The HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibit is a must-attend event for any healthcare technology (HCIT) company. From February 20-24, 2012, key decision-makers from the world’s leading innovators descend on Las Vegas for four days to discuss hot topics, meet with colleagues and set the agenda for the year in HCIT.
There will be more than 300 sessions to choose from, allowing healthcare professionals to customize their own agenda to meet their individual needs. Among the 23 educational topic categories: mobile health, clinical analytics, HIE, connecting with consumers, care coordination, accountability for care and meaningful use. Keynoters include Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter; Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Zones and world renowned explorer; and political figures Donna Brazile and Dana Perino.
With 4,700+ exhibitors hoping to secure mindshare from 30,000+ delegates and media attendees, it’s easy for smaller companies and first-time attendees to get lost in the noise. Planning early and maximizing your strategic communications program before, during and after the event is an absolute must.
This Schwartz MSL Road to HIMSS 2012 Planning Guide is designed to help you navigate the PR and marketing opportunities at the show, and give you useful advice on strategy, as well as a timeline to help you plan ahead and even some tips on other fun things to do in Vegas.
For further advice or information on how Schwartz MSL can partner with you, please contact Dave Close or Doug Russell in our Boston office at 781-684-0770, or Shannon Murphy in our San Francisco office at 415-512-0770, or send an email to healthcareIT@schwartzmsl.com.
From November 27 – December 2, thousands will descend upon McCormick Place in Chicago for RSNA 2011. We spoke with Jim Knaub, editor of Radiology Today, who opined on the hot topics expected at this year’s conference.
Radiology Today Editor Jim Knaub predicts that austerity may once again be a dominant theme at RSNA. Hospitals and radiology practices are focused on maintaining profitability in a tough economic environment, Knaub notes.
“There’s a little bit of paralysis because of economic issues,” according to Knaub. “Healthcare organizations are trying to gauge the extent to which healthcare reform and deficit reduction will hinder imaging reimbursement. They’re also wary of how utilization review and the economy might affect procedure volume. They need to consider those threats to revenue before undertaking IT investments. As a result, many hospitals and radiologists are buying strictly what they need versus undertaking ambitious IT projects.”
However, Knaub notes, that a stealth issue usually emerges at RSNA every year, creating real buzz on the conference floor. Heading into RSNA, Knaub will be checking out the latest advancements in virtual colonoscopy protocol and acceptance. Virtual colonoscopy, also known as CT colonography, is less invasive than the traditional test and could result in more people being screened, Knaub notes. Screening tests such as colonoscopies or mammograms have been a heated issue pitting technology versus politics. Key questions include who should be screened, how often and when.
Schwartz MSL at RSNA
Several Schwartz MSL clients will be attending and exhibiting RSNA this year, including iCAD (Lakeside Center, Hall D, booth #811), iNTERFACEWARE (North Building, Hall B, booth #8547) and Circadence (North Building, Hall B, booth #7356)
iCAD Inc., an industry-leading provider of advanced image analysis, workflow solutions and radiation therapies for the early identification and treatment of cancer, will highlight several new features of their mammography CAD, MR image analysis and colon CAD products. Of note, the company will feature two works in progress including an MRI-guided prostate biopsy solution and a prostate MRI-TRUS fusion integration. iCAD will also showcase SecondLook® Premier, a customizable mammography CAD solution designed and developed using a 100 percent digital image database. (SecondLook Premier is now available in Europe it is expected to receive FDA clearance for sale in the U.S. in 2012.)
The company will also be demonstrating SecondLook Digital Multi-Vendor Solution and its latest version of VersaVue enterprise software for MR image analysis, which has been optimized to improve speed and includes an upgraded user interface and automated templates for images and charts.
iNTERFACEWARE simplifies HL7 integration and enables organizations to communicate with incompatible information systems and seamlessly integrate with multiple systems including EMR, EHR, HIS and PACs. With iNTERFACEWARE, radiology organizations can manage scheduling, registration, technologist and radiologists workflows as well as custom billing and reporting. At the show, iNTERFACEWARE will be discussing the latest version of its integration engine, Iguana.
A sneak peak at ROI reveals that radiologists and imaging centers using Circadence WAN optimization no longer worry about low-quality or intermittent Internet connections impacting large data files and unique image study transfers. Testing found enhanced throughput times without compressing images with more than 300% improvement in image transfer speeds. Stop by the booth to see the latest enhancements to its flagship MVO solutions, including multiple mobile deployment options, while the IT director from Imaging Associates of North Mississippi Magnolia discusses why and how his team uses Circadence solutions.
With hundreds of companies attending RSNA, Knaub and his staff are inundated with emails and phone calls requesting meetings during the show. It’s impossible for them to meet with every organization during the conference, Knaub said.
Knaub is interested in learning what news organizations can discuss and the potential impact on the industry. Hearing what’s coming and why it’s important is critical in helping Knaub and his staff decide with whom to meet.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s RSNA? Sound off in the comment section below or tweet us @SchwartzPRx.
When CMS announced the proposed accountable care organization (ACO) rules earlier this year, the lack of clarity in the legislation caused much confusion among the already-overburdened healthcare industry. Deemed a “fiasco“—most hospitals had difficulty understanding the complicated regulations. Amidst this confusion, Zynx Health, a Schwartz MSL client which develops clinical decision support solutions, offered sage advice and insight in the ACO discussion.
To succeed as an ACO, healthcare organizations must improve patient outcomes and eliminate wasteful spending on unnecessary treatments to reduce the overall cost of healthcare. Clinical decision support systems help healthcare organizations improve quality and cost outcomes of medical care. Through daily conversations with hospitals, Zynx CEO Dr. Scott Weingarten is well-versed in ACO concerns and issues. Zynx is working with a number of providers that are making the changes to become ACOs. By tapping into Dr. Weingarten’s close relationship with hospitals nationwide, he offers a simple explanation of ACOs, while highlighting the need for hospitals to have a solid health IT system to ease health organizations’ transition to becoming ACOs.
Among the changes from the proposed rule, CMS no longer demands that half of the participating physicians meet requirements for meaningful use of EHRs to be in the ACO program. Achieving meaningful use, however, can help prepare providers as an ACO, Weingarten said in an interview with Government Health IT. “I am not aware of any sustainable or scalable way of doing it other than clinical decision support through electronic health records. It really needs to be done with the aid of an EHR because it’s integrated into the workflow,” he explained, “such as through notifications and alerts.”
You can read more in such publications as: Modern Healthcare, Hospitals and Health Networks, and Becker’s Hospital Review. Many questions still remain, and Schwartz MSL will continue to track the evolution of the ACO revolution. However things turn out with ACOs, one thing is clear, transforming healthcare to be more patient-centered, cost-efficient, coordinated and based on outcomes (versus procedures) will be a great step in the right direction toward meaningful reform.
After months of anticipation, today the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued final regulations governing Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.This news comes after preliminary ACO regulations were unveiled in April and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was able to collect extensive feedback from provider organizations (such as the American Medical Group Association) and other stakeholders, many of whom criticized the program for being “overly prescriptive” and involving too much risk for providers, with not enough rewards.
The much anticipated final rules lessen the burden for healthcare providers and hospitals to participate in ACOs by decreasing required performance measures, eliminating the electronic healthcare record (EHR) requirement and removing financial risks for some to participate. It also eases the timetable to participate in an ACO and offers $170 million in incentives to physician-owned and rural providers to start ACOs.
ACOs are requiring hospitals, physicians and providers to “do more with less.” The objective is to entice these caregivers to adopt a new platform of service that creates integrated networks of physicians and hospitals to collaborate with one another, thereby sharing the responsibility of caring for patients and in doing so, improve outcomes and lower costs.If requirements are not met, this means lower Medicare payments. But if goals are met, bonuses are granted, rather than a fee-for-service payment, shared across entire networks. Fortunately, the final regulations appear to make achieving the end goal more tangible than previously anticipated. Nevertheless, doctors will still need to collaborate more than ever to provide coordinated care that will result in improved quality of care, better patient outcomes and cost savings.
While the 696 paged document detailing the final rules is thorough, an appendix of proposed rules verses final rules provides a great overview, as well as an article penned by Dr. Donald M. Berwick, the administrator for CMS. For example, the final rules now require 33 measures to assess quality (rather than an initially proposed 65) in 4 domains (instead of 5):
• Patient experience
• Care coordination and patient safety
• Preventive health
• Caring for at-risk populations
Some key provisions as outlined in the final rules:
• Providers can participate in an ACO and share in Medicare savings without risk of losing money
• Fewer quality measures that ACOs must meet
• Community health centers and rural health clinics now included
• Greater flexibility in antitrust review
Bottom line: With forecasted federal savings amounting up to $940 million over four years, providers who deliver higher quality of care and effective care coordination will be able to share in more savings.
What does a world renown basketball coach, a finance executive, a healthcare executive and an author have in common? They keynoted at HFMA’s 2011 ANI Conference in June. The HFMA is the nation's leading membership organization for healthcare financial management executives and leaders, with more than 37,000 members.
The conference coordinators are already planning for next year’s event on taking place June 24-27, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Convention Center in Las Vegas. You can submit speaking proposals until September 9.
Here are highlights from the 2011 conference keynote presentations and a few links to whet your appetite for 2012:
Peter Orszag, Former Director, Office of Management and Budget Vice Chairman, Institutional Clients Group, Citigroup, Inc., describes steps hospitals and health systems should consider to improve the value of care provided in Reforming America’s Health Care: An Insider’s Perspective
The IHI’s President and CEO Maureen Bisognano shares how one patient’s request restructured dialysis at a hospital — and improved quality of care while reducing costs – in her presentation titled, It Takes Quality Leadership to Produce Quality Results
Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski, Head Coach, Duke University and U.S. Olympic championship basketball teams suggests that people “feel what they do in their hearts” in Victory through Teamwork and Leadership.
How can healthcare finance professionals help their teams reach their greatest potential during a period of great change, fear, and stress throughout the industry? Mark Thompson, former chief customer experience officer for Schwab, and author of Success Built to Last shared five principles for managing change in Success Built to Last.
With four days of educational sessions, including early riser sessions and pre-conference workshops, the learning never stops and neither does the professional development. Attendees include CFOs, controllers and accountants at hospitals, vendors, consulting firms and academia. There were nearly two dozen high level media people in attendance, resulting in a flurry of news articles. The coordinators expect to meet or exceed that number in 2012.
Other opportunities include sponsored special events and the Conference Exhibit Hall with more than 400 top industry suppliers, the ANI Product Showcase, networking and chapter awards.
The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) provides the resources healthcare organizations need to achieve sound fiscal health in order to provide excellent patient care. With more than 37,000 members, HFMA is the nation's leading membership organization of healthcare finance executives and leaders. HFMA helps its members achieve results by providing education, analysis, and guidance, and creating practical tools and solutions that optimize financial management. The organization is a respected and innovative thought leader on top trends and challenges facing the healthcare finance industry. From addressing capital access to improved patient care to technology advancement, HFMA is an indispensable resource on healthcare finance issues. www.hfma.org
Modern Healthcare, the HFMA show daily, posted excellent interviews and videos recapping each day. You can view these videos here: http://bit.ly/oRGJdW
Have you started planning for HFMA 2012? Contact our Healthcare IT team at 781-684-0770 or healthcareIT@schwartzcomm.com to discuss your plans and gain some advice on how to get the most of out of the conference.
Pharmaceutical companies are starting to reel back on the social media front with Facebook's latest move to make pages more open by enabling comments. Facebook has made consistent strides to become an even more transparent platform, often to the chagrin of the legions of users. So, in some ways, why would they treat pharmaceutical brands any differently?
Is this impacting how pharmaceutical marketers view the value of Facebook? Absolutely. This week, there has been a fair amount of discussion and pre-emptive moves from pharmaceutical giants to remove pages. Once the new Facebook policy goes into effect next week, we will likely see an additional wave of conservatism sweep the pharmaceutical marketing landscape. Surprising? Probably not. However, the universe of social media users is only growing, not shrinking, so it becomes a real challenge to weigh the risk versus reward scenarios.
Our own observations indicate that pharmaceutical marketers have already been leery of entering the unknown foray of especially since there isn't any guidance from FDA on best practices and there isn't any plan to release specific guidance in the near term.
We conducted a survey of medical device social media gurus and marketers, which indicated medical device companies are actively using social media ahead of their pharmaceutical counterparts. There is a clear opportunity and need to share best practices in several areas that could even further accelerate medical device social media engagement.
If you haven't already done so, download our free eBook on social media for healthcare marketers. We offer some practical guidance on how marketers can engage in social media while FDA guidelines lag.
Working with medical device, medical tech and pharma companies, social media is top of mind.
Healthcare marketers grapple with timing, resources, and understanding the appropriate/effective mix of social media tactics in a communications program. We counsel our clients all the time and field the questions: How much should we/can we engage? What should we post? Are we doing enough? What are your other clients doing? Some are understandably cautious and some are trailblazers.
There are plenty of ways for marketers to engage in social media initiatives today that align with your overall marketing goals. Schwartz Communications runs successful social media campaigns for our healthcare clients with business-impacting results and we'd be happy to help you.
Download our free social media eBook to learn best practices and guidance for social media. It includes the results of a survey we conducted with regional medical device trade association MassMEDIC to learn what healthcare marketers are doing or not doing with social media, as well as suggestions on how to navigate internal regulatory and legal waters. Find out which types of social media tools have been most effective for healthcare organizations and our seven basic tips for social media participation. You'll also get interesting perspective from David Harlow, lawyer and author of HealthBlawg.
Do you have questions about your own foray into social media? Do you have a social media policy or need help creating one? Get in touch with us at healthcare@schwartzcomm.com.
So another BIO is over, and despite some groans from my Nordic friends that it was eating into their sacrosanct summer vacations, it seems a good and profitable time was had by all. Funny, since I would think that the casual observer would see BIO as more of as a celebration of all things biotech rather than a business arena. Walk down the aisles of the exhibition hall and you are serenaded by a succession of international pavilions, each trying to outdo the other and impress with the size of its commitment to this politically sexy sector. In fact, BIO seemed determined to prove itself as flashy as those other current upstarts in the glamour stakes – cleantech and mobile apps. From iPads to Harleys, the competition was myriad, while the live entertainment ranged from Hong Kong drummers to the now traditional ABBA tribute band. By the way it constantly amazes me that whichever city the convention pitches up in – Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta - the Scandinavian Pavilion always seems to rustle up a fully believable ABBA band – how many of them are actually out there?
Not to be outdone, the various US states also have their pavilions, with Massachusetts determined to reassert itself as the Daddy of all Biotech clusters. Governor Deval Patrick was pitching his commitment and next year’s “Road to Revolution” theme as the 2012 conference is coming home to Boston as he put it. But is it all necessary?
I look after the Norwegian contingent – a record 24 companies this year – and both they and my contacts at other pavilions all reported that casual visitors are by far the minority. Most visitors come already with a clearly researched list of who they want to talk to. So surprise #1.
The second is that year after year, the BIO partnering set-up delivers. Again my contacts reported that notwithstanding the to-be-expected pitches from professional service providers, the vast majority of their partnering meetings were excellent and productive. So the basics are in place – the world of biotech comes to BIO to do business. Nevertheless, it seems to me BIO sometimes forgets this – they went completely overboard on social media this year. Time and time again I heard the refrain: BIO is late this year, I haven’t had time to look at any of that stuff. I’ve arranged my appointments and I know I’ll bump into old contacts I need to catch up with either on the exhibition floor or at a reception.
In fact, the one innovation that to my mind improved BIO the most this year was completely fortuitous. The exhibit hall in Washington D.C. was very narrow and the reduced number of aisles ensured that visitors could see all the stands in just a couple of swift logical sweeps rather than the usual haphazard meander associated with other venues.
Finally, a word of caution. BIO seems to be a bit complacent about 2012 and expects a bonanza with a record number of visitors in Boston, over 25,000 I heard. This ignores the fact that most European stands at least were budgeted for last year, before the full impact of the cuts. Thus it will be interesting to see, not mentioning any countries in particular, who retains their commitment to biotech next year!
At Schwartz, we are particularly proud of our medical device and diagnostic PR practice. In the past 20 years, we have represented some incredibly innovative and life changing brands. From established market leaders to emerging growth companies we view ourselves as passionate ambassadors and advocates for our clients.
So, when MassDevice.com recently published their MassDevice CEO Class of 2011 we were thrilled to see five of our clients were honored as well as many other friends of the Agency.
The online business journal selected 28 of the most innovative CEOs in the medical device/medical technology sector to honor in this first “graduating” class. MassDevice.com boasts that these CEOs represent cutting-edge leadership and innovative thinking and we couldn’t agree more.
The ultimate winners will be announced on July 11 and we are looking forward to the special event taking place around the corner from our Schwartz Waltham office.
In part two of our extended conference recap, we explore some of the panel themes that were up for discussion at the First Annual Health Tech 2011 conference in Boston last Friday, May 13. The emerging and converging sectors of technology, mobile, and social have begun to transform how healthcare is defined Innovation in Wellness: Applying Game Dynamics to Healthcare
Throughout the entrepreneur panel sessions, an overarching theme emerged around the gamification of healthcare. Maintaining good health requires daily commitment and action over time but most consumers tend to have short attention spans. To combat this challenge, companies like Earndit and Shape Up are applying game dynamics to make the platform more engaging and easy to use, while adding tangible incentives and peer-to-peer support systems to encourage sustained adoption. Innovation in Healthcare Delivery: Virtual Consults to Become Commonplace
Many of the “buzz” startups are B2C, but there is a tremendous need and opportunity for start-ups designing tools and products for healthcare providers as well. To that end, Ron Dixon director of the Virtual Practice Project at Massachusetts General Hospital is developing a kiosk-based system for automating aspects of the care delivery process to improve efficiency and better manage patient populations. In addition, we have yet to fully realize the promise of telemedicine. According to new data released by Manhattan Research, 7 percent of physicians are using video-conferencing tools to consult and follow-up with patients. American Well (Schwartz client) CEO Roy Schoenberg was represented on the panel discussing innovation in healthcare delivery and he spoke eloquently about how we can now democratize access to healthcare with a “live telehealth consult” facilitated with nothing more than your standard web browser.
Innovation in Mobile Health: Sticky Apps Build Sustainable Value
Smartphones are now ubiquitous and mobile applications can be used to ensure regular health monitoring. The beauty of mobile is that it enables continuous feedback loops to improve application functionality and provide a means for consumer-vendor collaboration. For example, RunKeeper was originally developed to track running routes, but it evolved to provide overall fitness/workout tracking at the urging of its dedicated user community. Other lifestyle-based mobile apps like Lollihop aim to be easily integrated into one’s current routine to encourage healthy decision-making.
Innovative Engagement Platforms for Behavior Change: Leveraging Rewards and Social Networks to Influence Health
The Internet has revolutionized access to medical information but patients need more tools to connect with each other and they naturally want to build online communities of like-minded health supporters. That is why sites like PatientsLikeMe and Inspire strike a chord. None of the panelists disagreed that changing consumer behavior continues to be a significant uphill battle, but there was vigorous debate about what types of carrot vs. stick methods are best at engaging consumers—offering both long-term value and sustainability. According to the many start-ups playing in this space—Health Prize and Health Month included—the key to consumer engagement is removing as many barriers as possible and incentivizing healthy choices. Borrowing a page from the Farmville playbook, if social gaming principles can make casual gaming wildly addictive, it stands to reason that it might also apply to making healthy behaviors “Stickk.” Early Stage Investment in Healthcare
Meanwhile, it’s one thing to “do good” (purely subjective) and empower consumers to make healthy choices, but at the end of the day, investors want to see sustainable ROI on both ends—how does the product deliver value to both the end user and the investor?
Social networks, mobile technologies, consumer engagement, and game dynamics will play an increasingly meaningful role in healthcare in the years to come. Charles Huang highlighted these points in his close to the conference by mentioning a new wave of healthcare specific accelerators and incubators starting this year – Blueprint Health and Rock Health – that will help entrepreneurs develop their businesses and products more rapidly through mentorship and capital.
For additional social media insights from conference participants, check out the #CIHT11 feed on Twitter.
More than 150 entrepreneurs, investors and industry leaders attended the first annual Health Tech 2011 conference in Boston last Friday, May 13. Sponsored by CareInnovators and chaired by Charles Huang from Spark Capital, the all-day event explored how new technologies have a huge opportunity to re-engineer how healthcare is delivered—lowering cost, improving access and increasing quality. Bottom line: the rapidly rising cost of healthcare is a global crisis and there is no clear end in sight. Total U.S. healthcare expenditure represents more than 17 percent of GDP and is projected to reach 9.3 percent by 2019. Innovation is our only hope if we are to tackle the many challenges that threaten to bankrupt even the most industrialized of nations.
Amidst the U.S. healthcare crisis, however, there are a confluence of factors that create a ripe environment for health tech investment and entrepreneurial success. According to Chris Tsai, co-founder of CareInnovators, the healthcare industry is—today, more than ever—open to technological advances. The government injection of HITECH stimulus funds has opened that door and there is no turning back. Consumers are increasingly seeking out health information online and there are a greater number of delivery platforms (mobile, tablet). From the investor point of view, consumer-facing health tech offers lower capital requirements, fewer regulatory hurdles and faster exits. Regina Herzlinger, Harvard Business School professor and “godmother of consumer driven healthcare,” presented an insightful opening keynote on the many opportunities for innovation in the wake of healthcare reform. Fundamentally, solving the cost problem requires a shift in either supply or demand for healthcare. There are several key areas where entrepreneurs can help shift this dynamic.
In the realm of demand: • Health insurance exchanges (and its IT infrastructure) • New sources for online medical information • Support communities for patients In the realm of supply: • Retail medical clinics • Telemedicine • Intra-US medical travel • Bundled care (and its IT infrastructure)
The DIY Generation: Rise of Patient-Driven Healthcare
The second keynote by forward-thinking physician trailblazer Dr. Jay Parkinson re-affirmed that consumers are ready to embrace health tech if it enables them to schedule an appointment with their doctor more efficiently, receive the personalized care that they rightly deserve and connect online with other patients like themselves. They simply want to know “what’s in it for me” and “does it make my life easier?”
When Dr. Parkinson completed his residency, he started his own Internet-based practice in 2007 with $1,500 and an iPhone. Within the first three months, he had more than 300 patients. He made house calls and e-visits, accepting PayPal payments but not insurance. With an overhead of about 10 percent, he was almost instantaneously profitable and clearly benefited from early adoption of technology to forge a new model of patient-centric healthcare delivery.
After embracing early success and co-founding Hello Health—a web-based platform for patient communication, practice management and EHR—Dr. Parkinson moved onto his current third act, Future Well. Future Well aims to develop exciting applications for early adopter healthcare providers and institutions who believe in creating engaging doctor-patient experiences. From Dr. Parkinson’s point of view, most of us spend one hour a year with our doctor unless we are chronically ill, but good health happens in the other 8,759 hours. Applications that make the doctor-patient relationship more meaningful will positively impact health and the Internet is a powerful tool that can enable better health across our communities.
In part two of this extended conference recap, we’ll delve deeper into the key takeaways from the entrepreneurial panel presentations.
Are there other areas of healthcare where innovation is critical for shifting supply or demand? How can we further encourage patient engagement in healthcare?
We welcome your comments below, or tweet your thoughts to the Schwartz Healthcare IT Practice Group @SchwartzPRx.
Spring has sprung and with it, so has O’Dwyer’s annual rankingof independent public relations firms across the industry. Once again, Schwartz Communications was named among the top 10 independent PR firms out of 152 firms nationwide. Additionally, Schwartz is ranked sixth among the top firms specializing in technology and healthcare respectively.
Schwartz is proud to be ranked and recognized by O’Dwyer’s Public Relations News, a leading public relations and marketing communications publication. In our 20th year of business, we continue to be inspired by our innovative clients in a number of markets from clean tech to life sciences, consumer technology, health IT to security. We design and execute traditional media, video, public affairs, social media and blog programs to drive influence and maximize impact.
Check out O’Dwyer’s Public Relations News for the complete list of rankings online. The rankings will also be published in the May print edition of O’Dwyer’s monthly magazine.
Announcements coming out of the largest annual healthcare IT conference promise to check off the list of meaningful use requirements within the healthcare industry one by one. Check out a few “game changers” so far here, here and here.
In a recent post, my colleague Mercedes Carrasco wrote about the key terms that are most prominent on the HIMSS11 schedule. Some of the hot topics we have seen so far, and some themes we will be sure to hear more about at HIMSS this year include:
Interoperability is as enormous a topic as ever, and a number of vendors are showcasing how well they can exchange data. Who will be the first to seamlessly interoperate? Has this company done it? Let the games begin…
In recent articles about whether electronic health records are capable of improving the quality of care, EHRs have taken quite a few hits. Despite the efforts and expense of installing EHRs in practices, they are not improving overall quality as much as expected, according to researchers. Keep an eye out for the company that will come out with the “It” EHR that will truly improve quality of care. Perhaps this company is on the right track by improving training for doctors so they will have more successful EHR deployments.
Mobile solutions are a major player at HIMSS this year. One product announcement describes a solution that arms doctors with the ability to obtain complete patient health information on a mobile device at the point-of-care. Doctors will be able to e-prescribe, complete pre-certification and eligibility, as well as have the patient’s complete medical records literally in the palm of their hands. Don’t worry if your doctor is on his iPhone or iPad while in the exam room. He isn’t playing “Angry Birds,” he’s just filling the prescription for your allergy medication.
There was a pre-HIMSS rumbling that there would be a free health information exchange (HIE) solution unveiled at the show. The rumors proved to be true: This new system will be cloud-based and will allow healthcare providers across the country to exchange information quickly and securely for FREE.
A core component of effective communication strategies for healthcare companies almost always involves identifying and promoting patient success stories. Drug, device, diagnostic or treatment, there is always greater success creating awareness when courageous patients step forward, willing to share their stories of triumph of how innovative medical technology helped them identify or conquer their medical challenges.
Dr. Chen’s recent story in the New York Times provides evidence that this methodology really works. Storytelling from one patient to another is an effective way to motivate people to get healthier:
“Now The Annals of Internal Medicine has published the results of a provocative new trial examining the effects of storytelling on patients with high blood pressure. And it appears that at least for one group of patients, listening to personal narratives helped control high blood pressure as effectively as the addition of more medications.”
Throughout my years in PR I have spoken to upwards of 100 patients facing all kinds of conditions including menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding), obstructive sleep apnea, epilepsy, depression and several types of cancer. It has always amazed me at how willing these brave souls are to share their stories for only one reason: to help others who may benefit. On behalf of everyone living healthier lives because of this selfless act, thank you for sharing.
There are a zillion resources online where patients can read the personal stories of those going through similar medical challenges. For example, Accuray, the maker of the CyberKnife System, updates its website regularly with fresh stories of patients facing a variety of cancers as well as benign tumors. Another great source to check out is patientslikeme, an online community for people with life-changing conditions. Patients share their personal health data with one another so the information can be available to help the public-at-large.
What do Robert Reich and Michael J. Fox have in common? They will be keynoting at HIMSS 2011, the largest healthcare IT conference of the year. The show will take place February 20-24, 2011 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.
From the Pre-Conference Workshops and Symposia to the 300 educational sessions, the learning never stops and neither does the professional development. The exhibit floor is filled with more than 900 exhibiting companies. Attendees include C-level executives, directors and senior level managers at hospitals, vendors, consulting firms and academia focusing on clinical systems, meaningful use, IT infrastructure, ARRA, medical home, accountable care, HIE, leadership management, e-health, security, among other topics. And they expect about 130 journalists to be in attendance.
Let’s not forget the networking and social opportunities, such as the Opening Reception, and the friendly and competitive 5K Fun Run/1 Mile Walk, the exciting Wednesday Evening event.
For as long as I can remember, Schwartz has been working with clients who attend HIMSS. We have seen the good, bad and ugly. Here is a HIMSS Tip Sheet to help you approach this behemoth of an event in a logical and lucrative way for you and your company.
Give Schwartz Communications a call at 781-684-0770 if you need help with any part of your HIMSS planning or during the event.
The political landscape has changed in the wake of the 2010 mid-term elections. The Republican controlled House of Representatives has stated healthcare reform will become a top priority next year. Specifically, the following has been said as it relates to “Obama-care.”
Speaker-elect John Boehner (R-OH) recently stated “I think it is important for us to lay the groundwork before we begin to repeal this monstrosity (Obama-care) and replace it with common sense reforms that will bring down the cost of health insurance in America.” Even the Democrats seem to be willing to work on changes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said "If there's some tweaking we need to do with the healthcare bill, I'm ready for some tweaking.”
The elections sent a clear message for the need to cut spending and reduce the size of the federal deficit. Republicans will undoubtedly look for savings in Medicare and Medicaid, the government’s largest mandatory funding expenditures, and cost will be central to the renewed healthcare debate.
Companies with a compelling story of improving quality of care, increasing efficiency, keeping more accurate records, and cutting cost will be welcomed in the coming weeks and months in Washington. Not surprisingly, the discussions regarding Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have significantly increased as Congress investigates ways to reduce the cost of healthcare. One of these key delivery system reforms that came out of last year’s legislation is the encouragement of ACOs, which facilitate coordination and cooperation among providers to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries and reduce unnecessary costs. In fact, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that ACOs could save Medicare at least $4.9 billion through 2019.
There is significant momentum behind this initiative. The nation's largest physician lobby, the American Medical Association (AMA), has recently asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to create an environment helpful for the development of ACOs. AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said, "The physician-led ACO model injects competition into the market by eliminating the need for consolidation under a hospital system. Competition fosters innovation, which ultimately helps patients receive efficient, high-quality care. Care coordination is vital, and physicians can work together with a health care team to keep patients healthy and out of the hospital while maintaining independent medical practices.”
CMS is still developing the regulations and requirements for ACOs, making now the opportune time for companies and stakeholders to engage the government and become an active voice in the debate. With a large number of newly elected Republicans pledging to reduce deficits and cut spending, there’s potential for a monumental shift in healthcare. Schwartz believes companies who join and help shape the discussion on ACOs now will be better positioned when those reforms are implemented.
Posted by Corey Lewandowski, Director of Public Affairs at Schwartz Communications
Name: Lauren Arnold Title: Vice President Company: Schwartz Communications My first Schwartz healthcare client was: Cyberonics in 1997. We started working with them 4 days before FDA approval so it was a hectic and demanding week like I had never experienced before. From faxing reporters the news release to FedExing press kits, how we do things may have changed, but what has remained constant since that FDA approval is the thrill of seeing news stories that have an impact on patients and their families.
What I like most about working in healthcare is: the great life-changing impact our clients’ technology has on patient’s lives and their families. From artificial hearts to participation in life-saving clinical trials to digital hearing aids that allow grandparents to hear their grandchildren clearly for the first time, the technology and medicine we publicize is making people’s lives better every day. When I’m not working, I like to: spend time with my family, including my 7 month son who I’m still hoping will get my curly hair; read; and unwind watching tv. Who had the biggest influence on your career?: My mentors and colleagues who inspire me daily to do the best job I can. People would be most surprised to learn that I: think I would make a great detective, although I get scared easily. If I wasn’t in healthcare, I would probably be: a writer of children’s books featuring my dog Piper and her Lazybones Detective Agency.
Today H.R.H Prince Carl Philip handed out a research grant of 260 000 SEK to five recipients on behalf of Lilla Barnets fond (translated: The Small Child’s Fund) in Stockholm, Sweden. Prince Carl Philip is the official protector of the fund. The recipients of the research grant included pediatricians, researchers and professors who are important to the advancement of neonatal care.
The Small Child’s Fund is a new pro bono client of Schwartz Stockholm. Schwartz Director Annica Holmberg represented Schwartz Communications today at the ceremony at the Swedish Society of Medicine in Stockholm.
“This is a charity close to my heart, having had the need for neonatal care for both of my children,” said Annica. “Neonatal care has advanced during the past 20-30 years but in spite of this, almost one baby in neonatal care dies every day in Sweden. I applaud the efforts of the Fund, Prince Carl Philip and the recipients of the grant. I’m proud that Schwartz Communications supports this worthy cause.”
Posted by Kristina Ebenius on October 28, 2010 at 1:16 PM
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Recently, I attended Xconomy’s “Face Off on the Future of Health IT” to hear a spirited discussion between two rival entrepreneurs, both of whom continue to have a profound effect on the healthcare IT industry, Jonathan Bush, president, CEO and chairman of the board of athenahealth, and Girish Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. Pamela McNamara, president of Cambridge Consultants, moderated the event at the spectacular offices of WilmerHale, high atop 60 State Street overlooking Faneuil Hall and Charlestown.
Over the course of an hour, Bush and Navani covered a lot of ground – from insights into their own companies and health reform to the competition. Both executives shared their organizational growth and product sales strategies. Navani wanted to start his own company and have control over decisions. Bush wanted to take advantage of the capital available in the public markets; athenahealth is a publicly traded company.
Their approach to computing differed as well. For Bush, the software itself shouldn’t be viewed as the product, whereas Navani sees software as the product to customize. Both executives expressed distrust in the billions of dollars that the U.S. government is pouring into incentives for doctors to adopt electronic medical records, and what that will do for the future progress of the industry. You can read Ryan McBride’s full account of the evening in “athenahealth and eClinicalWorks CEOs Explain Their Differences, Critique Software Subsidies.”
Before and after the discussion, Schwartz’s video team caught up with several participants and attendees to get their take on the future of health IT, including Bob Buderi, founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of Xconomy; Jonathan Bush, CEO of athenahealth; Jeff Livingstone, industry strategist, healthcare and life science of Akamai; Pamela McNamara, president of Cambridge Consultants; and Caleb Stowell, medical student at Harvard Medical School.
Here’s what they said about “The next wave in healthcare IT?”, “The patient’s role,” “Physicians adopting technology” and “How companies are advancing the healthcare IT industry.”
Pharma, biotech and medical device companies aren't terribly cowboy when it comes to corporate communications. I'd describe the general mindset as not so much "why wouldn't I share this information?" as "how does disclosing this information help me?"
It's not that they don't want to market their companies, their therapies and their expertise, because they do. But on a day-to-day basis, they ask themselves "why THIS piece of information?" They're thoughtful about their approach and nothing really happens without someone, or several someones, having given the release of that information substantial thought.
Nevertheless, the trend in external communications across technology and, I'd argue, science-driven industries, is toward having conversations that unfold over time and away from orchestrated releases of information. Of course, this isn't exclusively the case--if your company is announcing data or presenting at a conference, an embargo is an embargo and you will clearly not be dripping that data out via Twitter over time.
Keeping our eye on that broad trend, we notice that Eli Lilly has introduced a corporate blog, LillyPad. It's not pharma's first blogging effort, but as someone who looks at both the regulated world of healthcare communications and trends in PR, I can't help but believe that the blog represents an interesting step forward for healthcare communicators.
Lilly isn't using their blog to talk about their science or anything of that nature--they're discussing issues that matter to their company. Innovation, the value of patents, math and science education and the obligatory post on helping uninsured patients pay for medicine. Closer to home, I look at the example of client Absorption Systems, which has started blogging in order to explore topics that matter to their company, like drug-drug interactions and direct-to-patient marketing.
Lilly's comments policy reads, in part: "Comments on this blog will be filtered by Lilly and may be subject to removal if they have inappropriate content. Because Lilly and its affiliates operate in highly regulated industries, comments pertaining to ongoing legal matters or regulated content will not be posted."
Clearly the company isn't going to display posts from patients who feel they may have experienced negative or unwanted side effects. The worry of so many healthcare companies is, naturally, "what if someone reports an adverse event?" Lilly has put in place a process that allows them to gather that information if it comes their way and to respond directly with patients if need be. I think they've also shown, in just a few posts, that there are plenty of topics that the company feels are in its best interest to talk about in this sort of forum.
If blogging still isn't something your healthcare company feels comfortable exploring, maybe you're getting your feet wet in social media with Twitter instead. At Schwartz, we've noted that most big healthcare companies with products on the market are active users of Twitter. If ever you need convincing that social media has taken hold in the life sciences industry, visit the Dose of Digital social media wiki for a listing of just how much material is out there.
Our strong belief is that social and traditional media are intertwined--that one can't really be pursed in the absence of the other anymore. Even if your company isn't blogging, bloggers matter to you. You might not be on Twitter, but you should at least know what patients and others are saying about you there. Monitoring is the first step and a precursor to determining the level of involvement that's right for your company.
In the meantime, it's encouraging to see a company with the heft of Eli Lilly jump on the opportunity and commit to blogging. Is it something your marketing team has considered?
I am speaking with Matthew Holt, a San Francisco-based healthcare policy guru and entrepreneur, founder of The Health Care Blog and co-founder of successful Health 2.0 conference, which will take place in San Francisco on October 7 and 8.
Matthew, congratulations on coming up to the 4th annual Health 2.0 conference. Given your original tagline, "user-generated healthcare," you certainly have foresight into where healthcare is now and will be going.
Do you see that tagline as being relevant for a long time?
User-generated content in healthcare will become more and more relevant, and we get contributions of information and data from more and more people, reporting on their conditions, their experiences, using tools that track their care consciously or automatically. And then that data stream will be picked up by more sophisticated analytic tools, and used in the decision-making process by consumers, providers and everyone else.
It's actually the first part of our four stages of Health 2.0:
1) User-generated healthcare 2) Consumers connecting with providers using simple tools 3) Partnerships using Health 2.0 technologies to reform delivery, and 4) Data (from all those processes) being used to change clinical decisions and eventually drug discovery. But all those stages are going on simultaneously and we're really just getting started.
Eventually, the division between user-generated content and expert-created content will disappear, and no one will realize that we were having this conversation back in the day...
What do you see as the most important technologies in healthcare that will help move the mountain of Health Reform?
Email. Web tools for communication between doctors and patients. Self-service information tools for patients. On- and off-line communities for patients (and others) for support advice and information.
I'm sure you're seeing some interesting companies and products to showcase next month. Can you give our audience a sneak peek into some of the companies to watch? Some of the sessions which you're particularly excited about?
Just too many to count. We've collected a database of over 650 companies doing interesting things. We feel like they’re all our babies, so I'm loathe to pick winners but here's a few that we're reviewed in recent days:
Tweet What You Eat - a food diary using crowdsourcing to guess calories of things that are not in the USDA database and Twitter (simple & ingenious) to record information.
iMoveYou - uses Twitter, Facebook and more to challenge friends and friends of friends to do better in health, exercise and more. Started by Jen McCabe a former Health 2.0 conference intern, so that one, we're very proud of!
Performance Clinical Systems – A SaaS based presentation layer for getting admission orders off paper in small hospitals. It does what the big EMR vendors do for a fraction of the cost
All of these are small, relatively unknown companies. We also have some much bigger players including Microsoft,Google and WebMD doing interesting stuff supporting and integrating new tools and technologies.
And we have several sessions showing developers integrating government data into their systems and answering 11 challenges we have incubated as part of the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge. US Department of Health and Human Services CTO Todd Park and Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra will be here to highlight that session
Oh, and we'll be hosting the two biggest start-up launches of this (or any recent year). The first is Sharecare, with WebMD founder Jeff Arnold & Dr Oz and many more, and the other one is Castlight Health, which just raised $80m in venture funding to blow up and reinvent healthcare shopping for employees and consumers.
What kinds of companies and products do you look for when you're selecting presenters at Health 2.0?
Innovative, easily intuitive, tackling an obvious problem in a new way; not afraid to tilt at windmills, and of course, one that will demo well!
How have you seen Health 2.0 impact the players in healthcare – vendors, physicians, patients, pharma, biotech, insurers and so forth?
Anyone who touches the consumer is starting to realize that this matters. Everyone else is in for a rude shock when they understand that the Web 2.0 tools that are getting used at the edges of healthcare will be invading their enterprises--in the not-too-distant future.
Is there anything you'd like to say which I haven't asked?
Thanks for asking.
We're running a short meeting before the main conference called Patients 2.0 in which some remarkable patients and caregivers will be telling their stories. We've always had patients sprinkled through Health 2.0, and increasingly we're just giving them their own sessions and letting them lead.
Please have your clients and readers get involved in the Health 2.0 community, come to the conferences, listen to the webinars, get involved in the Health 2.0 Developer Challenge. We've been going for four years, but this is really just starting.
Matthew, thank you very much for your time. We look forward to seeing you in San Francisco next month.
Schwartz EVP and Healthcare Practice Leader Lloyd Benson takes on the question of how best to time a medical device product launch for greatest public relations impact in a new white paper. We invite you to download "Medical Device Product Launches: Issues & Answers About Timing."
Lloyd's perspective on the question of "when to launch" is informed by Schwartz's work over the years with what we believe to be the PR industry's largest portfolio of medical device clients. A small sampling of our work, which has reached patients, physicians, payors, advocacy groups, hospital management and others, includes introductions of:
- Philips Medical Systems HeartStart home defibrillator - Cyberonics VNS Therapy for pharmacoresistant epilepsy and VNS Therapy for treatment-resistant depression - NxStage System One portable home hemodialysis machine - CYTYC (now Hologic) ThinPrep Pap test - Hologic Cervista HPV test
He notes that product launches are like "one-pitch softball--you only get the one pitch to swing at. It's not going to happen again in the product's lifetime. So it behooves the healthcare PR pro to closely examine all possible alternatives in terms of timing and effectiveness." Lloyd believes that the received wisdom among many medical device executives causes them to allow that singular PR opportunity to pass them by, effectively turning what could be a chance to reach tens of millions of people into just another press release that crosses the wires unnoticed.
Take a look at the white paper, or drop the Schwartz Healthcare Practice a note if you'd like to talk more about product introductions, seeding the market before regulatory approval, raising awareness of a product already on the market or revitalizing an established brand. We look forward to talking about your company's communications needs.
The eagerly anticipated HITECH Act's final rule on "meaningful use" of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) was announced yesterday by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. It clarifies how doctors and hospitals can qualify for federal aid when they adopt EHRs. At stake: Up to $27 billion in incentives over the next ten years - $44,000 max per clinician under Medicare and $63,750 per clinician from Medicaid. Hospitals also stand to receive millions from "meaningful" EHR implementations.
Lack of definition on meaningful use had stalled many EHR implementations, especially at smaller hospitals, while leaving vendors in a painful wait-and-see position. Last January, many vendors, healthcare organizations and physicians groups like the MGMA contributed their suggestions to a definition during the public comment period, hoping to influence a ruling that didn't position them out of the stimulus-fueled market.
Yesterday's announcement outlined a definition by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on minimum requirements that providers must meet through their use of certified EHR technology to qualify for stimulus dollars. Listed are a "core" group of requirements - like e-prescribing - that must be met, plus an a la carte "menu" of procedures from which providers may choose. This approach is meant to have teeth, but also give providers flexibility to pursue their individual needs. While certainly lowering barriers to federal dollars (and market barriers to vendors), some point out that this also dilutes quality. Many, however, are relieved – and thankful for the public comment period – as the initial “all or nothing” approach, as first outlined, meant that many organizations would likely have not even tried to qualify, fearing they couldn't possibly meet the stringent criteria needed to get funding.
In addition to the final rule on meaningful use, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology (ONC) also issued a rule identifying the standards, implementation specifications and certification criteria for EHR technology. But, as ZDNet Healthcare points out, "the companies which will do the certifying have yet to be chosen, after which vendors will have to line up to assure customers of stimulus cash." Assuming their technology is certified, many healthcare IT vendors now have the opportunity to help physicians improve the various processes outlined in the a la carte menu.
More and more, B2B companies are finding Facebook valuable for sales and marketing to facilitate communication with clients and prospects, and to help drive business forward.
About a year ago, long-standing client Margaret Mayer, marketing director of Boston Software Systems, attended one of Schwartz Communications’ seminars about social media and was intrigued as to how her company could benefit from these communications methods. Margaret decided to test the Facebook waters.
Boston Software Systems is a virtual company with 25 people, 23 of whom work in different locations. Although small, it does a big job helping hospitals and other healthcare organizations save hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars through its workflow automation tools.
Margaret set up Boston Software Systems’ Facebook page and added some links and information, but wasn’t very active on it. She wondered about the value of Facebook for her company and customers.
A member of the Boston Software Systems team at Schwartz, Kristen Perry, noticed that the page wasn’t set up for maximum impact. She suggested turning it from a Profile, as an individual would use, into a Fan Page, which has a more professional appearance and functionality and is geared toward businesses. There is also the question of setting up a Group.
Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause. Fan Pages are better for brands and businesses that want to interact with their fans/ customers without having them connected to a personal account, and that have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.
Kristen also outlined some reasons why it’s a good idea for companies to have a Facebook Fan Page: • It improves search engine results. Facebook pages now appear among the top entries in Google search results. • It’s easy for people to remember (particularly if it’s a shorter URL) and for companies to promote. • It encourages discussions. Fans of the page, by nature, are interested in the company and are more likely to engage in discussions.
Setting up the Fan Page and moving the current fans and links would take time, but Kristen was up to the challenge, and Margaret was pleased and relieved. Kristen describes the process of setting up a Fan Page:
• Before setting up a Fan Page, the administrator needs his or her own Facebook account. Designate someone who can manage the Page and add content regularly. If you also have a solid and trusting relationship with an outside communications agency or marketing consultant, you could also give that person rights as an administrator to keep tabs on the Page’s status and to ensure it has fresh content. If you happen to end your relationship with that agency or consultant, you can remove them as an administrator.
• Recently, Facebook updated one of its most business unfriendly controls by giving page administrators the ability to remove other administrators, regardless of who created the page. This was announced late last week on the Facebook Page for Facebook Pages. Previously, the creator of a page had rights above all other admins, due to the fact that they could never be removed.
• Go to the page to set up a Username and click “Set a username for your Pages.” Be sure to check the Username that you select as you cannot change it. Many companies use Facebook pages to talk about an issue or technology idea. It is a good idea to choose a username that authentically represents your business or brand. You can have it link back to your website and improve search engine optimization.
• Fill out basic company info in the Info tab, including date founded, description of the company and number of employees. You can also start building content on the wall with messages and announcements. It is important to write the company description in the little “About” box with keyword-dense prose to enhance search engine optimization. This holds true for the Info section, where you can also add high priority links.
• One important SEO strategy that should be employed on your Facebook Page whenever feasible is placing keyword-dense prose as close to the top of the Page as possible.
• After you’ve set up your Fan Page, promote it by adding the Facebook icon link to your Web site for easy access. You can also add it to your boilerplate and email signature. Consider linking your Facebook page with your company’s Twitter handle and LinkedIn page. For an extra investment, you can set up an ad, although so far we haven’t seen great value in the ads from a customer adoption perspective.
• Populate your Fan Page with links to interesting content, company news, events or industry news, and start sending messages to your fans. You can load Notes, start a discussion, add photos of people, products, company events, trade shows and screen shots. It is important to keep the information fresh, updated and give your fans a reason to visit and interact.
• Build your Fan base by contacting friends and colleagues already on Facebook. You can also send a note to the fan base from the old site and ask them to get onto the new one. Once people start becoming fans of Facebook pages, their friends will see it on their status. This offers a possibility that they too will show interest and Fan the page.
Once you have 25 or more fans, you can create a custom URL or vanity label for your Fan Page. Although not critical, it makes the page’s URL much more manageable. By adding links to their email signatures, promotional email and other outbound marketing efforts, Margaret and her team at Boston Software Systems are actively encouraging their customers to ‘Become a Fan’ of the Page.
Boston Software Systems is much happier with the company’s new Facebook Fan Page as it presents the B2B company in a more professional manner and allows easy interaction with stakeholders.
May is treating the Schwartz team well. Last week, the team was recognized with a SABRE Award in "Research for Publicity" for its work in "Research for Publicity" on behalf of Javelin Strategy & Research.
The Schwartz team and Javelin combined professional and social media to promote Javelin's annual identity fraud report, increasing media coverage 126 over previous years, and a whopping 97 percent of all articles emphasizing at least two key messages.
In addition to Javelin, some terrific clients were recognized as finalists: medical device company Bioness, antivirus and desktop security software provider ESET and boutique healthcare investment services provider Leerink Swann. Although they didn't take home trophies, it's the first time Schwartz has emerged with four finalists in the SABRES and the work remains outstanding.
There's a great case study on Schwartz's work with Bioness, including a campaign that delivered $4M in sales leads. Check it out!
The intersection of PR and SEO for B2B healthcare and technology companies is My Current Obsession. Naturally, then, I'm fascinated by how Google works. We all know it's a Google world, right, but I care in particular about Google's treatment of news releases and content generated by the media.
I was interested, then, in last week's BusinessWire post on "Why Your Release Might Not Make it Into Google News." Not often, but every now and again a client doesn't find their release on Google News and they wonder what happened. Sometimes they ask us to "call Google and fix it." Tragically, we can't do that, so it's going to be easier to write the release in the first place to maximize its chances of getting picked up by Google News.
In the BusinessWire blog entry, Joseph Miller lists four reasons that releases may not be indexed by Google News: the release is too short (fewer than 125 words), too large (e.g., an earnings release with huge associated tables), appears to be fragmented into unrelated bullet points and, most important, the title is too long. Specifically, Mr. Miller says, a news release headline shouldn't exceed 22 words.
Really long press release titles should be avoided because they're clumsy, of course. Beyond that basic guideline, we've understood for some time the importance of prominently including keywords in press release headlines to improve SEO--they should appear toward the beginning of titles. It's useful to also know now that verbose headlines not only don't help SEO, they likely hurt it by causing releases to be tossed out by Google News altogether.
Say what you will about the effectiveness of conferences in the marketing mix--there are still a lot of shows that companies feel they have to attend in order to see and be seen. In the case of Schwartz client BioImagene, that conference is the annual meeting of the U.S. & Canadian Academy of Pathology (USCAP).
BioImagene is one of the companies that dominate USCAP and their PR team is working overtime to support the show presence. So it was nice for everyone to see a blog entry, "BioImagene PR Doing It The Apple Way," from New York-based pathology resident Karl Robstad, M.D.
Dr. Robstad offers, "In an industry that, at least in my opinion, lacks some of the excitement in spreading the word about their newest and best products/services, BioImagene is a real stand-out taking a page out of Apple’s handbook, by creating mystique and hype around product releases, and then following the hype up with grand spectacle unveilings."
He continues, "You can look at stuff like this and call them 'PR stunts' or whatever, but I think there is a certain amount of merit behind a good PR campaign."
We'd agree, Dr. Robstad, and thank you for noticing. It's all about generating the sort of visibility that makes the BioImagene sales team happy and that underscores how a company that was founded a few years ago is altering a century-old industry.
The BioImagene booth was hopping at USCAP last year. Here's to an even more successful 2010 event later this month.
This photo from euthman is covered by a Creative Commons license.
Following are additional impressions from HIMSS 2010, Atlanta contributed by Schwartz Communications colleagues Dave Close, Nigel Smith, Dana Conti, Mercedes Fereck…
• Bloggers vs. reporters: There is hardly a difference in the healthcare IT market. Prominent bloggers like HISTalk attract big readerships - large enough to host their own party and awards ceremony on the same night as Healthcare Informatics’ Innovators Awards Event. At a client’s press briefing, bloggers sat next to top tier outlets like Modern Healthcare, providing their own perspective and reporting on the news. Take Anthony Guerra for instance. He is the former editor of Healthcare Informatics, who is now leveraging his CIO contacts to write stories on his new site healthsystemCIO.com
• Booth Gimmicks Abound: From the aforementioned DeLorean, to a specially constructed basketball court featuring former Harlem Globetrotters to Tiki-themed lairs and Vespa giveaways, HIMSS once again featured some pretty memorable booths. I can certainly appreciate the scenery, but it seems somewhat "Mad Men" retro and a bit silly to see companies still hire beautiful young women to draw traffic into the booths. Every spokes-model in the southeast must have been at the GWC. How do you stand for seven hours on six-inch heels?
• Wither the CIO? There weren’t as many hospital CIO types roaming the show floor as in years’ past. Many we spoke with said the CIO was an “endangered species” at HIMSS and most who did attend were there as a guest of a vendor. So, HIMSS this year was mostly vendors talking to vendors, with the most likely business outcome being strategic partnerships down the road, or planting seeds for a future merger or acquisition.
• Testing The Waters: This year at HIMSS, Schwartz met with a number of general technology vendors who were there to “test the waters” of the healthcare vertical market and/or to gather information on healthcare IT certification.
When you convene a group of leading healthcare journalists, in front of a room full of healthcare PR professionals, sometimes there's no telling what you might hear. Journalists and PR folk, especially healthcare PR agency specialists, have a bit of a love hate relationship. We both need each other, for different reasons of course, and in light of the different media world we live in today, it's more critical than ever that we best understand how we can help each other. As a PR practitioner, I'm most concerned with finding creative and impactful ways for my medical device, biotech and biopharmaceutical clients to get their message out to their key target audiences. The game has changed and in fact continues to change on what often seems like a minute-to-minute basis. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating but you get the point.
To that end, we prepared a special report with our takeaways from this session, thoughts on how the media environment is altering communications strategies and ideas on how healthcare companies can capture the right mix of influential mindshare. Is it shocking that healthcare journalists are busy (no), have fewer resources (no) and have less time to pursue feature-based stories (no)? How about the fact that several of the reporters we heard from have yet to jump on the social media bandwagon? Probably not shocking, but interesting, yes especially when the media organizations they write for are knee deep in trying to drive eyeballs to their respective Web sites via the multitude of social media tools and channels available. Check out the report and read on to uncover the good, bad and the ugly of what to expect in 2010. Feel free to opine on our blog with your thoughts and observations, we would love to hear from you.
The January 24th edition of the Sunday New York Times ran a Page One Investigative report on the perils and dire consequences on the use of radiation in medical diagnostics and cancer therapies. The lengthy report, put together by an investigative team of six people, left the reader chilled and saddened for the families of the two patients whose experiences formed the substance of the vast majority of the Times’ reporting. Indeed they suffered greatly as a result of what the Times inferred was a result of a human error and/or faults in complex technology. Rare will be the reader who will put the piece down believing as much in the safety and efficacy of radiation as when they began reading.
Yet the Report was both disconcerting and troublesome to me. As a healthcare public relations professional, I have indeed represented companies who had developed both radiation diagnostics and various types of therapies, yet even so, I found I was not biased by my professional associations. What really was disturbing to me was this quote found in the 9th paragraph of the 4 full page article.
“Without a doubt, radiation saves countless lives, and serious accidents are rare.”
OK. I get that—and I believe it. For many years radiation based protocols have been the standard of care and indeed gold standard in more procedures than I have time to list here. And this knowledge, juxtaposed with the Times reporting of yesterday is totally perplexing to me. I feel that the Times reporting was both sensationalistic and severely unbalanced. If they were to use all of that hugely expensive space in the Sunday paper detailing the potentially dangerous applications of radiation, would not a great deal larger amount of space be required to tell the stories of just some of the “countless” number of lives that the Times says radiation therapy has saved. I don’t get it.
Of course medical error and improper use of new and different technologies are serious problems. They deserve to be covered and extensively reported on. But to run such an emotional and one-sided account as the Times did, disappoints me. Not only as a healthcare PR Pro, but also as an informed potential patient. I love the Times. It is my favorite newspaper and a ‘must-read’ every day. But in this case they fell far short of their usually high journalistic standards. And in doing so, carried out an injustice to their readers by painting a picture that only tells a small, small part of the story.
Jim Weinrebe presented his perspective on the role social media is playing in crisis communications management for biotech, life science and pharmaceutical companies at the Publicity Club of New England's "Crisis Communications Preparedness" program held at Schwartz Communications.
Jim, along with his fellow panelists, weighed in on the need to plan, plan, and then plan some more as it's still at the root of any good crisis communications or reputation management plan for healthcare PR. Simply put, you can't be too careful, or too prepared in today's digital media age. It's not so much that many of the fundamentals have changed but that the SPEED, unbiquity of communication and new product applications in social media, with Google Sidewiki offered as just one recent example, have the potential to outpace the planning capabilities of some of even the most seasoned practitioners.
What's very different today in healthcare, according to Jim, is diminished ability of healthcare prescription product manufacturers to control, manage or even respond to messages that are swirling around them in the social media universe. With the prolific growth in use of Twitter, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and other channels, social media content is not only broadly influencing people online, but also becoming a feeding ground for resource-constrained traditional media outlets that are constantly seeking audience generated content to embellish their reporting. The news vetting bar has never been set so low for provocative content that can get instantly posted and then picked up by influential traditional broadcast and print outlets in the blink of an eye.
While one of the fundamental rules for participation in social media is to actively listen, Jim also noted that even this basic aspect of social media etiquette poses difficult challenges for healthcare prescription product manufacturers, who could be accountable to the FDA for reporting instances of adverse events that have been identified through social media monitoring. It was noted that the industry is seeking clarity from the FDA on these and other issues related to social media, which could be at least partially forthcoming in pending public hearings on this topic in mid-November. Until such guidance is established, Weinrebe noted, prescription healthcare product manufacturer participation in social media will be very modest, and for the most part resembling more of a web 1.0 than a web 2.0 format. Meanwhile, Weinrebe said that social media has more potential to create or accelerate crisis for healthcare prescription product manufacturers. Exceptions in healthcare cited by Weinrebe were organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and American Red Cross, and even individual hospitals, who have employed sophisticated uses of social media to help effectively manage and communicate messages during public health emergencies and crises.
Jim noted that in regulated industries, such as healthcare and finance, there is still a lot of work to be done in educating senior management about the need to apply authenticity in tone to social media communications, even if the communications are nothing more than stand-by statements or simple acknowledgment that a problem has occurred. Jim counseled attendees to consider social media monitoring tools as a core part of an effective public relations strategy, while at the same noting that many healthcare product manufacturers need more guidance on adverse events reporting before even that approach can be robustly implemented.
While the healthcare industry waits with suspense for the outcomes of the FDA hearings on social media, Jim noted that clarity will not be achieved in the short term, that the deliberations will continue well into 2010 and that even by that point and beyond, a certain degree of ambiguity may still be desired by regulatory agencies as a means for cultivating preemptive manufacturer caution.
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at a panel discussion at NortheasternUniversity, "It's Time To Brand Yourself" sponsored by the Boston Alumni Networking Exchange, the College of Professional Studies and the Communications Alumni Network. The discussion, moderated by Dr. Carl Zangerl, College of Professional Studies, Northeastern University, focused on a topic that's near and dear to all communications professionals - personal brand building.
I was joined by Michael Armini, vice president of marketing and communications at Northeastern University, Ted Chaloner, president of Chaloner Associates and Lauren Libitz, president of the Yankee Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). It was a fantastic line-up and each panelist brought a unique and interesting perspective to the more than 70 attendees who showed up for the program. With terrific questions and comments from the studio audience, my fellow panelists and I opined on the current job outlook for communications and public relations professionals, the concept of personal branding, the importance of networking and the different social media tools available including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, to create and promote a personal brand.
Whether you are currently employed or on the hunt, establishing a personal brand is important and something that bears relevance and utility to both an employee and a job seeker. The whole idea of a personal brand certainly isn't new but with the advent and popularity of social media tools it's quickly become a key buzz word in a challenging economic environment. I think building a personal brand is very similar to building a brand, and a strategy, for a company. The same rules apply. All the tools in the world won't do you any good unless you have a clear, consistent and differentiating vision to communicate. Further, coming up with the vision is just the first part of the challenge, the second part is figuring out which social media tools to employ. There are so many out there and it's challenging to know which ones to dabble with but my recommendation is to try a few at a time. Start slow, get recommendations relevant to your industry and observe others before jumping in head first. And, just remember, keep your personal and professional brand separate !
Jim Weinrebe, executive vice president and leader in our healthcare public relations practice, will join several panelists on Monday, October 26 at Schwartz Communications for a Publicity Club of New England panel program to talk about crisis communications preparedness.
As much as we try to avoid them, crises are inevitable and usually strike at the most inopportune times. The emergence of social media alone has exponentially increased the urgency and need for being prepared. When the pressure is on, it is important to get the facts in order as quickly as possible before any public communication is disseminated and determine the key target audiences that need to be addressed. The pre-determined crisis communications team should be prepared to deliver relevant information in a timely and appropriate manner to minimize the rumor mill and restore order and/or confidence. It's absolutely critical to have a crisis communications team and protocol in place before an emergency or potentially controversial situation strikes.
Jim will be joined by several leading industry executives to discuss effective crisis communications protocol and offer insight into real world case study examples. More specifically, Jim will provide insight into managing a crisis in healthcare PR. Participants will walk away with an understanding of what works, and what doesn't, when under the gun and how to best prepare an effective crisis communications plan in a time of turmoil. To register for the program, please visit www.pubclub.org. Space is limited so please reserve your spot!
Perhaps no single item in recent memory has generated as much curiosity and interest from healthcare PR Pros and marketers than has the growing phenomenon broadly titled "Social Media". Social Media can be broadly defined as a whole group of new communications channels that enable a more direct and conversational dialogue between medical device, pharmaceutical and biopharma companies and their key constituencies--including patients and clinicians.
The interest in Social Media is being driven by a confluence of two factors. First--dramatic changes in the more traditional media channels typically used by healthcare companies. Print. Broadcast. Radio. The economic downturn has reduced both the number of outlets that healthcare companies have used to reach key audiences as well as the sheer time allocated to healthcare stories. Second is the advent of rapidly emerging technologies that enable a shift from the "one-way" nature of traditional media to a more conversational or cocktail party approach to engaging audiences.
Together, these two factors are stimulating whole new areas of opportunity for the healthcare or medical public relations professional and the companies they work for. But there are challenges as well.
Recently Schwartz Communications held a Webinar that provided an overview of the types of Social media programs available for medical device companies, but it is applicable to all types of healthcare companies as well.
Over the weekend, I saw a Tweet (http://tinyurl.com/ljjwla) that the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, performed the 800th implant of the SynCardia CardioWest™ temporary Total Artificial Heart (TAH‑t). Congratulations SynCardia! Back in October 2004, in my capacity as PR counsel to Syncardia, I was at the FDA Panel Meeting when it approved SynCardia’s CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart as a bridge-to-transplantation in cardiac transplant-eligible candidates at risk of imminent death from non-reversible biventricular failure. What an exciting time for not only the company who spent years and years working on and perfecting the device but also for physicians and patients whose lives were greatly changed—and saved—by this amazing device. I spoke with numerous patients including a cyclist who is an award winning member of the Transplant Olympic teams who had a second chance of life after being implanted with the CardioWest device. I am thrilled that more than 800 patients have since benefited from this device.
While this was the pre-Twitter, Facebook era, SynCardia made headlines news—from cover stories in its local Tucson papers to the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal to the Associated Press. This was one of the most exciting, heartwarming (excuse the pun) launches I ever worked on and will stay with me forever.
We spoke with Bjarte Reve, CEO of Oslo Cancer Cluster. The Norwegian cluster is a collaboration between pharma, biotech, research institutions and hospitals, patient groups and other organizations committed to making a difference for cancer patients.
Check out what Bjarte had to say about their initiative.
This year’s Massachusetts Biotechnology Council Annual Meeting provided a sober look at the state of the Massachusetts biotech industry and what the cluster must do to succeed in the years to come. Our world-class teaching hospitals and academic institutions, our talented scientists, physicians and researchers coupled with a vibrant VC community has resulted in Massachusetts being a world leader in the industry, but according to the council, other states and even countries are fast on our heals of potentially claiming the “super cluster” position. While Massachusetts has enjoyed being the launch pad for exciting companies like Genyzme and Biogen, today’s “rising stars” and even companies that are not yet formed but are a glimmer of hope in a scientist’s eye based on a patent or piece of IP, now face new, bigger challenges due to today’s economic conditions. The key theme of the day’s presentations was the importance of greater collaboration among industry, academia and venture capitalists. In order for the Commonwealth to not only survive today’s economic landscape but more importantly, prosper and maintain our leadership position, it will be key for these organizations to work together.
According to the MBC’s 2015 Strategic Report which was released at the conference, scientific collaboration and innovation is a critical linchpin to the success of the state’s biotech industry. The report discusses the need to better align the academic community with industry to improve collaboration and to address technology transfer processes taking innovation from the bench top to industry. Unlike other biotech powerhouse cities like San Francisco and San Diego, tech transfer doesn’t happen as seamlessly in Massachusetts. One of the calls to action was development of a consortium of academia and industry, so that the gene discovery and validation process that occurs in the academic setting can then be developed by companies with the funds and means to build accurate models and implement clinical trials. Without this technology transfer, we won’t see progress.
While it may seem ironic to say that I found the Economic Outlook session uplifting, it provided some clarity on where the industry is heading and it’s not all bad! Moderated by Xconomy Founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief Robert Buderi, the session discussed on how the recession actually presents us with a tremendous opportunity. While pharma generally bets the bank on a blockbuster drug, nimble-minded biotech companies should focus on a “niche-buster” and be creative and adaptive in clinical trials. It is these companies who will come out standing—many of whom get their start here in the Bay State.
The MBC continues to host interesting, thought-provoking meetings that provide valuable forums for discussion, networking, collaboration and innovation.
One of the more interesting recent medical stories to hit the mainstream media was the news that for the first time, the FDA has cleared the use of embryonic stem cells in human clinical trials. This particular trial will use a stem cell line developed by Geron, Inc. of Menlo Park, CA and will be implanted in people who have suffered acute spinal cord injury. As somebody who has actually seen the Geron-developed video of the stem cell’s affect on paralyzed mice walking and running after having been implanted with the Geron cells, the raw potential of the therapy is breathtaking. Of course, it will take many years of rigorous scientific testing in people to determine both safety and efficacy. This first small 10-patient trial however is an important first step.
What is curious and thought provoking about this news is its timing. The public debate over embryonic stem cells has been raging for many years now. Embryonic stem cells, as their name suggests, are derived from embryos. Specifically from embryos that develop from eggs that have been fertilized in vitro and then donated for research purposes, with the informed consent of the donors. The debate became a political ‘hot button’ issue when in 2001, the former Bush administration precluded public funding of additional stem cell research beyond 31 specific stem cell lines—ironically of which the Geron cell line was one. The Geron cell line was developed without public funding using instead the private capital markets. The public funding issue was largely perceived as a political gesture toward conservative supporters of President Bush as well as an extension of former President Bush’s own religious beliefs. To which of course, he is certainly entitled as are we all.
During the course of applying to the FDA for clearance of this trial, Geron submitted a 21,000 page Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA, believed to be the largest and most thoroughly documented science that the FDA has reviewed in its history. The company says that the application detailed more than 24 separate animal studies of its product that established both safety and efficacy in animals. A lot of this scientific data had appeared in peer-reviewed publications over the years of development, including a study published seven years ago that showed efficacy in rats. As the FDA laboriously poured over the data during the years of the Bush Administration’s tenure, more people suffered from acute paralysis and investors bounced Geron’s stock up and down.
Then on January 21st, only ONE day after the Obama Administration took office, the FDA, suddenly and without warning, announced clearance of the Geron trial. While much of the news reporting on the clearance focused specifically on the scientific importance of the trial, a few intrepid reporters openly speculated that the change in the White House had immediate impact on FDA policy. This is a topic worthy of discussion. Was the timing simply a coincidence? Or did the Bush administration tacitly impose its own political and/or ethical views on the FDA? The job of the FDA is difficult. It must ensure that the safety of the public is held paramount and at the same time carefully guide new products and technologies through a process that allows new therapies to get to the marketplace after appropriate review. To add a layer of “politicization” to this process does not serve the public or the government. The science of medicine is after all transparent to personal belief or religious conviction—and politics.
The American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Sessions wrapped up in New Orleans last week and for the first time in two years, there was no embargo-gate debate.
Maybe the AHA took a page from the "No Drama Obama" campaign.
What's the fuss all about? For publically-traded healthcare companies, presenting data at a prestigious medical conference like the AHA is mostly a blessing----major stakeholders including clinicians, investors and the media are all focused on news from the conference.
Yet navigating conflicting embargo policies can be a real challenge. For example, consider a Company that has highly-anticipated trial results in hand weeks before it's scheduled to present at a "Late Breaking" session.
One on hand, SEC Reg FD rule encourages companies to announce material news almost immediately. Yet conference organizers have strict policies about releasing data prior to the conference. If the data is being simultaneously published in a medical journal like JAMA or NEJM (as the JUPITER study was this year), add another layer of complexity.
Often times, companies are forced to announce top-line data prior to the conference, without being able to paint the full picture. After weeks of market speculation, the embargo is lifted.
During last year's AHA meeting, this predicament prompted Eli Lilly's CEO to write a WSJ Op-Ed entitled, "The Media on Drugs." He explained "NEJM and AHA asked for promises from Lilly and its partners, and we agreed, not to disclose any of the results prior to Nov. 4. Such guarantees of exclusivity are not only common, but also appropriate, in focusing expert attention on important research." In 2006, the AHA pulled Pfizer from the Scientific Session agenda for pre-releasing data. CNBC Reporter Mike Huckman blogged about an embargo-gate episode at the 2007 ACC conference.
What's a company to do? There is no clear cut answer. The data results, size of company and the anticipated impact of the stock all play factors in deciding the best course of action.
In the next post, we'll outline a few recommendations for a company in this situation.
Posted by Dana Conti on November 20, 2008 at 9:23 AM
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