Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

Facts and Trends You Need to Know

By Daniel Dreaden

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, providing an opportunity for everyone to become familiar with the facts and prevention methods associated with this disease. Consider this: more than 3.8 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with breast cancer and it kills more than 42,000 people each year. How can we all work together to reduce the incidents of this disease in the years to come? 

Extensive research has been done to determine the actual factors that increase risk. (For more information on that research, see Factors That Affect Breast Cancer Risk at Susan G. Komen®.) Some of the risk factors that have been studied include: weight gain, race and ethnicity, inherited gene mutations, menopausal hormone therapy, and exercise.

Take some time this month to learn more, including reviewing and sharing our infographic below. Then consider donating to research efforts aimed at reducing the incidents of this disease.

Cultivate Experiences that Inspire Loyalty and Trust

By Carly Farlow

Stratasan team members have been busy attending conferences these last few weeks. In particular, Inbound and SHSMD. A recurring theme at both conferences was an emphasis on creating memorable experiences for current and potential customers through human-to-human (H2H) marketing. Inc. describes H2H marketing in this way:

“Machine learning is giving marketers more insights into what people are doing and searching. Yet, despite the proliferation of software tools, there's a shift back to the good old days of personalization at a 1:1 level. At the end of the day, regardless of whether you're in marketing for a business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) organization, it's about creating human-to-human (H2H) connections.” Sangram Vajre, Inc.

Customer success and traditional marketing are blending to create a new category of marketing—one that’s focused on the person on the receiving end of your brand experience. No amount of data, demographics, or psychographics can replace the value of tailored, personable communications.

Track Your Patient’s Journey for More Informed Growth Planning

By Jennifer Beck

As we countdown the days to the 2020 election, political debate over how to improve the US healthcare system continues. A push for lower cost, higher quality care is a top focus for many candidates. Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions between hospitals and health-care focused companies continue to transpire. These unions often tout similar goals of better care and reduced expenses, though there is debate, of course, over the likelihood of those results. 

No one truly knows what the future of healthcare in the US will look like. But for the immediate future, the shift by insurers and health systems to a value-based reimbursement methodology is already underway.  

In a value-based reimbursement model, providers are compensated for the quality of the care they provide which is measured by patient health outcomes. They are rewarded for effectively managing the health of individuals and populations. 

As value-based reimbursement models become more common, the need for a more team-oriented approach to patient care is also a must. Care must be coordinated across the continuum to deliver the best health outcomes possible.

Test Your Music City Knowledge With These 10 Questions

By Megan Reeves

The Stratasan team loves trivia. In fact, we have a team that regularly competes in a weekly trivia night in Nashville, TN where we are based. With SHSMD 2019 in our hometown, we saw the perfect opportunity to pair our love for trivia with our love for Nashville.

The following quiz is filled with questions referencing unique and little-known Nashville lore. Take a few minutes to test your Nashville savvy and for those of you attending SHSMD 2019, take away a few conversation starters you can test out with new friends you make during the week.

Just How Nashville—and SHSMD—Ready Are You?

By Sean Conway

By Lee Ann Lambdin

The Society of Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) annual conference is the biggest healthcare strategy conference nationwide. With the goal of “composing the future of health care strategy,” it’s a must-attend event for healthcare marketing, communications, business development, and strategic planning professionals. Headed into its 23rd year, SHSMD Connections 2019 is taking place September 8 - 11 in our hometown, Nashville, TN.

Utilization and Value in the Wake of an FSER Boom

By Morgan Atkins

Over the last several years, freestanding emergency rooms (FSERs) have seen a boom in popularity. FSERs provide 24/7 emergency care and are physically separate from a hospital campus. The allure of these offsite emergency departments stems from their potential to increase access to healthcare resources. However, FSERs are falling under scrutiny for the lack of price transparency and their tendency to operate in more affluent, populated areas.

Florida's state health regulatory entity, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), provides publicly available data on emergency room visits for the state of Florida. The AHCA data provides a field to differentiate which emergency visits occurred at a hospital-based ER and those at a FSER. Stratasan has analyzed the impact and utilization of FSERs to determine if they are providing a benefit to the communities they serve. Check out our infographic to find out what we learned.

How Leaders Can Look Within for Answers

By Morgan Atkins

With healthcare reimbursement constantly changing, health systems and hospitals are searching for new revenue streams to diversify their income. Financial cuts, new regulations, and payer contract negotiations have pushed healthcare institutions to find new, creative ways to keep revenue flowing while still maintaining high quality care.

“Exploring diversified, innovative revenue streams” was listed as third most important issue of strategic importance in a recent survey of 146 C-suite executive. A Becker’s Hospital Review article covering this survey shared that “C-suite executives at both health systems and community hospitals are shifting their focus to nontraditional sources of growth rather than relying solely on conventional determinants of market share.”

Tell a More Powerful Data Story with the Right Use of Color

By Morgan Atkins 

TED speakers David Grady and Jason Fried share in this infographic that organizations hold more than 3 billion meetings each year and executives spend 40–50 percent of their working hours—or twenty-three hours per week—in meetings. As a healthcare marketer or strategic planner, you can likely relate to these statistics, as you spend much of your time preparing for, leading, or following up on meetings. 

The presentations you create for your meetings can have a major impact on how successful your meetings will be. When your meetings include the delivery of data-based insights, it is especially important for your presentations to include well-designed, colorful visualizations.

Practical Guidance for Marketers and Planners Trying to Navigate Change

By Lee Ann Lambdin

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions across the US continue at a rapid pace. According to Becker's Hospital Review, about $2.35 trillion in deals occurred globally [in 2018], up 57 percent compared to the same period last year. “Whether it’s hospitals buying up independent medical practices, hospital systems swallowing one another, or insurance companies merging with pharmacy chains, the prevailing attitude now is that bigger is better,” Medical Economics.

Gist Healthcare recently shared this graphic, which highlights how consolidated the hospital sector has become. Gist’s graphic displays how health systems account for more than 90 percent of all discharges in the US, with the largest 11 systems accounting for a quarter of discharges, and the largest 67 accounting for half. 

How can healthcare strategic planners and marketers stay focused, yet flexible, during these times of consolidation and change? This post provides practical tips for how to deal with the inevitable challenges that will come during an integration. Key elements include: 

• Uniting separate strategies
• Managing and merging multiple brands
• Using your influence to affect change