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Maria Todd is the author of Physician Integration and Alignment: IPA, PHO, MSO, ACOs and Beyond, (2012, CRC | Productivity Press, New York) available in our e-store or on Amazon.com[/vc_column_text][vc_images_carousel images=”1065,1066,2181,2886,1068,1067,1064,1063,1069,1070″ onclick=”custom_link” custom_links_target=”_blank” mode=”horizontal” speed=”5000″ slides_per_view=”1″ autoplay=”yes” hide_pagination_control=”yes” hide_prev_next_buttons=”yes” wrap=”yes” title=”Get Your Copy Today” custom_links=”http://mercuryadvisorygroup.com/store/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
Is your ACO ready to start thinking about branding and marketing strategy?
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In the beginning…
Many ACOs were planned in a response (“reaction”) to US healthcare reform. They slammed together an application, called the attorney to get a set of boilerplate bylaws together and file articles of incorporation or organization with the state, and poof – they were an ACO in “development”. That was child’s play. Soon you realized that this was not an ACO. It was an application filed and a corporation named and filed. A gamete. Not much more… and far from a fully-functioning 10/10 Apgar human. But, like a pluripotent stem cell, a healthy gamete has potential to turn into something very special!
Next came all the challenges of organizational development and reporting “stuff” to CMS. Few ACO organizers other than the ones organized by the insurers who had cash to get “stuff” done, realized just how difficult it would be to gather the data by the deadlines. I know this how? Because I was called by several that said – “We are late with our reports; We don’t know how; Can you please call CMS for us and get us an extension?” Um, that would be a negative. CMS said “no.”
Meanwhile, other integrated groups that didn’t focus on contracting solely with CMS (I call them multi-payer ACOs) started talking about getting contracts with health plans (and directly with employers). They have no strategy, no “brand” — (gametes can’t contract) just a corporation and a board and some people who do things — some well-trained, others with no training and good intentions. That works no better than a surgeon with no training and good intentions. And the risks to the organization as a whole can be equally as devastating to the health and well-being of the organization’s reputation, brand, and financial sustainability.
Then, simultaneously came the conference organizers. They saw “fresh meat”. They invite someone to speak for 10 minutes. He or she needs a place to sleep – that fills a conference organizers need to fill a room block and passers-by in the exhibit area so that hopeful exhibitors have someone else walking by besides their competitors.
In 10-20 minutes, you can listen to someone’s “how we did what we did” presentation with their illegible yellow on white slides, but there’s no way that you can take home more than inspiration from that. The speaker is often a doctor, one that is busy running a practice, trying to lead an ACO, manage work-life balance. Otherwise, it is a vendor who paid for the privilege to talk to you. Often those produce infomercials, which are not encouraged by the conference organizer, but hey, are they really going to call down a “customer” who paid big bucks for the chance to pitch from the podium? NOT.
Sure you can exchange a few emails with the speaker. But doctor’s won’t have time to consult. And even if they did, chances are good that if the dynamics and knowledge / physician assets, and technology, and population at your group are different, you may be unable to turn that inspiration into reality anyway. That’s like attempting to copy someone else’s homework and expecting that the knowledge to arrive at the right answers comes with the copying. It’s not possible to get the “know how” that way. But the stories and ideas are inspiring, seeing what people are selling is interesting, and networking is fun. If that’s enough value for you – you’ll continue to attend and fulfill the needs of the conference organizers.
If you don’t already know me – at least, you now know my penchant for not pulling punches.
Of the more than 1000 ACOs, IPAs, PHOs, Co-Ops, and EIEIO’s out there (“everyone included, economically-integrated organizations”) (collectively “thingies”) I know of about five that are really ready for next steps: strategy, branding, and marketing – in that order. So this article is a little ahead of its time. But I’ve built more than 200 of these thingies over the past 20 years, so I wanted to check in, and remind you to build your organization with plans to meet the market like a business, not like a mob of doctors who are victims of healthcare reform.
Branding and Marketing for ACOs
First, let’s reduce this to fundamentals. Most doctors who run ACOs are doctors, not MBAs or MHAs. MHAs generally don’t get the same general business courses that MBAs get, and MBAs don’t get courses in their programs that teach “healthcare marketing and business development”. Not even MBA-HAs. I know because I’ve interviewed many, hired two, and dismissed them in short order. They simply didn’t have the chops to represent my brand. But someone brainwashed them into thinking that upon graduation they were worth $70K plus benefits to start- simply because they now have a piece of paper in a frame. My firm is not established to be the solution to student loan repayment, or to unleash newbies without experience on physicians who need strong guidance and logical explanations of why a strategy should be implemented.
I won’t send out people who can quote Christiansen and Porter, but can’t assimilate those teachings and simultaneously navigate the mine fields of healthcare compliance in the process. This is new territory, it is tough. And just because something makes “business sense” doesn’t mean it is legal in healthcare. There’s too much at stake to put a generalist marketing person on this, or a new graduate, no matter how “intelligent” they are. I won’t spend the effort to train them,while billing a client for “consulting”, that’s not fair to the client. That’s what unpaid internships are for. This takes experience and years in healthcare to get your groove. You offer the internships to them, in turn, we’ll provide the training and oversight to the intern and your Board and managers.
Ok, diatribe done. (“√”) It’s out of my system now.
How Branding Works
An ACO or similar thingy is a company. Companies produce products. Products are supposed to have a business purpose: to generate money back to its shareholders. It does so by delivering health services- the means by which the product generates a profit. The product develops a reputation in a market after the market becomes aware of its existence through marketing. Marketing doesn’t just happen. It has to begin with a marketing strategy that differentiates the product, which leads to a marketing plan, which takes into account assets, target market, available broadcasting channels (print, social media, billboards, public relations, community service, cable TV, word of mouth, etc.) to create awareness of the “brand” of healthcare you deliver as a group – not as soloists playing in the orchestra. Prada doesn’t build a brand on one purse or pair of shoes. It builds brand on the entire line. Mont Blanc doesn’t build brand on one pen, it is an entire line of products. So it is for your ACO. Of course, there will be opportunities for a cadenza from time to time, but mostly, you will be marketing as the full ensemble and the featured artist will be your clinical outcomes and value for money.
So in this article, and on this blog, I would like to open the dialogue so that you can ask questions and others can learn and ask follow on questions. I will call on our experts to answer as well. We’ve got social media mavens, mobile health application developers, video producers, marketing and former Ogilvie advertising expert who is adjunct faculty at Northwestern, and more. Here’s a forum where the dialogue can be anything you’d like, so please engage and ask away. Nobody (from our firm, anyway) is going to call you on the phone to pitch consulting as a result. If you want help, you know where to find us.
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