Archive for MedTouch
MedTouch Summer Webinar Series: Free Healthcare Webinars
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Travel budget cut? No problem. We’re bringing you a summer full of the best educational content available. The best part? It’s all free. Think of it as a staycation for your mind.
#1: Turn Traffic Into Appointments
Why Search Matters
With 80% of the American population performing healthcare research online, web marketing has gone mainstream. Search engines offer an unprecedented opportunity to reach people looking for services your healthcare organizations provides. By analyzing and increasing your search traffic, you can improve your organization’s profile online while driving transactions. This forty-five minute webinar is perfect for anyone struggle to keep up with their changes in search traffic and results.
Register: Wed, Jul 8 2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
Register: Thurs, Jul 9 Noon EST | 11am CST | 10am MST | 9am PST
#2: Best Practices in Social Media
A Research Update
As of June, 250 hospitals in the US are using social media. But to what purpose? And how are they measuring results? This presentation – based on careful research rather than opinion – will highlight the best tool for healthcare organizations to generate traffic, what media children’s hospitals can exploit better than anyone else, and why crisis communications is a 24×7 job in a completely new way. You’ll also learn why senior leaders demand ROI for these projects, how to provide it to them before asking for funding, and how this will dramatically change your staffing needs.
Register: Tue, Jul 14 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
Register: Weds, Jul 15 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
#3: The Good, the Bad, the Very Ugly
An Introduction to the Specific Challenges of Healthcare Website Design
Designing and reorganizing a website for a healthcare organization involves overcoming specific brand, organizational, and technical requirements. In this insightful webinar lead by our own Interactive Developer, you will come to appreciate the three essential principles of good web design, understand how to work within and around organizational barriers, and deliver a successful, attractive, and useful project.
Register: Weds, Jul 22 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
Why Your Organization Needs a Strategic Plan for Your Website and What You Can Do About It
Most healthcare organizations have five year strategic marketing plans, but few have comprehensive, goal-oriented, multi-year plans for the web. Despite the rapidly changing technology, it is to possible to have a true Internet strategy and develop a road map that delivers measurable value to your organization. Come hear about how several MedTouch clients have used this process to unearth opportunities and deliver highly visible results to the organization.
Register: Tue, Jul 28 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
Register: Weds, Jul 29 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
#5: How to Run a Successful Bid Process
The Art and Science of Writing Excellent Web RFPs
If you’re going to issue an RFP in the next few months, you need to attend this webinar. In just forty-five minutes you’ll learn the six mistakes nearly every RFP writer makes and how to avoid them. More than that, we’ll share with you how to finesse the best RFP possible out of your organization, how to run the process with minimal time and maximum result, and why you should or shouldn’t hire an outside consultant to manage the process.
Register: Tue, Aug 4 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
Register: Weds, Aug 5 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
#6: One, Large Television
Why Web Videos Matter More than Ever
The web is a screen-based medium, not a word-based medium. With the advent of broadband Internet access, the way people access information has fundamentally changed. YouTube is the second most popular search engine, eclipsing Yahoo in recent months for Internet searches. For hospitals in particular, online videos provide a mechanism for reaching and engaging their communities in novel ways. This webinar will outline why videos matter more than ever, illustrate best practices in healthcare, and propose four concrete steps you can take to take your Internet presence to the next level.
Register: Tue, Aug 11 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
Register: Weds, Aug 12 3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | Noon PST
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Speaking at AMA Houston Tomorrow: Direct Marketing to Physicians
Posted by: | CommentsOur own Matthew Dillingham will be speaking at the AMA Houston event tomorrow, “Direct Marketing to Physicians.”
Here’s more about the event. You can still sign-up at the door!
How do you break through the 200 marketing messages physicians receive each day?
At our June Healthcare SIG meeting, a panel of four experts will discuss the challenge of getting your message to physicians. They’ll describe the use of on-line and in-person tools and techniques to reach physicians. Hear directly from a pharmaceutical representative about how best to capture the interest and attention of busy physicians. Learn tips and techniques to help you develop more effective direct-to-physician programs.
Program Format
Each expert will provide a 15-minute presentation that is followed by a panel discussion with audience participation in the form of questions and answers. The discussion will be moderated by Vickie Alleman, a former healthcare marketer and author, with more than 20 years experience in marketing to physicians.
Attendees Will Learn:
- What’s new in on-line marketing to physicians
- How to utilize social media and mobile technology for business communication
- How to get to the decision maker; meeting with physicians and clinical staff
- The use of old fashioned grass roots marketing efforts
Panel
Mathew Dillingham - MedTouch
VP, Client Services and StrategiesAlicia Garza - Pharma Representative and Trainer
Anna Dragsbaek - Houston Area Immunization Partnership, Executive Director
Julie Chance - Strategies by Design
Healthcare Relationship Building Coach
Setup MedTouch Tumblr Page
Posted by: | CommentsEven wackier than Twitter: the MedTouch Tumblr page.
Inauguration Day
Posted by: | CommentsWe’re streaming CNN.com at our offices! Back to regular blogging soon!
Three more awards for MedTouch clients St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi; Wolfson Children’s Hospital of Jacksonville, Florida’s Baptist Health; and the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– MedTouch, a leading provider of interactive, web-based solutions for health care organizations, announced three more client awards for the strategic development of St. Dominic’s Hospital, Wolfson Children’s Hospital, and the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Cape and Islands website, www.rchi.org
“All three of these hospitals have a distinct mission, vision, and market. Their websites embody that distinction through a customized approach,” said Paul Griffiths, CEO of MedTouch. “The fact that each of them was distinguished enough to warrant an award, specifically for their design, is encouraging. It proves that distinctions do matter and brands can be successfully elevated online, to a new level of interactivity and engagement.”
“We’re excited to receive this award,” said Kace Ragan, Director of Marketing for St. Dominic’s. “Our objective in redesigning our site was to strategically differentiate our hospital’s mission and services to our consumers. Thanks to the help of MedTouch we’re ’shamelessly succeeding’ in our marketing efforts.”
“Wolfson Children’s Hospital wanted to design the new site around the needs of parents, while playing up the fact that we’re totally focused on children,” stated Melanie Husk, VP of Marketing and Communications at Baptist Health. “The MedTouch team captured just the right balance… using sophisticated thinking that translated to a site that’s not only easy to use but also captures the essence of our brand.”
“MedTouch delivered an engaging, consumer-oriented site that is fully aligned with our strategic goals,” said Carole Stasiowski, RHCI’s Director of Marketing and Community Relations. “What’s more, their Content Management Software, ContentBridge, gives us the ability to integrate the site with other marketing communications vehicles and to respond to opportunities in a timely manner.”
About MedTouch
MedTouch delivers web intelligence for healthcare. Whether delivering web sites, online marketing programs, or empowered technology with provable ROI, MedTouch is dedicated to shamelessly promoting its clients’ success. Those clients include nationally-ranked academic medical centers, community hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, health plans, and health care-related not-for-profits.
Why Smart, Ticked Off Computer Guys Are Looking to Destroy Your Hospital
Posted by: | CommentsHaving gone through my venture capital financing hazing in the late nineties, one of the features I’ve noticed about businesses that get funded are those which have a “disruptive” model to them. VCs enjoy the idea that their investments will not only create value for their own businesses but, in the words of a (very successful) VC firm, First Round Capital:
We love investing in technologies and business models that are able to shrink existing markets. If your company can take $5 of revenue from a competitor for every $1 you earn – let’s talk!
Now, there are some solid economic reasons for this objective in a start-up. If you can shrink existing markets and remain profitable, you’re more efficient and the free market will reward you as the eventual winner. It works great for discretionary spending, like a new ATV or cell phone gadgets or weight loss creme, but it does not work well for healthcare.
You see, dear readers, if you work at a hospital, that market is you.
You will notice a variety of entrants into this space who are all fired about how bad healthcare is and, sure enough, they’re right. Healthcare is broken. As I said on my last post, we can all agree on that. The question is why, and what can be done about it.
One answer is that we need to give the individual patients the access to the “best” doctors, regardless of location or cost and empower them with the “best” knowledge for how they can navigate the arcane healthcare system. That way, we can cause a consumer revolution! Because, you know, consumerism is the best! Rah, rah, yeah!
I understand that our American education is insufficient when it comes to fundamental economic knowledge, nevermind the essentials of game theory, but I wonder, have these people ever seen A Beautiful Mind?
If so, they might grasp the fundamentals of at least John Nash’s work on competition and scarcity: an individual striving for their own gain cost without regard for others costs the group as a whole more than if the group conspired together to allocate resources collaboratively. (A vast over-simplification, for which I apologize, Mr. Nash.)
In other words: there is nothing to suggest a purely individualistic, consumer-driven healthcare strategy will produce any more “efficiency” than our current system and much to suggest it will create considerably less. As some get much, much better care (and pay for it), others will necessarily get much, much worse care.
Healthcare is not a pure commodity because it is a social good and the same rules don’t apply.
This is why, although I share the sentiments of many of these companies, at MedTouch, we choose to work with hospitals. When hospitals stay healthy, they can continue to serve the communities in which they are located. That’s a (socially) good thing.
I’m all for efficiency, but efficiency at the cost of disrupting the healthcare delivery mechanism for the poorest members of our society is not just a bad idea, it’s un-American.
Recent updates: Skagit, Mass Eye and Ear, Brooks, and our webinars!
Posted by: | CommentsFirst, we launched a few sites this summer:
1. Skagit Valley Hospital: a progressive, community hospital north of Seattle with a beautiful campus and now, a website to match it.
2. Mass Eye and Ear launched their first site with us, highlighting their involvement in the Temporal Bone Consortium.
3. Brooks Rehabilitation launched a new version of their homepage, now focused on driving volume and addressing issues of patient quality and outcomes. (Thanks to our Content Management Software, design templates changes are a snap!)
Finally, since we’re webinar giving addicts and we’ve been having dozens of you stop by every month, we’re going to try and run a 2-3 hour special event next year about social marketing for a small fee. Given the increase cost of traveling to conferences to hear the same old, same old, we thought that a few cost effective case-studies with the thought leaders in healthcare marketing on the web — our clients and others — might be worth, what, $150 a shot?
So feel free to drop a line to solutions[at]medtouch.com if you’re interested in getting on that list.
In the meantime, if you’re at all near the Carolinas, come to CHPRMS where I’m giving a talk entitled, “Why Patients Trust Facebook More Than You.” Intriguing, no?
The new division, MedTouch PRO, will focus on the unique needs of integrated hospitals and health care systems through developing and executing successful web strategies
WESTBROOK, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MedTouch, a leading provider of interactive, web-based solutions for health care organizations, announced today the launch of MedTouch PRO, a new professional services division to provide online strategic consulting for integrated hospital and health care systems.
While we are best known for innovative web sites and software, our integrated health care system clients have been asking for a more comprehensive picture of their online presence, complete with marketing, technical, and operational analysis,” said Paul Griffiths CEO of MedTouch. “What’s more, since every IT hospital infrastructure is different, not all of them could take advantage of the fully-integrated solutions we typically provide.“By transitioning our professional services group into a separate division, we’ve empowered them to work with each and every prospective client. In short, if you’ve ever wanted to work with MedTouch, there’s never been a better time.”
Matthew Dillingham, Vice President of Client Services and Strategy, has been tapped to head up the new division as Group Vice President, out of the Houston, Texas office.
“Merely maintaining a website is no longer sufficient. Hospitals require a successful, competitive online presence that serves as a medical home for information,” said Dillingham. “While integrated health systems have just begun to realize the potential of what a strategic web presence can do for their organization, those that don’t move quickly have the most to lose.
“Today, regardless of whatever technology choices you’ve made, MedTouch PRO can help you develop and deploy effective online strategies, putting the pieces together at last.”
About MedTouch
MedTouch delivers web intelligence for healthcare. Whether delivering web sites, online marketing programs, or empowered technology with provable ROI, MedTouch is dedicated to shamelessly promoting its clients’ success. Those clients include nationally-ranked academic medical centers, community hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, health plans, and health care-related not-for-profits.
About MedTouch PRO
MedTouch PRO, an online strategic consulting firm for healthcare, provides research, develops strategy and customizes solutions for hospitals and other integrated health systems. Clients include nationally-ranked academic medical centers, community hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, health plans, and health care-related not-for-profits.
40 Under 40 Award
Posted by: | CommentsI was very pleased to receive an award from the Boston Business Journal last night as one of the 40 top business/nonprofit leaders in Boston under the age of 40.
I’m quite sure that my award was the result of a friend stapling two $20 on the application.
You can see the list of honorees and be a judge for yourself. (I did get to rub elbows with Larry Lucchino, whose nephew in my “year” as well.)
As part of the ceremony, we were allowed three free words — such as, “Go Red Sox!” or in financial news, “Don’t Panic. Yet.” Any words thereafter cost $25/each, with payments donated to a local nonprofit agency.
It was an expensive evening for me.
I’ll post my speech next week…
Fall Webinar Series
Posted by: | CommentsOCTOBER 8th
Getting Out of Bad Vendor Relationship: It’s time to move on!
What you’ll learn:
- Signs you’re in a bad vendor relationship and how to know if you’re being taken advantage of
- What to look for in a new web vendor and how to find them
- How to transition from one vendor to another without losing data, getting hacked, or other nighmarish situations
- Plans and timelines for a transition date, including step-by-step instructions to ensure you don’t get bitten by ugly contracts
Who should come?
Anyone frustrated with their web vendor relationship and is considering switching.
Register Now!
2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
NOVEMBER 5th & 6th
Election Special: What hospital marketers can learn from this year’s campaigns — online strategies that actually work
What you’ll learn:
- Why this year’s election cycle relied so heavily on the web
- The new technologies that made it easier for candidates to engage the electorate
- How to use similar strategies to win patients, job seekers, and the community at large to your big cause too!
Who should come?
This webinar is for anyone who needs to better engage web visitors and their communities at-large.
Register Now!
2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
NOVEMBER 19th & 20th
Keep Your Content Fresh: How to motiviate, inspire, or cajole your organization into updating content
What you’ll learn:
- Why it’s hard for all organizations, of all sizes to keep content up-to-date
- How to know which content to target and why
- How to get visitors to your site involved on your behalf
- Tools and tips to ensure that departments who signed up to be “responsible” are actually responsible
Who should come?
Anyone whose business life has been adversely impacted by late, missing, or lousy website content.
Register Now!
2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
DECEMBER 3rd & 4th
Effective Online Branding: Micro-sites, vanity URLs, banner ads, and other junk that doesn’t work as well as you want it to
What you’ll learn:
- How to build a case for a cohesive, online presence and the hidden costs of a fragmented brand online
- When to use and when to avoid micro-sites and vanity URLs
- When banner ads work.. and when they fail, miserably
- How to put together a plan to re-integrate your brand entirely
Who should come?
Anyone whose website doesn’t look like the rest of your marketing materials.
Register Now!
2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
DECEMBER 10th & 11th
Quality Measures and Price Transparencies: Winning consumers before they get the wrong idea
What you’ll learn:
- Why consumers are demanding quality information, even when they don’t know what it means
- Why price transparency can never really be transparent
- How to deal with the communications issues of hospital fear and consumer misunderstanding
- Best practices going forward
Who should come?
Web site managers, marketing and pr professionals and anyone else looking to improve communication with their patients.
Register Now!
2pm EST | 1pm CST | Noon MST | 11am PST
