Transparency is one of the hottest trends in healthcare right now. At Neptune Hospital, they’ve fully embraced transparency with a new advertising campaign titled “We’re really trying.” (See sample ad after story.) The 330-bed hospital has suffered from more than two decades of poor clinical care, awful customer service and horrible mismanagement. In 2002, an orthopedic surgeon performed knee joint replacement surgery on a patient’s shoulder. (The same error was repeated in 2004 and again in 2005 before the surgeon retired.) In 2006, the hospital opened a $20 million medical spa called “Facetastic” on land behind the hospital. Unfortunately, the land covered a deteriorating portion of the city’s sewer system, and the facility was closed and condemned one year later. The system constantly ranks in the lower percentiles of quality, safety and customer service in national studies. Obviously, it was time for a change. Read the full story »

In a stunning sixteen-part series set to release today, the business magazine WiseBucks will reveal that hospitals are, in fact, businesses. The report follows an article in Smart Money magazine, “10 Things Hospital CEOs Won’t Tell You,” which took a fair and balanced look at how hospitals operate.

“Once we dug into this, we couldn’t believe what we uncovered,” said WiseBucks editor Joe Duhh. “Hospitals – believe it or not – are actually run like businesses. We were floored.” Read the full story »

In response to the worsening economy, healthcare advertising agency Stedman, Trust and Devinshire (STD), New York, has announced a new promotion for hospitals and health systems: free consulting for life.

“For new clients who sign up with us before July 1, we’re offering to work for free for the life of the relationship,” said STD president David Pogilvy. “The margins are low – hell, they’re zero. But tough times call for tough action.”

According to Pogilvy, the agency will provide new clients with free marketing, PR, advertising and communications work, without any costs, for as long as the client remains active. The move comes in response to the ongoing budget cuts at hospital marketing departments, which were followed by discounts on services and offers of free consulting by other advertising and marketing firms. Read the full story »

The couple who made hospital and health system advertising familiar to so many across America is calling it a day. Steve Madson, 74, and his wife, Sherry, 73, are the famous couple seen in so many hospital advertisements riding a tandem bike. They have graced billboards and newspaper ads in the healthcare world for more than three decades, but have decided to hang up the bike and retire.

“Good thing we weren’t actually riding all those times the picture was used,” joked Steve, a former barber. “We would have put a million miles on that bike!”

Steve and Sherry’s introduction into healthcare advertising began in 1973, when Steve’s brother, Brian, snapped a shot of the couple riding a tandem bike through Hyde Park in New York. Brian happened to work at a nearby hospital and brought the picture into work the following day, showing it around the department. Read the full story »

What’s the latest idea floating around Capitol Hill regarding healthcare reform? My inside sources say momentum is building for a complete overhaul of Medicare reimbursement policy. Building on the logic of fee-for-service, movers and shakers are considering a new twist: payment based on physician height.

The current system creates misaligned incentives, inflating healthcare costs without improving the health of America. But paying by the inch, now there’s a common sense approach. Clearly, the taller the doctor, the more efficient the care – that’s been known for years. So why not go ahead and make the change, if it’s so obvious? Like anything else, moving such legislation through Congress will take time, and all interested parties will want to be heard from. The North American Short Anesthesiologist League (NASAL) will surely weigh in, as will The Measuring Tape Union, Lifts Across America, and Physicians for Top Hats. Buckle yourself in, we’re in for a bumpy ride. Read the full story »