With dynamic changes occurring in the healthcare industry as a result of the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), employment of physicians is making a big comeback to the hospital industry. Born of necessity, hospitals and physicians are being driven by reimbursement concerns and opportunities. The drive to create Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) demands a different type of physician relationship. One that is more centralized and controlled to "reap" the revenue benefits of the new healthcare market environment.
With this new opportunity to reinvent, revitalize and recapture what previously before had been an adventure on the part of hospitals with mixed results, its time to discuss how one goes about marketing the employed physician.
First break from the past......
It's easy to look at this and say we'll just do what we did in the past in promoting employed physicians and be done with it. That is a dangerous mistake in the age of healthcare consumerism. Consumers will have choice, are already networked and will be controlling many of the purchase decisions where previously, you drove many of those decisions. So if you're just going to throw some ads out there with a picture of the nice smiling doc with copy in the third person about how wonderful and compassionate he or she is, you can expect much disappointment. Even today there is still too much of that type of physician marketing occurring.
What is needed is a new look at what you are doing and changing to meet the needs of your healthcare consumer, not you.
A new day....
With great change comes great opportunity. That is if one is willing to embrace that change and find new ways of moving forward and creating value.
Your Brand. Your Value. The Healthcare Consumer's Choice.
You need to communicate very strongly your brand and brand promise you are associating with the employed physician. Doesn't matter if he or she is in a Medical Office Building (MOB) you own, Accountable Care Organization (ACO) or Medical Home (MH). Bring your brand to the forefront and brand the doc to you. He or she is no longer an independent practitioner. They represent your brand at an individual level. Capitalize on that opportunity and leverage it.
Communicate the value that this physician brings to your community and the healthcare consumer. Communicate the value that the doctor brings to your brand. Leverage that opportunity. Stop talking at people, talk to them. Talk to consumers with compelling value driven reasons why they should select that doctor, or even why they should even considering switching physicians.
Stop wasting your money putting ads in papers that expect people to take action simply because the doctor is on your medical staff or in one of your buildings. That treats the healthcare consumer like they are idiots. They're not. They are demanding value and acknowledgement that they have a say in what's going on. If you won't meet their needs they will go somewhere else.
Consumers now have more power than they have every had as a result of PPACA. They are and will be paying more of the medical bill as time goes along. If you're not communicating value and what's in it for them for selecting your physicians, then you can put it in the bank that the healthcare consumer is will pass on by and go where they perceive the value to be greatest for them in line with the price they are paying.
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.
Showing posts with label Accountable Care Organizations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accountable Care Organizations. Show all posts
Marketing Accountable Care Organizations
8:14 AM
Accountable Care Organizations, ACO, Consumers, Data, Employers, Healthcare Marketing, healthcare reform, Insurers, Outcomes, Price, quality
Entering the new world of healthcare where quality and accountability are drivers to reduce cost, how do you market an Accountable Care Organization (ACO)? Especially as healthcare providers, namely doctors and hospitals, must compete on outcome transparency, quality and cost. A triple threat and uncharted territory. Outcomes data will be the driver and available to the consumer to make an informed choice. A monumental shift in the market place of who controls the information.
Anybody seen the new United Health commercials? They are already touting call us, we can send you to the best doctors. Anywhere in the country. Organizations that control the data, control the market and control the price.
So for those doctors and hospitals looking at ACOs, better get your track shoes on. The big insurers are already moving forward with physician groups and pilot programs to test the concept.
In the end, I believe that insurers will control ACOs by the simple fact that they have the data. They already know which doctors practice the best quality and most efficient medicine. The insurers already know which hospitals provide the most cost-effective and quality-driven care. All because they control the claims data. Insurers analyze, predict and can move much faster than others can. Stockholders demand it. So, while tax-exempt organizations engage in their annual lets build consensus before we can move forward on the idea, you are already late to the market and at a decided disadvantage.
Besides, I wonder if ACOs really pass the smell test of what Clinton tried to do in the1990s? And that failed. Maybe what we really have is the same attempt re-branded for 2010?
Marketing Accountable Care Organizations
Brand. Quality. Data transparency. Service. Price.
Your message needs to be clear and concise, echoing the ACOs brand promise and the value that you bring though your ACO to the consumer or the insurer. Focus on outcomes not high-tech or "touchy-feelly". Consumers are too sophisticated for such a simple message.
How you position your ACO vies a vie others is critical and you get one shot. You need to do it right. Remember, you can only take one of three positions in the market, superior, equivalent or inferior. The initial positioning of your brand is one of the most critical tasks you face. With an informed consumer bearing more of the cost, you have one shot to get it right. No do overs anymore.
Co-brand you member materials with insurers for members to educate and inform abut your ACO. Same with self-funded employers. Go to employers work site to reach employees.
Create a separate web site and social media strategy for the ACO and co-brand where possible, have everything online for patient education materials to forms and payment mechanisms.
Need an easy to read and understand dashboard that reports on quality measures for consumers, insurers and employers.
Commit to excellence in customer service and create a Voice of the Customer program to establish and maintain a continuous feedback loop with your key customers. This is not lip service; this is real change. Failure to do so will label you as inferior. Poor customer service is no longer acceptable.
Keep in constant communication with your members. Email is best. Use video emails and always , always have a call-to-action message.
Create a loyalty program. This is not a taboo and except for government program beneficiaries in Medicare and Medicaid or other government funded programs. You can create a loyalty program. Fact is not all patients are the same so you might as well take advantage of it before others do. It can be a powerful differentiators. Step out and be creative.
There is more you can do, but know this should keep you pretty busy.
More news:
Healthcare Marketing Matters is now read daily in over 20 countries around the world in excess of 550 page views a month. Welcome to the newest readers: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and the Philippines.
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.
Anybody seen the new United Health commercials? They are already touting call us, we can send you to the best doctors. Anywhere in the country. Organizations that control the data, control the market and control the price.
So for those doctors and hospitals looking at ACOs, better get your track shoes on. The big insurers are already moving forward with physician groups and pilot programs to test the concept.
In the end, I believe that insurers will control ACOs by the simple fact that they have the data. They already know which doctors practice the best quality and most efficient medicine. The insurers already know which hospitals provide the most cost-effective and quality-driven care. All because they control the claims data. Insurers analyze, predict and can move much faster than others can. Stockholders demand it. So, while tax-exempt organizations engage in their annual lets build consensus before we can move forward on the idea, you are already late to the market and at a decided disadvantage.
Besides, I wonder if ACOs really pass the smell test of what Clinton tried to do in the1990s? And that failed. Maybe what we really have is the same attempt re-branded for 2010?
Marketing Accountable Care Organizations
Brand. Quality. Data transparency. Service. Price.
Your message needs to be clear and concise, echoing the ACOs brand promise and the value that you bring though your ACO to the consumer or the insurer. Focus on outcomes not high-tech or "touchy-feelly". Consumers are too sophisticated for such a simple message.
How you position your ACO vies a vie others is critical and you get one shot. You need to do it right. Remember, you can only take one of three positions in the market, superior, equivalent or inferior. The initial positioning of your brand is one of the most critical tasks you face. With an informed consumer bearing more of the cost, you have one shot to get it right. No do overs anymore.
Co-brand you member materials with insurers for members to educate and inform abut your ACO. Same with self-funded employers. Go to employers work site to reach employees.
Create a separate web site and social media strategy for the ACO and co-brand where possible, have everything online for patient education materials to forms and payment mechanisms.
Need an easy to read and understand dashboard that reports on quality measures for consumers, insurers and employers.
Commit to excellence in customer service and create a Voice of the Customer program to establish and maintain a continuous feedback loop with your key customers. This is not lip service; this is real change. Failure to do so will label you as inferior. Poor customer service is no longer acceptable.
Keep in constant communication with your members. Email is best. Use video emails and always , always have a call-to-action message.
Create a loyalty program. This is not a taboo and except for government program beneficiaries in Medicare and Medicaid or other government funded programs. You can create a loyalty program. Fact is not all patients are the same so you might as well take advantage of it before others do. It can be a powerful differentiators. Step out and be creative.
There is more you can do, but know this should keep you pretty busy.
More news:
Healthcare Marketing Matters is now read daily in over 20 countries around the world in excess of 550 page views a month. Welcome to the newest readers: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa and the Philippines.
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.
