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DEVELOPING AN INNOVATIVE COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PRIMARY CARE USING WEB 2.0 APPROACH
Healthcare managers have been pushed for change and innovation mostly due to the need to cope with the increasing services costs and the perception of significant inefficiencies. Healthcare is viewed as one of the most complex businesses with an impressive diversity of interactions. Managers have been trying to solve their problems in different ways: From using new management tools, improving the skills and team building and bringing the citizen into the system. The possibility of using Information Systems (IS) (which is different of IT, mostly because an IS implies a strategic link) to support the specific care services delivery also opens new ways to reach the citizens, i.e. accepting the web 2.0 challenge. These new ways of sharing and interacting indeed represent an opportunity to further enhance the citizens’ participation in the healthcare process, which could improve the services outcomes. Many have proposed that only IS could bridge the chasm. IS represents a hope to help change and the creation of new sorts of services focused on citizens’ real needs. It is therefore necessary to develop communication strategies toward the alignment of citizens with the healthcare network services delivery strategy.
Web 2.0 is a concept that enhances the potential for interaction between persons within the Internet network ...
There is an important prospect for web 2.0 in Healthcare in this paradigm change process. The (good) tools of marketing can be adapted to Internet and to the logic of health services: Success largely depends on the focus on quality promoting culture, on the healthcare services access improvement (following the eHealth premises) and encourage the sharing of clinical information with citizens. The use of Internet as a communication channel in healthcare could also contribute to help citizens assume higher responsibilities in their own health management. Furthermore, Gary Hamel showed that a more innovative environment means that the organization is able to develop a higher number of ideas in order to eventually obtain only a few set of highly successful ones. Since an integrated practice is the best answer, therefore patient-focused practice groups that will (learn how to) bring together all the professionals and delivery systems to treat an individual’s clinical condition and not just the discreet incidents that result from that condition.
We can apply web 2.0 concepts to enhance the participation of citizens. It could easier the relationship between health professionals and citizens (Health 2.0). Therefore an improved access to clinical information could help citizens make better decisions, but also demanding a larger effort towards complying with behaviour diversity. I have myself developed a methodology that allows for the alignment of marketing strategies with healthcare services, comprising a communication programme that support interactive and innovative actions to take place regarding citizens’ needs.
The evolution of Internet services gives us an excellent opportunity to develop health services initiatives by improving the degree of interactivity and individualization between the healthcare organizations and their customers (citizens and other organizations). However, in order to fully take advantage of this reality, health organizations must start viewing (Internet) marketing as a strategic tool for pursuing their mission, and adopt it in a systematic and integrated way from the designing of new products and services to their delivering for the final customers. One should not forget todays new ways of working allowed by internet tools like google (email, docs, sites, health, etc.), wikis, portais, and “Virtual Congresses” like the one we are developing together.
By clearly framing the public health needs we will be able to formulate the “best approximation” of an (internet) marketing strategy that will give us the best fit to the defined organization’s strategy. To design a “Health Internet Communication” (HIC) program we need to incorporate the classic 4-P’s marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) plus a 5th P that will correspond to the ‘Public Service’ perspective which defines the marketing plan suitable for the public nature and mission of the healthcare organization. During the design and fit of the extended 5P’s marketing program it is crucial to introduce two key-concepts in order to fully understand the profound implications that Internet has for the health services. These two (rich) concepts are individualization (or customization) and (valued) interactivity (2Is). The proper use of Internet to communicate with the citizens will furthermore improve the possibility of an acknowledged access to clinical information that could help citizens making better decisions, but also demanding a larger effort towards complying with diversity and wrong use of the information. Our methodology allows for an easy alignment of marketing strategies with healthcare service, comprising a communication program that supports interactive and innovative actions to take place regarding citizens’ needs.
By adapting and innovating services to the needs of a diverse set of healthcare customers, we can add value to these services when delivered online. Due to the lower cost of the digital channel implementation and use, it is also possible and desirable to positively discriminate the price (when available) of the services offered online. By following this model, healthcare organizations will also pay special attention to the development of pilot (and learning) Internet services' projects. Therefore, these projects will easily receive the necessary monitoring, where the requirements could be first tested and adjusted to fit their communication strategy and ultimately achieve the organizations’ goals in order to fulfill its mission. The Internet communication plan and the interactivity component also play a key role on the development of the strategy and program for the proper health services development. This is the health 2.0 concept in action.
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Luís Velez Lapão
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Prof. Luís Velez Lapão
Organizing Committee
Portugal
luis.lapao@
virtualcongressgpfm.com
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I am keen to support virtual conferences such as the 2nd Virtual Congress of Family Medicine. The main reason for my support is that the use of Internet technology enables participation by people around the world at low cost. This makes it possible to hold excellent meetings without sponsorship from drug companies. Drug companies only sponsor meetings when they judge that they will make a good return on investment. This is not a problem when the new drugs they promote are better than the older ones. However in recent years few new drugs have been worth the extra money.
Drug company sponsorship of meetings often leads to bias. By bias I mean genuinely held false beliefs. Bias is like an asymptomatic infection. In the 1840s doctors did autopsies on women who had died of childbirth fever then delivering babies. The doctors got asymptomatic infections with bacteria that killed more women but the doctors did not know that they were infected. Similarly today many doctors get infected with bias without knowing it.
We can prevent transmission of microbial infections with technologies such as gloves and condoms. We can diagnose microbial infections with microscopes and we can treat many infections effectively with antibiotics. By contrast, we don’t have proven methods currently for enabling anyone to be exposed to bias without becoming biased. We don’t have any technology for diagnosing the presence, let alone the magnitude of, bias. We don’t have effective treatments for bias. That’s why doctors need to avoid drug company influence – because we don’t have any other way to reduce the risk of bias. And that’s why I’m keen to support conferences that avoid sponsorship from drug companies such as the 2nd Virtual Congress of Family Medicine.
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Peter R. Mansfield
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Dr. Peter R. Mansfield
International Advisory
Board
Australia
peter.mansfield@
virtualcongressgpfm.com
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