Hospital Marketing

Professional Societies

Start here for success in hospital marketing or public relations.

Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development

The Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) of the American Hospital Association is the professional society for marketers, public relations professionals and planners. The Society sponsors the SHSMD Knowledge Community, a social network and resource repository for members.

PRSA Health Academy

The Health Academy is the professional section of the Public Relations Society of America focused on health care, hospital and pharma.

Healthcare Strategy Institute

An independent group providing professional development and other services established as the Forum for Healthcare Strategists in 1996

Professional Journals & Newsletters

The secret to being smart isn't gray matter.

ANSWERStat

Medical call centers magazine covering telephone triage, physician referral, PBX Attendant Console, physician referral and appointment setting, medical answering service, agent hiring, training, and retention, CRM, legal topics and technical telophony issues. Distributed free to qualified staff at hospital call centers medical related contact centers.

e-Healthcare Strategy & News

Web and Internet issues with a strong hospital perspective, edited by Mark Gothberg.

Healthcare Advertising Review

Reprints of hosptial advertisements, segmented by topic and service line. Generally presented without commentary. Also sponsors annual award contest and produces yearly compilation of print, radio and television ads done by hospitals.

HealthLeaders

A source of healthcare industry news for hospital administrators and middle management leaders. Also produces books and CDs featuring the results of the HealthLeaders Media Marketing Awards. If you work in healthcare, you may qualify for a free subscription.

Healthcare Marketing Report

Healthcare Marketing Report covers news on market strategies, concepts and trends in the healthcare industry. Coverage includes hospitals, HMOs, PPOs, psychiatric facilities, medical practices and more.

Journal of Hospital Marketing & Public Relations

This refereed, academic journal is written by and for hospital marketing professionals. Covers theoretical and empirical research papers, case studies, and articles of relevance to both academics and practitioners.

Marketing Health Care Today

Four color publication featuring hospital advertising from Creative Images, Inc.

Physician Referral and Triage Times

Publication targeted for managers of hospital and health system call centers from HMR Publications Group Inc.

Profiles in Healthcare Marketing

Bi-monthly publication including case studies of multimedia marketing and public relations strategies by hospitals and health systems.

Advertising & Marketing Agencies

National or regional firms that specialize in working with hospitals or health care clients.

Adcuity

Internet-based, syndicated advertising supplier headed by Bill Stiles. Adcuity members chose from hundreds of creative ad concepts, campaigns and special purpose communications, written, designed and ready to go. Purchases include exclusive use in your market area.

Aegis Group

Reimbursement-sensitive hospital marketing strategies focused on employer, occupational medicine and healthy workforce approaches.

Bennett Group

Strategy, marketing communications, media planning & design services. Based in Framingham, Massachussets.

Brown Parker DeMarinis Advertising

Award-winning Florida-based agency with several hospital clients.

Dobies Healthcare Group

A boutique marketing communications firm based in Kansas City and specializing in healthcare.

Franklin Street Marketing

This Richmond, Virginia agency has more than 50 healthcare clients, including hospitals, physician practices, senior care facilities, EMS organizations and other healthcare-related industries.

Hippo

The healthcare advertising division of Muller Bressler Brown based in Kansas City.

Healthcare Branding Group

Chicago-based brand architects, brand cultivators and brand ambassadors.

Interval

A Minneapolis-based healthcare marketing agency (formerly GeigerBevolo Inc).

Kelly Robbins LLC

Denver-based healthcare copywriter and consultant with 15 years of experience.

McCormick Healthcare Marketing

Large, employee-owned general advertising agency with healthcare division serving various associations, pharma, cancer centers and hospitals. Multiple U.S. offices.

ME&V

Iowa-based agency specializing in healthcare, non-profit and fund raising.

Neathawk Dubuque & Packett

Virgina-based firm serving multiple industries including healthcare. In 2007, acquired Daniel Douglas Norcross (ddN) of Chatanooga, which is now a regional office of ND&P.

Prairie Dog Healthcare Marketing

Kansas City agency with 70 healthcare clients.

The Roberts Group

A full-service agency based in Wisconsin providing strategic marketing direction, communications and issues management for health care organizations.

Sean Tracey Agency

Specializes in producing television commercials for various industries including healthcare. Works directly with clients or as an agency resource.

SRK

Chicago-based agency headed by Arthur Sturm.

Storandt Pann Margolis

A tomato is easier to remember that this agency's name, as they readily admit. The agency has a 20-year history, has worked with with 150 hospitals and is located 20 minutes west of Chicago.

Springboard Brand & Creative Strategy

Branding consultation firm headed by health care agency veteran Rob Rosenberg.

Ten Adams

Evansville, Indiana-based firm began in 1985 at 10 Adams Avenue in Evansville, Indiana. Has multiple healthcare clients and a blog focused on hospital marketing.

Consultants

Experts from more than 50 miles away.

Anthony Cirillo / Fast Forward

Helps hospitals evaluate their efforts, target and more effectively attract customers. Anthony is also an author and speaker.

Dobbins Strategy

Strategy development, campain creative direction, direct marketing consulting. Works with hospitals, health systems and physician groups.

The Gardner Advisory Group

A small company of principals specializing in Healthcare Planning, Strategy, Market Research, Group Facilitation, Health Services Marketing, and Medical Staff Development.

H*Works

The consulting arm of The Advisory Board focused on hospitals achieving best practice performance in inpatient management, emergency department operations, revenue cycle management, nurse staffing, service line growth, technology strategy, and margin management.

Lewton, Seekins & Trester

A trio of senior healthcare planning, marketing, public affairs and communications executives providing counsel to hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers and physician associations.

Medimetrex

Medimetrex provides planning for hospitals, insurers and pharma that coordinates service line, physician, managed care, partnering and marketing communications strategies. Medimetrex also coordinates Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Spirit of Women program.

PB Healthcare Business Solutions

Patrick Buckley and PBHBS provide both management and marketing consulting.

Research Firms

Good marketing & PR ALWAYS starts with research. SOMETIMES you need outside help:

Marketing & Planning Leadership Council of The Advisory Board Company

Perhaps best described as a thinktank and information research firm for healthcare, the Advisory Board Companyprovides trend information, benchmarking, analysis and primary research services on a subscription basis. The Marketing & Planning Leadership Council is a special section within the Advisory Board that supports senior marketing and planning executives and their staff.

Arbor Associates

Customized opinion research studies for hospital clients including market, medical staff, employee and patient satisfaction work. Primarily telephone- or focus-group based methodologies with extensive respondent comments provided.

Avatar International

Products include HCAHPS, patient, employee and physician surveys.

Cheryl Stone Marketing

Focus group and other market research and planning services for hospitals and healthcare services. Special expertise in women's health.

Cooper Research

A full-service national market research company specializing in healthcare. Custom quantitative and qualitative research studies for hospitals and systems, health plans, insurance companies, medical device & equipment companies and pharma. In addition to traditional research designs, Cooper Research also offers conjoint, perceptual mapping, pricing studies, image and attitude studies, segmentation and tracking research. Also offers consulting in customer satisfaction, loyalty, and employee retention.

Gallup

Gallup's Patient Engagement science allows hospitals and healthcare providers to measure not only the basic aspects of their patients' care experiences (via the HCAHPS survey), but also their patients' emotional attachment and connection to their employees, physicians, and the organization as a whole.

HealthIntell

A market research and consulting firm specializing in helping ambulatory facilities collect and analyze information regarding the patient experience. Also Conducts referral physician syndicated market research.

HealthStream Research

Formerly Jackson Organization (Baltimore, MD)and Data Management & Research (Franklin, TN). Provides custom patient, physician, employee and consumer research.

Klein and Partners

Strategic and tactical marketing research and consulting services that are designed and analyzed with your brand's health in mind.

Market Street Research

Develops custom healthcare marketing research including, image, market, satisfaction and loyalty studies using focus groups and telephone surveys. Also does work for other industries.

Med Soup

Provides patient satisfaction surveys for medical practices at thepatientopinion.com.

Melior Group

Conducts qualitative and quantitative market research for healthcare, financila and utility sectors. Their work in healthcare includes managed care, pharma and providers.

Mystery Shopping Resources

Cathy Stucker's Squidoo lens on everything you need to know about mystery shopping (not specific to health care).

National Research Corporation

NRC's "Healthcare Market Guide" is a syndicated product using an internet-based methodology. NRC + Picker (www.nrcpicker.com) provides patient satisfaction research using "the Picker Institute's philosphies." (See Dr. Harvey Picker's book, Through the Patient's Eyes).

Patient Impact

Internet and kiosk-based methodologies for patient satisfaction surveys.

Press Ganey

Satisfaction research using mail-based methodologies.

Professional Research Consultants

Professional Research Consultants is the leading market research firm dedicated solely to the healthcare industry. Consumer, physician, patient satisfaction, and employee studies using primarily telephone methodologies.

Physician Relations

Ignore those who tell you otherwise. This should still be your top strategy. Just ask your CEO.

ACT! Conact Management Software

The most popular contact management software for use in sales programs.

Aegis

Works with client to develop strategic plans to deepen physician engagement. Hires, trains and manages physician relations specialists at client hospitals and offers proprietary contact management software for physician relations.

Barlow/McCarthy

A consulting firm focused on assisting hospitals and health systems with physician relations, recruitment and retention, and medical staff development.

Corporate Group Health

Physician relations strategy and planning, as well as staffing, compensation, and training assistance for liaisons.

Harkins Associates

Sales training for pharma, health plans and some health systems.

Healthcare Strategy Group

Services to help health systems, individual hospitals, and physician practices find real world solutions to the strategic challenges they face

Marketware Software

Database, sales process management and reporting specifically for physican relations work.

Strategies by Design

Assessment, training and coaching for physician liaison programs. Also consulting on staffing and performance expectations.

Database Marketing Agencies

Data warehouses, direct mail, list management and so forth.

Connextions

Customer Relationship Management design consulting and implementation services, with particular expertise in the healthcare industry.

Creative Marketing Programs

Kansas City agency specializing in newcomer and other targeted direct mail for hospital clients.

Customer Potential Management

CPM Marketing Group provides customer relationship management (CRM) solutions for the healthcare industry. These include comprehensive customer databases, database marketing, predictive and analytical software programs, strategic planning, return on investment (ROI) strategies and automated communic

eVariant

CRM and database marketing services for a variety of industries including healthcare.

Healthcare Data Insights & Analytics

Database marketing and nurse recruitment methodologies based on experience developed by the founders from their work with Tenet Heatlhcare.

Insights Direct

Serves financial, retail, and healthcare clients direct marketing, data warehouses, fullfillment services and more. Health services include new mover, service line and fund development among others.

LionShare Marketing

Offers a suite of database marketing services including research, plannng, modeling, and reporting in conjunction with implementing marketing campaigns such as new movers, patient aquisition, recruitment and other direct and e-mail approaches.

New Clients

Specializes in new mover programs for healthcare with response rates from 5 to 15 percent. Offers turnkey or ala carte options.

REACH3

Provides healthcare CRM and targeted marketing services including strategic CRM marketing plan recommendations; database/online application development; and web-based marketing communications fulfillment.

Strata Company

A Pennsylvania-based database marketing firm with a healthcare division. Has programs for newcomers, patient aquisition, life-event CRM and so forth.

Thomson Healthcare (crmView)

Thomson Healthcare (formerly Solucient) offers crmView, a master database file tool that provides data to drive marketing efforts and report results. Their segmentation system, HouseholdView, is based on survey input that measures propensity to use clinical services and media preferences.

Web Design & Ancillary Firms

Large, national firms. No more relatives of administrators working out of their garage.

A.D.A.M.

Physician-reviewed text, medical illustrations, multimedia and interactive tools for use on web sites.

Avid Design

Healthcare web design, online video, SEO and analytics work. Based in Norcross, Georgia.

Blue Canoe Dynamic Media

The new media arm of True North Custom Publishing since 2001. Services include web sites, blogs, e-newsletters, podcast, Flash animation, calculators, games, RSS feed work and more.

Blue Lemon Media

Blue Lemon is a firm with Canadian and U.S. offices providing web, CMS, virtual tours, online donation and e-learning services. The company's virtual tours received the 2008 eHealthcare Leadership Award in the Business/Process Improvement category.

CareTech Solutions

Offers content management system for hospital Internet and intranet needs, as well as complete design, redesign of Web sites including hosting servies. In addition, has tools for secure online communication for board members and physicians.

Coffey Communications - netReturns

A publications vendor that has moved into offering modular web services and content.

Cyrus

Florida-based web development firm with approximately 100 clients drawn from physician practices, hospitals, and health systems.

DC Interactive Group

Web sites & intranet design and development, social networking solutions, e-commerce and SEO work.

Discovery Hospital

Consumer health information portal licensed to hospitals through the same company that owns the cable health programming brands, Discovery Health, FitTV and DiscoveryHealth.com. Discovery Hospital is provided as a product of Relegent, based in Franklin, Tennessee.

eCrossings Media (Dowden)

Web sites, flash e-newsletters, online CME options.The electronic media arm of Dowden Custom Media.

EHC

Web site development & hosting, virtual tours and usibility reviews.

ExitCare

Third party patient education information for clinical use, available in multiple languages.

ForSee Results

Provides online customer satisfaction measurement using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) to measure your website and your business.

Geonetric

Iowa-based Web consultants focusing on healthcare clients.

Greystone.Net

Atlanta-based firm offering Internet and call center consulting, web site design, and other services. Greystone.Net's consumer health content business has been acquired by Stay Well Custom Communications.

Growing Family

Web nursery modules for your Web site.

Healthwise

Third party health information including interactive tools, decision aids, and illustrations for patient education. Also has a strategic alliance with Emmi, an interactive patient education and engagement company.

HealthVision

Web-based clinical systems, consulting and web design services. A division of VHA.

IGCN, Inc.

Content management products for healthcare industry.

Imaginary Landscape

This Chicago-based firm has a number of large Illinois hospital and healthcare clients, in addition to an array of clients from other industries. Provides "hand-woven" web sites, hosting, electronic list management, SEO, virtual tours and other services. The firm has additional offices in Charlotte and Oklahoma.

In10sity Interactive - Healthcare Division

Website development, interactive and CMS vendor with a number of hospital and healthcare clients, also serving education, retail, finance and construction industries.

Mayo Clinic Health Content Syndication

Third Party health information such as patient test & procedure education, lifesytle, lifestage, diseases and conditions, tools and videos from the Mayo Clinic's syndication arm in XML format.

Medicity (formerly Park City Solutions)

Standardized or custom web-based applications for the healthcare market, including provider, patient, community and employee portals.

Medtouch

A seven-year-old, award-winning Cambridge, Massachussets web design firm with about 50 hospital clients in 20 states.

MedSeek

MedSeek provides e-health solutions to over 400 hospitals.

My Health Publisher

Database-driven E-newsletter system affiliated with myhealthlibrary.com and True North Custom Publishing.

Priority Integrated Marketing

Web design, e-mail publishing and Web content services as well as custom and semi-custom newsletters, brochures, direct mail.

Private Health News

Turn-key e-mail newsletters on heart, maternity, wellness and rehab topics.

StayWell Custom Communications

Provides print and online content for hospitals, health plans and employers.

Thomson's Consumer Health Solution

Mix-and-match content modules and tools for your hospital's Web site. Includes Spanish support.

Virtually Anywhere

Creates virtual tours for your Web site.

Scorpion Healthcare

CMS, online video, physician blogs and sites.

Patient Blog Companies

Give your patients and their families a way to keep family & friends up-to-date.

Carepages (TLConnect Inc.)

Provides patient blogs (web pages) to help friends and relatives stay in touch with hospitalized patients. Consumer site is at www.carepages.com, but hospitals are able to co-brand and link the service from their Web sites as well.

CaringBridge

Free, personalized websites that support and connect loved ones during critical illness, treatment and recovery.

Public Knowledge Systems LLC

An Alaskan company providing free, easy, secure web pages for patients, family and friends at www.thestatus.com. Also provides baby announcement pages at theBabyStatus.com.

Healthcare Call Center Software Vendors

Have you checked out the ROI on call centers? Every hospital needs one.

1 Call

Call center software for healthcare and higher education. Their wellness applications include physician referral, class scheduling, Rx renewals and appointment tools. A division of AMTELCO.

Healthline Systems

Contact center software with 20 years in the industry.

LVM Systems

Software and related Internet products for the healthcare call center industry. LVM's primary niche is on solutions that support nurse triage, disease management, and referral and marketing services.

McKesson

Offers triage and non-triage call center software (CareEnhance Call Center) as well as the well-known Ask-a-Nurse branded triage system.

Outsourced Healthcare Call Center Vendors

The way to have a call center if you can't afford one. Sorta like car leasing.

Beryl

Bilingual outsourced customer service solutions for the healthcare
industry. As well as telephone, they provide their client's customers the ability
to communicate via live agents, on-line chats, e-mail, fax or IVR.

Call Center Consulting

Call Center Consulting has experience in the areas of people and process management, clinical training, business analysis, telecom, strategic positioning, disease management and health risk assessment.

FONEMED

Onshore and offshore options for outsourced nurse triage services. Also will provide outbound services.

IntelliCare

A large network of medical contact centers with more than 250 hospital, health
system, health plan, group practice, and employer clients. A unit of PolyMedica Corporation.

McKesson CareEnhance 24x7 Nurse Triage

Registered nurses provide general health information, algorithm-based symptom assessment, care advice and follow-up as necessary, as well as self-care recommendations on more than 1,200 topics.

MediCall

Operates a Philippines-based communication center staffed with fluent English speaking, experienced, certified nurses, physicians, and pharmacists.

TEAMHealth

Call centers and nurse triage for hospitals and physicians practices, among other outsourced staffing services (Thankfully no mention of marketing!).

On-demand Television Systems

I'd rather sleep, but if patients are going to watch TV, they may as well watch your programming.

MDM Commercial

Offers the LodgeNet Interactive Solution for hospital applications. Based in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

Skylight Healthcare Systems

San Diego-based Skylight Healthcare Systems markets the Access Interactive Patient System which provides multimedia experiences via conventional television sets.

TVR Communications LLC

Offers hospitals the EnerLock Rover Graphical solutions products to hospitals in cooperation with IBM Digital Media Solutions. Delivers entertainment, health education and other patient servies over existing LANs or radio frequency networks.

Custom & Syndicated Newsletter Vendors

Newsletters are an outstanding public relations strategy.

Coffey Communications

Coffey Communications offers custom health publications, Web solutions and health education materials. Based in Walla Walla, Washington.

Dowden Health Media

Produces custom publications and websites on a contract basis for more than 150 healthcare organizations throughout the U.S

Health Ink Communications

Publishes Vitality Magazine and other syndicated or custom hospital newsletters.

Health Newsletters Direct

"Regarding Women" and other custom newsletters.

McMurry Publishing

Vim & Vigor, Baylor Health and other custom newsletters.

Parlay International

Generic health and wellness articles that you can byline from your docs or use in any way. Founded in 1987 by three former employees of Krames Communications.

PENS Communications Systems

Data warehouse and digital printing services to produce a newsletters tailored to the needs and interests of individual households.

Priority Integrated Marketing

Custom and semi-custom newsletters, brochures, direct mail, e-publishing and Web content services.

Redspring

Magazine-quality short format publications (32 pages and fewer). Founded 1991 with headquarters in Saratoga Springs, NY and field Offices in North Carolina and Texas.

StayWell Custom Communications

Provides print and online content for hospitals, health plans and employers.

True North Custom Publishing

Creates more than 250 magazines and newsletters annually for health care, wellness, education, computers and technology, and human resources sectors.

Health & Life magazine for hospitals

A customizable magazine from Wainscot Media.

Specialty Publication Vendors

Patient handbooks, physician directories, and stuff like that.

American Hospitals Patient Guide

Patient guides, health magazines and physician directories.

PhotoBooks

Print and internet directories for associations, law firms, educational institutions, hospitals, and professional organizations.

The Patient Handbook Company

Produces patient handbooks, physician directories and community healthcare guides to hospitals supported by advertising.

Syndicated Television Advertisng

TV on a shoestring. Save your money for placement.

AdvantEdge TV Advertising

Large library of award winning, ready-to-air TV spots for finance, healthcare, automotive and grocery industries.

Medical AdWorks

Pre-produced and custom productions for hospitals.

Raintree Marketing

Atlanta-based firm owns inventory from the now defunct AdExchange. Library of 2,500 spots for financial and healthcare clients.

Yellow Page Consultants

Yellow page advertising costs can be astronomical. If you can really call it "advertising." It's more like paying through the nose for directory listings.

Directory Assistants, Inc. (DAI)

Works on a contingency basis, sharing a percentage of the money saved.

HCCG

Provides yellow page advertising and marketing consultation. Over the past ten years HCCG consultants have worked with more than 450 hospitals, physicians, and various healthcare entities, reportedly saving them millions of dollars.

Yellow Page Resource

Yellow Page Resource aims to eliminating overspending, identifying new growth opportunities, and improving effectiveness of ad design & copy.

QMS

Services include analyzing your target audiences' yellow page usage; yellow page cost containment; consultative services; handling contract negotiations and administration; billing verification; and negotiating for adjustments and credits. Clients include hospitals, professional practices, financial institutions, large and small retail establishments, restaurants and contractors.

Marketing Software

Programs and ASPs to help hospital marketers DO marketing.

Advantage Software Company

Enterprise and web-based agency management software including traffic, tasks, Sarbanes-Oxley and time management, as well as billing and ledger functions. Creating ad agency software since 1983, Advantage aquired the Adman software system in 2002.

Basecamp

Well-reviewed, pay-as-you-go project collaboration tool with messaging, to-do lists, time tracking and more.

Clients & Profits agency software

Popular full-featured agency software package.

Creative Manager

Web-based ad agency and project management software.

FunctionFox Systems

TimeFox is a simple, affordable web-based application for online timesheets and expense tracking by professionals in advertising, design and public relations.

Med-Track

Software for physician liaisons if you don't care to use ACT! or Goldmine.

Marketing Pilot

An information system for marketers, providing project management and traffic tools for the in-house agency.

Other Online Resources for Books, White Papers and Such

HospitalConnect Online Book Store

The American Hospital Society's bookstore.

PRSA Bookstore

Books and other products from the Public Relations Society of America.

CPM Hospital Press Room

Web seminars, white papers and case studies related to healthcare database marketing (registration required).

Geonetric Webinars & Resource Library

Archive of white papers and seminars related to e-healthcare topics (registration required).

Expert Advice White Papers from Priority Publications

Directly download white papers from Priority Publications on various hospital marketing topics.

Resources from The Beckham Company

Articles and other resources from J. Daniel Beckham's consulting firm regarding leadership, marketing and physician relations. Of particular note is the article The American Physician which gives historical, sociological and psychological insights into why doctors think and act differently than the rest of us, and in particular differently than hospital administrators.

Stream of Consciousness from Interval

White papers, podcasts, book linkss and other resources from Chris Bevolo and the Interval agency.

Archived Issues of Healthcare Marketing Connection

Archived editions of a newsletter by healthcare marketer and copywriter Kelli Robbins. Additional archives are available on kellyrobbinsllc.com.

SHSMD CD-ROM Center

Purchase the audio and visual recordings of past webcasts from the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development.

Recordings from Annual SHSMD Conferences

Recordings from the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development's annual meetings are available online in cooperation with the Soft Conference company. Selected sessions or the entire conference may be purchased on audio CD.

Special, Oddball & Uncatogorized Tools

These firms & tools might just come in handy someday.

Lifemed

Smart-chip cards for membership and loyalty programs from Lifemed, the healthcare division of Smart Association. Also works with kiosks and preregistration systems.

Buxton

Planning data and analytics for identifying patients,targeting facility locations, identifying services for specifc geographic locations.