Here are the top 10 healthcare marketing stories of 2010, as selected by the award-winning staff at the WeeklyProbe.

• 10. Hospital adopts McDonald’s style dollar menu
  In a nod to the growing prevalence of high-deductible health insurance, Wilhelm Hospital announced a new dollar menu for its healthcare services. “Right now there aren’t many services we can offer for a dollar – maybe band-aid application,” said hospital spokesperson John Cash. “But we need to meet the demands of the cost-conscious consumer. We’re looking into ‘frequent customer’ punch card for joint replacement surgery and new programs such as ‘Emergency Room Tuesdays’ as well,” adds Cash.

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In an effort to ride the mobile “check-in” wave, Porch Hospital and Clinics has been encouraging patients to use FourSquare, FaceBook and other mobile location applications to “check-in” with every clinical appointment. The hospital hopes to encourage loyalty and repeat visits by rewarding return visitors with discounts, incentives to explore other clinical services, and a ranking feature that recognizes frequent visitors. So for example, Ted Hill, a 65-year-old with chronic heart issues who received an angioplasty last year at Porch Hospital, was recently named the “King of Coronary” following a routine check-up last week. Read the full story »

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 »