Consumers are looking for useful, relevant information about their medical conditions.  In fact, 80 percent of Internet users, or about 93 million Americans, have searched for a health-related topic online.  However, not everyone has time to spend hours poring through lots of content to gain subject matter knowledge.

This is why the trend in video consumption is growing exponentially.  Let’s take a look.

WHY VIDEO?

Gaining Attention from Health Consumers is Challenging

Folks are rushed, stressed and stretched thin more than ever.  With so many content choices and channels to choose from, many health consumers are looking for “snack-able” content, not tomes.

Creating quality content and delivering it in a format that your customers (aka patients) and prospects prefer to consume their media is imperative. For many, that preferred format is now video.

A 2-3 minute video can be absorbed and processed quickly.  When well executed it’s the equivalent of an infographic in that it does not take much time to grasp and digest the content.

Important Video Facts

• Consumers find online video 38% more memorable, in terms of recall, than ads on traditional television
• Online video delivers 10X the response rate compared to static text and graphics
• Affluent consumers—the target integrative healthcare consumer—prefer video and search to other digital advertising formats
• Click-thru rates increase by 96% when video is embedded in e-newsletters
• YouTube is not the only video download site, but with 800 million unique monthly users it is HUGE!  It’s also the world’s second biggest search engine, right behind its parent company, Google

Google and Other Major Search Engines Highly Reward Video Content

Video now appears in 70% of the top 100 Google search results and is clearly a core focus of the search giant’s secret algorithm. Optimized video stands a 53X greater chance of ranking on the first results page than does a textual page.

GETTING STARTED

Video Creation Needn’t be Expensive nor Overly Technical

The shifting focus from super high quality filming processes to quality content (over technical prowess) has been profound.  Gone are the days when folks upload only the most sophisticated and polished videos.  Health consumers aren’t looking for polish; they’re looking for specific informative content, delivered with concision from a trustworthy authority.

Lights, Camera … Action!

Got a high-definition video camera, Flip camera or smart phone?  You’re halfway there.  Invest a few hundred dollars on a decent tripod, lavaliere microphone, basic lighting and whiteboard or teleprompter app for your tablet, and you’re ready for “action”.

Don’t Confuse Highly Polished Media with Quality Content

Don’t misunderstand me.  You are a professional integrative health practice or center.  Your primary target is health consumers. So it’s important that your videos look and sound terrific and provide an even flow of relevant quality information on your chosen topic. There is a lot of amateur, sophomoric dreck on YouTube, Vimeo and smaller video channels. This is obviously not the creative direction you’re after. The delivery of authentic, quality content trumps technical flair every time.

The beauty of video is it’s now fairly easy to do simple editing and to include text.  There’s iMovie for Macs and a number of free, low-cost and intuitive software products available for PCs.  Have a teenage kid taking high school video production?  You are golden!

Consistently Apply Brand Identity

Include your organization’s brand identity in each video and consistently apply your logo placement, typographical treatment and color palette used for textual information—i.e., titles and contact information.

Highlight Your Expertise and Credentials

Some videos are created by “integrative” or “alternative” practitioners of dubious credentialing speaking on topics outside their scope of expertise. There are plenty of charlatans marketing products and services behind videos, especially in the natural medicine field.

Your videos will be viewed from your website, but will most probably be hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, and shared on social networks.  When setting up your account “channel”, make sure to include a few descriptive sentences about yourself: your career, credentialing, interests and passions; or focus on your practice, center or institution. Always take the opportunity to position yourself (and brand) as a credentialed authority that engenders trust.

TYPES OF CONTENT

Good content of any kind typically serves two purposes: to either entertain or inform.  Great content often achieves both.

There are two basic types of video content—I refer to them in this post as “static” and “fluid”.

Static Video Content

Static video content is similar to the content on your homepage and main sections (e.g., About Us, Services, Conditions Treated) of your website that rarely change.  It’s your main introduction that tells folks who you are, what you do and how you can help.

I strongly recommend placing a high quality, polished video on your homepage.  Video is a lot more effective than most of the animated slideshows many sites feature at the top of their homepage.  You know the slideshows I’m talking about—the ones that cycle to the next frame before you can even read the text, let alone click on them.

Instead of the fancy slideshow consider creating a high definition video that tells your brand story—and, importantly, your brand promise. (note: the elegant treatment of your areas of clinical expertise can be better handled numerous other ways.)

Take a look at this example on FON’s homepage.  You will notice that this same video consistently appears in the same location on almost every page of the site.  However, it is not set to play automatically whenever someone visits the page.  Many find this quite annoying—so don’t do it!

Though I wrote and helped storyboard FON’s high definition animated video, it was produced by a leading digital agency.  It is geared to practices and centers (businesses) like yours, not to consumers.  Your homepage “static” video should not be animated.  In fact, animation is the last thing you need.  Prospective customers need to hear and see live people to get an authentic feel for your clinic’s brand story.

Fluid Video Content

Fluid video content comprises consistently delivered relevant content that educates and informs your prospects. Importantly, this content will be a key driver of search engine traffic to your website. Think of fluid video content like your blog—the art of consistently creating fresh posts to inform and engage established and prospective customers.

VIDEO CONTENT CREATION

Creating Static “Introduction” Video Content

A do-it-yourself in-house one camera-angle session with a Flip Camera or your Android phone will simply not be good enough for this important video.  You will need to engage a local professional to help produce your static brand story video.  Here’s what you’re looking for:

• 2-3 minutes in length max shot in high definition
• Professional lighting
• Multiple camera angles
• Background music is optional—keep it low in volume and tasteful
• Solid “story” outline, which, depending on your unique practice, might include:
• Welcome/introduction from the medical director or lead practitioner
• Your name and why you created your clinic/center (your mission!)

Then segue from video “subject” to video “narrator” as you tell your practice’s story.

• Capture the physical aesthetic of your clinic or center—if your space shines, show it off! Focus on well-lit inviting areas such as your reception room and smiling or otherwise happy patient-engaged receptionist; if outside of building contains signage and is otherwise suitable to film, consider including.
• Mention the core conditions your center treats and make sure to include various practitioners, interventions and, importantly, patient interaction.
• If your clinic provides nutritional support, acupuncture, massage, educational programs, yoga, be sure to capture the energy and activity in your practice. But make sure to get written permission from patients to use their likeness in your video.
• Consider mixing in attractive still photographs where appropriate.
• Call to action: End with the camera back on the medical director or lead practitioner (the narrator) asking your viewers to take action, i.e., call for more details or to schedule an appointment; tour the center and meet the staff; or download a free piece of useful content.

Creating Fluid Video Content

If you are a solo practitioner, then perhaps the breadth of areas covered will be somewhat limited compared to centers featuring a half dozen or more types of providers. However, a more limited range does enable you to go much deeper over time (with multiple videos) into particular areas of your expertise.

Here are just a handful of ideas.

Solo primary care integrative physician

• 3 Pillars of Lifestyle Medicine
• Top 10 Powerhouse Vegetables
• 12 Types of Fruit and vegetables you Should Buy Organic or Leave on the Shelf
• Health Benefits of Proper Hydration
• Top 5 Nutritional Supplements—What the Evidence Says

Functional medicine physician (anti-aging, restorative medicine)

• What Causes Hormone Imbalance?
• Reestablishing Hormonal Balance
• Understanding and Recognizing Toxicity
• How to Detoxify Safely and Effectively
• New Clinical Solutions to Manage Pain (multi-part series covering various types of pain)

Integrative Medicine Center (featuring MD/ND, nutritionist, massage therapist, acupuncturist)

• Discovering underlying causes of X (choose disease category; discuss evaluation process)
• Non-drug approaches to treating Y (choose disease category; discuss general clinical approach to treatment)
• Understanding the Role of Supplementation: Why and When they are Needed

Many of the above topics can easily be broken down to multiple 2-3 minute segments as part of an ongoing video series.  No matter how small your practice—even if you are a solo practitioner—once you get going there are endless interesting topics for which you and your team are well-qualified to discuss.

Video is terrific for sharing patient testimonials and off-camera practitioner interviews. Your customers are very interested in learning about their general approach to care or why they practice integrative healthcare. The content opportunities really are infinite.

GETTING ORGANIZED

Editorial Calendar

The best way to capture all of your content ideas—and not just video content—is in a simple spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet becomes your editorial and production calendar, and can be organized by content type, topic(s), production deadlines, etc.  If multiple people contribute to the development and maintenance of the calendar, you can place in the cloud and encourage folks to update it accordingly, in real time.

DISTRIBUTION

Getting Your Videos Watched!

Just like building an email list or social platform of followers and fans, getting your videos watched takes time. It’s a long-term investment where consistency, diligence and patience will be rewarded.  Follow these basics to start:

Optimize Titles, Tags and Keywords

Choose engaging titles that relate to your video’s content.  Describe your video and make sure to include a few or more keywords—including those in your title—to clearly define the content. Use tags, just like you would for your blog, again highlighting keywords used in both your title and description. YouTube includes social sharing, but there are more options to consider, such as subtitles to increase accessibility.  Make sure to include your organization’s mission statement and a link to your website.

Social Sharing

Following is a short list of social networks to consider sharing your video(s):

• Your email newsletter!
• YouTube and Vimeo
• Your website (Not a social network, per se, but key to include; you could also tie your videos to short posts or simply transcribe and repurpose the video content and offer the text as companion content.)
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Stumbleupon
• Digg
• Del.icio.us
• Reddit

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Consumer consumption of video is huge and growing exponentially
2. Short videos are better than longer ones
3. Your brand story—the static introductory video to your organization—should be highly polished and professionally created; done right, it should stand the test of time
4. Your “fluid” video content does not have to be recorded by outside professionals
5. There are endless options for effectively reinforcing your brand story and ethos with consistent “fluid” content, as every practice, clinic and center is unique
6. Video is an incredibly powerful medium because it is emotional, personal and engaging, so…
7. Get going!!

GLENN’S VIDEO PICKS

Quick searches on YouTube or Vimeo will bring you hundreds of integrative health-directed footage.

Here’s a sampling of quality videos within the integrative health category.  It’s a mix of “static” and “fluid” content.

Introduction to Osher Center for Integrative Medicine (Brigham Womens Hospital)
Features department head Dr. Donald Levy and multi-disciplinary practitioners. Music is employed to create energy. (static)

Dr. Andrew Weil
Dr. Weil answers the question, “what is integrative medicine” (fluid)

Dr. Mark Hyman on How Health Coaches will Shape the Future of Healthcare
One camera angle, looking directly into the camera. Simple backdrop. (fluid)

Shopping List for Gluten-Free Food
Nice graphics and use of still photography. (fluid)

Hatha Yoga for Cancer Patients—MD Anderson Cancer Center
Simple experiential look at hatha yoga with audience participation. (fluid)

Virginia Piper Cancer Institute
Good example of integrative oncology program overview. (static)

FON provides content marketing strategy to integrative health enterprises looking to grow. See our services here and contact us today to schedule a complimentary 30 minute consultation to discuss your organization and its practice development needs.

Related posts:

1. Integrative Medicine is a Story, Not an Advertisement
2. Social Media: Opportunity or Risk for Growing Integrative Medicine Practices?
3. 16 Blogging Basics for Your Integrative Medicine Brand

Reading the striking 80-plus-page report, Meeting the Nation’s Primary Care Needs, led by Dr. Michael S. Goldstein from UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research and John Weeks, executive director of Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), made clear to me that the tipping point for integrative medicine as the standard of care is nearing.

The Goldstein/Weeks report, published by ACCAHC, is responsive to innovative care structures emphasized in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) meant to address the state of primary care in America.  With the provisions of the PPACA set for full enactment in January 2014, there is a lot of discussion about how the approximately 30 million newly insured Americans will access primary care.  The looming question is: “Who will deliver it?”

But before we explore the potential impact of the PPACA and the implications of the Goldstein/Weeks whitepaper itself, let’s first examine some important facts surrounding primary care.

THE CHALLENGES

More than 70% of Chronic Disease is Preventable, but Practical Solutions to Reverse the Trends Remain Non-Reimbursable

Lifestyle modification and behavioral change education almost never happens in a conventional PCP setting.  Most doctors were not taught the basics of lifestyle medicine during medical school.  The government’s current concept of prevention needs redefining.  Physicians are largely treating disease symptoms, not causes, and are often too quick to prescribe drugs during their short patient visits.  Simply and sadly put, this is because patient education and lifestyle counseling take time and is not reimbursed through our current payer model.

Shortage of Primary Care Physicians (PCPs)

The Association of American Medical Colleges warns that we could be short nearly 63,000 physicians across specialties by 2015.  PCPs are expected to account for a large percentage of this unmet need.  Many PCPs are retiring.  In several markets, large and rural, affluent and underserved alike, PCPs are not taking new patients.

Primary Care Physician Burnout

PCP burnout is at an all-time high, with growing pressure to see more patients each hour just to keep their doors open.  They are largely unhappy with the medicine they are delivering.  Many are considering quitting.

Lack of Financial Incentives

Reimbursements from third-party payers (i.e., private insurance, Medicare) continue to decline, resulting in mounting financial pressures for existing practitioners.  Many PCPs are closing shop or being acquired by hospital systems across the country.

The Shrinking Pool of Physicians Entering Primary Care

Newly minted MDs are largely avoiding paths to primary care largely because of the compensation issue.  They have massive student loans to repay and realize that over the course of a PCP career they will earn several millions dollars less than their specialist colleagues.  These more lucrative specialties also typically involve a lot less off-hours patient calls.

From the Patient’s Experience: The Empathy Deficit

How much empathy is even possible to display during the ever-shrinking PCP visit?  A growing body of research now shows that current medical school curricula can seriously erode the inherent empathy brought in by arriving students, ultimately making effective appreciation of the value of primary care even more challenging.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Solutions to this serious erosion of primary care presently rest along three lines of development:

• New financial incentives that encourage medical school students to enter primary care and that emphasize prevention.
• New care services models designed to integrate prevention and health promotion activities more deeply into primary care practice.
• Perhaps most potent: Sanctioning non-MDs whose work already encompasses primary care tasks to provide some basic primary care roles.

There is talk about the government embracing a three-year medical school curriculum for those willing to practice primary care medicine for a period of time in underserved areas.   This may effectively reduce medical school costs by 25% and grow the field more quickly to respond to increasing patient demand.

Inclusion of Integrative Health in Preventive Medical Education

In the fall of 2012, a National Coordinating Center for Integrative Medicine (NccIM) was established by HHS.  Its purpose, as described by the American College of Preventive Medicine, which is administering the program, “is to provide support for Preventive Medicine Residency and other health professions training programs interested in incorporating evidence-based integrative medicine content into their programs.”

The funding of the NccIM occurred simultaneously with grants for integrative medicine curricula at 12 preventive medicine residency programs which the NccIM will administer.

CHANGING BUSINESS MODELS FOR PRIMARY CARE PRACTITIONERS

Patient-Centered Medical Homes(PCMH)

The PCMH approach to delivering primary care aims to improve the experience of care and overall health of populations, resulting in reduced per capita costs of healthcare.  A PCMH adopts new technology and care delivery approaches.  Relationships are established with patients and their families that encourage primary care to be patient-centered, coordinated, comprehensive and accessible.  The PCMH setting is ripe for educating patients on the basic tenets of prevention and the role of integrative health strategies—specifically, the three-legged stool of stress reduction, diet and exercise.

New MD/DO-Based Business and Delivery Models

The confluence of unfavorable economics, physician burnout and the frustration of not being able to provide quality, comprehensive care, has led to a slow but steady migration of primary care medical doctors moving to concierge practice models.

Concierge medicine is an umbrella term that includes direct primary care and hybrid models that either eliminate third-party payers altogether, or charge customers (aka patients) a monthly or annual fee on top of insurance reimbursements.  Also referred to as retained care, myriad clinical and patient membership models have evolved to strengthen primary care services for patients and the business interests of the practitioners.

Some physicians are working with name brand concierge care consultants like MDVIP, SignatureMD and Concierge Choice Physicians, while others are going it alone.  Primary care physicians are moving away from the heavy paper-load, slow-paying, low reimbursements and tight clinical oversight associated with a third-party payer system.  Instead, more doctors are opting for annual membership fees that reduce  patient panels, thereby allowing same day appointments, better access via cell phone and email—telemedicine—and quality clinic time to educate patients on lifestyle changes.

With a hybrid approach, physicians charge smaller annual fees as compared to pure concierge care and continue to take insurance.  Some also continue to take Medicare.  The annual fee associated with a hybrid practice model can also allow physicians to take measured steps over time toward eliminating insurance altogether.

These concierge (including direct pay and hybrid) practices are run by both conventional primary care docs and by physicians trained in or leaning toward integrative medicine.  What they have in common is their interest to provide better care, see fewer patients, and make a decent living.  Importantly, they want to regain and maintain their own health, and livelihoods.

The obvious shortcoming in concierge models is that most may be inaccessible to those 30 million newly insured Americans who enter the market in 2014.   Consumers will have to weigh the cost of high deductible insurance plans that offer comprehensive major medical coverage and the utilization of health savings accounts, versus traditional insurance-based primary care.

Will the PPACA broaden the appeal of the concierge model? Forbes recently wrote about successful models that are providing concierge-level medicine to lower income patients. As with much of the PPACA, however, it is too early to tell if this model will help or exacerbate the overall PCP access problem.

Integrative Health-Oriented Practices Directed by MDs/DOs

A new model of integrative primary care is emerging in the market that offers a substantial role for adjunctive integrative therapies.  The MDs who lead these practices have either completed additional training in integrative medicine or a specific discipline such as acupuncture, or they hire physicians who have completed these programs.

Because of the very poorly understood dual health value of these disciplines—therapeutic and health-enhancing prevention—their inclusion in these hybrid practices presents the potential to offer lower cost clinical options for standard care and an emphasis on prevention that itself may lead to lower cost care requirements.

Some of these practices operate under one of the concierge models described above, either on their own or by partnering with an established concierge consulting company. However, most private integrative health practitioners have direct pay practices with no membership fees.  They simply bill for their services directly and provide super bills for patients to submit their own insurance claims.

A hodge-podge of clinic and business models exists within the private practice integrative healthcare space.  Most are direct pay, but some providers may take third-party insurance directly while charging cash for additional services and products, i.e., acupuncture, massage and supplements.

Glenn has written about integrative health as a collection of disciplines in the same camp, but many tents.  The evolution of primary care, within the fluid context of concierge medicine business models, is instructive to those integrative health providers still trying to figure out how to make a living while delivering the model of comprehensive care they espouse and their patients need.

New Role for Physicians in Lifestyle Medicine

While MD-lead integrative practices present a new kind of potential in primary care, it is worth noting that most of these disciplines do not fully provide primary care medicine.  Recent efforts in the physician community are also devoted to rectifying the problem, notably by the creation of a lifestyle medicine.

The American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM) was established to formalize the use of “a variety of non-drug modalities,” including “diet (nutrition), exercise, stress management, smoking cessation” as “lifestyle interventions in the treatment and management of disease.”  The initial focus may have been on managing disease, but the crisis in primary care is expanding objectives, to encouraging patients to adopt healthy lifestyles.

The American Medical Association (AMA) in June 2012 adopted a resolution that called for all physicians to “…offer evidence-based lifestyle medicine interventions as the first and primary mode of preventing and, when appropriate, treating chronic disease within clinical medicine”.   This month the former president of the ACLM, Wayne S. Dysinger, MD, described the more expansive potential of physician participation in the AMA’s Virtual Mentor Journal of Ethics in “Lifestyle Medicine Competencies for Primary Care Physicians.”  The article is here.

THERE’S MORE: ENTER NON-MD/DO PROVIDERS

Empowering the Licensed Integrative Health Disciplines

At the beginning of this article we mentioned the stunning ACCAHC/UCLA report, Meeting the Nation’s Primary Care Needs: Current and Prospective Roles of Doctors of Chiropractic and Naturopathic Medicine, Practitioners of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and Direct-Entry Midwives.   

The authors write: “The goal of this paper is to assist policy makers, regulators, third-party payers, delivery system administrators, practitioners, and other concerned parties as well as the disciplines themselves in considering the optimal use of these professions as part of the nation’s primary care matrix”.

Representatives of each discipline were asked to describe their scope-of-practice and health care missions related to to primary care and, where applicable, to define their distinct model of primary care delivery. Each described the gaps between their own practice methods and scope and standard primary care and outlined solutions for how those might be addressed.

Key findings emerged from these introspective analyses:

• More than 105,000 licensed practitioners currently provide services in the U.S.
• Most patients see practitioners of these disciplines as their first choice for care
• Existing accreditation standards for each discipline recognize, to varying degrees, broad scope-of-practice and educational requirements that include prevention and treatment and/or co-management of acute and chronic conditions.
• In many jurisdictions, some of these disciplines—notably naturopathy (Washington, Oregon)—are legally recognized as primary care providers.
• Some disciplines are now being included in medical home programs to enhance primary care services for underserved communities—thereby relieving some burden on primary care system—and to offer often-lower cost therapeutic options.
• Generally unrecognized by the conventional medical community and workforce planners, this sizeable community of trained, licensed practitioners represent what the authors assert is a “hidden dimension” of primary care in the U.S.

Under the supervision of medical doctors, busy practices are now starting to utilize NPs and PAs to see and treat patients with non-complex medical conditions.  Although the scope of practice can vary from state-to-state for NPs and PAs, there are billing codes specific to the services they provide.  When properly assimilated into a clinic, NPs and PAs will certainly help carry the burden.

PPACA SECTION 2706: Will PATIENTS LOSE SOMETHING THEY DON’T HAVE?

When the PPACA goes into full effect next January, it will carry the provisions of section 2706, “Non-discrimination in health care,” whose language directs the states not to allow insurers to discriminate against any licensed health care providers working within their scope of practice to address any of the conditions covered by insurer plans.   This means that for the first time, the practitioners in the integrative heath fields are on the cusp of being “read-in” to a place of parity within the reimbursable insured American health care system.

But the actual implementation of these provisions is far from certain. Each state will interpret the law by defining essential benefit standards for its own markets.  And as Goldstein and Weeks point out, those decision-makers have little understanding of the role integrative practitioners play in their own primary care markets today.

And are patients who use integrative disciplines for primary care aware that their out-of-pocket treatment costs are on the verge of becoming reimbursable?  They are not.

Despite this uncertainty, given that practitioners in these disciplines have always concentrated on behavioral change and the creation of wellness, their contributions to the primary care provider gap may prove hugely beneficial, if properly assimilated into the system.  They are, at worst now positioned to play a constructive role.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Whether the new emphasis on primary care is being expressed through a physician-directed integrative health model, holistic primary care, functional medicine or something else within the integrative camp, it is important to be aware of the opportunities and threats that are emerging with the slow but gaining exodus of primary care docs to concierge care.

The central thesis of the Goldstein/Weeks (ACCAHC/UCLA) report— that integrative health disciplines represent a “hidden” expertise already imbued with primary care principles and experience—needs serious examination. It also needs to guide state health commissioners in their understanding of the ACA Section 2706, which became law in order to provide the public with the full measure of licensed health services, in particular those in primary care.

Related posts:

1. UPDATE: Insurance Coverage for Integrative Healthcare Services in 2014
2. Integrative Medicine as Standard of Care
3. Affordable Care Act and Access to Integrative Medicine–What Does it Really Mean?

I write a lot about growing integrative health business with digital marketing and social media.  My focus is often aimed at developing content strategy to engage customers (patients) by providing useful information, creating trust, increasing web traffic and establishing thought leadership.  In fact, just this week I released an extensive new e-Book titled Grow Your Integrative Medicine Business by Telling Bigger Stories. (Available at no charge, here; email registration required.)

Over two decades ago, my career started in traditional publishing where I spent most of my time managing a media and marketing firm in the Washington D.C. area.  Those early days were steeped in more traditional forms of communication—i.e., print magazines, physical conferences—and  marketing programs primarily rooted in old-school “interruptive” advertising, like print, radio, television, promotional collateral and direct mail.

My business experience was firmly entrenched in these more traditional approaches to marketing and advertising long before I started making declarations like “integrative medicine is a story, not an advertisement” By and large, these efforts were successful as the plethora of digital opportunities we have today were nonexistent, or, at best, in their nascent stage.  Not surprisingly, I used the most modern media and advertising tools available at the time.

Today I am here to tell you these more “traditional” forms of marketing and advertising are alive and well, and still quite useful  as part of  your business development marketing mix.

According to The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, nearly 80 percent of Internet users go online for answers to health questions.

Social media now plays a significant role in consumer health education. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (HRI) reports that “one-third of consumers now use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and online forums for health-related matters, including seeking medical information, tracking and sharing symptoms, and broadcasting how they feel about doctors, drugs, treatments, medical devices and health plans.”

While there’s no denying the Internet’s huge impact on just about everything—including the continued ascent of evidence-based integrative health—the following facts should not be overlooked when considering an overarching marketing approach to increasing clinic utilization and the sale of natural products and services.

Jason Skinner recently contributed a post in My Health Career Executive called 5 Reasons to Avoid the Siren’s Song of an All-Digital Strategy (email registration required).  Therein Skinner points out that according to a 2012 study conducted by The Direct Marketing Association, direct mail is 10 to 20 times more effective than email marketing.  Furthermore, Skinner points to additional company research, suggesting that healthcare consumers prefer print over web (nearly 2 to 1) and over email newsletters (2.5 to 1).  In the same piece, Skinner highlights his firm’s findings on a chart titled Debunking the Myth of Digital ROI to illustrate the economic effectiveness of direct mail over digital channels.

For those in the integrative health space, it’s imperative to learn about and employ effective content creation, digital marketing and social media strategy.  It is also important to understand the continued effectiveness of more traditional forms of marketing and communications including targeted direct mail, print, referrals and experiential (educational outreach) programs.   Building patient volume requires an array of effective, sustainable marketing tactics that combine for a winning strategy.

About FON

FON delivers customized business and clinic solutions to the integrative health field. FON focuses on growing clinic utilization—driven by innovative marketing, messaging and brand positioning—all rooted in fiscally sustainable business models that work.  Contact FON today to schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss your business development needs.

Related posts:

1. Integrative Medicine is a Story, Not an Advertisement
2. How to maximize readership of your blog content
3. Community Outreach: Using Experiential Marketing to Grow Your Integrative Medicine Center

While a well-balanced mix of traditional advertising, marketing, media relations, referrals, and reputation management remains vitally important and necessary to increasing and retaining integrative medicine patient volume, it is now imperative for your clinic or center to become a content creator.

Yes, that’s right, a publisher. Like Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins and Cleveland Clinic—all of whom are leading trusted medical publishers. But how is this possible? How does this scale for a small boutique clinic, medium size center, hospital system or academic integrative medicine center? How exactly does one go about creating a content strategy?

Become an integrative health storyteller—register to download FREE 31-page e-Book

Related posts:

1. Community Outreach: Using Experiential Marketing to Grow Your Integrative Medicine Center
2. Integrative Medicine is a Story, Not an Advertisement
3. Integrative Medicine is Personalized Medicine

Sharon Begley’s recent Reuters piece, Think Preventive Medicine Will Save Money? Think Again, brought renewed attention to the seemingly low economic benefits of preventive medicine, as currently defined. New findings are out from Trust for America’s Health’s new report, and their outlined plan “to move from sick care to health care in four years.”

Begley’s piece homed in on screenings that have shown positive economic impact, such as education efforts to counsel patients on using baby aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease, screening pregnant woman for HIV and certain immunizations.

However, some of the best-known preventive measures, including annual physicals and cancer screenings for a number of populations of disease, including testicular cancer, ovarian cancer and PSA tests for prostrate, have been shown neither to save money nor improve one’s health. Simply put, screening a large population for a number of diseases is cost-prohibitive, with the number of lives saved comparably low.

It is incredible how few U.S. citizens realize that in February 2012 one-third—$5 billion dollars—was cut from the $15 billion dollars earmarked for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, the important 10 year program that was part of 2010’s Affordable Care Act. The $5 billion cut was redirected to fill the gap to continue the payroll tax break and to fend off the threatened 27% Medicare pay cut to physicians—essentially pitting physician reimbursements against “preventive medicine”.

Where Was The Public Outcry?

Around the time of this massive cut I was doing quite a few lectures across the country at CME conferences, addressing mostly clinicians. During these talks I took informal polls asking for a showing of hands from those familiar with the then brand-new massive cut to the Prevention and Public Health Fund. I could count the number of raised hands on one of mine. When I asked over 1000 cancer survivors in Sacramento last fall if they knew about the cut to the fund, not one hand went up!

So here we are. There’s roughly just shy of $10 billion dollars left in the Prevention and Public Health Fund, and according to top health economists, some of these so-called preventive services save lives and treasure, and others not so much. Now is the time to redefine what we call preventive medicine by combining the useful screenings and educational interventions that are proven to effectively save lives and money, and incorporate the basic tenets of integrative health and lifestyle medicine to promote health.

A smart and pragmatic prevention strategy will lead us to a patient-centered approach as the new standard of care. It can only happen through education, patient empowerment and self-efficacy. Patients must have skin in the game.

Over 80% of chronic disease is largely preventable through health promotion via lifestyle change. Now is the time to invest in a truly meaningful process of preventing disease and promoting wellness. True prevention is the only viable “magic bullet cure” for most chronic pathology. It is a whole lot less expensive to prevent disease than to cure it. The most profound form of preventive medicine is the promotion of health and wellness over most, but certainly not all, screenings and procedures.

Did the Affordable Care Act put proper measures in place to adequately shift the provider incentivization paradigm from procedures, drugs and products to prevention and wellness? No. However, Accountable Care Organizations and Patient-Centered Medical Homes hopefully point things in this direction. The second largest public hospital system in the country is now shifting physician remuneration models that pay bonuses based on the provision of quality care, patient satisfaction, reducing hospital-acquired infections and readmission rates. Additional large public hospital systems are watching closely.

At the end of the day, true prevention and wellness must prevail, because the long-term trajectory of where things are currently headed could very well result in the insolvency of the United States.

There is still time to act. Let’s not waste the remaining billions in the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

Related posts:

1. UPDATE: Insurance Coverage for Integrative Healthcare Services in 2014
2. Hospital Systems Ignore Integrative Medicine at their Peril
3. Integrative Medicine as Standard of Care

Your brand name and logo are the first things a prospective customer (patient) typically encounters when searching for an integrative healthcare provider. Significant consumer confusion already exists around the terms and descriptors surrounding integrative healthcare. Consequently, you must clearly distinguish your brand identity from your local competitor’s, regardless if you are a small private clinic, hospital system or academic center.

Position your center for success by communicating your brand’s value proposition with concision and a high quality graphical aesthetic. Tell your target audience who you are and why you matter by following these guiding principles:

CHOOSE YOUR BRAND NAME CAREFULLY

Today, CAM is dead and the term “alternative medicine” is mostly associated with marijuana dispensaries and certain interventions used in lieu of effective, evidence-based or clinical outcomes informed, standard of care therapies. Don’t believe me? Try a quick Google search. I’ll wait.

If nothing else, the words “alternative” and “medicine” sitting next to each other are relics from the ‘70s—providing fodder to the skeptics still unable to differentiate it from the inexorable march that is evidence-based integrative healthcare.

ABSENCE OF EVIDENCE DOES NOT PROVE FAILURE OF EFFECTIVENESS

Credentialed and licensed naturopaths, chiropractors, massage therapists and acupuncturists do not comprise “alternative medicine”.  These modalities and whole systems are often alternative options to pharmaceutical and surgical approaches.

However, there is only one “medicine”—that which is safe and efficacious, even if not fully proven under the gold standard and reductive, double-blind randomized controlled trial paradigm, which was largely designed to investigate pharmaceuticals or one active agent in isolation.  It’s also important to note that the literature supporting several of these interventions continues to grow.

For the patient, it’s a whole person, “holistic” approach we’re aiming for.  But for your center’s name, let’s not harken back to 1960s vernacular. Dig? Using “holistic” in your collateral, communications, and, if you must, your tagline, is perfectly fine. But leave it out of your brand name.

“Integrative medicine” and “integrative health” are the contemporary, appropriate terms for most integrative-directed providers. However, there are certainly exceptions to this general rule, and the breadth and scope of integrative clinic brand names abound.

If you don’t like the word “integrative” attached to your brand, and insist on using words like “prevention” or “wellness” or “lifestyle”, or a number of other similar treatments, I encourage you to look closely at the current meanings of these words. See if this accurately describes what your clinic offers. Feel free to run them by me and I’ll share my, um, unbiased opinion!

Take Ownership
The use of a generic name for your entity is not helpful.  A nonspecific entity name fails to distinguish your brand (center) from your competitor’s.  Moreover, it’s difficult to trademark generic names to keep others from using. This happens in the business world and can lead to consumer confusion and potential legal problems. Nevertheless, if you look at FON’s national directory of integrative healthcare centers, here, you will see an abundance of generic names.

It’s always better to use a noun rather than an adjective in your organization’s name. “Quality Integrative Medicine” is neither easily trademarked nor protected. However, “Apple Integrative Medicine” is. That is, unless someone else has secured it since I wrote this!

My original thought was to grab a bunch of these existing names, i.e. “Center for Integrative Medicine” or “Holistic Healing & Wellness”, capture them along with a dozen or so logos (brand marks) and critique them in this e-book. But instead of calling folks out here, I am happy to have a conversation if you are launching a new program or simply want to update your name or brand identity.

When creating your name and tagline (optional) for your enterprise, keep it short and concise. Remember, less says more.

Plan Ahead
If you are developing a private clinic and your exit plan—how you will eventually exit your practice—is to launch the center; build it up over five years and then move to Tahiti to perfect your golf game, do not put your own name on the door. This can understandably be tempting for some folks, but you need to consider what your eventual exit may look like even when launching your business! Simply put, the name of your center, as well as the name of your corporate entity, can impact your eventual exit plan. It’s your good name; would you want it attached to a new operator’s less than stellar reputation?

Choose Taglines Carefully
A tagline can help but is not always required. Leave it out if your brand name can be adequately communicated in just a few words.  But if you do include a tagline, make sure it works. It needs to reinforce who you are and speak to your unique delivery of integrative healthcare.

AVOID POOR LOGO DESIGN

Maybe you feel that now is the chance to express your long suppressed creativity and burning desire to craft the ideal logo (aka brand mark) that will stand the test of time. Everyone seems to have a second cousin whose kid is a terrific graphic designer. Trust me when I tell you—it’s best to leave this important process to an actual brand identity professional!

Never pinch pennies when it comes to designing your logo. Don’t be tempted by the myriad Web Sites offering unlimited logo design for $49. Even using name-your-price auction sites like 99 Designs can be a frustrating process, especially if you don’t offer a respectable sum with which to motivate the better designers to participate on spec. There’s no guarantee even then you’ll come away with a quality brand mark. If your standards are high, I categorically recommend that you stay away from creative auctions.

Avoid Design by Committee
Don’t ask your entire staff, your kids, or their friends, for opinions regarding your brand mark. Keep your circle of advisers small, or you may end up going in big circles!

Don’t Be Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish
Time is money. And your time is probably better spent in clinic or engaged in business aspects other than managing your own brand identity project with cut-rate and generally less effective service providers.

The Creative Brief
A quality brand identity firm will provide what’s called a creative brief. Therein, a lot of important questions will be asked about the nature of your clinic, the message you want to convey to the public, your preference for color, shape, typography and more. Take the time to carefully answer these questions to help inform the design process and ensure the best possible result. This iterative process requires your participation and ongoing feedback.

Measure Twice, Cut Once
The actual logo development itself is one of the least expensive components of brand identity creation. Once in place, you will create signage, myriad collateral and even products proudly displaying your logo—your new brand identity. Moreover, the logo design —shape, color, look and feel—informs the general design (or redesign) of your Web site and all other designed components, electronic and physical, connected to your integrative brand. The cost of all this other stuff tends to very quickly dwarf the logo investment itself. Before making this consequential commitment and incurring all this expense, make sure you have the most effective logo (brand mark) that will withstand the test of time.

A Serious Contender—By Design
Though the average health consumer may not be able to articulate what makes for good design,  most folks know it and can feel it when they see it. They can differentiate an amateur versus clean, professional aesthetic. You may not (yet) be as large as the well-established integrative medicine center a few miles away, but your  professionally designed new logo should create  an identity that’s perceived to be as strong as, or better than, your largest competitor’s. In effect, announcing that you have arrived!

APPLY YOUR BRAND IDENTITY CONSISTENTLY

I visit a lot of integrative medicine facilities both large and small, across types and disciplines. I see lots of logos, brochures, signage and websites. Yet I always find it amazing when an entity uses multiple iterations of their brand mark across applications. Often, there’s variation in typography and color palette usage; or logos skewed to fit a particular space. It’s often messy and confusing, especially to prospective clients. With respect to clearly branding your company, this matters greatly.

For various applications it’s usually best to have both a vertical and horizontal iteration of your logo in both black and white and color.  Your logo needs to be scalable—easily readable and sharp in both small and large sizes.

After approving but BEFORE using your new, well-designed logo, it is wise to invest in a style guide. An example of a logo style guide can be found here.  Will your logo be featured on a partner Web site, t-shirt for the local 5K marathon charity or at a sponsored event? A logo style guide helps ensure that anyone who touches your logo—your core brand identity—follows your established rules for its application. If you would like to see FON’s logo style guide, contact me and I’ll email it to you.

Your brand identity is a smart investment that should endure for years.    Working with a brand identity expert, and carefully following these core guiding principles, will result in the creation of a strong identity that your center will proudly display and leverage for many years to come.

Related posts:

1. 16 Blogging Basics for Your Integrative Medicine Brand
2. Engaging the Mind to Improve Integrative Oncology Outcomes
3. How to Get Paid Delivering Integrative Medicine

Recently Integrator Blog publisher-editor John Weeks wrote a post that included the following news and commentary. Weeks, a writer, organizer, executive and consultant in the field of integrative healthcare for 29 years, is also executive director of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC ). He approved this re-posting.

PCORI Director Selby Credits Presentation for Inclusion of Integrative Medicine in Funding Priorities; Two Projects Funded

In a recorded dialogue with members of the Research Working Group of the Academic Consortium for Complementary and Alternative Health Care (ACCAHC), Joe Selby, MD, MPH, CEO of PCORI, credited a special September 2011 presentation for the explicit inclusion of complementary and alternative medicine in funding priorities. He stated: “That was a memorable presentation, and it has stuck with us. It probably did have something to do with the fact that we called out complementary and alternative medicine.” He noted that this explicit inclusion was unusual in an “exceptionally broad” funding announcement which typically did not focus on therapies or conditions. To a later question in the dialogue, Selby left open the door to PCORI potentially having a specific funding announcement in the CAM or integrative health area, though this sounded to be a ways off. Two ACCAHC leaders were participants in the September 2011 meeting which was organized through Bob Mootz, DC and the state of Washington for a PCORI Board of Governors meeting in Washington State.

Notably, the list of 25 initial PCORI awards includes two that are CAM or integrative health focused. One is Evaluation of a Patient-Centered Risk Stratification Method for Improving Primary Care for Back Pain. Lead investigator is Dan Cherkin, PhD, from Group Health Research Institute/Bastyr University. The second is led by University of Pittsburgh researcher Michael Schneider, DC, PhD: A Comparison of Non-Surgical Treatment Methods for Patients with Lumbar Spinal Stenosis. The ACCAHC dialogue was facilitated by Greg Cramer, DC, PhD, the chair of the ACCAHC panel.

Weeks’ Commentary:

Selby proved to be an open and engaging partner in the 50 minute dialogue, accessible here, which included his CAM-focused opening remarks, and back-and-forth exchanges with Cramer and his colleagues on the working group Carlo Calabrese, ND, MPH, Bill Meeker, DC, PhD, Richard Hammerschlag, PhD and Martha Menard, PhD, CMT. A written transcript is available from me on request. Congratulations to Cherkin and Schneider. Two of 25 is not a bad showing for “CAM.”

Sabin’s Commentary:

Comparative effectiveness research has been ongoing in other countries for two decades, but relatively new in the U.S. It was birthed from The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A fascinating Deloitte research brief on CER in the U.S. can be found here.

Kudos to the awardees in the field and to ACCAHC and its research working group for grabbing its place at the table and getting ‘CAM’ firmly on PCORI’s radar. CER is a terrific setting to evaluate integrative healthcare approaches against the standard of care (SOC). Importantly, with its patient-centered outcomes-based imperative, PCORI may also one day allow for the investigation of whole systems medical approaches against the SOC. It is my long-held view that only through a comprehensive, whole systems and non-reductionist approach to scientific inquiry, will the full benefits of integrative medicine be accurately measured against the SOC—for efficacy and cost-effectiveness.

Related posts:

1. UPDATE: Insurance Coverage for Integrative Healthcare Services in 2014
2. Affordable Care Act and Access to Integrative Medicine–What Does it Really Mean?
3. H.R. 3590 & Executive Order 13544–Integrative Medicine Game Changers?

Recently Integrator Blog publisher-editor John Weeks wrote a post that included the following news and commentary. Weeks, a writer, organizer, executive and consultant in the field of integrative healthcare for 29 years, is also executive director of ACCAHC. He approved this re-posting.

HHS Secretary Sebelius Pushes to Enforce Integrative Health Practitioner Non-Discrimination Language in Affordable Care Act

In his useful Health Insights Today, educator and journalist Dan Redwood, DC recently published a useful review entitled Provider Nondiscrimination Update. The most significant segment is this: “In December 2012, we saw the first HHS regulatory language specifically referencing the nondiscrimination policy of Section 2706. Included in its extensive rule-making on requirements for coverage in ‘multi-state’ health insurance policies that will be available on the new healthcare exchanges starting in 2014, HHS unambiguously noted that all such insurance policies must be in compliance with Section 2706.

Redwood adds: “While this marks a key milestone regarding regulation of multi-state plans (which are just one of many types of insurance plans that will be sold through the exchanges), it more importantly demonstrates that 2706 is on the HHS radar screen and that Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and her department intend to follow the law and require states to do so as well.” The newsletter is published through Cleveland Chiropractic College. The Non-discrimination language of the Affordable Care Act is here.

Guild Urged to Fight for Prejudice: AMA House of Delegates Reiterates Interest in Continuing to Foster Discrimination and Prejudice Against Certain Healthcare Providers

During its interim meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii on November 9-11, 2012, the AMA House of Delegates re-affirmed its opposition to the non-discrimination clause, Section 2706, of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. No current lobbying effort is apparently underway: “At this time, no specific lobbying effort to repeal Section 2706 has been initiated. This is due to the lack of willingness by Congress to enact necessary improvements in the ACA at this time. The AMA will continue to closely monitor this issue and work to identify opportunities to repeal Section 2706.” The AMA’s House enacted amendments to their policy H-35.968 that opposes the section. These include recommendations to “create and actively pursue legislative and regulatory opportunities to repeal the so called ‘Non-discrimination in Health Care’ clause” and “lead a specific lobbying effort and grassroots campaign in cooperation with members of the federation of medicine and other interested components of organized medicine to repeal the provider portion of PPACA’s ‘Non-Discrimination in Health Care’ language”. They asked the AMA Board of Trustees to report back at the 2013 AMA Annual Meeting.

Weeks’ Commentary:

Redwood’s report is good news. However, the reading of the HHS memo by some others is a message that this issue will remain in low profile, perhaps because the section continues to be a subject of discussion at the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates.

And the war, as the singer Donovan sang it in the mid-1960s, drags on … I wonder which grassroots they are referring to. Will it be a patient-centered campaign for a march on Washington to demand that fellow citizens be denied the right to services? No, likely they are talking about an effort in which the grassroots will not be patient-centered but MD-centered, focusing on the 17% of medical doctors that are still AMA members. I picture the tendrils of those “grassroots” reaching down into a hydroponic mix that has been starved of connection with patients for two decades.

Sabin’s Commentary

With the hopeful assumption that the provider portion of PPACA’s “Non-Discrimination in Health Care‟ language stays intact, it will be interesting to see what practitioner reimbursements will actually look like through payers. Insurance coverage is spotty across the country for some of these services, and many practitioners work under a direct pay model. Some provide super bills for patients to submit to payers to get some level of reimbursement, though typically not enough to cover the full costs.

Consumers in theory should have more access to integrative services through their health insurance plans, but the economic impact on providers—hospital-based and small private practices alike—is yet to be known.

Related posts:

1. Affordable Care Act and Access to Integrative Medicine–What Does it Really Mean?
2. Integrative Healthcare: Same Camp, Many Tents
3. How to Get Paid Delivering Integrative Medicine

My last post highlighted the mutual benefit of the delivery of integrative healthcare services for clinics and self-insured employers.  This generated a great deal of feedback, mostly from the supply side, including integrative medicine centers wanting to know the best way to approach local self-insured companies.  These inquires came from full-service MD-based integrative centers as well as smaller practices across disciplines focused on specific areas such as pain management and stress reduction.

One Seattle-based MD told me about a stress reduction program he wanted to introduce to Microsoft.  Although I did not personally research, my assumption is that Microsoft surely has a wellness program in place and is set up at some level to provide clinical or educational-based interventions with respect to stressed out executives and other employees.

What follows is a practical, common sense baseline approach for any integrative healthcare provider wanting to engage self-insured companies in meaningful dialogue around the attributes of whole person care.  Corporate wellness and prevention programs are now all the rage.  New companies are launching daily to enter what has already become a highly contested field.  However, integrative health clinical modalities and approaches are still relatively unknown to these corporate executives—typically senior human resources or benefits administrators who take lead in wellness program decisions.  They need your help!

DUE DILIGENCE
Go to school on corporate wellness.  In addition to identifying human resources and benefits executives, leverage your professional network:  If you have contacts or even patients who currently work for your prospect companies, ask them about their wellness or prevention programs.  If you use LinkedIn and have company contacts with one degree of separation, try to get introductions from those with whom you are directly connected.  Try to determine the health conditions that are likely to be of most concern to employers and their workforce.  Do programs exist to improve these conditions, reduce sick days and time off work?   What kind of programs are in place?

Learn about “presenteeism” and productivity measures and how important these are to cost outcomes. Do the work and take a close look at both prospective companies and your own areas of expertise.  If public access to a targeted organization’s current wellness program (assuming they have one) is available, review and learn exactly what they offer their executives and rank-and-file employees.  Find out if programs are being run internally by staff or by outside contractors.  Find out how much is done onsite or offsite. Are employees incentivized based on their participation or on personal health outcomes (such as a reduced body mass index), or both?

THE UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION
Whatever your strengths, their potential fit, and the nature of the prospects’ existing wellness program, it is critical to understand the essential business motivation for such programs in the first place: their effect on the bottom line.   Because of recent research outcomes, the cost benefits and unique health attributes of integrative practice can now be presented side-by-side.  Consider delivering these points.  Integrative therapies:

• Typically offer higher-touch, lower-tech and most often less costly approaches
• Are often delivered as a way to get to the underlying cause of an illness or condition, which typically include recommended lifestyle changes.
• Show cost benefits results confirming these intertwined health and economic factors

But keep in mind that executives are busy.  Once you have your foot in the door you’ll have limited time to state your case.  Dispense with the canned “sales” presentation covering the plethora of your services.  Instead focus on the top two or three chronic conditions most pervasive within the prospect’s workforce. They drive the bulk of the employer’s near term health care costs.

THE FIT
Try to find out what these conditions are before you walk in the door.  How does your expertise fit into the employer’s overall wellness program?  Is there overlap?  Or does your program bring substantive additional value?  From the whole person health and wellness perspective, what is missing?  Do your strengths amplify or add to the existing benefits?   Be prepared to walk the prospect through your approach from a practical clinical and educational standpoint.  Tell them about the successful outcomes you have had with these specific conditions.

Aligning your value with their needs will feel less like a sales call and more like a set of practical solutions to address their employees’ health conditions and the company’s health care costs.

FORMAL SUBMISSION PROCESS
You must determine the best process to engage.  Self-insured companies can have as few as 20 employees.  They pool their personnel with other smaller organizations to create numbers large enough to benefit from being self-insured.  Unlike larger companies who often have formal proposal submission processes for vendors or those looking to do business with them, smaller organization may not.  In addition to identifying people in your network who may be able to open doors to introduction, be aware of existing formal processes.

LEVERAGING THE PITCH
As always, you will get just one chance to make your first impression.  You must be prepared with the proper tools and best data to connect with your self-insured employer prospect(s).


Sure: you provide excellent integrative care, have been in business for several years, and enjoy a wonderful reputation.  Your patients love you and sing your praises on Yelp! and to anyone else who will listen.  Your business model may be direct pay with super-bills or via third-party payors, including Medicare.  Or you are an academic-based integrative medicine center, a regional hospital or part of a major market health system.  However, regardless of your clinic type, size or business model, by providing core clinical integrative interventions that are consciously organized to fit into the corporate culture you can help employees better manage and live with—if not overcome—chronic conditions and help establish behavioral change to realize long term health benefits.  These are your indisputable strengths.  This is what you do! 


And by doing so you can help self-funded payors—corporate America—realize substantive health care cost-savings while simultaneously increasing productivity.   Not to mention increasing clinic utilization at your center.


By now you are familiar with the patient-centered medical homes (PCMH) and accountable care organizations (ACOs), both of which were birthed in the Affordable Care Act. Although these initiatives are intended to drive fee-for-service out of routine healthcare, employers are not waiting for the insurance companies and major health care providers to adjust to them.  Self-insured employers, who collectively provide healthcare for more than 100 million American, are several steps ahead of the process. They have seen the value, benefits and promise of their wellness and prevention programs.  They are primed to take their own health initiatives to the next level (including even establishing their own PCMH services: i.e., becoming providers).

Integrative health thinking and approaches will find a place in this new paradigm if the benefits and values are well matched and presented to employer prospects. Cleanly designed and concisely written collateral materials that communicate the following principles will be an important part of delivering that message:


• Emerging Trend:  Some important self-insured employers are adding integrative healthcare services as an extension to their wellness and prevention program offerings; name a few of them.
• Savings: Direct medical cost-savings via integrative healthcare delivery; include data from the most recent research findings.
• Efficacy: Point to growing evidence base that supports an integrative approach to healthcare.  The three-legged stool has the most literature to support it as standard of care—nutrition, exercise and stress reduction.  Start there, and draw the connection to typical outcomes like pain reduction, weight loss, restorative sleep and circadian health, QOL, improved productivity and reduction of presenteeism.
• Your Brand: Your clinic or center’s unique relationship with the patients and community it serves: patient testimonials; media stories; community partnerships and event leadership.
• Low or No-Cost Option: Willingness to create a proof-of-concept pilot program
• Next Steps: Call-to-action to provide professional or patient references, more information or a scheduled call.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GROWING INTEREST AMONG LOCAL CORPORATIONS   
The rapidly growing interest in wellness among larger self-insured companies is already trickling down into local areas.  While some companies may not be ready to welcome your direct entreaty to tell the story of integrative healthcare and your pitch about clinical approaches, they may participate in business community briefings presented by local business chambers of commerce and other business groups.

Self-insured employers are asserting ever-more control over their health costs.  It is a present and maturing opportunity from which those who plant their flags first and deepest will surely benefit.  The US healthcare complex (and US economy) has no choice but to shift from over-prescribed procedures and products.  The ACO and PCMH models are just the start of a long re-adjustment in the delivery of care and the transition to wellness and prevention.  Self-insured companies are moving quickly to create their own sustainable positions in this paradigm.  The integrative healthcare delivery community is positioned to play a central role during this period of transition.  Now’s the time to field your first-string team, and to execute.

What opportunities are you seeing in your market?  Do you care for patients currently employed by self-insured companies?  Have you asked?  Let’s discuss in the comments section.

Interested in learning more about engaging self-insured employers for your center’s clinical services?  Contact FON today to schedule a 30-minute complimentary consultation.

 

Related posts:

1. Self-Insured Employers and Integrative Medicine: The Perfect Marriage
2. Integrative Healthcare: Same Camp, Many Tents
3. The Economic Potential of Integrative Medicine


]]> http://fontherapeutics.com/blog/how-to-sell-integrative-healthcare-to-corporate-america/feed/ 0 http://fontherapeutics.com/blog/how-to-sell-integrative-healthcare-to-corporate-america/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fontherapeutics/~3/IvTbzXJRmic/ http://fontherapeutics.com/blog/integrative-oncology-blog/self-insured-employers-and-integrative-medicine-the-perfect-marriage/#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:25:07 +0000 Glenn Sabin http://fontherapeutics.com/?p=2769 Related posts:
1. Affordable Care Act and Access to Integrative Medicine–What Does it Really Mean?
2. Integrative Medicine as Standard of Care
3. Hospital Systems Ignore Integrative Medicine at their Peril
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Integrative healthcare providers have been well positioned to provide quality corporate wellness programs and executive physicals for some time. Closely connected to this phenomenon, literally, is the largely overlooked fact that more than 100 million Americans today receive their healthcare benefits through self-insured companies.

This article describes how integrative medicine can help employees stay healthier and be more productive while reducing their employers’ healthcare costs. Importantly, the increasing uptake of integrative health approaches by self-insured employers also offers unprecedented business opportunity for the practitioners and centers delivering integrative care.

WHY SELF-INSURED CORPORATIONS SHOULD CARE ABOUT INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE

Self-insured companies of varying sizes enter into agreements with traditional insurance companies to administer their plans. These corporations take the risk of covering their employees directly and often save a good deal of money as a result. Add wellness programs and executive physicals, and the savings become larger. Clearly, self-insured employers have been taking the initiative to keep their employees healthy.

Healthy employees save their employers money. A healthy workforce increases productivity, reduces absenteeism, and, critically, decreases “presenteeism” (a word so new that my word processor is telling me it is a typo. It’s not!). You see, it’s not enough in this hyper-competitive, 21st century global economy to get workers to simply show up — they need to be healthy, pain-free and happily engaged. Presenteeism is the increasing phenomena in the US workplace where workers are on the job physically, but suffering from chronic disease, pain or other physical or psychological issues. This greatly reduces employees’ optimal level of productivity.

Wellness programs and executive physicals are keeping more employees healthy. Integrative health services can play a role in that process, as well as provide additional, substantive savings when used to improve the quality of life of employees dealing with chronic illness. Self-insured employers spend 75% of their healthcare dollars on chronic conditions. As recent research and increasing experience demonstrates, this is an area where integrative medicine excels.

MOMENTUM BUILDS FROM INTEGRATIVE EXPERIENCE

Large employers like Parker-Hannifan in Cleveland have been covering integrative medicine services for their employees for a number of years. Other large employers such as Dow and SAS have implemented and broadened the availability of integrative therapies such as tai chi, yoga and mindfulness-based stress reduction. These interventions and programs not only reinforce well-being but also provide relief in cases of recovery from procedures and coping with chronic illness.

The economic benefits of these processes have been slow to appear, but are now finding the light of well-compiled research. Patricia Herman, MS, ND, PhD, an economist and naturopathic doctor, recently led a comprehensive systematic review of economic evaluations of complementary and integrative medicine covering a period of nine years. Two dozen quality studies indicated the cost-effectiveness of delivering integrative healthcare. This research was well described in a piece in the Huffington Post by John Weeks, editor-publisher of The Integrator Blog.

Earlier this month, Len Wisneski, MD, FACP, chair of the Integrative Healthcare Policy Consortium (IHPC), presented a webcast for CFO Magazine to more than 250 corporate financial executives. An MD and integrative physician of long experience, he described the capability of integrative medicine as a practical way to rein in spiraling healthcare costs. (CFO webinar slides here; requires free registration: The CFO Playbook on Health Care Cost Management.)

One of the most enduring information and research programs to embody integrative health in corporate work-sites is the Corporate Health Improvement Program (CHIP), established at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine in 2002. The program is funded by a number of large global self-insuring corporate members including Ford, IBM, Nestle, Pepsi, Pfizer and Prudential. Its current focus is on “integrative medicine’s clinical and cost-effectiveness to corporate America.”

These examples demonstrate how the overwhelming rise in health care costs is being confronted by the entities that pay a huge portion of the nation’s $2.7 trillion annual health bill: business, which accounts for 37% of that total spend. These cases also demonstrate that integrative health practices have made and continue to make steady inroads into their planning and programs.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR PROVIDERS OF INTEGRATIVE HEALTHCARE

While growing during this transitional period for all of US healthcare, the uptake of integrative health and wellness approaches by employers and healthcare providers has been spotty. Adoption depends largely on senior leadership’s belief that integrative options benefit employees and patients, respectively. Some large city and county governments such as the city of Chicago and Maricopa County, Ariz.—each acutely sensitive to health cost issues—are also starting to put wellness programs in place.

In the case of some hospital systems that feature integrative services, their staffs may have easier access to these choices than their patients. This can be attributed to a number of factors including continuing exclusion of most integrative therapies from the remuneration system. But this is all starting to change. For instance, as with the use of acupuncture for pain management and an integrative regimen for cardiovascular treatments developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, the Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle Intervention Program now accepted by Medicare.

As the provisions of the Affordable Care Act go into effect in 2014, it is likely that structures meant to focus on reducing the cost of care, such as the Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH), may embrace many integrative therapies in their clinical programs.

Traditional health management firms are developing and implementing corporate health and wellness programs. But most do not yet have an informed appreciation of the efficacy, safety and cost qualities of evidence-based integrative approaches. The same is still true for most employers. Local integrative practitioners will find opportunities by proactively seeking opportunities to inform and educate senior executives in human resources or corporate health programs in their areas, in particular those with self-insured companies.

As a practical matter, practitioners who believe their therapeutic and clinical services belong in wellness programs are now positioned to take the initiative. Those who can articulate the health and cost benefits are likely to find a receptive audience among self-insured businesses who are taking the initiative to control their health care costs by improving the health and productivity of their employees. Moreover, as the large self-insured firms start to include integrative approaches, their experience will ultimately influence companies of all sizes.

Related posts:

1. Affordable Care Act and Access to Integrative Medicine–What Does it Really Mean?
2. Integrative Medicine as Standard of Care
3. Hospital Systems Ignore Integrative Medicine at their Peril


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