It should come as no surprise that it can be difficult to get a healthcare system on the same page when it comes to their communications – both internal and external. Managing the content and messaging across large campuses and multiple locations comes with a set of challenges. But it’s a set of challenges worth overcoming.
The benefits of having clear and consistent communication through each and every touch point across a healthcare system comes with a magnitude of benefits.
Benefits of Clear Communication in Healthcare Systems
Clear and consistent communication benefits hospitals, staff, and patients. From improving internal operations and increasing patient engagement to creating more effective marketing tactics and lasting brand recognition, a communications plan serves a healthcare system from top to bottom.
With better communications, healthcare organizations can:
- Educate patients and increase health literacy
- Lessen patient confusion
- Help with reducing readmissions
- Increase HCAPS scores
- Increase ROI by promoting service lines, clinical trials, and physician referrals
- Increase event participation
- Reach employees and staff through strong internal communications
- Reduce human resources needs
- Put less stress on internal staff
- Set professional expectations
- Maintain professional consistency
- Keep corporate branding control
- Reinforce marketing messages
Barriers to Improving Communications at Healthcare Systems
After looking at the many benefits of having clear and consistent communication across a healthcare system, it’s easy to see why this should take priority for an organization.
But too often, even if a healthcare system wants to improve their communications, they either don’t know how or they can’t manage the complex process on their own.
Healthcare communications and marketing departments often have multiple moving parts to consider when they roll out a new message. It can involve IT, marketing, and facilities operations. They also often have limited resources to accomplish their goals. Many large healthcare systems don’t have the internal resources or knowledge to take on a such a large, daunting task.
That’s where Spectrio comes in.
How to Improve Communication Within a Healthcare System
Most healthcare systems need consultative services and new technology to improve their communication processes, and that’s how we help.
For more than 30 years, Spectrio has been helping healthcare systems launch, improve, and modernize their communication systems by being an all-in-one vendor.
We use new technology to bring dated healthcare communication systems into the modern era, and we guide the entire process. We also facilitate and support interdepartmental conversations to ensure a smooth execution of Spectrio services and products.
We currently service 500+ health systems of all sizes which encompass tens of thousands of individual locations, and we take pride in serving these organizations and helping them achieve real results. Spectrio has a proven track record of providing a high ROI for companies utilizing our services. Here are a few examples of how we’ve helped large healthcare systems improve by providing better communications.
Fox Chase Cancer Center Uses Digital Signage and On-Hold Messaging to Educate and Inform
Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA, is one of the leading cancer research and treatment centers in the United States. It conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach.
“To communicate better with our patients and staff, we needed a system that could deliver simple, concise messages in a sophisticated template consistent with our branding guidelines. We wanted to inform, educate, reassure, and engage our patients, caregivers, volunteers, and clinical and scientific staff,” says Julia Goplerud, Senior Director of Regional Marketing and Physician Relations. “[Spectrio] offers us all of those elements.”
To communicate effectively with all audiences on a multitude of levels, Fox Chase implemented Spectrio’s healthcare digital signage and on-hold messaging solutions. Both the digital signage and on-hold messaging products include pre-written content for the healthcare industry.
Fox Chase uses Spectrio’s healthcare digital signage and on-hold messaging in tandem to inform, educate, and engage patients, staff, and caregivers by using messages that inspire people to take action.
“One such on-hold message, which encourages people to donate their cars to Fox Chase, resulted in a caller actually donating his vehicle for cancer research,” Goplerud says. “[Both] are systems that we have come to rely upon to keep our patients and staff informed and connected.”
Emory Healthcare Uses On-Hold Messaging to Increase Revenue
With revenues in excess of $1.1 billion and approximately 10,000 employees, Emory Healthcare, the clinical arm of the Woodruff Health Science Center of Emory University, is one of the nation’s leading health systems. As the largest, most comprehensive health care system in Georgia, Emory Healthcare has 1830 licensed beds and 20 health centers throughout metro Atlanta.
In order to support the needs of this large system, Emory Healthcare’s marketing team must take advantage of every opportunity to communicate with consumers. For instance, they realized that callers placed on hold or in queue within the system represented an incredible marketing opportunity.
To take advantage of this opportunity, marketing turned to Spectrio’s healthcare on-hold messaging solutions. The on-hold messaging plan greatly enhanced Emory marketing programs by communicating with the millions of callers a year who are placed on hold or in queue at Emory facilities. When on-hold, callers hear custom audio programs that promote service lines, events, clinical trials, general health information, and more.
Within two months of initial contact, callers generated $28,985 in new business from services and events promoted through healthcare hold messaging. “Through tracking we have been able to show that [on-hold messaging] not only pays for itself, but generates additional business for our healthcare system,” says Lori MCLelland, Corporate Director of Marketing at Emory Healthcare.
Improve Communications at Your Healthcare System
Clear and consistent communications can dramatically improve operations, marketing, and patient experience in healthcare systems.
Whether it’s one or thousands of locations within your healthcare organization, Spectrio marketing communication solutions can be shaped for your needs. We help you identify unique solutions that will work for your specific organization.
Please reach out to me if you’d like to learn more about how Spectrio can help your healthcare system streamline and simplify your communication systems to make life easier on doctors, employees, and patients.
About Jessica McCarthy
For almost a decade, Jessica McCarthy has been helping healthcare systems of all shapes and sizes reach their marketing and communication goals. Working with organizations ranging from systems with hundreds of locations to a single-location doctor’s office, she provides consultative services by applying best practices and industry-specific knowledge to help clients achieve their marketing and communication goals using digital signage, on-hold messaging, interactive wayfinding, and other Spectrio marketing communication tools.
Jessica McCarthy
Director of Strategic Accounts
800.584.4653 x6617
jessicamc@spectrio.com
