Archive for: Research
What would you want in a smartphone application?
There are many resources available to caregivers but the system of support is fragmented. That is why Fast Forward Consulting is launching a national survey to better understand the needs of caregivers as it develops a smart phone application designed to coordinate care, bring caregiver communities together, and most importantly help ease caregiver stress and improve their health.
Caregivers can complete the short survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BTQPSM3.
When It’s Personal It’s Different – Choosing Rehab for Mom
Editor’s note: This article was written by guest blogger Anthony Cirillo, FACHE, ABC, a healthcare marketing and experience management expert and expert guide in assisted living for about.com. For more information about the author, please see our About page.
Let me tell you about my last couple of months. My mom, Philomena, is in Florida. She is 89. She has COPD, some CHF, has fallen a few times. In February she took her latest spill. She started getting shooting pains up and down her legs. She described them as electrical shocks. My sister lives nearby mom and one Sunday she called and said she was taking mom to the hospital. On Monday she called me. “Get down here!”
The neurosurgeon laid it out plain. Since mom had refused to have an operation a few years back to fuse her neck, her neck has become increasingly unstable with each fall. Have the operation now or face certain paralysis from your neck down. Mom is a trooper. She wants the operation even though for two weeks the neurosurgeon and pulmonologist keep telling us about the odds.
Let me cut to the chase. So of course mom makes it through the operation. She doesn’t even need to go to ICU after. Straight back to her room. No ventilator. And all the limbs were moving. Actually pretty miraculous. I think it shocked her because the biggest thing for her has been coping with the fact that she still has a life to lead.
So then all of a sudden my sister and I had to choose a rehabilitation center for mom. Okay, so our choices on her insurance plan were limited but there was still a dozen to choose from. I had to summon all of what I have imparted to others over the years and use it myself to try to pick the best place. No one in the hospital is going to do it for you. The most they can do is show you the options.
So I start on Medicare Compare and look at quality ratings. I really focus on two – staffing levels and quality. I rank the places accordingly not really knowing a thing about them.
Next, my sister and I start talking to people. It is amazing how in some circumstances the high quality ratings were matched by the positive word of mouth from those we spoke to about care choices. But then there was just the opposite – poor word of mouth matched against supposed high quality ratings.
Next, we went to visit the top three choices. The first was telling. They made us wait 45 minutes because someone was in a meeting. Hmm, will mom be waiting when she presses her call bell? Probably. The facility was adequate.
The second facility was better. We were immediately greeted. And on the tour a resident’s daughter told us unsolicited how great she thought the care was. This place will do we thought.
The final facility, which actually had the best quality ratings, was next. What an eye opener. The administrator was on the floor and we met her. Not so in the other places. There was a vibrancy about the place. The people there were as old as my mother, but they did not seem old. At the other places, the people of that age, well frankly, they seemed old. And you have to know mom to understand that when she sees people her age, she thinks they are old to begin with. My sister and I left nodding to each other as if to say “this is the one.”
Unfortunately because of availability, our second choice became our first. And it played out just as the tour conveyed – adequate. Moments of great care, moments of awful care. Well, circumstance had it that mom needed to go back to the hospital. And guess what? On discharge our first choice was available.
She has been there about a month now. And the care matches the good quality ratings and the good vibe we got walking through the place.
You can’t manufacture a good vibe. Some of it is cultural. You know it when you feel it. But what this taught me particularly is that the tour becomes the lynchpin in the decision-making process. I tell my healthcare colleagues that marketing comes down to word of mouth and that word of mouth is generated from the experiences people have with the care. I usually couch that in terms of what happens during the actual episodes of care. But in this case, the experience played a large role in helping us make a choice. Turns out it is the right one so far. So when people ask my sister and I the ultimate question – will you recommend this place to others? – we say yes.
What to do about social media
Editor’s note: This article was written by guest blogger Anthony Cirillo, FACHE, ABC, a healthcare marketing and experience management expert and expert guide in assisted living for about.com. For more information about the author, please see our About page.
A sister website to MDSCentral, Health Leaders Media, recently completed an annual survey of hospital leaders. One group reported on was marketing, and when it comes to social media, some healthcare marketers have a long way to go.
According to the survey, about 61% of respondents said less than 10% of their marketing efforts include a social media element. However, 87% of respondents said they view consumers’ use of social media as very positive or positive.
The knee-jerk reaction is that “we ought to be involved” and so people launch a presence on Twitter and Facebook. Then comes the “now what?” piece, because often times a healthcare organization’s presence is nothing more than another outlet for its press releases. And social media is about much more than that.
In a Marketing Professors article, “Five Important B2B Marketing Trends in 2011,” author Chris Charlton notes the following:
- Most business-to-business (B2B) marketers have yet to truly embrace the full social toolset for their business. A mere 12% of business executives say their companies are using social media effectively.
- Marketers believe that their role in social media includes producing great content. But often marketers fall flat in producing what Charlton says should be content that “is honestly empathetic and seeded with utility for your customers; content that reflects your business’ core values and is inspired by your unique perspective and authentic voice.”
His answer: “Be that expert who can help them with their problems and offer solutions. Be a voice of trusted reason in your industry.” - Support not selling is the new marketing. His distinction – help people make the most of their daily lives as opposed to “selling them a lifestyle.”
- Content is not just words on a page and video, in particular, is more important as a source of business information and a driver of work-related buying decisions.
- Marketers need to recognize that it might be interesting and satisfying to indulge in their own stats, but what really matters is the biggest picture and that means connecting socially with your customers in a meaningful way that actually makes them do business with you.
So for long-term care professionals, I have a few words of advice:
- Break away from social media as just another static solution and embrace the interactivity. I love, for example, how Emeritus has used their Facebook page as a conversation starter. For example, during Valentines they invite readers to submit stories of their romance.
- I love the notion of “don’t sell them a lifestyle.” Because, in the end, isn’t that what we are trying to do? Tell people that their lifestyle should include assisted living, etc. Instead provide information to make their life better in the here and now.
I contend that when you do the above, you’ll start to create a community that trusts you. Lack of trust is the biggest obstacle to sales. Over time you build trust and create tipping points for people so that when they need a service like what you offer, you will be the first organization they turn to for that service. After all, in healthcare we are often marketing something that people don’t want. So give them something they do want instead.
OIG releases report on nursing homes’ employment of people with criminal convictions
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released a report, titled Nursing Facilities’ Employment of Individuals With Criminal Convictions, that revealed some shocking statistics about nursing home staff nationwide. The report revealed that, based on analysis of criminal history records maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 92% of nursing facilities employed at least one individual with at least one criminal conviction. It also states that, overall, 5% of nursing facility employees had at least one criminal conviction.
According to the CMS interpretive guidelines, nursing facilities “must be thorough in their investigations of the past histories of individuals they are considering hiring.” However, there is no Federal law that requires nursing homes to conduct FBI or statewide criminal background checks. Based on the findings in this report, the OIG recommends that CMS develop background check procedures for nursing facility employees.
You can read the entire report on the OIG website.
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