The staying power of integrated health networks (IHN) is convincing even the staunchest marketing naysayers that, where managed care contracting is concerned, there is strength
in numbers. As of March, 290 hospitals have shifted into IHN affiliations. Although this represents a net decrease of 38 hospitals belonging to an IHN since January 1999 (from
3,096 to 3,058), the industry's consolidation trends will remain steady, says Therese Zanglin, a senior analyst with SMG Marketing in Chicago. SMG recently ran the numbers on IHN
activity for the last three years and found that since 1997 these affiliations have been on the upswing for the most part.
Hospitals are buying into the promise of managed care cost containment through integration -- 43% of the nation's hospitals have maintained their IHN status. Community
hospitals are driving the recent trends, with 49% of them belonging to an IHN.
But integrated networks are only as strong as their weakest physician links. "If any dissatisfaction does exist, it seems to be because relatively few of the nation's 595 IHNs
have yet to be successful in achieving significant clinical integration or effectively integrating their acquired physicians and medical group practices," according to the SMG
report.
Getting physician buy-in starts with a compelling value proposition that conveys an up-front commitment to helping their practices grow market share.
When Tenet's Brookwood Medical Center (BMC) in Birmingham negotiated a joint marketing agreement with Cardiovascular Associates (CA) last year, it broke the ice with a
research-driven marketing proposal.
In addition to agreeing to split the cost of marketing CA's eight office locations, the hospital highlighted how customized market research reports would help the physician
practices better identify where the strongest cardiovascular targeting opportunities exist.
The research, generated by HCIA-Sachs, was also a major draw for CA's physician executives because they hadn't had the resources to segment potential customers, says Joann
Clough, BMC's director of marketing.
The partnership has resulted in BMC and CVA identifying what the geographic market potential is for:
- women's cardiovascular opportunities; and
- the middle-aged and senior population at highest cardiovascular risk.
Beyond forging stronger physician relationships through research, hospital marketers can spearhead communication opportunities to educate physicians on the managed care trends
that will most affect them.
Some of the key areas in which physicians need consistent reinforcement are utilization management, quality initiatives, risk management, reimbursement and disease management,
says David White, chief operating officer of Physician and Hospital Solutions, a healthcare consulting firm in Denver.
(SMG, Therese Zanglin, 312/642-3026; Brookwood Medical Center, Joann Clough, 205/877-1872; Physician and Hospital Solutions, David White, 303/973-4480