With the Year 2000 just 22 days away, healthcare communicators can expect to be pulled in several challenging directions, from discussing patient quality initiatives and overcoming the managed care consumer backlash to promoting new patient privacy standards. Despite how stressful these issues make your job, never lose sight of the need to address them through a local magnifying glass. Fortunately, the climate for communicating with your community in the 21st century couldn't be more promising, say the experts HPRMN spoke with about the issues that will shape the industry in the Year 2000. CEOs and executive boards will place a higher premium on strategic outreach, the Internet will provide a vast spectrum of targeting opportunities and consumers will increasingly demand to be empowered with healthcare information. Here, leading communicators from advocacy organizations and consulting firms share their thoughts on the emerging, hot-button PR and marketing issues that will dominate the Y2K healthcare landscape.
Connecting with the Community
Rick Wade, senior VP of communications at the American Hospital Association, 202/626-2963. http://www.aha.org.
HPRMN: What pressing hospital issues should communicators expect to address in the Year 2000?
RW:
They will need to put aside their marketing hat for awhile and replace it with a 'connect with the community' one. We need to focus more on providing frank talk with the community on the issues they care about, like care delivery and the nursing shortage.
The nursing shortage situation is very different from the '80s when salary and benefits were the top issues. Nurses are now concerned about the kind of job they can do for patients. As one nurse said in our Reality Check survey, "I am no longer loyal to my hospital, I am loyal to my patients."
[As hospital communicators], we have to convince the public that nurse staffing is adequate and that we are capable of delivering good care at the bedside.
Another critical issue is medical errors [which has been in the media all week]. Congress will hold a hearing on the Institute of Medicine's report on medical errors that we've heard so much about lately and we will have to deal with these new concerns about patient safety.
We can't change the perception of hospitals until we change the reality of how care is delivered. And public perception of healthcare is badly eroding. Patients are very frustrated with their encounters with physicians whom they tend to see for only a few minutes.
As communicators we have to be catalyst for [positive] change to upper management and board members. We have to go beyond simply measuring patient satisfaction to identify what's really driving community impressions of our hospitals.
We also have to do a better job of convincing the public that hospitals aren't big businesses concerned only with the bottom line. A lot of us have been speaking and acting like big corporate businesses. The public doesn't care about our corporate realities, they want to know that when they see that blue and white "H" sign in their communities that they will be cared for one patient at a time.
Making Sense of Medical Research
Kay Golan, director of communications at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 404/639-7394. http://www.cdc.gov.
HPRMN: What media strategies are most effective in maintaining the accuracy of medical findings and what will be the hot research areas in the Year 2000?
KG:
The most important media strategy for maintaining the accurate reporting of medical research is developing one key message that summarizes the bottom line of the research findings. This is not always easy because scientists find this difficult to do. But if you don't highlight the bottom line in your press releases the media will. After you've effectively identified a key summary message, develop two or three complementary messages about the issue. Everything else in your press release should flow from these key points.
We also have to do a better job of putting medical findings into perspective for our audiences with basic prevention messages and reminding them that science and medicine are always evolving. There's a real tendency for the media to report on new findings as though they are absolute.
The medical research topics that the CDC will be focusing on in the Year 2000 will be areas like emerging infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and overall health promotion and disease prevention. We'll also be taking a closer look at injury prevention, environmental health and bioterrorism prevention.
Hot Button Women's Health Issues
Dr. Eileen Kahan, chair of the American Medical Women's Association's publicity and public relations committee, 781/861-0994, http://www.amwa.org.
HPRMN: What will be the top issues that will shape women's health next year?
EK:
The issues that will get considerable attention are quite controversial like women's reproductive health options and abortion rights and domestic abuse. Other issues that we need to boost awareness about are the barriers to healthcare coverage women face and adverse effects of tobacco on women.
We have to more aggressively target popular magazines and television shows with issues like cervical and ovarian cancer that don't get adequate press coverage. The public also needs to be made aware of the lack of women in key medical research.
Ultimately what will make a difference in promoting women's health is more strategic alliances among women's groups.
Editor's Note: AMWA recently approved four new position papers that address universal access to healthcare, prevention and early detection of colorectal cancer in women, anti-trust issues and abortion and access to comprehensive reproductive health services.
Harnessing the Net
John Eudes, principal of Greystone.Net, an interactive healthcare consulting firm in Atlanta, 770/220-0229, ext. 102.
HPRMN: How can hospitals maximize their presence online?
JE:
The hottest online opportunities for healthcare communicators are in three key areas: information, interactivity and transaction. The Internet can help position providers as community [health] information resources that establish trust for organization brands and build patient volume. In the area of interactivity, providers can develop local healthcare portals that allow users to access a range of services that they may or may not specialize in. For instance, the Jefferson Health System in Philadelphia provides information on several non-acute healthcare services even though they specialize in acute care. The Web site provides links to ambulatory care, nursing homes and alternative medicine.
Funding healthcare Web sites has to be considered a component of a marketing strategy that helps brand the hospital and improve the health of the community.
What is going to be the big rage with healthcare Web sites is permission marketing in which users give permission to receive information about particular subjects and personal pages. Patients can be given appointment reminders and create pages from your Web site that highlights the information they've pre-selected.
Taking the Alternative Path
Leah Kliger, principal of the Lakes Group in Lake Stevens, Wash., 425/334-5926, email:[email protected].
HPRMN: Where are the most exciting opportunities for traditional providers to integrate alternative healthcare services?
LK:
For traditional providers the hottest areas of alternative medicine are botanical medicines, nutraceuticals, vitamins and herbs as well as specific service lines like women's health, cancer care and chronic care. The market for vitamins and herbs is huge and hospitals and health systems can get into it by selling high-quality professional herbal products in outpatient pharmacies and free-standing fitness, sports and rehab centers.
People who buy vitamins want to have traditional providers guide them. They are willing to pay a premium for these products [if physicians provide the necessary input]. There are nearly 40 professional quality herb suppliers that sell exclusively to providers, which have undergone rigorous testing. The real marketing opportunities are in educating pharmacists, nurses and physicians on the demand for these services.
The media also love this whole area of alternative health but they are just as confused as consumers on how to best navigate the industry. Hospitals that provide alternative services can educate reporters by doing media tours that focus on how these services are integrated into the traditional provider environment.
In the area of women's services the key target for complementary alternative medicine is women between the ages of 20 and 60. They are the primary decision-makers for their families and they are often searching for alternative treatments to conditions like endometriosis, menopause and the nausea affiliated with pregnancy. They are open to using massage, acupuncture and botanicals to complement the traditional care they receive.
For cancer patients and those who suffer from chronic conditions, acupuncture treatments and vitamins and herbs are effective for healing support. Conventional medicine hasn't been completely effective in treating these conditions long term. There are about 100,000 citations available on the safety and efficacy of alternative medicine services. It's important for providers to do the necessary research on the particular area of alternative medicine they are interested in offering. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, an arm of the National Institutes of Health (http://nccam.nih.gov) is a great resource.
Although the demand for alternative services is high among consumers, physicians are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Hospitals have to find one or more physicians willing to champion the cause of integrating alternative services with traditional medicine.