Knowledge built on knowledge is what separates human beings from all other creatures on the planet. In large part, the current lives we enjoy are thanks to millenia of cumulative knowledge.
In most modern industries, however, sharing information to expand cumulative knowledge and growth isn’t just frowned upon, it’s the kiss of death to competitive advantage. Can you picture Coke and Pepsi swapping trade secrets? Me neither.
But healthcare is different.
Not only do most HCPs serve small, specific geographic regions, they also don’t exist solely to turn a profit. Their goal is to achieve better patient outcomes and they’re not afraid to refer their “customers” to other providers who may even offer overlapping services if it means a better result.
Generally, there’s a precedent for building shared knowledge too. Breakthroughs like eradicating smallpox, developing penicillin, and reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS all came as a result of information sharing.
But the need for collaboration goes beyond medical treatment and research, the digital patient experience and data privacy are now at the forefront of innovation. Creating more industry-wide openness around privacy is the fastest way for us to create better patient experiences.
For most healthcare marketers, that’s easier said than done. Compliance teams may ask you to keep your privacy practices out of public discussions. And keeping up with the continuous changes and opinions on HIPAA can be a full time job. But the mutual benefits to sharing and actively discussing this topic far outweigh the risks as patients stand to gain the most from the improved experiences we can build with better information.
If everyone’s left to figure out patient experience and data privacy on their own, we lose the power of knowledge building.
As an external partner, we find ourselves in a unique position to gather learnings and anonymize them across the entire healthcare industry in a way that will make both marketers and compliance teams happy. And we’re motivated to help accelerate broader progress by sharing what we’re hearing across the space.
With that in mind, we’re doing two things to promote more information sharing across healthcare marketing:
Shared research into online patient behavior and motivation
We’re working with a cohort of healthcare organizations to pull out deeper insights into patient online behavior and motivations (particularly concerning the use of landing pages when searching for healthcare services). It’s a ~8 week project and participating organizations get comprehensive insights and a report specific to their audience with clear recommendations, plus, we’ll be sharing findings across organizations so everyone can learn from each other. This is work that typically costs $50k+, but we’re offering it for just $15k. If you’re interested in learning more, email me at teri@whiterhino.com.
Helping leaders open up about their HIPAA strategies
We’ve seen dozens of different approaches to HIPAA. Policies and strategies are not good or bad, but they can be a better or worse fit for your organization. Seeing and hearing the thought processes from other leaders can be incredibly helpful. I’m working to give healthcare leaders a platform so they can expand their access to an audience and get valuable feedback. I’m starting with a co-presentation at HCIC this November with Alison Zvolanek, Sr. Director of Marketing at Texas Oncology. If you’re interested in sharing and getting feedback on your HIPAA strategy, let me know (it doesn’t have to be a live presentation!).
There’s no better time than now to start sharing more information with other healthcare organizations to improve experiences and outcomes for patients.
