Nancy Stordahl writes a cancer blog titled "Nancy's Point: A Blog about Cancer and Loss." She lost her mother to breast cancer in 2008 and then was diagnosed with it herself in 2010. I follow Nancy's blog, as well as a few others written by cancer patients and cancer survivors,…

Before launching into this post, I want to state for the record that I am a huge Batman fan and have been my entire life. Therefore, the story I am about to share with you resonates with me in a particularly impactful manner. Enjoy!

The healthcare marketing online world (Twitterverse) is buzzing about an amazing campaign created by JWT Brazil for clients A.C.…

Last week I received a reminder email from Mark Gothberg of eHealthcare Strategy & Trends about their awards competitions. I occasionally write for the publication and serve on its editorial board. So here's the news: Only a month remains to send in your submissions for the 2013 eHealthcare Leadership Awards. June 30th is the first deadline.…

Over the years I've developed a great relationship with the folks at Ragan Communications. I write for their Health Care Communications News and usually attend at least one of their conferences each year. Mark Ragan and his team do a really nice job with healthcare communications - particularly healthcare social media.

Coming up on July 23 in…

This TV spot from BCBS of North Carolina intrigues me. It uses an infographic look (oh so popular) and give it life through animation. I also like the tone of the commercial. BCBS is taking issues that confuse the general population and is trying to create understanding by making very simple points. Of course, they don't mention their role in driving up the cost of healthcare, but this is about their agenda and communicating their perspective. The messaging is not balanced, but it is…

Below is a video clip of the first 30 minutes of my presentation last week at the 2013 PRSA Health Academy. The subject of the presentation was "Using Blogs to Engage Female Healthcare Consumers." Tim Brennan of Tufts Medical Center was scheduled to be my co-presenter but got a bad case of food poisoning after eating in one of the local dining establishments. (Unfortunately, I selected the restaurant.) So, I flew solo. Enjoy the presentation.…

Not long ago I was on an airplane and started making a list of the major elements that are missing from many hospital marketing programs. Those are the kind of things I do at 30,000 feet. I thought the list was going to become a blog post, but as it grew, I realized I wanted a more graphic presentation. That's when I decided an infographic was in my future. The…

After seeing my blog post with Twitter stats from the 2013 Healthcare Marketing Strategies Summit (#hcms13), Jon Alzueta forwarded me a link (via Twitter) to Tweet Binder's analysis of the same data. Here's how Tweet Binder shows the Twitter activity and impact from the Summit: (Click on any of the image below to enlarge)…

I had a blast today attending and serving as a speaker at the PRSA Health Academy. It is always rewarding to meet other healthcare communicators and marketing professionals and to reconnect with old friends. My friend and editor Jessica Levco from Ragan Communications sat in on my session and that was such a nice surprise. It was great to have her tweeting throughout my talk. Thanks…

A few weeks ago I gave a talk at the 2013 Pelvic Health Conference in Denver, Colorado, and my focus was on the need for healthcare marketers to build communities of shared interest. These are niche online communities that give patients the opportunity to engage with others who are going through, or have gone through, similar circumstances. When you get a diagnosis, it is natural to want to seek out others who have faced the same set of challenges. Their experience and guidance can be…

"In 2006, in response to concerns of a likely future physician shortage, the AAMC recommended a 30 percent increase in U.S. medical school enrollment by 2015. This recommendation used the first-year enrollment of 16,488 students in 2002 as a baseline. A 30 percent increase would thus lead to 21,434 first-year medical students enrolling by 2015, an increase of 4,946 students." (Source: AAMC Report - Results of the 2011 Medical School Enrollment Survey)…

This infographic depicts the health insurance woes of African Americans and Hispanics using data from the National Health Interview Survey of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, corroborated by data from the US Census Bureau. As a quick overview, in 2012, only 11.2% of non-hispanic Whites in the U.S. were uninsured. Meanwhile, 17.4% of non-Hispanic Blacks were uninsured; this was significantly lower than the 29.4% recorded for Hispanics. This infographic shows the general health…

Tomorrow I will be speaking at the AAMC GIA National Professional Development Conference in Hollywood, Florida. This is my second year in a row speaking at this conference and I am honored to have been invited back. Brooke Tyson Hynes (Tufts Medical Center) and I will present an…

The voice of the patient - we don't hear it nearly enough. That may sound strange but it is the truth. Healthcare marketers need to open themselves up to patient stories and patient experiences. This is a huge shortcoming in the current healthcare marketing paradigm. Simply put, we don't spend a lot of time listening to our most important constituents -…

Lately I've felt like my blog has become infographic central! Infographics are coming out of the woodwork. Trust me when I tell you that most infographics that people send me never make it into this blog. Every infographic is selling something; that's just the way it is. Case in point, the infographic below was produced by BestHealthcareMBA.com. It takes a detailed look at healthcare spending in the United…

Creating safe, healing environments is one of the huge opportunities facing healthcare. That's what the CleanMed Conference is all about. CleanMed is the premier conference on environmental sustainability for the health care sector. The conference attracts leaders…

On May 7, 2013 in Mount Snow, Vermont, physicians, nurses, healthcare administrators, and patient safety specialists will gather for a one-day conference: "Creating a Culture of Safety: Best Practices in Implementation Science." Specifics: Tuesday, May 7, 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM, Grand Summit Resort and Hotel, 394 Route 100, Mount Snow, Vermont. Registration is $149.

The conference is presented in partnership by the Center for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at Southwestern Vermont…

If you've been Tweeting for a while now, it's probably time to download your Twitter Archive and take a look at what you've been putting out into the world. I did this just the other day and it is fascinating to go back a few years and see how your Tweeting and content have evolved. Much of this has happened as our understanding of Twitter has been refined over time.

For your organization (hospital, health system, medical practice), I can see all kinds of benefits for having a recent…

I've written previously about the Pink Glove Dance Video Competition. It has truly become a phenomenon within the healthcare industry. For me, it has hit very close to home with my client, Lexington Medical Center, winning the competition in 2011 and 2012. Now Medline has come out with an infographic celebrating the growth of this phenomenon.

Here are some interesting stats, some of which you'll see represented in the infographic below:

• Pink Glove Dance participation…

Okay, the people at BerylHealth are cranking out interesting infographics. They are taking complex subject matter and dramatically simplifying it. I posted one about ACOs earlier this week and then stumbled upon this one: Benefits of Population-Based Care Models. This is highly relevant to our industry and the changes it is currently undergoing. The graphic is really simple, but that's part of its value. If you'd like to review the infographic on BerylHealth's website, go to…