Patient Development as a Marketing Strategy

By Stewart Gandolf, Chief Executive Officer

We spoke with Kim Reynolds, Vice President, Marketing Services at LifePoint Hospitals at SHSMD Connections 2012 about her talk today, "Patient Development as a Marketing Strategy." (Chis Fenoglio, who is on her web team joined her.) Kim's challenge has been to tie marketing programs from over 23 rural hospitals into a comprehensive program that gets results. Some of the take aways from her speech include:

1. Patients ARE customers, not just patients.

2. Based upon a show of hands, few hospitals offer online appointment setting, have a strong Internet strategy or enjoy a strategy based upon all the data they already enjoy.

3. A sophisticated marketing approach will have to first overcome some challenges. Not surprisingly (to us) for example, she used an anecdote during her speech about how staff totally dropping the ball regarding inquiries to advertising.

The attached brief interview shares some of her insights.

While it is too late for you to attend SHSMD, you can register for virtual rebroadcasts through the association.