Two years ago, Ken Chaplin, then-chief marketing officer (CMO) of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), received a new assignment: overseeing the marketing department of City of Hope, the California-based cancer research center that acquired CTCA in 2021. It didn’t take long for him to realize how different the two hospitals’ marketing strategies were.

CTCA “had a model that was very dependent upon direct-to-consumer marketing,” while City of Hope wasn’t tracking “the causality of marketing on performance,” as it relied primarily on patient referrals, Chaplin said.

“The team, the work, and the intention was all there,” he said. “It just didn’t have the [data] underpinnings to inform the output.”

Since then, Chaplin, now the system CMO for City of Hope, has been bridging the gap as he looks to reintroduce City of Hope to national audiences and retire the CTCA brand. That rebranding has required a near-complete marketing strategy overhaul, one that is still underway, Chaplin said.

The evolution occuring at City of Hope is emblematic of a shift happening within many health systems around the country. They’re evolving their marketing strategies to account for audiences who are increasingly seeking out health information first through a Google search instead of a visit to a practitioner. But for health systems, there are several challenges along the way, including rules on patient privacy and online targeting.

“There’s an enormous amount of investment that goes into digital,” according to Devika Mathrani, chief marketing and communications officer at NewYork-Presbyterian. “That’s something that has changed dramatically for healthcare in the last 10 years.”

Starting with search. Some healthcare systems have found that digital search is a powerful place to start. “People are not going directly to a healthcare provider or their insurance website. They’re going into Google,” Mathrani explained. “What they’re putting in is usually some kind of a symptom.”

Keep reading here.—MA, KS

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

Tired healthcare workers may have even more reasons to catch up on sleep after a 12-hour shift: A good night’s rest can potentially decrease your risk of infection and lower antibiotic use.

Adults who sleep less than six hours a night were 27% more likely to report an infection in the past three months compared to those getting the CDC-recommended seven to eight hours of sleep a night, according to a study of 1,848 patients from the University of Bergen in Norway.

Researchers surveyed Norwegian patients who visited their primary care provider in 2020 about self-reported sleep patterns, and on whether or not they had been sick in the past three months.

Too much sleep is also a problem. Patients who slept more than nine hours a night were 44% more likely to report an infection compared to those sleeping the recommended amount, the study found. Patients who slept less than six hours a night, had chronic insomnia, and/or other chronic sleep problems also reported higher rates of antibiotic use, according to the study.

“The higher risk of reporting an infection […] is not that surprising, as we know that having an infection can cause both poor sleep and sleepiness,” Ingeborg Forthun, a coauthor of the study, said in a statement. “But the higher risk of an infection among those with a chronic insomnia disorder indicates that the direction of this relationship also goes in the other direction; poor sleep can make you more susceptible to an infection.”

Keep reading here.—KW

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Kristine at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristine for her number on Signal.

A company’s reputation can make or break its success, as clients (and prospective employees) want to support brands they know and trust. And new research suggests that the same mindset applies to doctor prescribing habits.

A late-February report from Washington state-based WE Communications found that corporate reputation is a key factor—outside of efficacy and safety—in influencing healthcare provider decisions when it comes to prescribing medications or recommending therapies.

“For years, healthcare communicators have asked to what degree corporate reputation informs prescribing decisions of healthcare professionals,” WE Global Health President Stephanie Marchesi said in a statement. “Now we know. It is incredibly important. It impacts the bottom line.”

The findings:

• Two-thirds (65%) of providers surveyed said they’d be reluctant to prescribe medication from a drugmaker they feel doesn’t have a good reputation, the report found.
• A similar percentage (63%) said they’d also be hesitant to prescribe or recommend a treatment from a company that has had past legal issues—even if those issues weren’t related to the therapy or medication being prescribed.
• More than half of the providers surveyed (56%) said they’d be reluctant to recommend a therapy from a company that doesn’t have a reputation of being an expert in that therapy area, according to the report.
• About eight in 10 respondents (82%) said health and wellness companies should “add value to society” rather than just provide goods and services (think: tackling social and environmental issues). About 73% said they hold pharmaceutical and biotech companies to that standard as well.

WE Communications, in partnership with Sapio Research, surveyed more than 1,000 healthcare professionals (including doctors, nurses, and pharmacists) via the internet in the US, Australia, China, Germany, India, and the UK.—SY

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Shannon at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Shannon for her number on Signal.

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: New York City residents saw a 4.6-year drop in life expectancy due to Covid-19. Health officials say it will take the city years to recover. (the New York Times)

Quote: “The problem is that no one really wants to think about pandemics between when they occur.”—Ken Bernard, a former White House official who served in the Clinton and Bush administrations, on the slow implementation of a pandemic response office (Stat News)

Read: Some people who menstruate struggle to afford period products, which can cause stigma and shame. (The Guardian)

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Catch up on the top Healthcare Brew stories you may have missed:

• Non-MDs will provide primary care as physicians retire in droves
• eConsults technology shakes up traditional doctor referral process
• Black patients wait longer to see their doc when this scheduling algorithm is used