By Jason Snyder
Because of our firm’s focus on health care communications, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with some great health care leaders. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the CEO of an independent community health system. That in and of itself can sometimes be an accomplishment, given how busy health system CEOs are in this current health care environment. But my friend was gracious enough to take the time to talk with me about how he believes systems like his can thrive in a time when many community hospitals are susceptible to closing or joining a larger system in an attempt to keep their doors open.
According to American Hospital Association statistics, in 2005, 55 percent of hospitals were part of health systems, up from 46 percent just five years earlier. These numbers illustrate the fact that in some markets, independent community hospitals are straining to remain strategically and financially competitive and may be considering partnering with another entity. Further, according to AHA data, the United States has 893 fewer hospitals today than it had in 1990 as a result of mergers, acquisitions and closures.
So what is the solution for independent community hospitals? It may well be creating a new model of integration in which community hospitals in the same region build collaborative relationships with each other yet remain independent and, in fact, still compete with each other. Under this model, they can ally themselves against behemoths like the Ascension Health, Tenet Healthcare Corporation and Sutter Health systems of the world. What my friend described is a merger of equals that still allows for opportunities for each individual system.
Whether it be bringing all of a single health system’s physicians into the fold as employees to gain economies of scale and share technology, leveraging differentiators such as a residency program within a community hospital as a feeder system for other hospitals in the newly integrated model, or a creative combination of strategies, many possibilities exist for growth and security.
The way medicine was delivered 20 years ago is not the same today and clearly won’t be 20 years from now. As health care delivery evolves, especially for community hospitals, so too must the mindset of the consumer and other hospital stakeholders. Influencing that change of mind and behavior and helping them understand why the changes were made and how they’ll benefit them will be critical to ensure a successful new model. Effectively communicating with stakeholders also will ensure that market share grows and patients won’t migrate to larger systems.
Just as the biggest systems have millions of dollars to regularly make new capital purchases to keep up with ever-changing technology, they also have millions in their marketing arsenal to make beautiful commercials and ads that keep their brand front and center. Community hospitals don’t have those resources, and today, as communications undergoes a tectonic shift, it’s not necessary to have such a war chest for communicating. There is still a place for community hospital advertising, but to communicate substantively, to really help consumers understand and ultimately engage them as champions of the change and the new brand, the right combination of traditional and social media is critical.
Social media – blogging, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube – along with search engine-optimized web sites, press releases and byline articles, levels the playing field with the largest of systems. Community health systems can have robust, results-driven social media strategies. Coupled with traditional public relations activities, including media relations and speaking engagements, social media can be a game-changer.
I’m not qualified to say whether the new integrated community hospital model will work. But knowing the CEO behind the vision, I’d bet on it. I can say with absolute certainty that a communications strategy today – whether it’s addressing change in health care or quelling a crisis – must engage audiences in two-way communications, not speak at them, and that strategy must include traditional and social media.
Health care experts, communications experts, others – what do you think?
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Jason Snyder is vice president of WordWrite Communications.
