A Conceptual Approach to Community Health Screenings For Hospitals

The heart of a community's care is at its mostprocess of booking appointments for these
trusted hospitals. In the same way that bloodevents. Research is performed to select the best
flows into and out of the heart, your hospital'szip codes in the community that have the highest
message should flow out into the community withhousehold income to increase the likelihood of
grass-roots marketing efforts in order to bringattracting a favorable payor mix to the events. A
patients back into your hospital for care. By this Imailer should also be targeted for people who
mean that a hospital's marketing efforts shouldhave the highest incidence of heart disease -
not only focus on drawing patients into theirthose aged 45 and up. Once a direct mailer goes
facilities with billboards and magazine ads, but goout, appointments can be booked for a full day.
beyond basic marketing efforts and into theWith 2 EKG technicians and 2 machines, over 100
community by offering free health screeningpeople can receive EKG screenings in an 8 hour
events. In my experience working with one ofday.
the best hospitals in the South, I came toIn my experience, the appointments were
discover an effective system for coordinatingsuccessfully booked through the hospital's call
free community health screenings that significantlycenter once the direct mailer reached homes. The
increased patient volume to the hospital. What Iinformation obtained through the call center is
have discovered is a concept, and I will explain therequested by the hospital's marketing department,
most successful way to develop your ownand usually includes basic personal information such
community screenings program so that it willas first name, last name, date of birth, phone
become a consistent source of revenue to yournumber, and address. Any basic information can
hospital, and build long-term patient loyalty.be requested from the guest by the call center.
In my experience working with a hospital in theThis information can be used for a few purposes.
South, I coordinated a community outreachThe first purpose is that it keeps an appointment
program that offered free EKG testing. Theselog for the day of the event. The second is that
tests were taken at free community events andthis information is later used to process and send
were later confirmed as normal, borderline, orthe results of the screenings to the person's
abnormal in the hospital's clinical database andhouse. The action of following up with the guest is
were stored as baselines for each of the patientsthe most important part of gaining patient loyalty.
who attended the community events. In notifyingFinally, by holding community events several times
the attendees of their results by mail, theper year, there will be a loyalty group that forms
attendees received a confirmed copy of theira customer relationship with your hospital. In my
EKG which they could keep for their own records.experience, I have seen the number of loyal
The EKG program increased volume andpatients who regularly attended the hospital's
accounted for $6M in hospital charges from Junecommunity events. In the campaign of EKG
2008 to August 2009. The EKG program broughtscreenings held between February and April of
in $2.5M in second quarter 2008, $1.6M in fourth2009, 71 guests had previously attended the
quarter 2008, and $1.9M in first quarter 2009. Thishospital's community EKG events several months
data was last updated in August of 2009.prior.
There are many reasons why the EKG test is theBuilding patient loyalty is simple, and there are
most effective for driving volume for cardiacmultiple ways in which a hospital can do this
procedures, and generating revenue in totalcreatively. A hospital should always follow up with
hospital admissions. These reasons include theguests who attended community screening
nature of the EKG test itself, CRM and theevents. Make sure that the results of their testing
process of event planning, and the follow-up thatarrive in a timely manner. Make sure that the
creates patient loyalty.content of their results letter emphasizes the
The first and most important reason why theavailability of care at your hospital. Think of
EKG test is ideal for community events iscreative ways to send the message of trusted
because of the simple nature of the test itself.care to the audience, and ways to keep them
With the EKG test, the result can only be 1 of 3connected to you. One simple way of doing this is
things - abnormal, borderline, or normal. The EKGprinting a patient identification card that includes
tests can be taken at the community event, thethe attendee's MRI number. If a person was to
results can be processed at the hospital, and thereturn to the hospital's emergency department
confirmed results can be mailed to the attendeewith chest pain and present their patient
within 2 weeks of the community event. The factidentification card, the hospital's EKG department
that the EKG result comes in the form of a singlecan quickly access their baseline EKG for a
paper report makes it easy to mail, and can becomparison.
stored in a person's medical file for their ownAnother way of building patient loyalty is through
records.the use of a "patient care coordinator." Many
If an attendee receives abnormal or borderlinehospitals implement a "patient care coordinator"
test results in the mail, they are also likely towho follows up with patients receiving serious
follow up if given a call to action. From mycare. In my experience, a patient care coordinator
experience in coordinating this campaign for overwas successfully implemented in a campaign of
a year, 9% of EKG tracings were found to becommunity EKG screenings between June and
abnormal, 11% were borderline, and 80% wereJuly of 2008. During this campaign, attendees of
normal. Out of 875 guests that received EKG'sthe events who had borderline and abnormal
among 9 community events between Februaryresults were contacted for follow up by a
and April, there were 181 borderline or abnormalregistered nurse. Of the 242 people who had
results. Among these 181 people, 162 peoplenon-normal results, 144 received physician
followed up with the hospital's call center forreferrals to seek follow up care. The remaining
either a physician referral, an inquiry about theattendees were under the care of a cardiologist
result, or a request for information from agenciesalready, or declined to take action.
that help the uninsured.You might be thinking, "So if my hospital develops
With a screening such as a carotid ultrasound, thea free EKG program, I will have both long term
spectrum of abnormality is more diverse - it ispatient loyalty and significant admissions within 3 -
more complex and too specific of a test for a6 months following a campaign of screening
community offering. Also, an ultrasound machine isevents?" The answer is a flat, simple yes.
usually costly, and if a hospital's marketingIf a hospital is interested in pursuing a community
department does not purchase its ownprogram that offers free health screenings, I
equipment, there is a risk of damage in borrowingstrongly recommend structuring the program to
machinery from the hospital, if the event is heldinvolve free EKG testing. In comparison to other
offsite. EKG machines are relatively inexpensive inscreenings, such as cholesterol testing and carotid
comparison if they are being used for theultrasound, EKG testing stands to show the most
purpose of offering free tests as a communityconsistent success, and proves to be the most
outreach program. The hourly cost of anconducive for a community offering. It is a simple
ultrasound technician in comparison to a medicaltest that is non-invasive, and its simplicity allows
assistant is also a factor to consider.several avenues for patient follow up. These
With a screening such as a full lipid panel, resultsavenues include uploading the EKG in the hospital's
are sensitive, so participants are advised to fastdatabase as a baseline, mailing a copy of the
for the best results. An EKG test does notreport to the attendee's house after the event,
require fasting. EKG tests usually take less thanand following up with the patient through the use
five minutes on average. That means more EKG'sof a patient care coordinator.
can be done at events with less staffing.There are many more details that are involved in
The idea of storing EKG's as a baseline is also athe development of an EKG program at a hospital.
marketable service - patients are made awareThose details may vary depending upon the
that if their EKG tracing is stored at your hospital,resources available at your hospital. However, it is
then heart care is readily available to them atmy belief that in working together as a team, any
your hospital too.hospital can develop a successful community
Another important step to creating a successfulscreenings program that will prove to be beneficial
community EKG program is to advertise theby producing revenue in the short term, and
events through direct mail and coordinate thebuilding patient loyalty in the long term.