Hospitals, Patient Engagement

SHSMD: Healthcare marketing pros say this industry stinks

That’s the message the Twitter stream tells from SHSMD Connections?, the annual conference of an American Hospital Association? branch called the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development?, or SHSMD.

By Neil Versel on October 14, 2015

Even marketing professionals can’t pretend that healthcare in the U.S. isn’t terrible.

At least that’s the message the Twitter stream tells from SHSMD Connections, the annual conference of an American Hospital Association branch called the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, or SHSMD. The event wrapped up Wednesday in Washington.

An early SHSMD Connections session on building trust seemed telling.

Hospitals tend to be more trusted than health insurers, possibly because hospitals are in the business of caring and insurers often are in the business of denying coverage.

That might just be the result of a lack of evidence, though.

sponsored content

A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma

A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.

By PurpleLab

Indeed, as MedCity News’ marketing strategist Kate Eidam relayed, provider ratings often are meaningless in terms of quality.

Other aspects of U.S. healthcare are equally questionable. What’s more important to Americans, access to massive piles of meat or access to care? That’s easy, if the market is any indication.

 

Despite the advent of the Affordable Care Act and health insurance exchanges, shopping for coverage isn’t exactly easy, either. Sure, this is an exaggeration, but there’s more than a kernel of truth in there.

 

As for the consumer revolution in healthcare we’ve been hearing about for the last few years, perhaps the revolution will not be televised. Either that, or it’s a tougher battle than the early revolutionaries anticipated.

Patients are trying to get their voices heard, though, and healthcare organizations are trying to hear their messages. Social media certainly has changed that dynamic.

On second thought, maybe healthcare is changing, and the changes are happening away from traditional institutions. Let’s take a break and put on some music to lift our spirits.

Photo: Twitter user Bernadette Keefe