The Paradox of Change

Health care practitioners face a paradox of change.

Technologies, regulations and market dynamics sweep us along.

Inefficiencies, rising costs and inequities hold us back.

Our health care system is changing constantly, yet not changing at all.

Once again Americans are demanding more from the system.

In response we embrace the vital role of change agents.

We seize acute opportunities and battle chronic challenges.

From most infinitesimal details to the elephant in the room,

we are consumed by change—and the lack of it.

— Tom DeSanto

In the October issue of Healthcare Marketing Report, I write more about change.

Purpose-Driven Annual Reports

Your annual report is a mighty ambassador. Are you using it to its full potential?

Properly planned annual reports can be workhorses in branding, marketing, recruitment, philanthropy, employee engagement, lobbying, immunization against loss of tax-exempt status, and many other important pursuits.

Often annual reports are seen as a yearly obligation and a burden. If we step back each year, plan ahead and engage them in our overall strategy, annual reports can be invaluable.

Analyze your audiences and current communications challenges and then examine the possibilities for all that your annual report could accomplish. Set clear objectives and communicate them internally, long before you begin seeking input for content. This guidance will help protect your organization from becoming narcissistic and bombastic when generating content. It will also drive your report toward fulfilling its intended roles.

 More than a decade of conceptualizing, writing and judging annual reports has taught me a major truth: A disciplined process that engages organizations in providing content based on a well-defined purpose yields excellent, effective annual reports.

— Tom DeSanto

Diagnostics: Essential In Medicine and Marketing

Each year 10 billion in-vitro diagnostic tests are conducted in the U.S. , an average of 33 tests per citizen. The approximately $40 billion we spend on diagnostic testing accounts for less than 5 percent of total healthcare expenditures, but influences 70 to 80 percent of decision-making.

Effective diagnostics, properly applied and interpreted, are critical to outcomes. Medicine is increasingly dynamic and complex. It demands new approaches and insights.

The same is true for healthcare marketing.

Effective diagnostics and interpretation are critical to positive marketing outcomes. The small percentage of expenditure invested in research, strategic analysis and planning is perhaps the most important of all.

— Tom DeSanto

A Voice for Frustrated Physicians

As individuals, and in health care organizations, physicians command respect and have a strong voice.

As a group, and in the health care system, the opposite seems true.

The science of medicine continues to advance. But the art of medicine — and the ability to prosper while practicing it — continues to decline.

We all know the problems: paltry reimbursement, myriad bureaucracy, insufficient time for patients, astronomical insurance costs, crushing debt for medical graduates. The list goes on. And so do the struggles.

Who would want to be a doctor, especially a general internist? These primary-care physicians tend to care for the elderly and chronically ill, and earn one of the lowest starting salaries among physicians. 

USA Today reported that only 2 percent of 1,177 respondents to a survey of students at 11 U.S. medical schools said they plan to go into general internal medicine. The long hours, lower income and grueling work deterred them. No wonder. Those already in practice may be having second thoughts.

My general internist recently was asked to leave a group practice. Why? He spent too much time with patients and it complicated reimbursement. He's cared for me over a decade with insight, skill and remarkable dedication. But that's not how medicine is practiced any more. So, he's worn out and frustrated. And he's not alone.

I'd say doctors are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. But they haven't really flexed their muscle because they've been unable to unite with a single voice in real time—until now.

Since July, more than 7,300 of the nation's 600,000 practicing physicians have signed an "Open Letter from America's Physicians," a manifesto for change. They've come together on Sermo, a physician-only online network that boasts a membership of 70,000 doctors.

Sermo was designed for physicians to exchange clinical insights, review cases, influence the biopharmaceutical industry and help improve patient care in real time. Now it's giving doctors a unified voice. (See www.sermo.com/doctorsunite)

Online grassroots movements can erupt with great power. Let's hope this one gathers momentum. Sermo is Latin for "conversation." That's the first step toward abeo, Latin for "change."

— Tom DeSanto