Healthcare Marketing

It has been said that the U.S. healthcare industry's ongoing transformation creates both trials and opportunities for marketers. This transition is driven by two variables. One is a fee-for-service payment system to a healthcare delivery model based quality outcomes and patient satisfaction. The second is the rise of the authorized healthcare consumer. These changes affect both the "how" and the "who" of medical marketing strategies that are put into place. 

Key Trends that every healthcare marketer should consider:

Doctors Becoming Employees

Regulations Affordable Care Act of 2013, hospitals have been buying up physician practices at a faster rate. They are forming combined systems so they are better able to organize the care among physicians, hospitals and other parts of the healthcare system. How it works is, it starts with the Healthcare System, then there is Purchasing involved which reflects onto the Doctors, followed by the care option which is the Healthcare Consumers. 

 In a recent Survey of Physicians:

·        22% of physicians in all specialties are employed by a hospital.

·        14% are employed in a single or multi-specialty owned by a hospital.

·        14% are employed by a privately owned single or multi-specialty clinic.

·        9% are employed as independent contractors or Locums.

·        The number of primary care physicians employed by hospitals increased from 10% in 2012 to 20% in 2014.

When doctors become employees, they lose their ability to be the final decision makers, when it comes to buying medical services and products. Instead, they are part of a purchasing process encompassed of a number of people and, most likely, a group of purchasing organization.

Consumers Becoming Keen Scholars

With the power of the Internet and today’s healthcare consumer. They are no longer content to blindly accepting a physician. They do their homework before visiting a doctor. They research their conditions and treatment options after visiting a doctor as well. They see healthcare as a partnership between themselves and their doctors. They take responsibility for their own health and the decisions they make for themselves. The doctor no longer has the only say on treatment, hospitals, medications, etc.- it now controlled more by the consumer.

 According to a Medical Research Journal

·        One in three American adults have gone online to figure out a medical condition.

·        72% of Internet users say they looked online for health information within the past year.

·        47% of Internet users search for information about doctors or other health professionals.

·        38% of Internet users search for information about hospitals and other medical facilities.

·        The most commonly researched topics are specific diseases or conditions; treatments or procedures; and doctors or other health professionals.

 Digital Channels Outdoing Traditional Marketing.

What we are seeing today is a continuation in trends which kicked into overdrive during the last couple of years. Digital vs. Traditional. This is actually true for all marketing sectors, including provider-to-consumer marketing.

For consumer marketing tactics, the greatest growth is taking place in mobile/tablet apps, social media and digital ads. Hospital providers are also shifting to digital channels to market to healthcare consumers.

According to Google:

·        77% of patients use search engines prior to booking appointments.

·        Search drives nearly three times as many visitors to hospital sites, compared to visitors from other referral sites.

·        44% of patients who research hospitals on a mobile device schedule an appointment.

·        Before the moment of conversion, patients typically search on symptoms and condition terms.

Digital Content is Key to the Decision Route

 It is stated that prior to booking an appointment:

·        77% of patients used search.

·        83% used hospital sites.

·        54% used health insurance company sites.

·        50% used health information sites.

·        26% used consumer-generated reviews.

Healthcare marketers continue to adapt to the new reality brought about by the shift to payments based on outcomes, increasing transparency, and an invested healthcare consumer are all headed to a full 100% Digital World.