This discussion board is aimed at strengthening your understanding of hospital marketing opportunities and challenges. The post is centered upon the case in the text on p.230 titled A Struggling Hospital is Revived through Market-driven Leadership… You are required to develop recommendations to help Dr. Huerta maintain and expand the services offered by his organization. Use the case questions to guide the development of your discussion post. Use ChatGPT to develop your first self post
Provide your prompt instructions for ChatGPT, the ChatGPT output AND your post that shows how you improved upon the ChatGPT output. You may format your submission as two paragraphs or a table with two columns. ChatGPT output should appear at the top (or in the first column of the table if you use one). Your discussion post should follow below (or in the second column of your table)
The Case Study is as follows:
Mimi Rosenkrance, 58, was on her cattle ranch getting ready to vaccinate a calf. Unfortunately, the 1,000-pound mother cow decided that was not going to happen. She charged, knocked Rosenkrance over, and repeatedly stomped on her. Rosenkrance was dizzy, nauseated, had bruises spreading on both her legs and around her eye, and almost passed out. Her son called for a volunteer ambulance to drive her to Lost Rivers Medical Center, a small rural hospital in Arco, Idaho. The 14-bed hospital serves Butte County and covers an area half the size of Connecticut. Butte’s population was only 2,597 in 2020, down from 2,893 in 2000. Although Lost Rivers has only one physician and three beds in its emergency department, Rosenkrance’s customer experience was extraordinary. She immediately had a CT scan for a potential brain injury, X-rays for broken bones, an IV to replenish her fluids, and her ear sewn back together. Lost Rivers does not have a pharmacist, but Rosenkrance was prescribed and received the painkillers she needed.96
An estimated 16% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas in 2000, and 14% lived there in 2016. Rural hospitals in the U.S. have been closing at a rate of about one per month since 2010. The percentage of consumers on Medicare and Medicaid in rural areas is higher than in urban areas, and older and lower-income consumers typically require more intensive and expensive care.
Physicians are especially in short supply in rural areas, and physician recruitment in Idaho (population of 1.74 million in 2018) was particularly difficult. The state ranks 49th in physicians’ per capita, and it is one of five states without a medical school. Lost Rivers faced all of these problems. The nearly 60-year-old hospital had dilapidated facilities, low morale, and reluctant patients. Lights were dangling from wires, a physician kept a diapered pet goat in the building, and horses were brought in routinely for X-rays. The hospital owed millions in back taxes and penalties, had filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and was on the verge of closing in 2013.
The resurgence of Lost Rivers Medical Center was largely due to new leadership that same year. Brad Huerta, a former administrator at Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello—and an adjunct faculty member in health care administration at Idaho State University—was hired by the hospital board as CEO. Huerta was told on his first day by the outgoing CEO that $170,000 was needed for payroll by Friday, and the hospital bank account had just $7,000. His first task was to quickly secure a line of credit for payroll. Huerta then reduced the bloated headcount and began a campaign for a $5.6 million bond issue to support Lost Rivers. The bond passed by a two-thirds majority, and Lost Rivers was able to emerge from bankruptcy.
Huerta’s primary strategy to rebuild Lost Rivers was grounded in changing the culture, innovation, and technology. He instituted a new philosophy: If it doesn’t happen at a “real” hospital, it doesn’t happen at Lost Rivers. Huerta saved money and built community by asking Arco residents to help renovate clinic exam rooms. Huerta brought in more rotating specialists to support cardiology, orthopedics, mental health, gastroenterology, and women’s health. He started using telemedicine to connect the hospital to experts elsewhere, and is now planning to open a surgery center and a long-term care rehabilitation wing.
The pharmacy relies on technicians and students from Idaho State University to fill prescriptions, and their supervisor is a pharmacist at the University who checks their work remotely. Patients who want to talk to the pharmacists use a small private room with a phone and video link. To bring in more revenue, Huerta applied for grants to create the first Level IV trauma center in Idaho. Lost Rivers now gets paid more for the high-acuity emergent care it was already providing. The hospital also now has a helicopter pad for emergencies that cannot be handled at Lost Rivers. Huerta ensured that Lost Rivers adopted an EHR prior to the January 1, 2016 federal government deadline to qualify for a $650,000 government bonus. Lost Rivers used the EHR to increase the speed of collections, scrub claims to find revenue that would otherwise have been lost, and moved medical records to a cloud-based system that did not require more information technology employees.
Lost Rivers posted an $800,000 profit in 2015 and had the highest level of hospital patient satisfaction in Idaho. Despite Huerta’s efforts, however, the long-term success of Lost Rivers is not guaranteed. He has to concentrate on retaining the customers the hospital has and continue to give them a reason for returning. So far, however, the market driven-approach seems to be working.
The Case Question are as follows:
1. Retaining customers is a challenge for rural hospitals. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average lifetime value of an individual health care consumer is $1.4 million, or $4.3 million for a family of four. Another study found that consumer outmigration cost one-half of U.S. hospitals 10% of annual revenue and one-fifth of hospitals 20% of revenue. Since outmigration is a particular problem for rural hospitals, what consumer loyalty marketing advice could you give to Brad Huerta? What can Lost Rivers do as a local stakeholder to influence population growth?
Mimi Rosenkrance, 58, was on her cattle ranch getting ready to vaccinate a calf. Unfortunately, the 1,000-pound mother cow decided that was not going to happen. She charged, knocked Rosenkrance over, and repeatedly stomped on her. Rosenkrance was dizzy, nauseated, had bruises spreading on both her legs and around her eye, and almost passed out. Her son called for a volunteer ambulance to drive her to Lost Rivers Medical Center, a small rural hospital in Arco, Idaho. The 14-bed hospital serves Butte County and covers an area half the size of Connecticut. Butte’s population was only 2,597 in 2020, down from 2,893 in 2000. Although Lost Rivers has only one physician and three beds in its emergency department, Rosenkrance’s customer experience was extraordinary. She immediately had a CT scan for a potential brain injury, X-rays for broken bones, an IV to replenish her fluids, and her ear sewn back together. Lost Rivers does not have a pharmacist, but Rosenkrance was prescribed and received the painkillers she needed.96
An estimated 16% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas in 2000, and 14% lived there in 2016. Rural hospitals in the U.S. have been closing at a rate of about one per month since 2010. The percentage of consumers on Medicare and Medicaid in rural areas is higher than in urban areas, and older and lower-income consumers typically require more intensive and expensive care.
Physicians are especially in short supply in rural areas, and physician recruitment in Idaho (population of 1.74 million in 2018) was particularly difficult. The state ranks 49th in physicians’ per capita, and it is one of five states without a medical school. Lost Rivers faced all of these problems. The nearly 60-year-old hospital had dilapidated facilities, low morale, and reluctant patients. Lights were dangling from wires, a physician kept a diapered pet goat in the building, and horses were brought in routinely for X-rays. The hospital owed millions in back taxes and penalties, had filed for bankruptcy in 2010, and was on the verge of closing in 2013.
The resurgence of Lost Rivers Medical Center was largely due to new leadership that same year. Brad Huerta, a former administrator at Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello—and an adjunct faculty member in health care administration at Idaho State University—was hired by the hospital board as CEO. Huerta was told on his first day by the outgoing CEO that $170,000 was needed for payroll by Friday, and the hospital bank account had just $7,000. His first task was to quickly secure a line of credit for payroll. Huerta then reduced the bloated headcount and began a campaign for a $5.6 million bond issue to support Lost Rivers. The bond passed by a two-thirds majority, and Lost Rivers was able to emerge from bankruptcy.
Huerta’s primary strategy to rebuild Lost Rivers was grounded in changing the culture, innovation, and technology. He instituted a new philosophy: If it doesn’t happen at a “real” hospital, it doesn’t happen at Lost Rivers. Huerta saved money and built community by asking Arco residents to help renovate clinic exam rooms. Huerta brought in more rotating specialists to support cardiology, orthopedics, mental health, gastroenterology, and women’s health. He started using telemedicine to connect the hospital to experts elsewhere, and is now planning to open a surgery center and a long-term care rehabilitation wing.
The pharmacy relies on technicians and students from Idaho State University to fill prescriptions, and their supervisor is a pharmacist at the University who checks their work remotely. Patients who want to talk to the pharmacists use a small private room with a phone and video link. To bring in more revenue, Huerta applied for grants to create the first Level IV trauma center in Idaho. Lost Rivers now gets paid more for the high-acuity emergent care it was already providing. The hospital also now has a helicopter pad for emergencies that cannot be handled at Lost Rivers. Huerta ensured that Lost Rivers adopted an EHR prior to the January 1, 2016 federal government deadline to qualify for a $650,000 government bonus. Lost Rivers used the EHR to increase the speed of collections, scrub claims to find revenue that would otherwise have been lost, and moved medical records to a cloud-based system that did not require more information technology employees.
Lost Rivers posted an $800,000 profit in 2015 and had the highest level of hospital patient satisfaction in Idaho. Despite Huerta’s efforts, however, the long-term success of Lost Rivers is not guaranteed. He has to concentrate on retaining the customers the hospital has and continue to give them a reason for returning. So far, however, the market driven-approach seems to be working.
The Case Question are as follows:
1. Retaining customers is a challenge for rural hospitals. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average lifetime value of an individual health care consumer is $1.4 million, or $4.3 million for a family of four. Another study found that consumer outmigration cost one-half of U.S. hospitals 10% of annual revenue and one-fifth of hospitals 20% of revenue. Since outmigration is a particular problem for rural hospitals, what consumer loyalty marketing advice could you give to Brad Huerta? What can Lost Rivers do as a local stakeholder to influence population growth?
2. Hospital ad spending was an estimated $4.9 billion in 2017, and it was estimated to grow 1.8% annually. Unfortunately, measuring ad spending ROI has been difficult. A new Lost Rivers Medical Center board member suggested that the hospital consider an advertising campaign. As the Lost Rivers vice president of marketing, how would you respond?
3. The marketing imperative has three parts: target the right customers and build relationships, offer solutions that meet their needs, and define quality packages that are differentiated and have a competitive advantage. How did the Lost Rivers CEO Brad Huerta implement the marketing imperative? What else could Huerta do to further implement the marketing imperative?