As recently as December of 2020 hospitals were still deferring elective surgeries due to upward-tilting COVID statistics.
As an industry, reports Beckers Hospital Review, hospitals lost $22.3 billion in elective surgery revenue during the pandemic. Rural hospitals, already hurt by out-migration and starving for surgical revenue, are really feeling it.
Elective surgeries account for a significant portion of hospital revenue (cardiovascular surgeries and joint replacements typically lead the list) and elective surgeries out-earn emergency room admissions by an average of $700 per patient. This 2020 JAMA study details the economic realities at stake.
The point of this preamble: There are ways for hospitals and healthcare systems to take action and catalyze demand for elective surgeries.
Targeting elective surgeries: Strategy
We found an interesting approach outlined by Medical Device + Diagnostic Industry to re-establishing interest in elective surgeries, and we made some additions based on our own experience in digital targeting.
• Isolate top elective surgeries: By demand. By revenue. By margin.
• Determine the “leaders”: The surgeries that hold the most potential (largest % of decreases in demand and greatest potential margins).
• Study internal patient workflow. Determine operational capacities – safety, ancillary clinical impacts, patient experience.
• Overlay other patient data sets: Population health statistics. Gender skews. Demographic, geographic (hardest hit by COVID), and psychographic information. Social determinants of health.
• Prioritize surgeries, targets, markets, and messages. In other words, apply resources appropriately.
3 ways to energize demand
1. SEO.
In the pool of people who are delaying an elective procedure, some already know where they will go once the decision is made, others may be uncertain. But remember that more people are entering that pool each day, and search will be their primary point of research. So be there – and have a deck of explanatory content experiences like this animated infographic we created for Humana.
2. Market the experience.
Make the surgical decision a better experience for the potential patient with content that creates some transparency. Video segments that explain surgical processes clearly – with graphics, animation, and interviews – increase consumer confidence.
3. Seize the outpatient opportunity.
Granted, hospitals need inpatient surgeries to re-establish lost income. But a 2020 Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation article pointed out that “there’s incentive to utilize clinic space for simple procedures that don’t require the bells and whistles of a hospital setting,” and, according to Jessica Billig, M.D., M.S., a plastic surgery resident, “Your cataract surgery is elective to a certain degree. You don’t need it tomorrow, but at some point you’re not going to see…The longer you let that go, the more complex that becomes.” Messages focused on outpatient engagement can address such situations.
It’s possible to put both the patient’s and the hospital’s needs first
We think that elevating the profile of elective surgeries can be good for people and good for healthcare as a business. Let’s talk about how to make it happen.
