field notes

The healthcare industry is up in arms over the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new hospital quality rating measure – 22% of which will be dictated by patient experience. According to Bloomberg BNA, when the new rating system goes into place, “many prominent hospitals that are in the top echelon of other quality rating reports…may receive one or two stars out of a possible five, indicating that they have the poorest quality in comparison with all other hospitals.”

While hospital executives are putting pressure on the CMS to ensure the ratings methodology is accurate and fair, smart marketers aren’t even breaking a sweat. Instead, they’re creating a brand experience that results in happier patients – and quality ratings.

Last April I wrote that mobile and wearable technology will become integrated marketing program differentiators for hospital marketers by offering patient experience strategies that support both the sick and the healthy.

I’ve been talking a lot lately with Dan Greenwald, White Rhino CEO & Chief Creative Officer, about our perspectives on “what’s next” for the agency’s healthcare provider clients. Not the next SEM ad, new page of web content, email blast, microsite or magazine ad. A much deeper and farther-reaching conversation about the future of healthcare provider marketing.

I recently moved to a new town and began the search for a pediatrician for my 19-month old son. I quickly became frustrated with the lack of information. And I’m not alone, 38% of patients wished that they had more information before choosing a doctor.

If I asked you how a hospital develops trustful relationships with patients, you might tell me it’s through patients’ interactions with doctors. Or their experience with the nursing staff. You might be surprised to hear me also say: your website.

We’ve established that fear is the wrong emotion in healthcare marketing. But with 31 other emotions to choose from, how do we know which is the right one to target?

Imagine going home from the hospital just 3 days early after having major, open-heart surgery. That's becoming a reality, aided by new digital health apps that are connecting doctors and patients like never before and redefining what it means to deliver a superior Patient Experience.