mommyjenlin

As it stacks up in 2013, we will see monumental shifts in the healthcare landscape as healthcare organizations of all types seek ways to not only survive, but thrive. Technological and care delivery innovations, specialty pharmaceuticals, healthcare consumerism and reform are coming together to create the perfect storm. Hospitals who were once at the top of the food chain are now are the bottom swimming upstream to regain top position. Some will make and some won't. My bet is with those healthcare organizations that recognize the role of the healthcare consumer in all of this and changes their marketing operation, message and resource allocation to engage the healthcare consumer will succeed. It's a tough balancing act when you have never really had to market too or communicate with the healthcare consumer, aka the patient in meaningful human terms. Terms that grow your brand, build stronger customer connections and answers the question, what's in it for them to use you? So...

One of the great challenges in reform is the engagement of the patient in lasting and meaningful ways, as well as improvement in the patient experience. Uncharted territory really and the old ways of doing things just won't cut it. New market realities and the rising of healthcare consumerism demand new innovation and thought. Unfortunately there is little disruptive innovation in healthcare to meet those challenges. Enter gaming theory. Gamification is not a new topic in marketing. It's been out there for a long time and used successfully by businesses to attract, retain and build the loyalty of its customers to the brand. Okay, I can hear it now, "but we are healthcare taking care of people in complex and mysterious ways that they can never understand and this isn't a game". It's not a game, but how you engage the patient and improve the experience is closely related. And my opinion is that you can't do one without the other. Look at this through the ey...

Last Saturday I went to get my hair cut and my highlights touched up and I felt like doing something drastic. I'd pinned this picture of a young Meg Ryan and I asked Sonya if it would be crazy to go that short. She applauded my nerve and assured me it would be cute. And if not? Hair grows back. Despite all the compliments I received from my friends (my children hated it ), it took me a couple of days to feel comfortable in my new do. But by Thursday I was really feeling it and I updated my profile pic on all my social networks. This--for those of you who haven't seen it yet--is me now. One of the fun things about short hair is how much emphasis I can put on accessories. Here I'm wearing a silk scarf my Grandma Lorraine gave me, dangly earrings that used to get tangled in my hair, and a cut little barrette that the girls somehow haven't stolen and lost (yet). What else haven't I blogged? I went out for cocktails at Hala Kahiki (also known as the mysterious tiki bar ...

As I look across the hospital and health system landscape, one thing that has struck me for the most part, is that little attention is paid to social media outside of using it as a billboard for various programs and announcements. Doesn't matter whether or not if it's a clinical service or wellness program to heralding quality awards, its static. There seems to be a lack of creativity and engagement that one would think is the hallmark of a vibrant healthcare consumer engagement strategy on a social media platform. But then, maybe that is the problem and the solution? That there is no vibrant social media strategy to engage the healthcare consumer, so it just becomes another marketing channel to yell at someone about how you provide " world-class" care. Okay, that's a little synclinal, but healthcare is evolving in ways we didn't imagine which includes how networked the healthcare consumer is today. Yet we continue to reach out to that networked healthcare con...

It's not, but from what I can tell, organizations aren't making nearly the changes at the pace they need to engage the healthcare consumer. Individuals and families are facing more out-of-pocket expense too as employers shift the cost of care to employees. Ditto everyone else for that matter too, government or private. When people pay more, they pay attention. Attention to the price. Attention to the experience. Attention to you. Attention to your marketing and brand. Hint- Its more than an outbound call from a nurse or physician extender. Here are nine patient engagement strategies you need to employ: 1. Integrate your engagement solutions . That means information is delivered seamlessly to patients, so that they can interact with you any way they want, when they want too. 2. Marketing should be using both push and pull messaging. Messaging needs to be relevant to the patient at the point in time that they need it. Personalized, customized, aware of the cultural heritage and ...

Earlier this week I was in no mood to blog. I was working until 9:30pm on a high profile project, Ada was coughing through the night, and both girls were waking up cranky and fighting through breakfast. I was pissy and tired had no energy to tidy the clutter overtaking the house. I was also PMSing. But the winds shifted, as they always do. Of course, this time the shifting winds brought an arctic chill to Chicago (I'm talking a windchill of -14F), but they also brought amazing client feedback at work, glowing reports from my kids' teachers (emails from Ada's directress and a parent-teacher conference with Zoe's teacher), and a corresponding lift to my mood. Which was then further improved by a 2 hour Derby Lite practice last night and a free lunch at work today. In other news, Ada has suddenly grown up! She lost all her baby fat, learned to read, add and subtract and bravely got her ears pierced. Now I'm getting photos from her teacher of her writing stories and tea...