Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• Beckers Hospital Review Article: How COVID-19 is changing hospitals' marketing strategies
• Washington Post Article: No Deaths and an Army of Hospital Workers Ready to Fight: A Rural Town’s Prescription For a Nation Weighing What’s Next
• Harvard Business Review Article: How One Health System Is Transforming in Response to COVID-19

Key Takeaways

Geisinger's Marketing Messaging 

• The communications function has pivoted just as the organization has pivoted to reopen.
• Pennsylvania has created a color-coded reopening system.
• One of the hurdles is safety, so we're trying to reinforce that message while supporting operations and clinical teams, and ensuring that we're getting people back appropriately.

Keeping People Informed and Ensuring Operations Continue 

• We pivoted as we shut down non-emergent procedures and closed down many clinics.
  • We provided a prevention message about COVID-19.
  • We were ready as a department to support efforts with marketing materials.

Distributing Internal and External Communications 

• Many of our surrounding households have a Geisinger employee in them, so we have to be very thoughtful about our internal communications from that perspective and think through the community impact of every decision.

Pivoting into a Crisis with New Branding  

• Our new brand message explains why we do what we do, which is what I believe is the essence of a good brand.
  • We did some hard work in 2019 and finished around the holidays.
  • We launched it around our core essence that we're not just about health care; we're about total health.

Brand Evolution in a Post-COVID-19 Environment 

• As a health system in a rural area, we can't postpone needed care — even in a pandemic.
• Some things were postponed that were not life-threatening in March that became life-threatening in May.
• As we move into a potential second surge, we need to be clear about what care our communities still have access to.

Geisinger Moving Forward 

• We saw increased interest in internal communication utilization, so we're going to try to figure out a way to keep that traffic level up through our intranet, push communications, and email.
• We did some experimentation with multicultural marketing because we have pockets of predominately Spanish speaking communities that were not receiving communications.
  • We were seeing them show up in the ED without much information, so we created an infrastructure to support those communities moving forward.
• Utilizing virtual meetings can promote our organizations either from a paid or an earned media perspective.

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

McKinsey & Company COVID-19 Response Center

McKinsey & Company Research: Helping US healthcare stakeholders understand the human side of the COVID-19 crisis

Key Takeaways

McKinsey & Company Research

• Our research focuses on the person as a whole, to understand how COVID-19 has affected them.  
  • There has been an improvement since March, but there are still 53% of respondents in our latest survey who felt they were either anxious, depressed, or both.  
  • The data shows levels of anxiety and depression increasing for individuals in their mid 80’s.
    • From this, we can see that the age group that has the most need is experiencing the most distress out of the entire population.
  • We’ve seen that 70% of individuals are accessing care for their mental health through telehealth during this time.
  • 12% of people have either lost their health insurance or are about to lose their health insurance.
  • 20% of individuals report they haven’t received communications from their healthcare provider.
    • Proactive outreach from their healthcare provider was the most significant indicator of how to get consumers to receive needed care or come in earlier for their care
  • 12% of consumers have not gotten the care they need due to:
    • Not feeling safe in in-person environments.
    • No exposure to telehealth.
    • Other.

How to Support Consumers

• It’s essential to think about the design of your benefits so that people get care when they need it.
  • Consumers are requesting copays and deductibles to be waived for COVID-19 testing.
  • There’s an opportunity for providers to explain what costs will include upfront so that they can set up a payment plan or reduce the amount for patients during this time of transition.

Key Takeaways

Post-COVID-19 Marketing SWOT Review

Strengths:

• The speed of digital/content development was incredibly fast for some organizations.
• Internal comms kept team members informed and confident in key issues surrounding the health system regarding COVID-19.
• Public/media relations (unfortunately, this was also a weakness for some health systems).
• Using scenario planning to get ahead of issues.
• Using consumer research to inform the organization's conversation about messaging.
• Adjusting to the remote working environments.
• Working with physicians - we've seen some health system marketing teams make giant gains here.

Weaknesses:

• Tech stacks weren't able to give us fast enough information to communicate with patients.
• It can be challenging to get approval quickly.
• Marketing, operations, and leadership were/are not aligned.
• Lack of understanding of clinical patient engagement.
• Personalized and coordinated multichannel outreach struggled to scale.

Opportunities:

• Maintaining virtual health - a tremendous new CTA to attract new or engage existing patients.
• Extending current campaigns into something your brand stands for.
• Making things easier with a clear priority.
• Enhancing the understanding of consumer segments (both overall value to the system and at a service line level).

Threats:

• Budget concerns.
• Team member burnout.
• Consumer trust/mistrust.
  • For example: We heard today from a nurse that patients that are returning after delaying care are unhappy because of the severe consequences as a result of that delayed care.

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• National Law Review Article: Proposed California Legislation Would Require State Approval for Health Care M&A and Prohibit Use of Health Care Market Power to Raise Price
• California Healthline Article: California AG Seeks More Power To Battle Merger-Hungry Health Care Chains
• The Bond Buyer Article: Two Big Midwest Hospital Mergers Canceled

Key Takeaways

Examples of canceled M&A plans.

• Michigan-based Beaumont Health and Ohio-based Summa Health called off their plans to form a $6.1 billion system after a definitive agreement was signed.
• Several South Side Chicago hospitals had planned to join forces as part of a $1.1 billion project that included building at least one new hospital and up to half a dozen community health centers.

For communicators who are part of a system moving forward with M&A plans or are considering looking for a partner.

• Emphasize how the proposed transaction will maintain or improve either quality or affordability, ensure access to care for communities, and address the financial challenges faced by health systems as a result of the pandemic.
  • Articulate how the M&A activity will stabilize affected health systems — allowing them to manage the COVID-19 crisis and future pandemics.
  • Speak to audiences in terms of value to all.
    • Center the messages around things like improved quality and stabilization to create a sustainable future in providing care for the community.
  • Communicate messages of job creation and facility creation.
    • People are concerned about job losses with M&A. Think through reactive messages within that context.
  • Highlight how these partnerships will facilitate continued care in a market, which otherwise might lose a valuable healthcare resource.
  • Share positive economic benefits the transaction will bring for local communities.
  • Communications that support the vision, rationale and benefits of a deal will also need to be relevant to the regulatory bodies whose approval may be required.
  • Ensure stabilization where there is only one healthcare agency within the community.
• This goodwill can be valuable as health systems seek stakeholder and community support for their transactions.
  • Public perception and support of healthcare providers have been extremely positive during the pandemic to date, as evidenced by homemade banners, balcony tributes, and praise on social media.
  • Health systems and their staffs have borne personal risk and financial pain by focusing on patients and public health at the expense of all else.
• But that goodwill can also be quickly forgotten.
  • As health systems race to the altar to beat out competitors for M&A targets and other strategic relationships, it is critical that they are thoughtful in structuring their deals and justifying the activity.
    • For example, acquisitions and partnerships involving lucrative executive compensation or severance packages will be viewed negatively if undertaken by a system that instituted large compensation reductions across the system or even furloughed or laid off employees during the pandemic.
• Internal communication has never been more important.
  • We always counsel clients to focus on internal audiences first when announcing an acquisition.
    • But this is even more critical right now since staff have been working tirelessly to treat patients with COVID-19 as well as recover financially from the last few months.
  • Any effective communication plan will need to clearly articulate the benefits to staff and allay any fears of layoffs.

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

Kaiser Family Foundation Article: Opportunities and Barriers for Telemedicine in the U.S. During the COVID-19 Emergency and Beyond

Brookings Article: Removing Regulatory Barriers to Telehealth Before and After COVID-19

U.S. News Article: The Coronavirus Pandemic and the Transformation of Telehealth

Credit Suisse Study: Telehealth Industry: Beyond the Pandemic

Key Takeaways

Telehealth - what should we call it?

• We see telehealth, telemedicine, and virtual medicine used in the majority of industry dialogue right now.
• It can be confusing when organizations define it in different ways.
  • The World Health Organization
    • Telemedicine services are administered by physicians only.
    • Telehealth is a little broader, so its services are administered by a variety of different care providers.
  • The U.S. federal government
    • Telehealth is a broad swath of remote healthcare services, not even entirely clinical.
    • Telemedicine is specific to the remote delivery of clinical care.

The utilization of telehealth.

• Several barriers have prevented the adoption of telemedicine.
  • While many employers report offering telehealth to employees, a large number of consumers are unaware that they have access to it.
  • How many providers can be compensated for telehealth versus in-person visits?
• There have been several restrictions temporarily lifted during COVID-19.
  • Federal
    • Waived HIPAA requirements.
    • Waived out-of-state licensing.
  • State by state
    • Loosened privacy laws.
    • Waived out-of-state licensing requirements.
    • Expanded Medicare programs.

The implications for health systems and hospitals.

• I would expect that states will more permanently wave a lot of in-state licensure requirements.
• What will not continue after COVID-19 is the use of non-HIPAA compliant technologies.
• The service and payment area are still undetermined about what will stay and what will cease after the temporary lifts have concluded.
• A patient is going to be looking at multiple options for how they want to receive care virtually.
  • As health system marketers look to prioritize their own telehealth services, they must approach communication with even more rigor, targeting tactics, and educational messaging than their health plan counterparts.

The impact of consumer perception on telemedicine adoption.

• Consumers are still afraid to go back into hospital settings.
  • They've become comfortable with telehealth, so demand is likely going to continue.

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

CNN Article: US should have a 'couple hundred million' doses of a Covid-19 vaccine by the start of 2021, Fauci says

The Atlantic Article: We Don’t Even Have a COVID-19 Vaccine, and Yet the Conspiracies Are Here

Advisory Board Feature with ReviveHealth: Q&A: The right (and wrong) ways to talk with patients who are frightened to seek care

Key Takeaways

Takeaways from Rapid Recovery in Health Systems

• Patient engagement and personalized messaging have been a significant focus.
• There has been a lack of critical patient communications included in the reopening plans of many health systems. This is often due to limitations regarding consumer targeting. Limitations we’ve seen:
• Recent adoptions to CRM
• Lack of a sophisticated CRM
• Limited ability to work around automated marketing
• Learning the consumer in this new climate is crucial to patient retention.
• Consumers are wanting detailed information explaining how hospitals are going to keep them safe when they show up to their appointments.
• Consumers’ frequency of hearing about COVID-19 has shown to be an essential factor in our research.

Messaging Matters – Our Recommendations  

• We need to keep in mind who is delivering our messages.
• Physicians are our biggest advocates, so we need to support them by keeping them informed by not leaving them off our communication plan.
• Cross-functional alignment with health systems and marketers is crucial so that marketers can adequately adjust how we are marketing and how we are communicating with patients.

Forcing Function for Systems

• COVID-19 provided a silver lining highlighting the need for tools that have been on the health systems marketer’s wish list for many years.
• There’s been a significant increase in telehealth adoption, which is more convenient, less expensive, and overall provides better clinical care.  
• The rise of martech capabilities and tools
• Improving personalized marketing and consumer targeting  
• Smarter service line prioritization  

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• American College of Surgeons COVID-19 Resources

Key Takeaways

Empowering Surgeons as Surgery Schedules Ramp Up

• The work marketers and communicators are doing to spread the message of it being okay to come back to hospitals is crucial in easing fears and preventing people from delaying needed care.
  • It’s on us to inform and empower surgeons so that they can meet the fears of those receiving care.
• Surgeons have been incredibly willing to take the steps necessary to make their patients feel comfortable.
  • National and international organizations are helping surgeons by offering locally relevant resources to ease the additional responsibility of surgeons trying to earn trust from patients to come back into their hospitals.

Handling Surgery Friction Caused by Pent up Demand

• Finding ways to ramp up surgeries that work well for the institution, the surgeon, and the patient creates points of friction.
  • Clear communication is crucial in navigating this time.

Elective and Nonelective Surgery

• COVID-19 has brought to light an issue in the impact of language and terms relating to how patients think about surgery.
• The pausing of elective surgeries during this time has caused a significant impact on patients that delayed care and are in crucial need of it now. 

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• Health Affairs Article: Inequity: Society’s Most Important Pre-Existing Condition
• Health Affairs Article: Inequities Amplified By COVID-19: Opportunities For Medicaid To Address Health Disparities

Key Takeaways

Cincinnati Children's Community Outreach

• We're trying to not only identify where the disparities are, but also get beyond just describing them.
  • We're trying to figure out what pathways are creating them and who are high-leverage partners in the community to address this.
• We've worked to take our quality improvement work from inside the hospital and bring it out into the community to help guide our partnerships and work collectively with multiple institutions to address child health disparities.
  • Whatever we redesign must be consonant with their issues around trust and value.

The Importance of Trust Right Now  

• We work closely with our partners in community relations because it's critical in building sustained dialogue directly with our communities.  
• It's important to bring families directly into our planning circles and execution circles in order to guid us along the way.
• Delivering results is the most crucial aspect of building trust.

The Disproportionate Effect on Vulnerable Communities  

• Mortality and case rates are roughly double in minority communities.
  • Potentially because a segment is at increased risk or there's diminished access to effective treatment.  
• The day we get a highly effective vaccine, the greater the opportunity for huge disparities to arise.
• There's an increased risk of exposure in the occupations they have, less ability to stay home and protect oneself, and less access to protective equipment.  
• Additionally, access to testing is increasingly looming as a challenge for prisons, domestic violence shelters, and dense housing complexes.  

The Importance of Communicating to All Communities

• There's right content, myths, and messages to get out to the right spokespeople.
• You then have to decide what format and distribution channels will help you reach these diverse audiences in your region.
• To help, you should partner with community influential community members.

The Diversity of the Cincinnati Community

• 40% to 50% are African American.
• 30% to 40% are white.  
• 5% to 10% are Latino (rapidly growing).

Effective Ways to Reach Disadvantaged Communities

• Food insecurity is a tough topic for most institutions, so it's assumed that many cities face lost jobs and food insecurity.  
• The Cincinnati public schools quickly opened up 24 meal delivery sites, and we have a standing relationship with the public schools around their education work. We partnered with them around those sites and focused on:
  • How do we let them be the infrastructure in a platform around food, but how do we partner with them and bring health information into that space and then not just health information.

Common Obstacles

• One risk of engaging in the food insecurity space would be the failure to communicate your purpose correctly.  
• As you try to work in a vulnerable neighborhood, you should find out who the internal stakeholders are and who needs to be engaged.

Advice for Marketing and Communications Leaders

• I think it's an excellent opportunity for us to engage our communications experts with people at the furthest reaches of the front lines and harvest or crowdsource the problems we're seeing.  
• You want to make sure you're hearing from front-line innovators as well and see if you can get them involved.  
• Don't let this fall off your radar  
  • This type of work is an opportunity to build for the next 10 years.
  • The value premise, as many of us are shifting from volume to value-based payment, is keeping families healthy. It's all the more reason to make this upfront investment now in addressing health disparities and communicating well.

The Focus on Inequity and Vulnerable Communities at Cincinnati Children's  

• Our CEO and our board chair not only care passionately about the issue, but they also take time to work with internal communications to make sure that that message gets out internally.
• Getting other hospital leaders to understand that about 25% of our population is well below the mean can help get them on your side and buy into the strategies and efforts you're putting in place. 

Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• APM Research Lab Report: COVID-19 deaths analyzed by race and ethnicity
• CarePort Health COVID-19 Hub

Key Takeaways

CarePort Health  

• We added a survey to our platform, asking post-acute providers if they have the equipment to care for COVID-19 patients or have COVID-19 patients in their care.
• We found that only 6% of nursing homes can care for post-COVID-19 patients.  

Building rapport with health system leadership

• We’re a small team that strives to be nimble. Our most significant change since we’ve been home is to over-communicate.  
• Our focus is to insert ourselves into the conversation in a way that is helpful.
• Focusing on following up and providing the next steps to the leadership team is my current way of touching base.
• I’m providing the sales team with a weekly wrap up, and the entire company a monthly email explaining the marketing and sales team’s happenings, so it gives everyone a look at what we’re doing.
• We’re holding townhalls more frequently so that everyone can connect and touch base.

CarePort Health Covid-19 Hub

• We’re generally trying to reach people in the healthcare realm. In this instance, the data has a much broader application. We’ve created this COVID-19 hub to provide helpful information to inform customers and consumers. 

Key Resources Mentioned in Today's Episode

• Rev Cycle Intelligence Article: Volume Declines Drive Hospital Operating Margins Down 282% in April

Key TakeAways

Salinas Valley’s Crisis Response

• We were seeing people put off critical care and recognized the need for us to communicate that it’s safe to come back for care.
• Once we started reassurance messaging, we saw an increase in patients around mid to late April.
• In the last couple of weeks or so, we’ve restarted our scheduled surgeries processing again.

Salinas’s unique experience during the evolution of COVID-19?

• There’s a sizable agricultural history here. We call it the salad bowl of the world. We provide a large number of provisions to the entire world.
• There are thousands of employees living and working in very close conditions, so we started seeing cases appearing.
• We wanted to focus on a strategy to help educate these workers:
  • We’ve sent our nurses out to the fields to conduct training with workers about sanitation at the worksite and home.  
  • We’ve also donated masks.
• We’ve always focused on our cultural understanding of our care, but we’ve tried a few new tactics during this time:
  • We provided a Facebook live with a Spanish speaking physician and had a peak of over 800 viewers join the livestream.

Scheduling Surgeries  

• Before implementing the process, we spent a couple of weeks figuring out what it would look like. We asked:  
  • How do we test the people a couple of days before they come in?
  • How do we give them instructions to isolate between that test and when they’re coming into the surgery?  
• We started by conducting a few surgeries with the process to see how it works, and then Tuesday of this week, we started ramping up.  
• In terms of communications and marketing, we started internally and made sure that our employees knew exactly what we were doing and started putting the message out externally.

The "Be Well" Campaign

• People need a message of what they should be doing. So, we’re looking at a traditional brand-level campaign that gives people some options on how they can stay connected.  
• The idea is to set the stage for people to start thinking about health care again and start thinking about how we want to support them.  
• It’s important to provide high level messaging that’s more aspirational, and then other messaging that is more specific to interactions.  

The Campaigns Evolution

• There wasn’t enough time for detailed focus group testing. So, we were able to get some input in different ways. It’s important to keep connections in place, even as some of the restrictions start to lift.  
• It is essential to keep the campaign flexible because things can change in a matter of 30 days.