The Brand Story in HCAHPS

Not long ago, I was comparing the HCAHPS scores of area medical centers and noticed that a well known, highly respected medical center had some of the lower patient experience scores on the first 8 questions, but the highest scores on the overall rating and likelihood to recommend. For a less visible, less recognized medical center, the opposite was true. High for the hospital experience. Low for overall rating and likelihood to recommend. I looked on the Hospital Compare site for other examples and found the same thing in other markets that had a dominant healthcare brand, Cleveland for example.

What that says to me is that many hospitals and medical centers are focusing on and delivering a highly rated patient experience. But they may not be focusing on the brand experience, which is emotional, cultural, social and definitely extends outside the hospital walls.

According to Bonnie Lowry at HealthStream Research who works with hospitals on aligning HCAHPS measured patient satisfaction with community perceptions, “hospitals know how to make sure every patient gets discharge instructions. It’s a longer and more challenging path to change what people think about a hospital’s overall rating and whether they would recommend it.”

As healthcare marketers, we know the ROI on a healthcare brand investment is positive word of mouth, more efficient marketing dollars, employee morale and recruitment, favorable media relations and increased preference leading to increased market share. It could mean better HCAHPS scores, too.

And as hospitals start getting paid based on those scores we may see more brand champions among clinicians, administrators and CFOs. Something we’d all like to experience.

Healthcare Marketing Strategies for 2011:

1. Healthcare reform has been set in motion–political roadblocks or not. 25 of its 92 provisions were implemented last year. Consumer opinion is pretty evenly divided (as our Healthcare Quality Pulse showed last September) and ultimately will depend on their healthcare experience.
2. Chances are, the physicians you’re marketing, marketing to or going to are not happy campers right now. But, according to Health Futures pundit Jeff Goldsmith, we better pay a lot of attention to the primary care physician: keeper of the patient relationship now and through whatever happens.
3. Focusing on the customer experience is a proven marketing strategy. Keynote speaker, Bridget Duffy is an expert. But very soon hospitals are going to get reimbursed (or not) based on how patients rate their experience. And some of our research suggests pre-admission brand perceptions may play a big role in how patients score their experience.
4. As if they don’t have enough new mandates, hospital marketers see mobile health applications as a way to differentiate, be more relevant and provide better patient care. Guess which viewpoint might lead to a successful mobile strategy?
5. Most of us see CRM and think direct mail–OK maybe email. But with more sophisticated systems to segment market health needs up front and then track patients on a lifetime basis, CRM may soon be the basis of any fully integrated strategy.

Lots of changes for hospitals, physicians and patients–a well as insurers and employers. But, of course, with change comes opportunity. Check in over the next few weeks for some thoughts on those opportunities for healthcare marketers and let me know what you think, too.

Healthcare marketers know about listening. What other industry is required to continuously collect customer satisfaction data and make it publicly available? (HCAHPS) But social media gives us a chance to hear more than survey results. Now we can hear conversations.

While there are sophisticated social media monitoring tools like BuzzStream,  I’d suggest that a healthy dose of curiosity and a few free tools like Google Alerts and Google Blogsearch combined with searches on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can be a great start.

Listening is a favorite topic of social media gurus like Brian Chappel. Writing on Jim Tobin’s Ignite Social Media blog, he says there are four things to listen for. I’ve added a comment here and there for healthcare marketers.

• Listen to and about your competition and their marketing. You’ll hear them talking. You’ll hear their patients. It’s even HIPPA-compliant to listen!

• Listen for your fans—and do respond. It’s never too early to ask a friend or fan to link to you and ask if you can link them. Grow a relationship. Sooner or later everyone cares about healthcare.

• Listen to what’s on people’s minds—are more people talking about having babies or getting hip replacements? Take note of where you could contribute. Listen for ideas, too. Eventually you’ll want to collaborate with consumers on solving problems or improving services.

• Listen to what people are saying about you. I’m listing this one last because, for many healthcare marketers, it’s the hardest. So practice first. Take notes. Consider the different ways you could respond. Individually or publicly? In words or in actions? At the marketing/PR level, the leadership level or departmental level?

Social media puts a community of healthcare consumers on your desktop—where you can (and should) listen before you leap. Wishing you a happy (and healthful) new year!

If you’re a healthcare marketer who has boldly ventured into social media, you are certainly not alone. Out of about 5,000 U.S. hospitals, 441 are now listed on Ed Bennett’s blog on Hospital Social Networking. That’s up from 367 hospitals just one month earlier. Ed’s list is certainly growing, but I wondered, what are hospitals gaining—how many people are they reaching? So I checked in on several Facebook pages we surveyed in July, 2009, to see how their fan bases have grown over the last four months.

Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) July: 1,314 /  November: 2,248
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center July: 148 / November: 194
Cleveland Clinic July: 2,801 / November: 5,915
Innovis Health (Fargo) July: 35 / November: 287
Mayo Clinic July: 7,444 / November: 10,206
Scripps Health .July: 218  / November: 411
St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital July: 78,839 / November: 108,809

Big or small, national brand or community hospital, looking at this group as a whole, there are a few things I’d take away.

1. Be active. The fastest growing sites have lively participation and exchanges—not just announcements. Facebook’s Discussions tab is an opportunity to interact directly with consumers—both Mayo and Cleveland Clinic take advantage of this feature.

2. Be interesting, but don’t look scattered. It’s tempting to do it all: real time comments and responses, exchanges with experts and other patients, breaking news, video, graphics, photos and links. Mayo’s Facebook postings feature an expert with a short paragraph and a video link. A nice consistent way to call out the hospital “voice.”

3. Be yourself. Whether a hospital is a national icon or a local institution, your social media presence is an extension of your brand strategy, personality and objectives. St. Jude wants donations. Mayo wants to be more personal. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has a mission “to create a healthy future.” And you see it on their Facebook pages.

From an account planning standpoint, social media is a tremendous opportunity to listen to consumers, personify our brands and make even more connections. How many? Well, the answer to that changes every day.