ICYMI: Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) Connections annual conference

By: Emily De Oliveira

Earlier this month, our team traveled to Chicago for the annual SHSMD conference, and we’re still buzzing about all the insights we gained from healthcare strategists nationwide. If you couldn’t make it, don't worry! Here are some of our highlights from the event.

A data-driven approach across multiple teams

Data was a hot topic at SHSMD this year, with many sessions focused on its value across the healthcare organization. While data-driven strategies have always existed, it’s now more important than ever to leverage healthcare data to keep up with the evolving landscape, compete with new entrants, optimize patient and physician engagement, enhance the customer experience, and improve outcomes.

Speakers discussed how data is used by various teams, including strategy and business development, marketing, physician engagement, contact center, care coordination, and data science. But when the data and processes are siloed in each department, it can result in redundancy, burdens on technology resources and infrastructure, and increased cost.

For organizations to get the greatest ROI, there needs to be a unified flow from data sources to systems to channels—all of which can be accessed across teams. One speaker from a health system described how they leverage many different data sources, including EHR, financials, consumer and SDOH data, third-party all-payor claims, clinical and media propensity scores, and provider directories. Then all this data flows into their internal systems and is accessed across departments.

When data sources and systems work seamlessly together, insights can trigger actions across the organization. For example, in marketing, it may trigger automated workflows that deliver timely and relevant content to patients, referring physicians, call center agents, liaisons, and other clinical staff.

Improving the consumer experience

Healthcare organizations are waking up to the importance of the consumer experience. One session discussed how other industries, like retail and hospitality, have paved the way for using big data to personalize marketing and create custom experiences. Healthcare has lagged behind due to regulatory complexities, departmental siloes, and clinician burnout. But organizations are determined to overcome these challenges to better serve their patients and consumers.

One health system shared its journey to improve the consumer experience by optimizing its enterprise data cloud. It built a scalable marketing technology platform where it can own and manage its own data. This allows the system to visualize and automate its data and reporting, so it can better segment consumers and create more personalized campaigns.

Innovative affiliations and partnerships

Several sessions talked about how healthcare organizations are teaming up to grow. One session focused on how a small, independent rural community hospital began an affiliation with an out-of-state academic medical center. The speakers shared lessons learned from their innovative collaboration, which included:

• Leveraging telemedicine and remote care to enable non-traditional partnerships beyond their region
• Engaging physician champions
• Using the strengths of marketing teams to spread awareness about the new affiliation

Another session explored the pros of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of hospitals and physician practices. While M&A provides many benefits, including increasing network access, scale, and purchasing power, it also can come with its own set of risks like heavy capital and operating costs. The speaker shared how their organization embarked on less common partnership models such as joint operating agreements and joint ventures. These models can be complex but also can reduce integration effort and financial risk.

Investing in service lines, access, and locations

Several sessions discussed how innovations such as AI, mobile integration, shifts in care sites, evolving payment models, new entrants, and regulatory changes are requiring healthcare provider organizations to be laser-focused on growth to navigate these disruptors.

In one session, a speaker from a health system discussed how they have been successful in their service line growth. The speaker provided actionable recommendations, including:

• Prioritizing service lines by evaluating both the business strength (e.g., quality, market share, market position, payor mix, consumer preferences, physician resources) and market attractiveness (e.g., market size, market growth, market competitors, patient demographics).
• Assessing the care delivery model to ensure the service is being delivered in a clinically appropriate setting and provides the greatest access to care.
• Establishing strong service line governance that is focused on care delivery and has strong physician leadership that cultivates high clinical engagement, as well as strong operational leadership.

Another speaker discussed how they opened a new medical center in a community with limited access to medical services. They shared three key learnings:

• Understanding the needs of the community through listening sessions, focus groups, and outreach to government officials.
• Creating community connections through social media and community partners
• Generating excitement through events and community celebrations.

Learn more

I truly enjoyed meeting, networking, and learning with so many passionate healthcare leaders as they shared their valuable perspectives and actionable tips.

If you missed us at SHSMD or want to learn more about how you can use healthcare commercial intelligence at your organization, sign up for a free trial today.