The Branding of Hospitals
In the highly competitive health care arena, brand awareness is the name of the game to capture market share

THE Lane Report dispatched a trio of writers across Kentucky to explore the trend of branding in the hospital ranks, a marketing technique that has become prevalent in the ever-competitive health care arena. It seems as if health care facilities are identifying their strengths to their prospective patients while simultaneously carving out a niche market. What follows is an analysis of this trend in the Commonwealth.

Northern and Southeastern Kentucky

St. Elizabeth Medical Center, with facilities in Covington, Edgewood and Williamstown, provides its patients with nationally-renown medical expertise in several vital areas coupled with consistently high rankings from insurance industry surveys, largely due to their unsurpassed level of patient satisfaction and high quality of care.

Although St. Elizabeth’s has been ranked as one of the 100 best hospitals in the nation by such national hospital benchmark surveys as those last released in 1997 by HCIA, Inc. and William M. Mercer, Inc., the main area of focus that has been drawing the most attention to the Northern Kentucky- based medical center is their open heart surgery and coronary care programs.

Historically, eastern Kentuckians have been forced to make long drives to Lexington, Louisville or Cincinnati for many life-saving medical procedures and treatments often taken for granted in more urban areas, such as major surgery or cancer care. But if the progressive-minded staff and visionary administration at Pikeville Methodist Hospital (PMH), located in the state’s easternmost county, have their way those days will soon be nothing but ancient history in the minds of area residents.

Pikeville Methodist Hospital is currently undertaking a $75 million expansion project that is indisputably the largest building construction project ever attempted in the Big Sandy area. Construction is 97 percent complete on the first phase of a new ten-story, black glass-plated tower that will house all patient services under one roof. The new building is being constructed immediately in front of the current hospital and will more than double the size of the present 221-bed facility while also offering new services such as open heart surgery, neurosurgery and a 40-bed substance abuse rehab facility.

The new services to be offered by the hospital will be in addition to the region’s only existing pediatric transitional care unit, a Level II NICU unit, a cardiac cath lab and the new multi-million dollar Leonard Lawson Cancer Care Center located there, which is affiliated with the UK Markey Cancer Center and is already the regional leader in cancer care.

The expansion project and new treatment options at PMH have not only been specifically designed to strengthen the medical resources in east Kentucky, but also the financial backbone of the region. According to a study commissioned by the hospital administration and performed by the accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP, within five years of the opening of the new facility, when it reaches full capacity of referrals from other area communities, the dollars generated by the medical community are estimated to exceed present coal industry earnings in the area.

Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset presents itself, with no small amount of justification, as a regional health-care facility on the cutting edge of technology.

Hospital officials recently broke ground on a new 7,500 S.F. state-of-the-art radiology and imaging center that will feature the area’s first open Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit and a host of other cutting-edge X-ray and imaging technologies.

The imaging equipment to be housed in the new center will augment a wide array of advanced diagnostic tools already in place at Lake Cumberland’s 227-bed facility, such as a $1.4 million cardiac catherization X-ray unit that is one of only four like it to be found in the entire country, according to Lake Cumberland’s director of radiology, Nick Kaufmann.

Another area where Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital seems to be ahead of the overall industry learning curve is in regards to its association with Lake Cumberland Medical Associates, a multi-physician group practice and certified rural health clinic located just across the street from the main hospital campus. This association has allowed the hospital to extend their wide array of diagnostic and other medical services to an even greater number of people.

Louisville

A much smaller Louisville once had a dozen distinctive "hospitals". Now, the metropolitan area – four times more populous – is served by five competing networks, one of which is operated by two of the others. These five are Norton Healthcare; Jewish Hospital Healthcare Services; Baptist Hospital East; Caritas; the Catholic Health Initiatives and University Hospital. Furthermore, three of these (Norton, Jewish and University) are also united in their own brand, the Louisville Medical Center.

Norton Healthcare is the largest locally, measured by number of beds and employees, and it includes perhaps the most recognized brand – Kosair Children’s Hospital. But Norton Healthcare is itself a new brand, formed two years ago when Norton Hospital merged with Alliant Healthcare (including Kosair) and almost immediately expanded when they acquired the four hospitals once operated by Columbia/HCA (and before that, Humana).

Consequently, much of Norton’s focus is to identify its new name to the public, according to Charlotte S. Tharp, vice president of public relations. In addition, the network also concentrates on promoting itself to doctors, who often recommend specific facilities, by stressing its role as a surgery and research center in cardio-vascular, oncology and urology and, most specifically, with the Leatherman Neuro-spine Center.

And, of course Norton, through Kosair, is always identified with pediatrics.

Another facility that likes children, especially babies, is Baptist Hospital East, whose motto is "Family Spoken Here".

This hospital, with a network that includes Tri-County Hospital in LaGrange, is Louisville’s most visible "suburban" hospital. Baptist East promotes two features – its East End location and its "family" services.

Baptist East does like babies. It is promoting itself as a birthing center through an integrated campaign that includes its prominent "big baby" outdoor and television ads, a nine-month wave mailing to OB/GYNS and the availability of private rooms for new mothers (fully covered by insurance since the hospital offers no alternative).
One Louisville hospital not associated with babies is Jewish, which has no pediatrics, a result of its close proximity to Kosair.

The Jewish Hospital goal is to promote itself as its own brand, according to its vice president of public relations, Linda McGinnity Jackson, by identifying all its facilities with its "Circle of Care" logo and its "First With (medical) Firsts" slogan on all its printed materials. "We believe the excellence of our materials reflects the excellence of our care," Jackson continued.

Jewish does make some exceptions to its own banding policy, by linking itself to two well-known, co-located but independent facilities, the Frazier Rehab Institute and the Kleinert & Kutz Hand Care Center.

Finally, there is the unique status of University Hospital. Once managed by Humana and Columbia, as a "public" hospital, it has been operated jointly by Jewish, Norton and the University of Louisville for the past four years under a hastily prepared agreement necessitated when Columbia abandoned Louisville that has proved to be remarkably successful.

A recent survey rated University as one of the best teaching hospitals in the country and the operating agreement returned $28 million in "profits" to the University Medical School last year. That gain is financing the new University Bio-medical Research Building and significant improvements in obstetrics and the burn, blood and bone marrow transplant units. Cooperation in operating University Hospital has led to the creation of the Louisville Medical Center Development Corporation, a not-for-profit owned by the hospitals, the University and the City of Louisville. The corporation in turn manages the 24-block Louisville Medical Center, now with its own brand logo, and the nearby Health Sciences Research and Business Park, a new business incubator.

Louisville’s other suburban hospital, Caritas, is the most reluctant to discuss itself. It was formed from the union of Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital and Our Lady of Peace psychiatric center and is openly and unabashedly Catholic. But with its new Medical Mall complex on Dixie Highway, offering a menu of medical and lifestyle services, Caritas also promotes itself as the neighborhood facility for Louisville’s South End, whose residents traditionally eschew both downtown and the East End.

Central Kentucky

UK HealthCare has an advertising budget of approximately $1 million per year, according to Mary Ware, director of marketing, which encompasses the UK hospital, the medical center and its various clinics. With that money, UK emphasizes its status as a research and teaching facility.

"We’re positioning ourselves as the leaders with the latest technology, the most advanced treatments," said Ware. "The campaign is focused on the fact that we offer services that you can’t get anywhere else."

UK also attempts to focus the public’s attention on the fact that it is a regional academic medical center, which serves all of Kentucky and several surrounding states.

"We focus on the fact that many of our physicians actually write textbooks…and are involved in the latest clinical trials," noted Ware.

St. Joseph Hospital has, for many years, attempted to focus the public’s attention on its heart program.

"We did the first open heart surgery in the region in 1959," said Jeff Murphy, director of public relations. "That’s really the year we started promoting ourselves as the heart hospital."

In addition to regular paid advertising, the hospital also sponsors promotional activities and does public service announcements.

St. Joseph has a marketing staff of three, which includes Murphy. That staff is responsible for graphic design, internal communications, and special and promotional events as well as general marketing responsibilities. The budget is $500,000 per year, which Murphy said is down from previous years due to budget constraints.

Nearby, Central Baptist Hospital markets itself as a healing force in the community. In fact, the hospital’s stated mission is "to be a healing force…by providing quality and compassionate health services consistent with our Christian values."

"That (healing force) is a theme that we have throughout all of our marketing efforts," said Robert Ramey, director of marketing for Central Baptist. "It’s something that the hospital lives by."

Central Baptist really has a two-fold approach to its marketing campaign. It does a broad hospital campaign as well as an emphasis on individual service lines. This year, the hospital will focus its efforts in several different areas, including cardiology, oncology, medical surgery and services related to women and children.

Some are surely familiar with Central Baptist’s past focus on women’s services, especially obstetrical services. That area will continue to be marketed with the slogan, "We’ve always been big on babies."

Samaritan Hospital in downtown Lexington typically changes its area of marketing focus on a yearly basis, according to Susan Walters. Walters and her counterpart, Michelle Bowe, share the position of director of marketing and public relations.

"…It is important to note that our areas of focus change each year, so ‘branding’ our hospital to one particular area of service is not what we choose to do," noted Walters.

The marketing emphasis for this year will be on emergency room treatment, urology, orthopedic and vascular services.

"We believe Samaritan offers exceptional services in these areas," Walters said, "and believe it is the responsibility of the marketing department to inform the public of new procedures and unique healthcare options. In our opinion, hospitals are like any other business – you select services you do well and you share that information with your customers."

Marketing the Shriners Hospitals for Children is really not difficult, according to Jayna Oakley, the hospital’s director of public relations.

That comment may seem odd given the fact that the hospital does no paid advertising and relies mostly on word-of-mouth and free advertising in the form of public service announcements. But Oakley said her hospital’s narrow focus makes it easy to sell.

"We’re very well-known for what we do," said Oakley. "We’re an orthopedic pediatric hospital. This is something that our doctors do every single day."

Shriners Hospital is one of 22 such hospitals nationwide. All are funded by the Shriners organization, which created an endowment fund for the hospitals. The Lexington location serves five states. It specializes in treating children with cerebral palsy, hand and foot deformities, hip disorders, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and spina bifida, mostly ailments that affect the muscles and bones.

Patients are treated free-of-charge, according to Oakley.

Julie Schmidt is Oakley’s counterpart at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington. Schmidt is director of development and community relations for the 100-bed facility.

Cardinal Hill Hospital’s emphasis is on rehabilitation, according to Schmidt.

"Our patients come here with brain injury or spinal cord injury and sometimes the spinal cord injury is incomplete," said Schmidt, "which means they might be able to walk again. Our goal is to help give patients quality of life so they can live independently."

Because of its unique mission, Cardinal Hill administrators see other hospitals as partners, not competitors.
"Many (of our patients) come from intensive care units of other hospitals, Schmidt explained. "They’re stabilized. That’s when we take over, to help give them back their quality of life."

Richard Adkins and Lisa Summers are staff writers for The Lane Report. Robert Carter is the magazine’s associate editor.

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