Insight

A Case Study in Service Line Marketing A COMMUNITY HOSPITAL GENERATES NEARLY 1,000 ORTHOPEDIC PROCEDURES — AND $8.5:1 ROI — BY LEVERAGING CRM DATA TO DRIVE AN INTEGRATED SERVICE LINE CAMPAIGN. Barton Memorial Hospital is an acute care hospital serving South Lake Tahoe, California, and surrounding communities. The flagship hospital of Barton Health partnered with True North Custom to develop a service line growth campaign designed to generate profitable volume by targeting commercially insured patients who are ideal candidates for elective, high-revenue procedures. After conducting analysis of the patient data using the TrueInsights™ CRM, True North Custom recommended that the initial campaign focus on the Tahoe Center for Orthopedics, a nationally recognized, comprehensive center for orthopedic excellence. To identify the best candidates for the orthopedics campaign, True North Custom determined the hospital's top orthopedic diagnosis codes and created a profile of the "ideal orthopedic patient" for Barton Health. This helped True North Custom analysts create a propensity model to find prospects in the community who were most likely to need treatment for joint or spine pain. Through a mix of online and offline content using predictive analytic targeting and behavior-based paid media profiles, Barton Health is able to connect with individuals at the moment of truth and earlier in their decision cycle when they are beginning to consider their options. After 10 months, the campaign generated 993 orthopedic procedures for an ROI of $8.52:1. This includes the acquisition of 141 new patients and growth from 852 existing patients. insight into SERVICE LINE MARKETING "We all want what's best for the patient, but change is always hard," Olderog says. "That's why it's important to market to your internal team members—to make sure all understand the benefits to the patients under the new care model." PRINCIPLE 2: FOCUS ON PATIENT BENEFITS UnityPoint Health took a multichannel approach to engage the various audiences involved. The communication strategy, grounded in the concept of "Rapid Recovery," included direct mail, billboards, dedicated pages on the system's website, and other touch points that illustrated the benefits of a one- night stay. "We wanted to focus on the patient experience and specifically on the element of control," Olderog says. "The outpatient setting allows people to get back to their home environment. Being able to control factors such as medication use and noise level contributes to an accelerated recovery." PRINCIPLE 3: AVOID A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH TO MARKETING On top of marketing the right services, UnityPoint Health is also strategically targeting high-risk patients rather than blanket tactics. The messaging varies based on the population, which is segmented into patients vs. prospects, high vs. low risk, and other categories. As in all effective marketing efforts, aligning the message with the audience is critical. Olderog found the patient demands in each region to be unique, and her team tailored the marketing and operational experience to align with each market. "Make sure your marketing isn't directed at everyone," she says. "For example, some markets have strong rehabilitation centers that offer spa- type services, so we developed strategies to address that barrier to discharging patients directly home." PRINCIPLE 4: LET THE DATA DO THE TALKING Surgeons are scientists, and reaching them means speaking their language. For UnityPoint Health, this meant developing cost and quality outcome reporting for the surgeons. These reports are also extremely helpful when marketing to primary care physicians—another key initiative to growing market share and protecting margin in this highly competitive specialty. As a result, UnityPoint Health has shifted a significant amount of patient volume to the outpatient setting while reducing millions in operational expense. Of course, Olderog cautions that this type of success doesn't happen overnight. "This is a multiyear strategy that we've had in place," she says. "The shift to outpatient joint replacement is happening, so the time to start strategizing is now." DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE Visit truenorthcustom. com/fall17 to download a playbook for growing your key service lines. TRUENORTHCUSTOM.COM INSIGHT V13N3 9 roi

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