3 Branding Tips for Hospitals & Health Systems Launching Health Plans
Hospitals and health systems are becoming increasingly interested in launching their own health plans. In fact, The Advisory Board reported that 28 percent of hospitals expect to launch their own health plans within the next five years. When launching a health plan, one of a hospital or health system’s primary, and most critical, decisions will be in regard to the health plan’s branding.
Leverage Your Brand Equity
Well-known and highly regarded hospitals and health systems interested in launching a health plan independently should consider using their existing brand as a foundation. It takes years to build brand equity and name recognition. Using your existing brand as a foundation will give your new plan immediate credibility in the marketplace, and help jumpstart interest and demand.
Develop a Unique Brand Position
Although leveraging your existing brand equity can be extremely beneficial, it’s important to recognize that your new health plan will need to be positioned in a new context. That is, as a health plan you will be competing in a new space with new competitors and selling products you’ve never sold before.
To determine how best to position your health plan we recommend conducting focus groups, collecting demographic and health data, and performing a competitor audit in order to understand the overall landscape, markets by product line (individual, group, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.), and opportunities. We believe this holistic perspective is very important for determining where to position your health plan in both the near term and long term. It’s worth noting that you may be able to leverage your provider-turned-payer role as a key differentiator in your positioning.
Avoid Pigeonholing Your Brand
Due to the significant investment and infrastructure required to launch a new health plan, most hospitals and health systems start by focusing on one or two product lines. For example, Piedmonth Healthcare and WellStar Health System in metro-Atlanta recently launched Piedmont WellStar HealthPlans, initially just offering a Medicare Advantage Plan. Minuteman Health in Massachusetts, launched by Tufts Medical Center and Vanguard Health System, is initially focusing on individual and small group plans.
This logical approach can have its drawbacks in that your plan can quickly get pigeonholed in the minds of consumers by your initial product-line offering. To avoid being labeled as, for example, “just a Medicare Advantage Plan,” your brand strategy should incorporate a robust brand-building component. This brand building campaign should create broad awareness for your health plan while also laying the groundwork for all of the product-level promotion (“selling”) that will be required in both the short-term and long-term.
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Effective strategic marketing is critical to the success of a health plan’s launch, and there are unique factors that amplify this importance for a hospital or health system. Using the tips above when approaching your brand and brand strategy will help set up your marketing for success.
If you’re one of the 28 percent of hospitals looking to launch a health plan and would like discuss this topic further (or in regard to your specific situation), please give me a call or send me an email:
Jim McDonald
ph: 518-940-4882
e: jmcdonald@mlinc.com
