Health educators intend to provide information to patients and caregivers that is easily understood, and more importantly can be recalled and acted upon.That's never been easy, but has and will continue to become more challenging in the face of growing disease and treatment discovery.  Read More

There is a saying that goes, "the only thing certain in life is uncertainty," and although not particularly comforting, this point becomes underscored for us in healthcare. Many of us do our best to live into “healthy” habits - not smoking, eating clean, drinking in moderation and working out. I’m a firm believer in healthy lifestyle and always have been, however at the same time realize that there are no guarantees in terms of life expectancy and possible health issues we might encounter despite our very best efforts. Read More

Getting so close to patients' journeys on a one to one basis that we know the moment they can really use information that’s relevant to them is a tall order. With oncology, it’s particularly challenging as the experience involves multiple stakeholders, decisions, points of care - and no two patients are exactly alike. Read More

NEW YORK, Oct. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Arches Technology is a software company that licenses a HIPAA compliant content deployment platform to healthcare clients. In partnership with Kettering Health Network, Arches Technology developed MyCareCompass (MCC), a digital oncology education program for patients undergoing infusion chemotherapy. This Friday, Oct. 5th, Arches and Kettering will unveil preliminary data from the MCC program at the 2018 International Cancer Education Conference (ICEC) in Atlanta, Georgia. Read More

NEW YORK, May 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Arches Technology is a software company that provides marketing cloud products for the healthcare industry. Recently partnering with Kettering Health Network, Arches Technology . Read More

What is a drip campaign? A drip campaign is a series of communications that are delivered to your prospect or customer over a period of time, and has a planned cadence with business rules — but is also based… Read More

Every action has a reaction in both physics and effective marketing plans, and modern CRM has allowed healthcare marketers to design business rules tailored to individuals at specific stages in their patient journeys. These steps are defined by if/then… Read More

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can be a nebulous term, referring “to practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.” That dry definition is broadened by the phrase “throughout the… Read More

Medical research relies on tests with reproducible results, and the same maxim applies to healthcare marketing and education. Marketers need to understand what works, what doesn’t, and the methods of delivery that resonate with patients. To that end, communications… Read More

Cancer treatments are evolving, and there is a shift toward chemotherapy that patients self-administer at home, with an emphasis on oral medications. In 2010, authors published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing expected use of oral chemotherapy treatments… Read More

In just the last year, Millennials (adults ages 18-34) have become the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, officially surpassing Gen Xers, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center. The healthcare… Read More

Tips to make engagement programs more specific and effective  The same can also be said about designing marketing communications that speak to these patients; this community presents with a unique set of characteristics that do not fall within… Read More

Patients who are educated about their disease are more likely to adhere to doctor recommendations, medication regimens, and treatments – but exactly how much information do they really want? There’s no across-the-board response to this question, since… Read More

The proper diagnosis of a disease and effective treatments are, of course, essential to an individual’s prognosis and quality of life. But there is also compelling evidence about the value of being sufficiently informed; a patient’s misunderstanding of a… Read More

There’s little in life as jarring as being diagnosed with a serious disease like cancer or diabetes; the news irrevocably changes the lives of both the patient and their family. Yet as difficult as it is, there are many… Read More

Any change can be daunting. But for a pediatric patient with a rare disease who is faced with transitioning into adult care, it can be exponentially more intimidating. While parents have often painstakingly developed a support system over the… Read More

The days of influence marketing solely backed by celebrities or public figures are long gone. Today, people publish their own opinions and find their voice online by publishing blogs that carry influence of the same caliber, if not more. Read More

“Sending a patient to do battle with cancer without any training is like parachuting a soldier into the jungle without the benefit of survival training.” —Michael Lerner, president, Commonwealth In this age of rapid healthcare delivery, the big… Read More

I’ve had the privilege of talking to those touched by or living with rare disease. This post reflects on statistics and insights gained from patients, caregivers and healthcare providers. According to Global Genes, nearly 30 million Americans are… Read More

Healthcare is evolving into a value-based system, with patient satisfaction tied to reimbursements and penalties. And, it’s evolving quicker than you might think. Value-based reimbursement is no longer the future of healthcare, a pilot project, or some far off… Read More

Telemedicine will no doubt increase patient engagement, because patients who receive care when and where they want are more motivated to participate in self-care. And on the provider side, being able to identify what is important to the patient… Read More

Customer relationship management (CRM) is here to stay and is at the heart of companies’ digital initiatives for years to come, Gartner said in a report that came out in 2014. The hot topic in CRM across multiple leading… Read More

Educating patients about what to expect after surgery needs to start in the weeks beforehand. By helping patients understand what their surgery involves and preparing them both for the procedure and recovery, providers can improve patient satisfaction and make… Read More

As value-based care becomes common practice, healthcare organizations are working to increase patient engagement—but are current engagement strategies getting the job done when it comes to improving outcomes long term? HIMSS Analytics conducted a study on patient engagement… Read More

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, “Shared decision making is a model of patient-centered care that enables and encourages people to play a role in the management of their own health. It operates under the premise… Read More

One area where outcomes-based care is having a huge impact is orthopedic surgery. According to a 2014 study published in the Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, the projected number of total knee replacement surgeries for 2016 is 1,046,000—in 15… Read More

Healthcare is evolving from a fee-for-service and volume-driven model to one that is value based. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has stepped up its timeline for shifting Medicare to a value-based system so that by the end… Read More

A report in Healthcare IT News, “Strategies to Maximize Patient Engagement and Retention,” observed that the healthcare industry is evolving to a model where patients are approaching their healthcare as consumers. As a result, patients’ expectations of an “exceptional… Read More

Technology is advancing how medicine is practiced, giving patients the chance to participate more fully in their healthcare. These new developments have the potential to elevate the provider-patient relationship, and are being welcomed, for the most part, by both… Read More

The waiting room is often the place where patients spend the majority of their time during a visit to their doctor. According to a Software Advice survey of 5,000 U.S. patients, the average time patients wait before seeing a… Read More

According to industry estimates, 500 million smartphone owners worldwide use at least one health or wellness app. Within the next three years, 50% of the more than 3 billion smartphone and tablet users will have downloaded mobile health apps. Read More

Tech-savvy consumers, the Affordable Care Act, and competitive new companies entering the healthcare industry are all contributors to changes that will be affecting patients, providers, and payers in 2015. Researchers at PwCs’ Health Research Institute surveyed 1,000 U.S. Read More

The use of electronic health records (EHRs) is now standard operating procedure in many medical practices, but access to them is a bone of contention. While many patients want to be able to read and add to their records,… Read More

While patient portals can’t replace an in-office visit, they have many benefits: They encourage patients to view test results and health records and can facilitate an ongoing doctor-patient dialogue. They can reduce paperwork by serving as online billing and… Read More

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), about one in five Medicare patients discharged from a hospital is readmitted within 30 days. In an effort to change this, in 2009, the CMS began publicly reporting hospital… Read More

It’s not news to doctors that an important part of their job is educating their patients about their health and medical conditions. The problem is that a meaningful interaction takes time—one thing that doctors don’t have. A 2013 Medscape… Read More

We can all agree that empowering patients to engage in their healthcare is a good thing. Improving patients’ understanding of their disease and health so they take a more active role in their healthcare has been shown to lead… Read More

To help patients proactively manage their health, many healthcare providers supplement what they tell patients during appointments with written content. This may include printouts of educational material about their condition, healthy lifestyle tips, or hand-written notes about the patient’s… Read More

Which patient is likely to have the best outcome: The one who puts their health entirely in their doctor’s hands, or the one who is empowered to help manage their own health? The answer may seem obvious. Patients… Read More

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) identifies patient engagement as an integral part of quality in accountable care organizations. In fact, a separate section (3506) of the ACA calls for new Shared Decision-Making Resource Centers to help integrate the approach… Read More

Patient engagement is a very popular term right now. But what exactly is it? As part of Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements, healthcare organizations will be making important decisions about how to improve access to patient data using… Read More

What does it take to be a good patient marketer? There is no one background that makes a person a perfect fit for healthcare marketing. Certainly a good education, including within the discipline of marketing, is a good start. Read More

My last post introduced the concept of Responsive Relationship Marketing: the practice of listening first and communicating subsequently, allowing segmentation and tailoring to emerge dynamically. Just as responsive design is about creating engaging content for a proliferating number… Read More

Over the last couple of years, responsive design has become the new trend to ensure customers can see our message any time from any device. As we know, healthcare professionals are uber users of hand-held devices, and so responsive… Read More

Patients not only need medical care but also emotional and educational support from their healthcare team. Treatment can be a daunting experience, but a good medical team can assuage patient fears for an easier healing experience. Preparation Paves… Read More

We’ve all heard the phrase “content is king,” but in the world of inbound marketing has our definition of “Content” changed? Ninety-one percent of B2B marketers use content in their marketing mix and a majority use social media… Read More

The caregiver has become a primary target audience for healthcare marketers, especially in the oncology and rare disease spaces. Often clients ask whether the content we provide to patients is sufficient for caregivers, too. Our answer is – not… Read More

We recently completed the first phase of a yearlong social listening project for one of our clients. It’s a global project, spanning seven countries and includes “listening in” on all of the popular social media channels – Twitter, Facebook, Sina… Read More

One of the hottest marketing catch phrases of 2012 is “data is the new creative.” The premise is that all of the creative in the world won’t help you if your decisions aren’t data driven. Data Is the… Read More

For the past 12 years, my focus and interest has been Relationship Marketing, specifically Patient Relationship Marketing. It has been the allure around building, segmenting, and leveraging a database of qualified patients, usually suffering from disease states where they… Read More

2012 has been a year of innovation in mhealth, wellness and prevention start-ups, a focus on EMR and patient/doctor communications, and much discussion about big data. As these issues continue to blossom, I am observing a delay within… Read More

What once would have once sounded like the plot of a 1950’s science fiction novel is now the future of modern medicine — soon, our medications will not just treat our conditions, they’ll be tailored to our individual genomes. Read More

Relationship marketing (RM) programs are powerful tools that help consumers make educated healthcare decisions. We have been creating and evaluating RM programs for over 10 years. Since the beginning, we have placed an emphasis on measuring results to ensure… Read More

Recently at a meeting, we were talking about the healthcare boards that have popped up on Pinterest. As we discussed the idea of creating a way for oncology patients to find others like themselves on Pinterest, and share inspirational… Read More

Yes, e-mail has gone through phases in healthcare marketing since 2001, but, no, it is not going to be obliterated. Email remains one of the “meat and potatoes” means of communication between healthcare brands and consumer targets. I… Read More

I recently went on a hiking trip in New Zealand where one in our group had the most expensive gear: boots, clothing, poles, backpack.  Despite his lavish equipment, he was always the last one to arrive at the destination… Read More

In today’s fast-shifting patient-centric world, do we know what patients with serious diseases really want when it comes to information about their health? And are pharmaceutical companies listening? When Wendy S. was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer two… Read More

For years, many myths about chronic patient care and communications have hobbled our ability to offer the optimum supportive information. Through years of work with leading healthcare companies, I have identified some truths about patients and caregivers that may surprise… Read More

The speed of social rules the day. We traverse platforms faster than we can blink an eye. Can social channels get any faster or more amalgamated? I’m sure. So how do healthcare brands keep up with the speed and intensity… Read More