Skip to main content
Category

High Stakes

In High Stakes, Issue Navigation

Prepping for the Inevitable: Handling a Healthcare Data Breach

Cluttered desk with two lit monitors and posters hanging on the wall in a dark room with green walls

Did the Colonial Pipeline hack make you think about the vulnerability of your servers? Do you raise an eyebrow when you see headlines about yet another hospital cyberattack?

Good. Now, what do you do to ensure you’re as prepared as possible in the perpetually escalating game of cat and mouse that is data security?

Jarrard Inc. Vice President Justin Gibbs – our resident expert in data breach prep and crisis work – and Lynn Sessions, partner and leader of the Healthcare Privacy and Compliance team at national law firm BakerHostetler, recently offered their insight on dealing with these situations. Sessions is well-versed in the issue, having guided clients through over 700 incidents.

The issue is complex, of course, but her underlying recommendation is to get back to the basics. “What type of security do you have in place?” she asked. Are you doing security risk analysis? Do you have multifactor authentication in place? Are you educating your staff on the risks? It’s nearly the same advice we’ve been giving as long as I’ve been doing this.”

Beyond those basics, Gibbs and Sessions shared how hospitals and health systems should prepare and respond. Whether your organization has already fallen prey to hackers and scammers or is just waiting for the bad guys to attack, Sessions and Gibbs have legal and communications steps you can take today.

“Get prepared now,” said Gibbs. “you know that it’s going to happen. Get your ducks in a row so you can protect the reputation of your organization that you’ve worked so hard to build over the years.”

Note: This is a general conversation, not specific legal advice. For that, contact Sessions.

Before a Breach Happens

  • Know the territory. Recognize the likelihood of an incident.
  • Create an incident response plan. Gather an interdisciplinary group that will include legal, IT and comms, and may include finance and HR. Consider bringing in a legal or forensic firm to simulate a breach and practice your response.
  • Assign roles. Make sure that approvals for various actions are well-defined and clearly owned. If you do have to make a payment, who signs off? What if that payment is demanded in cryptocurrency? How do you work with your board, and what’s their role?
  • As you move forward in your compliance with transparency and interoperability and data blocking rules, talk about the security measures you have in place. Educate patients on how they can protect their PHI.
  • Train your team for the aftermath of a breach. These incidents can require a hospital’s network be shut down for a day or three. Are your clinicians ready to break out the paper charts while your IT team gets your system back online?

When a Breach Happens

It’s a fine line. Patients and employees need to know about a breach, but you don’t want to create panic. Go with responsible transparency. Sharing every detail likely isn’t necessary and could be harmful. What you should do, though, is:

  • Start with the legal requirements. There are specific rules for what needs to be reported. Talk to your legal team and get that out of the way.
  • Acknowledge that this is a very personal, scary event for patients. It’s their information in the hands of, well, someone. And that someone doesn’t have good intentions.
  • Be realistic about what the breach could mean. Don’t act like it’s no big deal.
  • Explain what you’re doing to preserve patient privacy and to continue operations across your organization.
  • Explain what you’ve learned from the incident and how it will inform future IT plans.
  • Stick to a single set of facts. Pull all the information into one place, update it as needed and ensure anyone speaking on the issue gets their talking points only from that central source. Otherwise, you risk conflicting messages and extending the news cycle.

Want to learn more about protecting your reputation during a data breach?

Read the Case Study

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Issue Navigation, M&A, Quick Think, Strategic Positioning

Don’t Duck. Fight.

Two Lego figures in fencing gear fighting with swords

Note: This piece was originally published over the weekend in our Sunday newsletter. Want content like this delivered to your inbox before it hits our blog? Subscribe here or at the link below.

The Big Story: The Healthcare Divide

The healthcare industry was tossed out of the pandemic frying pan and into the media fire this week when NPR and “FRONTLINE” aired The Healthcare Divide, their joint investigation into the growing inequities in American healthcare exposed by COVID-19. More scrutiny came Wednesday when the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on provider consolidation and antitrust issues. Then on Friday the New York Times ran a story about COVID-19 bills.

Our Take

(3-minute read; 10-minute podcast)

Healthcare providers, it’s time to think less like institutions and more like your detractors.

The halo your organization earned through the pandemic is dimming as the negative spotlight shifts back onto institutions providing care. Everyone’s in on the game. Unions are trying to drive a wedge between provider organizations and healthcare workers. The media is collecting hospital bills from readers. Lawmakers are considering how to wield their antitrust powers. Payers are claiming providers are responsible for the high cost of care. And when consumers truly get on board, winter won’t be coming, it’ll be here.

So why aren’t healthcare organizations consistently better at addressing these arguments? Why do responses often sound weak and platitude-rich – like bland, gray word salad? Like they’re ducking the debate?

Fact is, many still aren’t harnessing the power of communications to tell stories in a human way and are thereby yielding their positions as the owners of patient advocacy. Writ large, the provider side of the industry has traditionally operated from a stance of defense and risk management.

But the pandemic showed us a different way; to tell true-grit stories of how they were making the impossible work.

Let’s hold onto that “what works” and make it permanent.

Because all eyes are on provider behavior. Trotting out outdated studies or spreadsheets won’t cut it. That approach doesn’t hold a candle to the other groups bringing in patients harmed by alleged anti-competitive behavior, telling stories of healthcare workers living on food stamps and being sued by their own employer and painting private equity rollups as dirty, get-rich-quick schemes.

Each of those scenarios has taken place at a national level, but similar conversations are happening in local markets. Want to be prepared for when the spotlight turns to your organization? Consider the following.

  • Define the terms. It’s your story, so own it from the start. Use people. Back it with data. Be straightforward. Words like “integration” may help obscure some of the baggage carried by “merger” or “consolidation.” But people need to understand what you’re talking about. Hospital administrators must be masters at simplifying the complexity of business. Lack of clarity leads to frustration and confusion in the long run.
  • Learn the language. What motivates your hospital isn’t always what motivates the PE firm, payer or union who’s sitting across the table from you as you hammer out a partnership. Don’t talk past them. Understand what they’re trying to accomplish, how they think about the industry and the tools/tactics they like to use. Then address the actual issues they’re bringing to the conversation and articulate how you balance operating a company with providing for a critical need.
  • Be specific. Make it a practice to avoid vagaries. You’re better served calling out datasets and concerns specifically. That way, when it comes time for a rebuttal, you’re addressing a real idea rather than muddying the waters and leaving yourself open to interpretation.
  • Don’t keep using the same narratives. People today are responding to things right in front of them – an unexpected hospital bill, changes in the local labor market, mothballing of services at the community hospital. You need to do the same. Stop running with that same old consolidation study. Align yourself with your doctors, nurses and staff and show specifically what you’re doing businesswise to provide support. If you’re called out for negative effects, respond with responsible transparency and humility, not defensiveness.
  • Call out the bad actors. Yes, there are some in every industry niche who don’t have good motives. Don’t sweep that under the rug, because it’ll just mean you get lumped in with them. Some critics, like the Judiciary Committee, are questioning if the PE model is compatible with providing care. If you’re working to show that it is, you need to share the good stories, but be willing to acknowledge when your peers don’t live up to expectations.

Want more? Check out the 10-minute conversation featuring Jarrard Inc.’s David Jarrard and Isaac Squyres:

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Issue Navigation, Quick Think, Strategic Positioning

Late Night Jabs

Three red banners that hang in front of the Hollywood Masonic Temple that read "Jimmy Kimmel Live"

Note: This piece was originally published over the weekend in our Sunday newsletter. Want content like this delivered to your inbox before it hits our blog? Subscribe here or at the link below.

The Standout News: Brought to You By People Who Are Smarter Than We Are

Jimmy Kimmel, who’s used his talk show to speak on healthcare and politics numerous times, jumped in again last week with a pro-vaccine montage. It featured a handful of physicians who flashed their credentials (and student debt) and insulted people who haven’t gotten the shot. It was self-righteous, hilarious and very cathartic. But not helpful.

Our Take

(2.5-minute read)

We’re offering the white coats a little free communications advice: Skip Plan A – “A” for Aggression – when trying to change behavior. When we talk about using doctors and nurses to advocate and inform because they’re your most trusted voices…this isn’t what we’re recommending. Put simply: Don’t go all Kimmel on your patients. Leave the biting comedy to the pros.

Look, we get it. The absolutely legitimate frustration your caregivers feel having experienced firsthand the trauma COVID-19 can cause and continuing to hear people railing against the vaccines or still denying the virus is an issue.

Even so, wanna make someone dig in their heels? Insult them. Make fun of them. Piss them off.

Of course, Kimmel’s doing a bit, not offering an actual public health PSA (as far as we know). We haven’t seen any of you take his approach. But don’t let it rub off. Don’t let the frustration you feel about stagnant vaccination numbers cloud your pro-vaccine communications going forward. As much as you’d like to verbally throttle people who aren’t inclined to contribute to herd immunity, just…don’t.

Experts say the next 100 million doses will be harder to give than everything we’ve done up to this point. A recent STAT News article titled Vaccinations are plateauing. Don’t blame it on ‘resistance’ put it this way: “As daily vaccination rates settle and the country’s progress toward herd immunity slows down, let’s not rush to the same misguided conclusion that this is mostly about lack of vaccine confidence.” Labeling those who buy into falsehoods “as hesitant or resisters only hardens their viewpoints.”

So how do we make this easier? Well, the CDC’s lifting of the mask mandate is certainly a significant carrot (vs. stick) that ought to go a long way. Otherwise, here’s some advice from your favorite spin doctors – that’d be us – about how to get people to roll up their sleeves.

Listen to understand. You knew we’d include “listen” here. There’s a lot of research out there about what’s keeping people from getting vaccinated. Digest it. Consider what it means for the specific communities you serve. Go to those communities and ask about their experience with the vaccine – why they got it or why they didn’t. Check with influential leaders like clergy and teachers to get a sense of what their communities are thinking and feeling.

Recognize that data only goes so far. Numbers are good to back the position you’re advocating. Combine those with real-life anecdotes for a one-two punch that brings home understanding. Stories resonate far more than bar charts, which is something people who intentionally mislead know well. So as healthcare providers, tell stories about what the vaccine allows people to do, the peace of mind it brings – and back them up with good data. People aren’t asking, “What are the numbers?” They’re asking, “How will this affect me?” Paint the picture.

Set expectations with your clinicians. Doctors and nurses have a lot on them already, so arm them to inform, educate and advocate. Give them the tools they need to do so – whether it’s talking points, collateral, access to your organization’s channels or coaching on how to engage with people who have a contrarian view. Remind them that what they say about this issue reflects on the organization, even when speaking on their own time and channels. This isn’t to say you should take action against a physician who speaks out in a way you don’t approve of; instead, be proactive in reminding people about their role, their mission and the trust people have in them.

Remember that carrot. The CDC lifting mask mandates for those who have been vaccinated is an incentive for those who haven’t. The promise of returning to normalcy should be more effective than threats and insults for those who are still on the fence. Reinforce messages focused on the benefits of vaccination.

Stick with it. We know this is yet another frustration in a year full of them. Hang in there. We may not be able to convince all, but with persistence and calm patience we can convince many. A positive approach – and even a little good-natured humor – will go a long way toward getting more jabs in arms.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Quick Think

CVS & Mental Health: Running the Gauntlet of Vice

Orange text that reads "The Quick Think" over a kaleidoscope-patterned background

Note: This piece was originally published over the weekend in our Sunday newsletter. Want content like this delivered to your inbox before it hits our blog? Subscribe here or at the link below.

The Basics:

CVS has joined Walmart by placing mental health professionals in a few of its HealthHUBs across the country, with plans to expand. Meanwhile, other major retailers are beefing up their offerings by adding digital mental health services.

Our Take:

(3-minute read or 9-minute conversation)

Somebody clearly had “transform the industry” on their 2021 to-do list.

Yep, CVS got a lot of ink this week.

First, for expanding its mental health offerings. You can get your Essie nail polish, ibuprofen softgels, four-pack of paper towels and chat with a therapist in one convenient spot. Now that’s called meeting people where they are.

Last week the retailer said it’s expanding the scope of its HealthHUBs to increase access in underserved areas. They’re starting with a dozen test sites in places where many have experienced “high instances of mental health symptoms and distress, leading to increases in emergency visits” thanks to the pandemic.

Very triple aim. Props to CVS for democratizing access. Major step in the de-stigmatization of mental health issues – addressing our mental health should be right up there with our physical health. CVS is taking that step, as are other major retailers like Walmart, Rite Aid and Walgreens – Walmart with in-house therapists and all three with digital services.

Second, CVS announced their new $100 million venture fund to invest in digital start-ups.

Together, these should be big Ws for healthcare consumerism.

For CVS, layering mental health services on top of pharmacy, urgent care, family care and wellness products is supremely logical. And it’s just what you thought might happen when they bonded with Aetna in a loving act of vertical integration. These mental health services will be in-network to Aetna members. If this test pans out and the program expands, CVS will be looking to slot into the care continuum – or redirect it. And those not affiliated with one of the several vertically integrated behemoths could be at a serious volume and reimbursement disadvantage.

Finally, with regard to both the digital innovation fund and embedding therapists in stores, convenience is king. The HealthHUB motto is “Where healthier meets easier.” Enough said.

So, say you’re a traditional provider. How do you react?

We see two options: Partnering up with one of the retailers or taking a page out of their consumerism book. On the first point, the future of healthcare rests on partnerships. Traditional providers will want to be connected with CVS and others making similar moves to tap into the stream of referrals.

Now, let’s unpack the latter option.

  • It’s a given that hospitals aren’t the only game in town anymore. Evaluate the landscape so you know which new players you need to take seriously.
  • Look at your “consumer-friendly” offerings. Are they as helpful as those tools provided by other industries? Are they at least headed in that direction? If not, be damn sure not to over-hype your offerings. Advertising a tool or service that became commonplace in retail a decade ago might elicit a mere “meh.”
  • If you are taking meaningful steps to consumer-friendliness, share how you’re making experiences with your organization easier and more convenient. Explain new initiatives that are in the works so that even if you’re not where people might want you to be, they can see how you’re getting there.
  • Reevaluate your stance on price transparency. We’ve been harping on this for a while. This is a significant issue going forward. Not allowing patients to see prices before receiving care isn’t the same level of consumer experience as that nail polish + therapy vibe you can get at CVS. But it does give people a much clearer look at what they’ll be getting when they come to you.
  • Operationally, think about opportunities to integrate disciplines to foster holistic care. Can you embed or better connect behavioral health with primary care with cardiology with…?

Of course, the onus isn’t just on hospitals. CVS, we have our eyes on you. Here’s what we’ll be watching for:

  • Will you focus on episodic care or do you see this as an access point for a real care continuum? (You say you’re offering referrals along with assessments and counseling. What does that really mean?)
  • How will you help patients navigate what our Jarrard colleague Dan Schlacter termed “the gauntlet of vice?” Walking into a CVS, you’re faced with chocolate, junk food, gossip magazines and, in some places, alcohol. What’s the plan for helping patients work through those potential triggers on their way to the therapist’s office? Triggers that, as a successful retailer, CVS has dialed in through years of applying behavioral analysis.
  • Which door do we use? Between those potential triggers and the desire for privacy, how will you lay out your stores and HealthHUBs to make the pursuit of mental health services not awkward?
  • Will you use paper charts? Just kidding. Maybe. But really, as you expand offerings, how will you manage EMRs? And will there be a firewall between medical records and consumer data? If not, how will you mix that data to the patient’s benefit (hopefully)? 

It’s anybody’s and everybody’s game. Let’s hope the victory goes to the American healthcare consumer.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Quick Think

Oscars Night Ad Tugs On Heartstrings, Puts Hospitals Under Pressure

A group of gold-plated, muscular man trophies with a clear focus on one trophy

Note: This piece was originally published over the weekend in our Sunday newsletter. Want content like this delivered to your inbox before it hits our blog? Subscribe here or at the link below.

The Basics:

The CMS rule on price transparency went into effect on January 1 but hasn’t been enforced, yet. A new awareness campaign launched during the Oscars last week with the stated goal of combatting hidden prices in healthcare. The group hasn’t gained much traction but has significant (if obscure) financial backing and celebrity involvement.

https://youtu.be/6LSug_UJsGg

Our Take:

(3-minute read)

A dash of celebrity can really bring an issue into the national spotlight.

Hollywood tried to do just that last week when they broadcast a $2 million, 30-second PSA on healthcare pricing during the Oscars. The goal was to raise visibility about consumers’ rights to see hospital prices before they receive care.

The commercial’s talent? Oscar-winner and activist Susan Sarandon herself along with fellow A-lister Cynthia Erivo. To rally the effort, the Power to the Patients campaign is encouraging people to display wall art and murals invoking the cause and designed by celebrity artist Shepard Fairey. Check out cool examples on their website.

So. Did it work?

TBD.

Nothing’s gone viral yet: As of Saturday, the ad had only generated a meager haul of followers with 869 on YouTube, 813 on Instagram, 320 on Facebook and 166 on Twitter.

But providers, dismiss this at your own peril – especially if you’re one of the many that aren’t compliant with the currently-unenforced price transparency rule.

For those hoping this will just go away, you’ve got a few things going for you.

  1. The problem is complex.
  2. It hasn’t generated much coverage (finding a good link for the top of this note wasn’t easy and we ended up using their own press release).
  3. While we haven’t done any man-on-the street interviews, we’re guessing a raised fist – as depicted in the Power to the Patients iconography – isn’t what most people will associate with easy-to-navigate chargemasters.
  4. The ad and the website merely point to a problem without really explaining it or offering solutions.

But – and it’s a big but – Power to the Patients’ star-studded roster could be just the catalyst to fire up Americans about their power to bring healthcare to the consumer-friendly levels virtually every other industry offers. Already, savvy pundits are talking, including healthcare economist and blogger Jane Sarasohn-Kahn (HealthPopuli) who gave the organization a shoutout this week. And President Biden has indicated that he’s not pulling the plug on price transparency.

Providers certainly are more accustomed to insurance companies, pharma and medical devices being grilled as secretive drivers of cost. That won’t last long if this issue isn’t reconciled.

While we’re not exactly Power to the Patient insiders, we figure they aim to: induce providers to be compliant with price transparency; expose those charging higher rates and pressure CMS to enforce its own rule.

Which brings us to the advice portion – after all, that’s what we do at Jarrard Inc. So here goes:

It’s doesn’t matter if the campaign is clunky. Or that it uses splashy but vague tactics like murals and posters. Or that it hasn’t created a firestorm – yet. What matters is that the mission of healthcare providers is to deliver better, more equitable and accessible care to the communities they serve. We understand the challenges and the reasons given to not comply today. But wherever you are right now…

  • Think about the experience you’re providing to your patients. Decide whether that experience matches up with your mission, including on the rev cycle side of things.
  • Meet with your team to determine how far away you are from posting your prices and what you need operationally to make that happen.
  • Ask your community. Check in with your patients to learn what they want and how they’d like to approach things like scheduling, payment and – of course – cost estimates.
  • Be ready to explain why you’re taking the approach to price transparency that you are. If you’re not complying and haven’t been asked about it, consider Power to the Patients as notice served that you will be. If you are compliant, be ready to talk about how the tools work and be willing to acknowledge any gaps that may exist between checking the regulatory boxes and giving patients a seamless experience.

It’s time to step up your game. Otherwise, it may be your organization’s name in lights.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Quick Think, Strategic Positioning

It’s Your Reputation

Five stars in a row with 3 and a half filled with a gold shading

Note: This piece was originally published over the weekend in our Sunday newsletter. Want content like this delivered to your inbox before it hits our blog? Subscribe here or at the link below.

The Basics

Two major providers are making a move to help them and their patients by upping investment in online reputation management. They’re looking for more (and more positive) reviews, plus an easier pathway to respond to negative ones. Provider ratings on sites like Google and Yelp are a significant factor when people look for care.

Our Take

A two-minute read for the high points; a 10-minute video/podcast for more

Doctors, we’re talking about your reputation.

And so are a lot of others. While you used to think of marketing and reputation management as “dirty words,” many of you are catching on to the necessity for doing both.

Online reviews are definitely a big deal for patients seeking a provider. Resistance to addressing them is foolish, especially when you start seeing a wave of negative reviews or inaccurate information – like the ambulance that ended up in an empty field because the online listing for a new facility was wrong.

So, how do physicians – ahem, healthcare marketing departments – take care of their online hygiene and manage their reputations? Well, it takes energy and effort – there’s no silver bullet. Which means that before you go sign up with a software provider, you have to do a little of your own recon:

  1. Find your information. Where does your organization show up online? Google? Yelp? Facebook? Where are people finding your brick-and-mortar addresses?
  2. Review your information. Are your hours and basic contact info correct on all those listing sites?
  3. Collect your information. Create a spreadsheet that will serve as a single source of truth. Seem overwhelming? Start with one segment of your organization, say the clinics or just your physicians. This spreadsheet will be critical to tracking your presence online once you do sign up with a reputation management vendor.
  4. Correct your information. You don’t need us to explain this.
  5. Respond to reviews. Get back to people and express your appreciation for their feedback. Don’t avoid negative comments. Don’t do anything foolish, like ask for personal health information in a public forum. Questions? Check with your legal and compliance team – or call us, for that matter (but not for legal advice).
  6. Solicit reviews. Some platforms, like Yelp, don’t allow you to ask for reviews. So check first. Where you can, make reviews part of the post-visit follow up. Make it easy for people. One more time: Make it easy.

So, should you follow in Sharp’s footsteps and embrace reviews, actively soliciting them to help people find you and to look better when the do? If you’ve got your aforementioned ducks in a row, we say bring ‘em on.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In COVID-19, High Stakes, Issue Navigation, Quick Think

Navigating Fallout from the Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Pause

Orange text that reads "The Quick Think" over a kaleidoscope-patterned background

When the CDC and FDA announced the recommended pause in use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, healthcare marcom teams were forced into overdrive, along with their operational and clinical colleagues. The announcement has had instant ramifications for patients and healthcare providers alike. It is causing fear among the 6.8 million people who have already received the J&J vaccine. It is confounding distribution of the J&J vaccine. It is perpetuating and reinforcing vaccine hesitancy. And, it is adding one more burden on an already-fatigued healthcare workforce.

Even as this story continues to develop and the list of things we don’t know runs long, we do know that your staff and patients have questions. And that doctors, nurses and provider organizations are the ones to answer them because they are the most trusted voices when it comes to speaking on healthcare issues. It’s wise to activate them in this moment.

As you communicate with your community and your employees, keep these seven actions in mind.

  • Be proactive, even aggressive. Pausing J&J vaccination administration comes at a pivotal moment in pandemic response. While this news is damaging, we should focus on the merits of other available vaccines to stave off an overall increase in hesitancy. As you craft your communications, lean into the rigorous safety precautions and robust real-world data cited by the CDC and FDA to instill confidence in the Pfizer and Moderna options. Don’t take on the responsibility of vouching for J&J’s safety. Do share, without minimizing the significance of the blood-clotting cases, that it was six cases out of 121 million Americans receiving any COVID-19 vaccine. That illustrates the extraordinary focus federal agencies are placing on safety. The adverse effects are frightening, yet, as one person we spoke with said, their discovery in the context of the J&J vaccine “is a testament to how effective our vaccine monitoring system is.”
  • Prepare your people. Your physicians and nurses will be peppered with questions about the J&J vaccine – from patients who’ve gotten one, to those who were signed up to receive one, to others who are reluctant to get vaccinated at all. Develop your talking points and FAQs to distribute across your organization, along with processes to ensure your entire system is providing a consistent message.
  • Centralize the inbound inquiries. Part of preparing your people is to avoid unnecessarily burdening them. Yes, educate your clinicians to answer questions. But also build out scalable systems to distribute information and respond to questions. Consider a call center to address frequently asked questions and handle scheduling changes. Post FAQs and your policies on your website and other digital channels.
  • Activate your government relations team. Reach out now to your state officials for the latest on their recommendations, requirements, next steps and timing. We’ve seen a patchwork of state requirements at every stage of the pandemic, and there’s no reason to believe this will be any different. Keep the lines of communication open with officials so that you can respond to whatever they say and do next.
  • Don’t get out ahead of government agencies. This isn’t the time to take an action before the CDC or your governor’s office mandates something else. You’ll be fielding enough questions as it is. Don’t put yourself in the position of having to explain why your decisions diverged from later guidelines. In addition, be mindful to balance communicating effectively on this issue while still upholding the CDC and FDA as owners and arbiters of vaccine safety.
  • Tune into your channels. This is a hot issue. People are talking. Keep a close eye on your social media accounts. Make sure your marcom and patient relations teams are listening across all your channels to flag questions or concerns and, as necessary, escalate them.
  • Be prepared to communicate about this. A lot. It’s not going away and, despite our best efforts, will likely affect the overall perception of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. Questions and concerns will continue. Listen for clues that certain subpopulations (in this case, particularly women of childbearing age) may need tailored communications if they are ever found to be at greater risk for side effects.

Need Help Navigating Vaccine Communications?

We Can Help

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

Digital Digest: The Q1 Lowdown on Digital Healthcare Marketing

Up close view of a doctor's chest holding his cellphone

Over the last year, healthcare marketers have run from thing to thing to keep up with the constant changes at their organizations.

There’s been no time to pause for breath and look out past today. But it needs to happen now, especially as the attention returns to the patient experience.

Here’s what I’m tracking as our industry shifts towards consumerism.

Telehealth

Patient acquisition is key. It’s not only important to get patients to come back to bricks-and-mortar facilities, but also time to look at your new telehealth offerings to ensure the patient experience around those is rock solid. While telehealth visits are expected to drop off somewhat, they should stay well above 2019 levels. Providers need to be looking at the patient population who wants to use telehealth and ensure they have access. For example, to get around the issue of lack of broadband access where patients live, providers may consider partnering with community organizations to provide physical facilities where people can have a remote visit.

Marketing the Experience

The other part of telehealth today is ensuring that providers give their staffs and physicians the tools they need to deliver the best possible experience through remote visits. What does bedside manner look like via iPad? Are front desk teams ready to answer questions about remote visits and to direct people to scheduling tools? Are those tools easy to use?

Similarly, marketing teams need to be sure they’re not marketing a bad experience. Providers have been so focused on getting people back for needed care that it’s easy to bypass the “patient journey” and just push people to get something on the books. It’s certainly not a great idea to encourage people to sign up for an appointment when there are no appointments available for six months. Or to push people towards a telehealth system that isn’t user-friendly. Or to providers who aren’t as comfortable with virtual visits. Marketing teams need to dig through those pieces, then inform the operational decisions and create marketing plans that reflect the realities of the telehealth program.

Easy Information

People want information and they want it now. An “I should be able to do everything online” attitude is fueling angst among consumers when it comes to healthcare. Because people want a frictionless experience across their digital lives, they’re steering toward companies and products that deliver consistent, easy-to-use tools. Healthcare providers should be thinking about what that looks like via their website, social channels and visibility on search engines.

We’re seeing a shift towards the use – and success – of chatbots to deliver information. They let people ask a quick question and get a quick answer for basic things like parking, scheduling and billing. The same goes for Twitter help lines: People would rather tweet and get the issue fixed, quickly.

In another area, Google works very hard to keep people on the search results page. Google something about DIY kitchen plumbing and you’ll see knowledge cards with a list of steps, YouTube videos that play right on the page and links to flanges and disposals from local stores. Those results didn’t appear by chance – they’re the result of intentional work by the content creators or marketing teams to optimize their websites. Hospitals should do the same thing…maybe not creating videos for a DIY appendectomy but looking at frequently-asked questions and developing Google-optimized content to answer them.

Internal Comms

The last trend I’m tracking today is the re-envisioning of “internal communications.” When work became virtual for many one year ago, “internal” communications came to mean something different. Healthcare providers have developed more flexible ways to interact with employees no longer physically co-located, especially for things like daily updates or vaccine information. That’s a great start. Now there’s a need to reach employees with important but less-urgent information. Marketing and communications teams need to think about the way their intranets are structured, how regular CEO updates are developed and delivered and what the quarterly townhall meeting looks like.

Providers are interested in connecting with employees through their mobile devices and communicating through text messaging. With many not coming back to the office soon, if ever, providers need to change the way they think about creating two-way communications with employees.

Healthcare is a highly trusted industry. A recent Jarrard Inc. survey showed that doctors, nurses and hospitals all enjoy well over 80 percent trust among the public. Consumers trust doctors more than their insurance company for accurate information on the price of healthcare services, and they’re more likely to call their doctor’s office than their insurance company for that information. Patients want to hear from you.

Beyond that, we know that information related to cost of services is important to consumers. According to our survey, two-thirds reported that the cost of healthcare services impacts where they choose to receive care. Meanwhile, almost four in ten consumers have used a price estimator in the last 12 months.

Here’s the bottom line: Now is a great time to leverage the trust patients and consumers have in providers. It’s an opportunity to connect with patients beyond a single visit or course of treatment. They’re looking for safety, security and transparency. Be the organization that provides it. You have everything to gain.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In COVID-19, High Stakes, Issue Navigation

Running Through the Tape

Group of people celebrating and running through a red ribbon

Spring is here, vaccines are out of freezers and in people’s arms, public venues are reopening and Krispy Kreme is handing out free donuts. Meanwhile, the CDC is still telling us to keep our masks on, the headlines look very pre-pandemic (and not in a good way) and new COVID-19 cases are twitching back up. So…are we allowed to be optimistic yet? In the latest with Kim Fox and Tim Stewart, we get real about “Hanxiety” and how far our obligation to others goes. We also talk about how our friends at hospitals and health systems can leverage the trust they have and help push us towards the bright sunny optimism that we’re all looking for.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)

In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

Price Transparency: Two Months Down and Seven Ways to Get Smart

Stack of one-hundred dollar bills

So, how’s it going 60-plus days into price transparency? Fine for some, not well for others.

As January 1st came and went, we didn’t see a lot of public attention on how providers were responding to the new CMS rule. That’s understandable, given everything else going on in our country at the time: COVID-19 cases peaking, vaccines rolling out, the inauguration, among others. Now, however, price transparency is starting to have its moment.

Let’s begin with some background. The CMS Price Transparency Rule has two requirements: Hospitals must share their charge data in a single, machine-readable file, and they must display at least 300 shoppable services online. If they don’t, they’re subject to a $300 penalty for each day they don’t meet the requirement.

Though we’ve not seen much CMS enforcement yet, we are beginning to see investigative reports from the media on who’s compliant, who’s not and price comparisons of who’s charging what.

A study from Health Affairs (and covered by Modern Healthcare) found that 65 of the 100 hospitals reviewed “were unambiguously noncompliant.” And that noncompliance took several forms, including 12 hospitals that failed to post any data at all. To be clear, this wasn’t a complex academic study where statistics could be used to uncover obscure results. Instead, it was very much in the spirit of the rule – making price information accessible to consumers – where the authors simply performed “a google.com search for “[hospital name] standard charges.”

Another article from Modern Healthcare noted that most Tennessee hospitals are struggling to comply, with only about 20 percent meeting the new rule. Making things worse, where data was available, the report unveiled significant variation in the price of services across Tennessee providers. A knee replacement, for instance, ranged from $10,536 to a $104,120. Similarly, across the state, negotiated rates and cash prices varied up to ten-fold depending on the facility and payer.

Brace yourself for more such stories to follow. As the vaccination story plays out, media attention is shifting to transparency and, even more broadly, healthcare consumerism and interoperability.

To comply, or not to comply … that was the question.

If you complied, that was a good start – but only a start. Going forward, you have to be prepared to answer questions related to your prices and cost of services, especially if yours are near the top of the list or highest in your market.

Some hospitals and providers intentionally decided to take the penalty. If that’s you, how long are you willing to pay that? And how much reputational damage are you risking if people can’t find information they want? And how will you explain why you chose that path?

Either way, we’re not looking at this just in terms of compliance for the sake of compliance. What about making it consumer friendly – and gaining a competitive advantage in doing so? The letter of the law is merely publishing your chargemaster. Going beyond means developing an online price estimator tool or other useful tools that improve the patient experience (think “access” and “engagement”).

Transparency and interoperability are not flavors of the month. We live in an increasingly consumer- centric world, and healthcare is finally having to catch up. The push is strengthening to give patients more transparency to the cost of services and access to their own health information.

Our advice?

Don’t delay the inevitable.

If you’re compliant, start working with your clinical, marcom, operations and patient experience teams to plan how you’ll use the box-checking of the rule to launch you into a more patient-centric model over time. Review your technology, financial tools and more. And while you’re doing it, ask around – see what your patients want and need to make their experience even better.

If you’ve chosen the route of noncompliance, here are seven things you can do right now to prepare for what’s to come:

Healthcare is a highly trusted industry. A recent Jarrard Inc. survey showed that doctors, nurses and hospitals all enjoy well over 80 percent trust among the public. Consumers trust doctors more than their insurance company for accurate information on the price of healthcare services, and they’re more likely to call their doctor’s office than their insurance company for that information. Patients want to hear from you.

Beyond that, we know that information related to cost of services is important to consumers. According to our survey, two-thirds reported that the cost of healthcare services impacts where they choose to receive care. Meanwhile, almost four in ten consumers have used a price estimator in the last 12 months.

Here’s the bottom line: Now is a great time to leverage the trust patients and consumers have in providers. It’s an opportunity to connect with patients beyond a single visit or course of treatment. They’re looking for safety, security and transparency. Be the organization that provides it. You have everything to gain.

Questions About Price Transparency? We Can Help

Subscribe to Jarrard Insights & News

Name(Required)