Down But Not Out

Wham! The first healthcare reform numbers are out.

White House budget documents released February 26 outline the creation of a reserve fund of $633.8 billion over ten years to fund healthcare reform. And hospitals will take a hit.

The reserve fund would be established through savings generated from new policies, including bundling Medicare payments for hospitalizations and post-acute care ($17.8 billion), reducing payments when Medicare readmission rates exceed goals ($8.4 billion) and allocating payment based on meeting inpatient quality standards ($12.1 billion). 

In response, the AHA applauded action on reform, pledged cooperation and expressed concern "about any cuts that would affect the work hospitals do for their communities during this economic downturn."

The stock market had a less cordial response. 

On February 26, the HMO index of 11 major healthcare providers declined 10 percent. Major downers were Humana at 19 percent, UnitedHealth Group at 13 percent and Health Net at 9.4 percent. That was on top of heavy losses already sustained earlier in the week.

President Obama's budget document was entitled "A New Era of Responsibility." In the battle for healthcare reform, that means we'll all have to take it on the chin.

—Tom DeSanto

Sources: LA Times, Dow Jones newswire. Image: Google Images 

Web 2.0 and Healthcare

Web 2.0 is a revolution. It has disciples and detractors with very different views of its impact, including how it promises to reshape healthcare.

Omar Wasow, who spoke at the recent Forum for Healthcare Strategists conference, believes that as Web 2.0 transforms our social, political and economic futures, it will "put patients in the driver's seat." Web 2.0 will equip and motivate patients to move from their traditional passive role to one of active participation. It will build community among patients with similar diagnosis (and among physicians) and will be a fountain of knowledge and shared experience.  

Andrew Keen, who spoke at the last SHSMD educational conference, believes Web 2.0 is destroying our economy, our culture and our values. It is creating "a cult of the amateur" in which healthcare is being undermined by unvetted user-generated content that can supplant the expert advice of physicians and other medical professionals. 

How can we reconcile all the positive attributes of community and empowerment for patients with the dangers of misinformation through the Web that can erode trust in the judgment of physicians and undermine proven treatment protocols?

Personally, I have friends with chronic illnesses who find hope in online patient communities and rely on the Internet to keep up with healthy behaviors and advances in treatment. Other friends and family with health concerns search in hope only to find conflicting information that lacks authority and authenticity. 

Another pitfall is that the Web also removes the intimacy of in-person relationships. How much can we trust the advice of others who don't know us and lack factual knowledge about the full condition of our health? 

The advent of Web 2.0 presents an enormous opportunity for healthcare leaders to step up and set an agenda that fosters all the benefits of community while certifying information to be reliable. However, the Web is still very much the wild, wild west. It provides a forum for many competing factions. Any group that exerts control on a grand scale is labeled as acting in its own self-interest. Even on the local level, many healthcare providers create web landing pages on procedures and physicians as a marketing tactic. Where do we draw the lines? 

The full repercussions of Web 2.0 are largely unknown. We have the challenge of shaping the outcome. 

—Tom DeSanto

Image: www.startupordown.com

"Top Docs" Litigation Unfortunate

Virtua Health and Cooper Health System, competitors in South Jersey, are going to court over claims made about having the most "top docs."  

How sad. Because everyone loses.

Four years ago, I wrote an article that appeared in Healthcare Marketing Report entitled "Healthcare Quality Ratings: Where Do They Fit In Your Marketing Efforts." I also spoke at several universities on the subject. I can't help but offer the following excerpts:

"In our sound-bite-oriented, everybody-loves-a-winner culture, healthcare ratings can be a bit like the standings for baseball or football. Even if you're not a fan, you like to see your home team near the top. ...Much like sports, it really is about winning: making the list and being the best."

"Depending on the level of competition, health systems tend to line up on one side of the ratings or the other. They either promote them proactively to build market share or apply them defensively to protect it."

"In my opinion, the promotion of healthcare quality ratings is multiplying far more rapidly than consumers' ability to understand their true meaning and value. By jumping into the ratings game too quickly or too often, marketers risk jading their audiences and diluting the power of their messages. Ratings are an asset. Consider their use wisely."

The article also featured a worksheet to help marketers assess ten factors to help them make effective decisions about promoting quality ratings in their marketing communications. Please contact me if you would like one.

The current litigation is so unfortunate. Two organizations give themselves black eyes. Consumers become even more cynical or indifferent. Trust in our already beleaguered healthcare system continues to erode.

—Tom DeSanto

Image: i116photobucket.com.../kipese/winner-win.jpg

Branding is More than an Advertising Campaign

The process of creating your brand is the engine that will ultimately drive your ability to deliver and sustain it.

Often marketers focus first on developing a campaign to define and communicate the brand without developing the relationships that bring the brand to life. Many consecutive steps are necessary. Here I offer ten, all beginning with "C." Note that "Campaign" is #8.

1. Collaborate. Engage people across your organization to "birth" or "adopt" the brand. They will become the proud parents who protect and nurture it.

2. Consider. Your brand is NOT merely about your organization. Consider others first and get them involved. How do your various constituents perceive you? What exactly do you offer them? How does that compare to other choices they can make? What do they need, feel, expect, feel, want or hope for?

3. Capture. In light of your constituents' viewpoints, dig deep to capture the unique truth of how your culture, services and aspirations meet your constituents' needs, thoughts and emotions.

4. Clarify. Work together to distill your organization's unique truth into simple and inspiring ideas, words and visuals.

5. Communicate. Share your discoveries with all branding collaborators in a way that they will make them their own. Then, don't merely inculcate the brand internally with meetings, posters and guidelines. Infuse your brand throughout your organization. Give communications materials to collaborators and send them out to interact.

6. Cultivate. Nurture and grow the brand with your internal and closest external constituents until it blossoms. Then it will be bright, fragrant and ready to be delivered.

7. Coordinate. Solicit staff ideas about how they can "be the brand." Coordinate their actions, turn them loose and keep them going.

8. Campaign. Now you can promote your active and sustainable brand with a carefully crafted and segmented campaign.

9. Continue. Keep strengthening the relationships among the original brand collaborators and those who most enthusiastically embrace it. Keep your campaign consistent, but always relevant and fresh. 

10. Calculate. Powerful branding requires careful planning. Think ahead five or more years and calculate how to get there. Go back to step one. Branding never ends.

—Tom DeSanto

Image: David Friedman, www.kosmic-kabbalah.com