HIMSS BrandHIT Preview: What’s New in Healthcare IT Marketing

Healthcare IT marketing is one of the hottest, fastest growing industries in the world as digital health, precision medicine, and artificial intelligence meet traditional healthcare. What’s new in healthcare IT marketing?

This Wednesday kicks off the BrandHIT Marketing Summit in Vegas, a two-day HIMSS event where attendees will discover what’s next in the health information technology (HIT) marketing space. I’ll be speaking about building data-driven customer journeys in healthcare, but we wanted to share more than just one person’s perspective, as SHIFT Communications has an entire healthcare marketing communications team.

The HIMSS team asked speakers and attendees to answer four questions about what’s next in healthcare IT marketing, so I sat down with our VP of Healthcare, Katie McGraw-Paul, and we shared our perspectives together. Take a look!

What are the upcoming trends in healthcare marketing?

A big trend we’re seeing in the healthcare industry is the move towards a value-based system which supports the concept of the patient as the consumer, meaning trying to keep people out of hospitals versus keeping beds filled. The idea that patients have options when it comes to care is a very new thing, so as health information technology companies get used to this world of value-based care and the concept of the empowered patient, healthcare organizations must learn consumer language and engage them as part of the process.

How do we measure the ROI of healthcare IT marketing?

The conversation has just recently started to turn from traditional metrics – including impressions, clip books, etc. – to deeper measurement, and better understanding the role of marketing and communications play in achieving business and sales objectives for the year.

Health is also an actual lifetime value. How does this impact the value models healthcare marketers use? Calculating ROI over decades can be difficult.

What are the top challenges for healthcare IT marketers?

The greatest challenge facing healthcare IT marketers is the giant morass of data. Data scientists, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are necessary extensions to make healthcare IT marketing more manageable.

What are the top priorities for healthcare IT marketers?

A lot of companies are trying to boil the ocean at once, which can result in a lot of activity but not a lot of measurable impact, which should be a top priority for healthcare IT marketers. Another top priority is regulatory compliance, especially given the advent of legislation like GDPR, which will substantially and adversely impact marketers in the next year.

Stay tuned for our roundup of key insights for healthcare IT next week.

Christopher S. Penn
Vice President, Marketing Technology

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