HOLLYWOOD, Calif., April 27  — Nestled in the heart of one of the most diverse communities in Los Angeles, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) is reaching out to families throughout the city with a promise to be their trusted home away from home; a place that is comfortable and secure, night and day, rain or shine.

“We are building a relationship with our community based on the simple principle of trust,” said Jim Banahan, the Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations at HPMC. “But for the community to trust HPMC, it needs to build a relationship with us first … to get to know who we are.”

Earlier this year, the hospital (via telephonic research) asked the many diverse communities living within 5-miles of the hospital if they would like to know more about Hollywood Presbyterian and the many health services it offers the community. “They said yes,” Banahan said.

Based on that answer, the hospital has been reaching out to the community, unlike any other health care facility in the region, by taking its simple message directly to the people of Los Angeles.

“Rather than making them come to us, we went out to them,” said Banahan. “We made it as easy as possible for people in our community to learn about our physicians, nurses and programs by going to the streets, to where the population congregates and commutes.”

For the last few months, the hospital has been adorning the streets of Hollywood with HPMC panels that promote family care and healthy living. Appearing at bus-stops throughout the community, these panels present images of Hollywood Presbyterian physicians, nurses and patients that highlight the hospital’s dedication to improving the health and welfare of all the residents of Los Angeles.

“Every panel is tailored to the community it serves,” said Banahan, adding that the panels in Little Armenia are in Armenian, those in Korea Town are in Korean, while Spanish language panels are located throughout the entire region surrounding the hospital.

HPMC has also been increasing awareness of its name and mission below the streets of LA, utilizing the subway system to transform one of the largest transportation hubs in the city into an informative environment where commuters can get better acquainted with the hospital’s audacious goal of becoming the most trusted medical center by 2012.

“The hospital displayed its message on every media space within the subway station at Downtown’s 7th and Figueroa Metro terminal, enhancing the experience with specialized displays highlighting the diverse character of the Hollywood Presbyterian family,” said Les Harrison of CBS Outdoor, who coordinated the effort with HPMC.

The 7th and Figueroa station connects Los Angeles to Long Beach and serves the largest volume of commuters in the MTA system. The expansive ad space allowed the hospital to share a variety of messages to riders during a single visit.

The campaign’s goal is to introduce the community to the hospital’s friendly atmosphere by using its own staff and physicians to spread the message. “We photographed ourselves for the ad banners, using life size images of our nurses, physicians and patients,” Banahan said. “We’re honest, open and use real people to express our dedication of quality, trust and family.”

“Trust is the key ingredient in choosing a hospital and we want to earn the right to be the most trusted hospital in town,” Banahan said. “Educating the public about our commitment to quality care and safety is the first step in building a bond.”

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How do you take a $5 million hospital based heart program to gross revenues exceeding $47 million annually? It starts with understanding your market and leveraging healthcare consulting experts that have done this before. To get results like this in three years, you pull in all the resources and make system wide changes. Here is a quick list of what was done to achieve this rapid revenue growth in just three years:

• Consolidation of all cardiac services
• Creation of a cardiac product and service line
• Development of separate Heart Institute within Hospital
• Education of management to coordinate program services
• Development of an Institute philosophy for staffing, education and physician relations
• Analysis of physician practice habits and step by step recommendations for reduce costs
• Developing and implementing a more efficient patient scheduling system
• Recruiting new cardiologists and cardiac surgeons
• Developing new interventional cardiology programs as well as prevention and wellness programs
• Initiating cooperative ventures with independent rehabilitation facilities
• Initiating chest pain clinics and mobile echocardiography services in rural markets
• Successfully educating and informing hospital’s Board of Trustees of strategic planning goals
• Moderating physician focus groups to identify long term strategic plan
• Participating in Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group
• Initiating Nursing Grand Rounds
• Enhancing cardiology continuing medical education programs
• Creating affiliation agreements with regional and community hospitals
• Developing Physician Advisory Board and directing Cardiac Task Forces
• Measurably improving image of New Hampshire Heart Institute with the public, payers, physicians and staff
• Creating award-winning educational marketing, advertising and public relations program
• Designing marketing strategies for primary, secondary and affiliate markets
• Educating physicians as to their practices’ benefits from the marketing effort
• Designing and implementing media buy

Developing tracking methods and conducting market research analysis“The campaign increased awareness of the Heart Institute by 43% in 13 months. Cardiac surgery procedures increased by 28%, while angioplasties jumped 35%.”

Edward Palank, MD
Former President and CEO
New Hampshire Heart Institute

This case study is one of many success stories from Banahan.Comunications | Healthcare Consulting.

Strategic planning is the fundamental core of healthcare consulting. Successful implementation requires research, planning and successful implementation to achieve the desired results. Assisting health care organizations today is more important than ever and it truly is a back to the basic to bring about success; establish service lines, implement new programs and market key items.

The first stages of strategic planning can include:

• Market research to determine an organizations position in their target demographic.
• Demographic analysis to define strategic and tactical integration with cultural needs.
• Mass attitudinal research to assess audience preferences and opinions.
• Mapping current and targeted markets which creates visual representation of service opportunities.
• Analysis of competitors and industry leaders to determine an organization’s position in the market.

Strategic implementation tactics can include:

• Business plans to convey project goals, time lines and implementation tactics.
• Marketing plans to raise awareness and utilization of key services.
• Capital assessments and budget development.
• Facility and service review to determine capabilities and potential volume.
• Volume projections to determine return on investments.

Tracking and measurement can include:

• Tracking tactics to determine volume change in utilization of services.
• Measurement methods to assess hard and soft return on investments.

Put the best healthcare consulting strategy to work for your business!

There is a unique program for employers looking for heart disease healthcare education for their employees. CCAP uses the Assess, Screen, Educate and Prevent philosophy to address disease identification and prevention.

A healthcare consulting firm, Banahan.Communications has developed a disease identification and prevention program to help reduce the healthcare costs for businesses. Healthcare costs are a problem and the costs are rising 12.5 percent per year. Healthcare education for heart disease is a must.

Heart disease is America’s number one killer. It is also the number one cause of America’s healthcare costs. This means that keeping employees healthy also helps a company’s bottom line.

Of the three diseases with the highest associated costs, heart disease is the only modifiable one.
·    An emergency bypass surgery can cost $250,000.
·    An elective bypass surgery costs $27,000.

So prevention is key. According to the American Heart Association, healthcare education is the number one defense against heart disease.

CCAP is a healthcare education service providing a continuing educational message every day and every week by using an Assess, Screen, Educate and Prevent philosophy. The healthcare educational campaign is proven to:
·    Assist employees in determining their risk for heart disease
·    Educate at-risk employees how to choose a physician
·    Teach employees the correct questions to ask a cardiologist
·    Increase early detection, leading to lower cost treatments
·    Help employees avoid the emergency room

We estimate that for every $1 spent implementing the CCAP program, you will save $3.70 in cardiac costs. We address cardiac costs the way you address your bottom line.
This is not a fitness program. It is not a wellness program. It is a disease identification and prevention problem.

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