Lynne Garrison of BCBSNC Speaks to Healthcare Reform

This morning at the Fall CHPRMS Conference there was a panel discussion on healthcare reform. Lynne Garrison of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) was one of the distinguished panelists. It really was an excellent panel. I've edited some of Lynne's comments to give you an idea of how BCBSNC views the current health reform efforts and legislation. Lynne is the VP of Corporate Communications for BCBSNC. Enjoy!

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

Twitter Use Present at CHPRMS Fall Conference '09

Okay, there aren't hundreds of people tweeting from the Fall CHPRMS Conference '09 on day one. But there are a dozen or so healthcare marketers tweeting live from the event. The hashtag for the conference is #CHPRMS. Feel free to follow the conversation on Twitter. Here are a couple of screen shots so you can see how the tweets are taking shape:

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

Steve Crescenzo: He's No Stooge. CHPRMS Part 2

I'm currently attending Steve Crescenzo's second session of the day at the Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society Conference (CHPRMS). Social media is the topic of the day - and the year! It deserves the attention it is receiving. If you're following the conference on Twitter, the hashtag is #chprms.

According to Steve, three things that need to happen for social media to work:

1. It must meet a business objective

2. It must make sense for your audience

3. It must be done properly - not in the corporate style - it needs to be conversational and engaging

I agree with Steve. Social media needs to be a strategic element of your overall marketing communications plan. Don't do it just because you think that's what you're supposed to do. Do it because it makes sense for an audience you are trying to reach.

Social media can do some things that traditional media cannot. Engagement! Social media is about conversation. You have to find content that people care about. And then open up the conversation - invite participation. Have other people join the conversation.

Steve recommends that organizations find real people to generate social media content. This should make it more authentic and less corporate! Don't let social media be boring.

With social media, everyone is a publisher. Everything has two-way communication potential. Forget about the gatekeepers. And there are tons of tools: blogs, podcast, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, interactive video, message boards, etc. This scares the heck out of the folks in the C-suite. Steve recommends focusing on the tools. They're cheap, easy to learn and effective. And the audience is ready for them.

Steve had an excellent recommendation for executive blogger whose writing might be a little too stiff. Have them dictate the blog post as a voice mail message. This way they can speak the post rather than write it. The delivery will be more informal and conversational. Then the marketing team simply has transcribe the post.

Myths about social media:

1. You can ignore social media. It is not a fad.

2. All social media leads to uncontrolled chaos. The truth is, social media is real life; it is going to me messy. You can moderate comments and steer the conversation, but you don't have "control." On the other hand, it doesn't have to be chaos. Steve says to ignore the social media gurus who say you shouldn't moderate the conversations online. Nonsense. In healthcare, we have to moderate conversations and have rules of engagement.

3. Only kids care about social media. More nonsense. I've written prior posts on this subject.

Learn more about Steve Crescenzo at http://crescenzocomm.com.

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

CHPRMS, Social Media & The Three Stooges

Three Stooges? More about that in a minute. Our opening session today at the fall conference of the Carolinas Public Relations & Marketing Society (CHPRMS) was a presentation on social media by Steve Crescenzo. Steve is a consultant who is on a mission to teach creative communication. He is an animated and engaging presenter. Very entertaining. You might even say “in your face.”

I guarantee that people enjoyed this session. They definitely laughed a lot. The way Steve’s voice would get high pitched when he got really excited reminded me of one of the Three Stooges – I think it was Curly. And he was equally animated. But I can’t guarantee that the people in the audience learned much practical information about social media that they can take back to their hospitals and apply to their job. (I believe that will come in the session this afternoon.) What they did learn is to make social media and communication real – and avoid corporate fluff! “The social media space is not corporate, it is people, and it is real.”

Here's a short video clip from Steve's presentation:

Here are some of Steve’s message about becoming creative communicators: As corporate communicators we have learned to fight the wrong battles. First, we are focused on the deadline. That’s the first battle. Second, we’re focusing on creating materials and messages that make it through the approval process. We are adept at winning those battles. But we lose the only battle that matters: The battle to win our audience’s attention! We have to change the way we think about communication. We need to move from corporate to creative.

Corporate Communication vs. Creative Communication:

• Top down vs. interactive and participatory
• Stiff and formal vs. conversations
• Policies and programs vs. people
• Old vehicles vs. new vehicles (social media)
• Safe content vs. “risky” content
• Formulaic writing vs. great storytelling
• Traditional media vs. social media

We’ve got to take the communications decision-making out of the hands of corporate folks and attorneys. Our job is actually to make them uncomfortable.

CEOs blogging? Steve’s advice is to keep them away from blogs. They don’t know how to write uncomfortably. They tend to write in stiff, corporate jargon. It is ineffective in the social media space. And they aren’t asking for participation. It is also ineffective as internal communication with employees. Steve calls it terrible leadership communication. And nobody wants to tell the CEO that they aren’t communicating effectively.

A final quote from Steve: "Social media is not a block of channels, it is a mindset." Words to live by. I'm looking forward to the afternoon session. Check out Steve online at http://www.crescenzoccomm.com.

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

NPR Story: Patients Turn to Internet for Health Information

On November 16, 2009, Joseph Shapiro had an interesting story on NPR about patients turning to online communities for health information. I recommend you check it out at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120381580. It might be something worth passing on to your leadership, as you build the case for involvement in social media and engagement marketing.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

According to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 61 percent of adults say they look online for health information. There's a term for them: e-patients.

About 20 percent of e-patients go to Internet and social-networking sites where they can talk to medical experts and other patients, says Susannah Fox, with the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

"They are posting their first-person accounts of treatments and side effects from medications," says Fox. "They are recording and posting those podcasts. They're tagging content. They are part of the conversation. And that, I think, is an indicator of where we could be going in terms of the future of participatory medicine."

Fox says patients are far ahead of doctors and hospitals when it comes to using the Internet. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine last year, only about 17 percent of doctors say they use computerized medical records. (Source: Joseph Shapiro, "Patients Turn to Online Communities for Help Healing," NPR, November 16, 2009)

To hear the story on NPR or to read the manuscript, go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120381580.

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

Blogging Live from CHPRMS Fall Conference 2009

This morning I am driving up to Asheville, North Carolina, where the Fall Conference of the Carolinas Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society (CHPRMS) is being held over the next couple of days. CHPRMS is a terrific group with a large membership base made up of healthcare marketers from North and South Carolina. We also have a few members from neighboring states such as Georgia and Virginia. I spoke at the spring conference on social media in healthcare, but will not be presenting this week - so I'll have time for blogging and tweeting from the event. The annual Fall Conference is always a lot of fun and packed full of informative sessions.

The first day of the conference will focus almost exclusively on social media. Stay tuned and I'll share with you whatever I take away from these sessions. You can also follow me on Twitter at @dandunlop.

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right

Duke Replaces Patient Clipboards with Tablet Computers

I saw a tweet the other day from Duke Health that mentioned its move to provide cancer patients with tablet-style computers for entering health information in the waiting area. So when a patient checks-in to the cancer clinics at Duke, rather than receive the old clipboard with several paper questionnaires to fill out, they now get a wireless, tablet computer.

The computer screen provides prompts that guide the patient through a series of questions related to their health. After each question is answered, a new question appears and the patient's answer to the prior question no longer appears on the screen. In addition to the ease of this process, it provides a new level of privacy for the patient when answering sensitive health questions. Their research has shown that the computers help patients say things they may not have otherwise volunteered. It even keeps answers private from family members sitting close by. The folks at Duke see this technology as a vital ingredient in providing whole-person care. For more information about this program, go to http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/HealthArticles/computers_make_it_personal.

Here's a quote I pulled from Amy Abernethy, MD, who directs the Duke Cancer Care Research Program:

"Our studies are showing that the computer allows people to say things they wouldn't have otherwise said. We really saw the difference in reporting difficulties with sexual function and social support. It can be hard to be honest when your spouse is right next to you looking over your shoulder at the clipboard, but electronically, you provide the answer and it disappears." (June Spence, "Computers Make it Personal," Connect, Duke Health)

Post by Dan Dunlop, Healthcare Marketing Done Right