Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

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.

How to Gain Leadership Trust, Support, and Collaboration

By Stephanie Johnson

Many healthcare organizations have a physician relations effort, but the value that c-suite leaders place on this effort can vary significantly. Leading programs establish a system for how to communicate the right information and demonstrate the right value to their leaders.

This session, titled Does Your Organization Really Value Physician Relations? Was led by Kriss Barlow, Principal of Barlow/McCarthy, and Mitzi Kent, Vice President of Strategic Growth and Provider Recruitment/Relations for Lifepoint Health. It had the following key learning objectives:

• Understand the need for aligning program goals with the organization’s strategic goals
• Clearly describe the must haves for demonstrating value to the internal stakeholders
• Create a plan that details the steps to achieve a stronger value with internal leaders

The Huggins Hospital Strategic Planning Success Story

By Monika O’Clair, Huggins Hospital VP of Strategy and Community Relations and Lee Ann Lambdin, Stratasan SVP Healthcare Strategy

Measure Effectiveness and Communicate Value to Your Organization

By Brian Dailey

One of the great things about attending the Society of Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) annual conference is talking directly with our customers. If one were to build a Venn diagram of SHSMD attendees and Stratasan clientele, the circles would very nearly overlap.

A common thread I've heard in these conversations is that proving the value of planning and marketing to the rest of the business can be very difficult. Businesses want to see a very clear return on investment, and it's on marketing and planning departments to not only do their jobs, but also communicate the value of their jobs to the rest of the organization. This is especially true as the industry continues to do more with less (as has been very succinctly described in SHSMD's "Bridging Worlds.")

Up Your Pop Culture Game With These 10 Questions

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. As we prepared for SHSMD 2018, we saw the perfect opportunity to pair our love for trivia with one of the key events of the conference—the 2018 networking social being held at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). The following quiz is filled with trivia questions referencing exhibitions currently on display at the museum. Take a few minutes to test your pop culture savvy and for those of you attending SHSMD 2018, take away a few conversation starters you can test out with new friends you make at the networking event.

Restaurants, Breweries, and Hotspots You Won’t Want to Miss

By Sean Conway

You’ve made it to SHSMD Connections 2018, congrats! While your main goal over the next few days will be to make lasting connections with some of the estimated 1,200+ healthcare professionals on-site and attend as many sessions and keynotes as possible, it’s not a bad idea to plan a few local activities as well.

The Washington State Convention Center and surrounding hotels are located in the heart of downtown Seattle, the ideal hub to access all of the city's best drinking and dining opportunities. Take advantage of this and check out the Seattle foodie scene to bond with co-workers or mingle and connect with other SHSMD attendees.

By Lee Ann Lambdin

In 2013, Centura Health was a four-hospital system in the Denver area on the verge of becoming irrelevant in their market. Solely hospital-centric and expecting people to come to them, they had no ambulatory presence. In search of some fresh ideas and guidance on how to implement change, they engaged Health System Advisors to increase their ambulatory services in the market.

By Lee Ann Lambdin

While there is definitely a focus on education at SHSMD Connections 2017, this conference also presents an opening for more than 100 companies from across the country to connect with knowledgeable healthcare professionals and discuss opportunities for partnership. For companies looking to gain visibility, establish vital relationships, and position their products and services in front of healthcare strategy leaders, SHSMD is known as the place make it happen.