marketing. The answer is surprisingly simple and it's a useful way to define, create and deliver an exceptional patient experience. To be clear, we're not talking about a patient's medical care or the provider's skills, […]
You're more likely to hear about "The Hawthorne Effect" on a TV game show than in a hospital marketing staff meeting. The name of this management concept is a bit obscure, but you may already be working for you. So what the heck is "The Hawthorne Effect," and how can it help hospital and healthcare […]
This post is mainly for fun. But there’s a practice marketing lesson in this exceptional example of wildly interesting and unique office décor--from an orthodontic practice. You’re going to have to drive to Conway, Arkansas to experience the office decor of orthodontist—and admitted car enthusiast—David J. Myers, DDS, MS. If you’ve never seen a medical […]
There's one vital step in shaping a positive patient experience that is often forgotten or neglected. In healthcare marketing terms, it's the one step that can make or break everything else you do to put the patient first and grow your brand and reputation. The nature of healthcare delivery is, more than ever before, focused […]
A few words from master storytellers. The payoff is in more engaging medical marketing, better physician-patient communications, patient satisfaction and more effective healthcare delivery. Stories and storytelling are at the heart of medical marketing, doctor advertising, hospital public relations and physician-patient interaction. Stories can be conversation, advertising and online testimonials, persuasive guidance for patients, news […]
It seems that the nation’s hospitals have lifted their patient satisfaction scores, according to a recent survey. Kudos to the hospitals, with the doctors and staff deserving a healthcare marketing salute as well. Data from nearly 3,800 hospitals says that there’s been a 1.6 percent annual increase in the number of positive responses in the […]
Internal marketing simply doesn't work without a patient-centered culture that fosters relationships and genuine patient satisfaction. An effective culture evolves by design, from the top down and needs training, practice and teamwork. There's no need for internal marketing tactics without an emotional connection. When we consult with a hospital, an established healthcare practice or even […]
Sometimes we think that Stewart Gandolf has way too much fun over at his blog, Gandolf’s Marketing Magic. I submit as evidence, and for your consideration, Stewart’s recent post that begins with the story about how a customer complaint became a YouTube music-and-video saga (in three parts) titled United Breaks Guitars. As a quick disclosure, […]
What's important to patients and three easy ways to measure approval. Sometimes the flow of patients seems...well, over-flowing. But if you're continually running behind schedule, this could be a danger signal that your quality of care and patient satisfaction are not where you want them to be. Professional and personal fulfillment, for both doctor and […]
by Steve Smith, Healthcare Success Senior Consultant Scholarly articles about retail customer service tell you that continuing success in business is not about making an individual sale, it’s about creating a relationship that wins a customer. It’s a principle that applies in healthcare delivery, and with every patient (the customer) interaction. And these winning […]
