It’s been a power-packed day and a half for healthcare planning and marketing “phanatics” at the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) conference in Philadelphia.

Given the upcoming election, political satire group The Capitol Steps and former Press Secretary Ari Fleischer kicked things off, followed by roundtable discussions and on-point learning workshops.

If you couldn’t make SHSMD 2012 (or all the concurrent workshops you wanted to), our team highlights some top takeaways so far:

The Art and Science of Building a Successful Emerging Media Program
With Crescendo Consulting Group

• “Social media is not just a marketing thing, it’s a patient engagement thing.”
• You no longer own your brand. Brands live in the minds of our audiences, so what’s being said on social media IS your brand.
• Link social media strategy to business goals – and find effective ways measure against those goals
• Great quote: “Generating content for (hospital social media) sites is like herding cats.”
• Repurpose content across the organization. Repost others’ content to build relationships.
• Have message and content calendars. Be clear, succinct, relevant and flexible.

12 Rules for Mergers and Acquisitions
With Geisinger Health System and Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock

• Culture is the #1 reason for failed hospital partnerships.
• Mergers are emotional events, but leaders must think and act politically for a successful transaction.
• Get the talk right on the inside first to retain trust, then outside. Consider who is best to deliver those messages? CEOs are usually the most credible internal messengers, but boards, physician leaders and political leaders (mayor) can play key supporting roles.
• Don’t let others (i.e. media) drive your story. Be flexible but don’t stray from your strategy. The partnering organizations must set the tone for their future together.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. OK, over communicate.

New Rules for Service Line Growth
With The Advisory Board Company

• As reform accelerates, hospital growth in new territories may not be possible with locked networks
• To grow market share, providers will need to steal from others because organic growth will be non-existent.
• Best approach is to blend quantitative and qualitative data/feedback to determine ROI. For example, track/measure volume increases as well as patient feedback.

Our brains are already buzzing and we’ve got more session recaps to come. What will you share or apply from SHSMD?

Remember to mark your calendar for Chicago in 2013!

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