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Home Health & Hospice Week

Marketing:

REACHING CHRONIC PATIENTS REQUIRES PERSISTENCE

Published on Tue May 13, 2003

They're not new to this, they may know their diseases as well as you do, and they're not stumbling out of the hospital into your arms.

They're the chronic disease patients, who represent a huge market for both home health agencies and home medical equipment companies. Because they're living with conditions for the long haul, they often form their own communities and educate themselves about their conditions. And they don't rely on traditional referral sources to find services and products they need.

Reaching these patients requires a different approach, one closer to consumer marketing, says consultant Alison Cherney with Cherney & Associates in Brentwood, TN. "You have to be very focused and targeted. You have to keep your name out there pretty often," she says. It can be an expensive business - in money or energy - and home care providers used to sending nurses or staffers to visit referral sources may have some things to learn.

She and other consultants offer a few tips for reaching the chronic population:

  • Figure out what groups to target. Infusion providers have had some success in the past marketing to end-of-life AIDS patients and Crohn's Disease patients requiring parenteral nutrition, says Cherney. But other home care providers have a plethora of diseases to choose among, from diabetes to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These all may need nursing, aide services or equipment.

  • Conduct research. Find out where these patients look for information, whether it may be the yellow pages, support groups or the Internet.

  • Be persistent. Don't advertise once or twice and then assume you're done, Cherney urges. Marketers have a concept called "recall" that teaches that people remember something after they've seen it half a dozen times. A single visit to a support group won't cut it.

  • Talk patients' language. HHAs, in particular, talk too clinically to patients and consumers, says Cherney. Don't assume patients know as much as referral sources.

    She praises the VNS of New York's television ads for their simple appeal to concerns like relatives who fall down in the shower or need support. One rural HME supplier ran infomercials on late night cable TV that included helpful information as well as a pitch, and advertised these programs in the newspaper.

  • Develop Web sites that have useful information. Get linked to from the major associations and important sites covering a particular disease.

  • Provide in-services at hospitals and clinics on chronic diseases, suggests Colette Weil with Summit Marketing in Mill Valley, CA.

  • Supply fun but useful items. For example, diabetics may need special candy, shoes and lifts to help them into bed, says Weil. Educate people on how to make better meals and care for themselves.

  • Contact associations such as the Better Breathers Association, the American Heart Association, the cystic fibrosis associations, the Easter Seals and others, urges consultant Louis Feuer with Dynamic Seminars in Pembroke Pines, FL. The United Way may have some contacts for local groups. Look for community events in the Sunday newspaper. Look for social service organizations in your yellow pages. The local social worker at the hospital may have suggestions of local groups as well.

  • Sponsor groups or events. One client of Feuer's sponsored a wheelchair basketball team for kids. And Weil says many home care providers sponsor or host support groups in their conference rooms. You also can become a sponsor of camps for kids with asthma.

  • Watch out for likely complications. You may know better than your patients what lies ahead for them. For example, says Weil, patients with diabetes may also be at risk for cardiac problems, and vice versa. Helping patients prepare for - and avoid - complications, is the best way to reach them.

     

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