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Feb. 2003

Back to the Future: The Role of the Healthcare Marketer in Addressing Future Trends

Hospital Demand

Demand for hospital healthcare is growing. An aging population, loosening managed care restrictions and demanding baby boomers are contributing to this growth. Yet many hospitals cannot react to this growth because they do not have the staff to meet the demand. Step forward. Partner with your human resources department and show your CEO that you are standing by and ready to assist with innovative recruitment campaigns designed to raise awareness and interest in your facility. Help get the phone ringing to bring inside the talent needed to meet consumer demand.

Those baby boomers are growing in numbers and are very demanding. In a few short years, their numbers will dwarf all demographic groups. And they want. They want the latest facilities, the best technology, the ultimate customer service and exceptional quality. And they will pay for it.

For the first two, what is your facility doing to address capital needs and acquire the latest technology? If you are embracing these things, how are you publicizing what you are doing? And if you are not embracing them, how are you gauging these issues and raising these issues to your senior management team to stir interest? To gain a seat at the table it is imperative that you raise the issues that matter most to consumers. Plant the seeds. Circulate articles that speak to future trends in all areas of hospital healthcare. OK, it’s not exactly your area. But it will affect future consumer demand and that is all about your area.

The Quest for Quality

Satisfaction and quality ratings are going to play huge roles once they are better defined and completely objective. Do you measure patient satisfaction? How do you rank? What do you do with the information? Tell your good story or make the improvements you need to assure the best results the next time you measure and then tell your story. Quality ratings are new and confusing but in some form they are here to stay.

If you are fortunate enough to be listed in a U.S. News and World Report ranking or make Solucient’s Top 100, you have a story to tell. So maybe you’re not listed. Like thousands of other U.S. hospitals, the odds are you are not. You can learn from that as well. Find out the criteria for ranking in these reports, subjective as they may be. Then, stir the pot in your institution and find out where you stand. Raise the issues. Get people to think. When standardized measurement tools take hold, you will be sitting pretty.

The Uninsured

Estimates show that 51.2 million people will be without health insurance by 2006. Do you want them pounding down your ED door, adding to your indigent care burden? Probably not. How do you address this trend? Well start by getting involved in your community. Spearhead a community health needs assessment; identify the pressing healthcare issues in your area and then partner with others to address them. Healthier communities make sense not only because it is the right thing but also because it will impact the cost and access to healthcare down the line. Along the way you will build trust. And the healthcare industry has certainly taken a beating in this area.

What else is coming down the pike? Well certain consumers are opting to pay out-of-pocket for concierge-level services, from physician availability online to physician availability in person to accompany them to specialist visits. Is there a market for this in your area? Check it out.

The Most Data

You have probably heard, jokingly, that the company with the most data wins. But it’s true. Information brings power. What type of data mining are you performing? Marketing is being reduced to a one-on-one experience. How is your web site set to respond? Can you mine the kind of specific information needed to make one-to-one marketing work? Is your site interactive? Are your opt-in campaigns innovative? The more you know about your consumer, the more you can customize their experience.

What was once avant-garde is becoming mainstream. Complementary medicine, designing hospitals for healing, and the role of the arts in medicine – all of these are forecasted to move into the mainstream. OK, you are not an architect or a practitioner so you cannot directly affect some of these issues. But you can raise the issues. And certainly in the area of arts and healing you can start to explore programs that you can bring into your facility, be it a music therapy program, sending front-line staff to clown school or simply bringing an arts appreciation program into the facility.

In what can be a scary environment, the arts offer respite and provide soothing comfort for people who are at their most vulnerable. And they contribute mightily to both healing and a positive patient experience. Don’t sell it short. That is marketing and public relations at work. That is your area. Don’t be afraid to step up.

And don’t forget to look outside the healthcare industry to learn about new and innovative marketing and communication campaigns that you can adapt to your situation.

Here is the point. Step back. Take the time to look around. See what’s coming. React now. By doing so, you not only position your institution for success but yourself as well. When you address issues that are hardly being talked about, when you raise issues that may not be directly under your purview, you make a statement. It says that you are a future thinker who is not afraid to bring innovative – maybe even risky – ideas to the table. That is how leaders are formed. That is how careers leap forward. Are you ready to leap?

Anthony Cirillo, CHE, ABC, is president of Fast Forward Strategic Planning and Marketing Consulting in Huntersville, N.C. He is a board member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development and may be reached at Anthony@4wardfast.com.

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