Transparency. It's everywhere. Think about it. The airline industry gets hit every quarter...who's on time? Who's cancelled the most flights? Who's bumped the most riders? Who voted who best? And yet, their transparency is so familiar to us, have we considered their promotion? Has anyone actually had a friendly experience with the friendly sky airline? I actually had a customer service rep for that airline YELL at me when my flight was canceled. Then, she proceeded to yell at her supervisor during which time she denied yelling at anyone...It's been a terrible summer to be a consultant that relies on any airline to get you anywhere...In 4 weeks I've had a dozen flights on 3 airlines, and have YET to have any flight or any leg of any flight come within 1 1/2 hours of the scheduled time. Yet, based upon my earlier blog posting, I am thrilled that the folks at Jet Blue have recovery down to an art form. Good for them. I'll bet the healthcare industry could learn from them....but that line of thought is fodder for another blog posting...
The food industry has had transparency as a standard now for several years...every label listing every ingredient, and it's nutritional value (or lack thereof)...and now even greater scrutiny over using words like "real" "fresh" "organic" "100%" and other misleading references...no fat doesn't mean no calories. Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore are launching their next book next month, and I've had the pleasure of an early sneak peak. Authenticity--what consumers really want takes a look at breaking experiences into four categories: real-real; fake-real; real-fake; and fake-fake. What a great classification system for transparency!
This past week I was intrigued with learning more about the bottled water industry. (Speaking of transparency...) One of the networks did a story on the three big bottlers of water...a cagillion dollar industry...Coke, Pepsi and Nestle to name afew...and revealed to the world that the source of their water was....drum roll....a faucet! Filtered, purified, etc, but it started out as tap water. Surprised? Probably not.
So why are we surprised that patients want to know more about our outcomes? Other people's experiences with us and our treatment plans? I am surprised that people don't want to know more! We don't interview our physicians before we turn our healthcare decisions over to them...I'll bet the average woman gets more referrals for her hairdresser than she does her family practice doctor...
Do we think this will change? You bet it will. Once we can find a way to make the data meaningful to the average person...the information relevant to those who look for it, and physicians encourage their patients to ask these type of questions. Real-real..that's what I want.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Doctors office worse than Jet Blue in a snowstorm
I'm a consultant. I fly ALOT. Upon a recent visit to my grandchildren, my daughter and son-in-law engaged me in the following conversation:
"Can you believe the recent fiasco with Jet Blue? You travel all the time, Mom, how could they leave those people on the tarmack for 9 hours, with no food, no water, unsanitary conditions on the plane, and no means of escape?" inquired my son-in-law....
To which my daughter responded," yeah, it's almost as bad as our doctor's offices". Being the healthcare marketing consultant, and the one who spent time and money researching physicians in their area upon their move to the upper midwest, I replied "really, tell me more."
My daughter then noted the following:
As a teacher and stay at home mom (read one small income family) with high insurance premiums, high deductibles, high first dollar co-pays, and three kids aged 4 and under, we spent 1/3 of our gross income last year on medical bills. We are now on a payment plan with the mega group that our OB and Pediatrician belong to. We pay on time, and continue to add to the balance, it seems, each week between typical childhood illnesses of one of the children, well child visits, and our own health concerns. You would think we could at least be treated as valued customers. Quite the contrary. We are placed on hold when we call; calls after hours are not returned; we only see the pediatrician that you spent so much time researching when it's a well child visit. The rest of the time when one of the kids is ill, the times that are most critical, we see whoever is seeing sick kids. They don't know us, they don't know the kids, and I don't know them. There is never any concern for what this costs us, nor is there any concern that we might have jobs or other responsibilities we have to leave for their hours. We are prisoners to their system. Don't get me wrong..when the kids are sick I'd do anything for them. But, if my husband stays home to help me so I can take them out to the doctor, he jeopardizes his job...the source of our healthcare coverage. And then, again with no regard for how we might be able to afford it, they send us eagerly to a specialist at every drop of a hat, and of course, the specialist is out of network and big into our copays.
So, she reflected, we are prisoners just like those Jet Blue passengers.
Isn't it time that transparency gave patients some rights? I did the research for my daughter to find a competent, well trained, credentialed great pediatrician...and by his credentials, he should be one. Now, thanks to revolutionhealth.com, she can warn other parents about what the credentials don't say.
Recently, an association that most of this country's large medical groups support, held a conference for their members. The AMGA had as a keynoter, a world reknowned speaker who spoke to the audience for 45 minutes about what is wrong with their practices today, the challenges they face as physicians, and NOT ONCE did they mention the word patient. So, is it really any wonder that someone could compare their physician's office experience with that of the passengers trapped on that snowy tarmack on a Jet Blue plane?
"Can you believe the recent fiasco with Jet Blue? You travel all the time, Mom, how could they leave those people on the tarmack for 9 hours, with no food, no water, unsanitary conditions on the plane, and no means of escape?" inquired my son-in-law....
To which my daughter responded," yeah, it's almost as bad as our doctor's offices". Being the healthcare marketing consultant, and the one who spent time and money researching physicians in their area upon their move to the upper midwest, I replied "really, tell me more."
My daughter then noted the following:
As a teacher and stay at home mom (read one small income family) with high insurance premiums, high deductibles, high first dollar co-pays, and three kids aged 4 and under, we spent 1/3 of our gross income last year on medical bills. We are now on a payment plan with the mega group that our OB and Pediatrician belong to. We pay on time, and continue to add to the balance, it seems, each week between typical childhood illnesses of one of the children, well child visits, and our own health concerns. You would think we could at least be treated as valued customers. Quite the contrary. We are placed on hold when we call; calls after hours are not returned; we only see the pediatrician that you spent so much time researching when it's a well child visit. The rest of the time when one of the kids is ill, the times that are most critical, we see whoever is seeing sick kids. They don't know us, they don't know the kids, and I don't know them. There is never any concern for what this costs us, nor is there any concern that we might have jobs or other responsibilities we have to leave for their hours. We are prisoners to their system. Don't get me wrong..when the kids are sick I'd do anything for them. But, if my husband stays home to help me so I can take them out to the doctor, he jeopardizes his job...the source of our healthcare coverage. And then, again with no regard for how we might be able to afford it, they send us eagerly to a specialist at every drop of a hat, and of course, the specialist is out of network and big into our copays.
So, she reflected, we are prisoners just like those Jet Blue passengers.
Isn't it time that transparency gave patients some rights? I did the research for my daughter to find a competent, well trained, credentialed great pediatrician...and by his credentials, he should be one. Now, thanks to revolutionhealth.com, she can warn other parents about what the credentials don't say.
Recently, an association that most of this country's large medical groups support, held a conference for their members. The AMGA had as a keynoter, a world reknowned speaker who spoke to the audience for 45 minutes about what is wrong with their practices today, the challenges they face as physicians, and NOT ONCE did they mention the word patient. So, is it really any wonder that someone could compare their physician's office experience with that of the passengers trapped on that snowy tarmack on a Jet Blue plane?
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Healthcare transparency - websites to visit
Are you a healthcare provider? Do you know what your patients are reading? Check out Revolutionhealth.com; how about mymedicalcontrol.com? Today's NY Times even featured a story on Bargaining down the price of your CT scan....after the fact! If you are one of the 12% of the population paying more than 5% of your income every year for out of pocket healthcare costs, you have new questions for your doctor...how much and how often take on a whole new meaning. And the days of health maintenance may be the first to leave us--health prevention now costs money. Two steps forward and five back. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Transparency? It's the experience
It take’s an entire organization to define and deliver any brand. Many companies forget this important concept. It’s not just the advertising, the packaging, or the hype. It’s the performance of the product or service. For healthcare organizations, your brand is only as real as the experience of the last patient who entered your emergency room, who registered in radiology this morning, who tried to park in your visitor’s lot, who phoned your billing office ten minutes ago…your brand is the patient’s experience. When it comes to delivering a brand in a service industry, the brand’s integrity lies in the hands of your employees. It lies in the hands of your managers. And in healthcare, it is only as good as the support your physicians give it.
Transparency will profoundly affect the formerly organizational driven messaging. Now your patients will hear all about your organization's performance from sources like the internet, the newspaper, and other published reports. Do you have a plan to lead your audiences through the selection process that this new world represents?
Transparency will profoundly affect the formerly organizational driven messaging. Now your patients will hear all about your organization's performance from sources like the internet, the newspaper, and other published reports. Do you have a plan to lead your audiences through the selection process that this new world represents?
Will the experience match the brand promise - Transparency won't let you hide
Are you ready for what the media will say about your brand when it reports on patient satisfaction? Do your physicians know their role and responsibilities in consumer driven healthcare?
What do you know about your brand? Are you convinced your employees, physicians, and managers know what their role is in making the brand a reality for your organization? Does your brand really reflect a competitive difference? Do your patients articulate that your brand is their reality?
Is your brand strategy compatible with reaching consumers in a meaningful way? If consumers begin to use price, various quality scores, and other data points to determine where they will spend their healthcare dollar, will your brand message and patient experience move you to top of mind?
What do you know about your brand? Are you convinced your employees, physicians, and managers know what their role is in making the brand a reality for your organization? Does your brand really reflect a competitive difference? Do your patients articulate that your brand is their reality?
Is your brand strategy compatible with reaching consumers in a meaningful way? If consumers begin to use price, various quality scores, and other data points to determine where they will spend their healthcare dollar, will your brand message and patient experience move you to top of mind?
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