How to Use Marketing to Improve Patient Experience

Of all the trends in healthcare marketing, the most powerful focuses on the patient experience. Medicare ties 30% of withheld reimbursements to patient experience. It also takes 22% of its star-rating value from patient-reported experiences of care. That means money and reputation are on the line for providers.

Marketers know that positive customer experiences are the most powerful way to influence brand. They also know that first-person experiences create ripples. Word of mouth and online reviews hinge on customer experience.

One health system taking patient experience to another level is Ellis Medicine in New York’s capital region. Its Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems reviews and social media prove it, as do dozens of first-person accounts.

But that’s not enough for CEO Paul Milton. He has an ambitious vision to go far beyond patient satisfaction. He wants Ellis to be the safest, friendliest and most compassionate health system in the market. He knows that if he can do that, patient satisfaction will grow naturally.

Milton knows his vision needs more than just good procedures. To inspire people, you need to reach them on a human level, but as one man in a health system of thousands of employees, Milton can’t interact with everyone. His challenge is to inspire employees to support each other and bring friendliness and compassion to one another.

To do this, Milton’s first step was to make rounds. He performed 90 rounds in 90 days, visiting every department in the health system, many more than once. It gave him the opportunity to connect with hundreds of employees face-to-face.

His next step was a series of town-hall meetings. He conducted many of these, in which he introduced his vision and asked staff to join him. The meetings were a great success, with nearly every employee attending at least one.

With his vision clearly stated, it was time to imbue the vision into the culture. It needed to be promoted and made palpable in ways that employees could engage with. It was time to bring marketing to the table. Working with marketing, he commissioned a yearlong campaign designed to do just that.

The campaign launched with a series of videos that featured employees sharing stories of co-workers helping them through difficult moments. The videos proved that many employees were already delivering friendliness and compassion.

The campaign also needed components that would remind employees of Milton’s vision. To do this, Ellis installed signage, like the examples below, in high-traffic hallways and posters in other areas.

To further motivate employees, Ellis introduced quarterly challenges. In one quarter, employees were asked to “catch” co-workers exhibiting a core value and submit the story through a branded landing page.​

The campaign is in its early days, but there’s been a palpable change. Employees recognize a friendlier tone in the hallways, they’re stopping to engage with signage and, most importantly, submit stories.

About the Author | Braden Russom

Braden Russom is an account planner for Smith & Jones. He ensures the advertising Smith & Jones creates for clients gets a great first start by delivering strategies that consider the client’s broader business goals, the feelings and biases of consumers and what’s working best in marketing (i.e. media or delivery formats).

Smith & Jones is where health care brands come to get better. We help our clients create meaningful and desirable health care brands, align their internal teams, engage new and existing patients and drive downstream revenue.