field notes

First it was books and toys, then they bought Whole Foods now Amazon might be making its move into the healthcare space. But what does this mean for healthcare, and specifically hospital marketers?

After helping judge the “Best Mobile Communications” category for the 2017 eHealthcare Leadership awards, White Rhino’s chief digital strategist Shawn Gross shared with me, “The industry is definitely on a curve of innovation.” But he was quick to follow that up, “there’s also a wide divide between what I would call true digital engagement and traditional marketing efforts.”

I recently sat down with Patrick Bender for the Hospital Marketing National podcast series to discuss how healthcare marketing is changing in response to a more digitally-savvy consumer. You can listen to the full conversation here (click on Episode 5) but below are some highlights from our conversation.

In a recent Webcast, we teamed up with Vicki J. Brown, former CMO for Joslin Diabetes Center, to discuss why patient leakage is a growing problem in healthcare and 4 marketing and service strategies for driving greater patient loyalty.

Below we've assembled answers to some of the best questions that came out of the event (watch the replay here).

Healthcare Internet Conference recognizes White Rhino with three platinum hospital website awards

Bold, trailblazing and first-of-their-kind projects were recognized at this year's eHealthcare Strategy Leadership Awards. White Rhino is honored to have worked on three experiences that received platinum awards in their respective categories: Overlake Medical Center's Google-like search-based website, Regional Health System's material design-inspired card-based homepage and Ochsner Health System's patient-centric reimagined quality and safety digital assessment tool.

Much like your average cup of joe with cream and sugar, customer experience in healthcare has become a commodity. Patients don’t have any sort of loyalty to a particular brand. In fact, 23% of patients see 3 or more PCPs in just 2 years. And unless you’re delivering a great experience, they’re not simply switching to a new doctor in the same hospital. They’re making a wholesale shift to the hospital across the street. A Press Ganey survey found that hospitals with patient satisfaction in the bottom 10th percentile lost 17% of patient volume.

It’s no secret that the days of “fee-for-service” are nearing an end. What might be less obvious is how this shift to value-based care should impact your healthcare marketing strategy. It’s time to get ready to figure out how your marketing can support more efficient and cost-effective patient acquisition and retention programs. Here are a few steps you can take to get started.  

White Rhino healthcare guest INTERVIEW

I recently sat down with Anaye Milligan, former Digital Marketer Director at Insperity and The New York Times Company, for a fresh perspective on some of the challenges facing today's marketers in healthcare.