25 years of loving the Lamps!

It's that time of year when NESHCo extends its call for entries for the 2015 Lamplighter Awards. Don't miss your chance to enter as NESHCo is celebrating the 25thanniversary of the Lamplighters - a remarkable milestone!

The Lamplighters competition is open to all public relations and marketing professionals employed by New England health care institutions, health plans and agencies. Eligible entries must have been produced and/or completed - including measured results - between October 1, 2013 and January 31, 2015.

The deadline for entry is Monday, February 2, 2015, at 5 p.m., with an early bird deadline of Monday, January 26, 2015, at 5 p.m., with a corresponding $25 discount per entry. The late deadline is Monday, February 9, 2015, at 5 p.m., with an accompanying late fee of $50 per entry. The competition will that day with no exceptions. All entries must be completed electronically through the NESHCo Lamplighters system by that time.

The cost per entry for NESHCo members is $110. For non-NESHCo members, the cost is $140 per entry. Payment is expected at the time of entry. Online, secure credit card processing is available and you may pay for all your entries in one payment. NESHCo does accept checks and checks must be mailed with your summary of entries email receipt within two weeks of the deadline date. If checks are not received, it may result in disqualification of the entry/entries. Please print your invoice at the completion of your entry processing.

It's your chance to show how much you love the Lamps! More details are available here.

Think like a consumer (your patients already do!)

By Jim Rattray

Bennett Group Executive VP

Are they patients? Or consumers?

The answer is both.

Consumerism in health care isn't coming - it's already here, and growing rapidly. More choices, more information and more skin in the game means our patients (our health care consumers) have more at stake - and they are demanding more of us as health care providers.

"You have to morph your business to meet your customer's needs. If you don't, you will sit by and watch Walmart become the largest primary care provider in the country," warned Adam Dublin, senior vice president for strategy and analytics for WebMD.

The rise of the health care consumer - and the parallel rise of retail health - was a key theme of the 2014 SHSMD conference in San Diego. Consumerism is a byproduct of the Affordable Care Act and the increased focus on the patient experience. More people are insured and paying more of their premiums, making them more cost aware.

Patients are not choosing their health care experiences the way they used to. Take getting a flu shot. Why go to a doctor's office (where you have to make an appointment and wait) for a flu shot when you can get one much quicker at a local pharmacy?

Some big retailers like Walmart, CVS and Walgreens, as well as regional grocery chains have begun to offer more common services, like vaccinations, to lure people into their stores. It emphasizes convenience, creates value and builds loyalty.

When it comes to the "experience," patients (our health care consumers) are not comparing their experience at your hospital or physician's office with that of another hospital or physician's office. They are comparing it with their experiences at Amazon.com, Zappos, Uber or CVS.

Health systems need to take some cues from the hospitality industry, said Sven Gierlinger, chief experience officer, North Shore-LIJ Health System (New York).

"The fundamental difference is that when [those who work in health care] look at customers, you see people you have to 'deal with,'" Gierlinger said. "We need to look at them as customers to for whom we need to create an experience.

"We need to create first impression officers - and that needs to be everyone. If you don't make a difference in the first two minutes, the opportunity is lost. That's how much time our staff often has with a patient. It has to be exceptional every time."

Jim Rattray is the executive vice president of The Bennett Group, an award-winning full service marketing agency specializing healthcare. To reach Jim, click here. 

Announcing the 2015 Webinar Series

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

A discussion with author Sheri Fink, MD 

Thursday, January 29, 2015

9-10 am

BE OUR GUEST! Non members please join us for the first webinar of the year. Enter the discount code GUEST on the payment page to join us for free. 

Buy the book here 
(You do not have to read the book to participate in this webinar)

Join physician and author Sheri Fink, MD who will discuss her New York Time best seller Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospitalfor this riveting discussion. After Katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers chose to designate certain patients last for rescue. Months later, several health professionals faced criminal allegations that they deliberately injected numerous patients with drugs to hasten their deaths. Five Days at Memorial, the culmination of six years of reporting, unspools the mystery of what happened in those days, bringing the reader into a hospital fighting for its life and into a conversation about the most terrifying form of health care rationing.

About the Presenter 

Sheri Fink is the author of the New York Times bestselling book, Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (Crown, 2013), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, the Ridenhour Book Prize, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Fink's news reporting has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the National Magazine Award, and the Overseas Press Club Lowell Thomas Award, among other journalism prizes. A former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones, Fink received her M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her first book, War Hospital: A True Story of Surgery and Survival (Public Affairs), is about medical professionals under siege during the genocide in Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina. She is a correspondent at the New York Times.