We’re excited to share the topic and questions for this week’s #HITsm chat happening Friday, 5/1 at Noon ET (9 AM PT). This week’s chat will be hosted by Sarah Bennight (@sarahbennight) from Stericycle Communication Solutions on the topic of “Telehealth and Marketing“.
While telehealth has been around for a while, it certainly hasn’t been the norm until recently. In the height of the COVID-19 global pandemic, telehealth is experiencing an explosion of new interest and adoption out of desperate need to keep patients healthy and adhering to care protocols while distancing them from the virus. According to analysts at Forrester Research, telehealth visits have skyrocketed over the past two months, with virtual interactions on pace to top 1 billion by year’s end.
As patients become more accustomed to the convenience of online visits, telehealth will undoubtedly be more popular for consumers than before the COVID-19 crisis. But will virtual visits become the new norm? While experts continue to weigh in on whether telehealth will be sticky and how it needs to evolve to support more visit types and interactions with remote patient monitoring and diagnosis, the strategy for the future is simple: You need a telehealth plan, and you need to get patients excited about it. Enter marketing.
Marketing needs to be a critical voice in your strategy for virtual visits moving forward. Both inside of the coronavirus crisis navigation and also on the backside as we emerge into a new norm. Everything the healthcare marketer knows about acquisition, new patient growth, new service line launches, and patient satisfaction/reputation management can shift when you go digital. As a large responsibility for patient acquisition falls to marketing, they also need time to grow their strategy beyond typical competitors. Virtual visits open you to new competitors from new cities and potentially states.
Reputation management and ratings become difficult when you don’t control the room environment. Are the physicians able to show empathy online? Is it as reassuring and comforting as an in-person visit? What about the broadband or responsiveness of the platform? These will all be areas in which patients will now be rating their visits. Marketing should be a large part of your telehealth strategy from initiation to building the virtual brand, to fine tuning and growing over time. This week’s chat will focus on marketing’s role as we go into the virtual exam room.
Join us for this week’s #HITsm chat where we’ll be discussing telehealth, how marketing can help and the implications for marketers.
Topics for this week’s #HITsm Chat:
T1: What should marketing be doing now to leverage the telehealth opportunity? #HITsm
T2: How is the adoption of telehealth going to impact healthcare marketing? #HITsm
T3: With the rise of telehealth, how can marketers differentiate their online venue of care? #HITsm
T4: What new technologies or tools will marketers need to boost acquisition and grow service lines in virtual venues of care? #HITsm
T5: How will reputation management change as telehealth becomes the new norm, and what can marketing do to ensure satisfaction rates aren’t hurt by moving into a visit environment you can’t completely control? #HITsm
BONUS: Will we see a new title emerge in marketing to support telemedicine and virtual health? What will it be? #HITsm
Upcoming #HITsm Chat Schedule
5/8 – Enabling Tech for Telemedicine
Hosted by Irma Raste (@IrmaRaste) and Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel)
5/15 – Remote Patient Registration
Hosted by Theresa Moss (@theresajmoss) from @FormFast
5/22 – The Role of Specialty Specific Telehealth
Hosted by TBD
5/29 – Remote Patient Monitoring
Hosted by Lygeia Ricciardi (@Lygeia) and Ashley Dauwer (@amariedauwer) from @CariumCares
6/5 – Ambulatory Telehealth Nuances
Hosted by Amanda Hansen (@AmandaSHansen) from @AdvancedMD
We look forward to learning from the #HITsm community! As always, let us know if you’d like to host a future #HITsm chat or if you know someone you think we should invite to host.
If you’re searching for the latest #HITsm chat, you can always find the latest #HITsm chat and schedule of chats here.
