4. The Gist 4
■ Hospitals are increasingly mining patients’ health and
financial records to market specialty services
■ 20% of US hospitals News use “targeted direct mail
to bring in additional revenue” according to
According to Kaiser Health
■ With the trend of (and incentives for) hospitals
implementing electronic health records, this
controversial practice will likely accelerate
5. “hospitals cherry pick best-
paying patients” 5
RHN headline; original headline prepended with “Critics say”
6. Viewpoints 6
targeted mailings promote patient data should not be used for
needed services marketing purposes
■ Most criticism cites the fact that patients with private
health plans are targeted
■ private pays significantly more than government-
subsidized insurance like Medicare/Medicaid)
■ “Discriminatory against patients who have every right and
need for medical information” - Consumer Watchdog
7. Example Implementation 7
■ Provena St Joseph Medical Center in Illinois
■ Lung cancer screening direct mail
■ Sent only to “those who had a stronger likelihood of having
smoked based on their age, income, insurance status and
other demographic criteria”
■ 17% response rate (incredibly high for direct mail)
■ Netted hospital system $595,000 after marketing costs
■ One of Provena’s other properties, St. Mary’s of IL,
saw a 1100% ROI
8. Not Just Provena 8
■ Hospital Corp of America (hospitals in 20 states)
■ Trinity Health (hospitals in 8 states, not-for-profit)
■ Many smaller chains & hospital networks testing the waters
after big names and small have reported very good results
9. References 9
■ Original article I read: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/
2012/2/6/hospitals-mine-patient-data-to-create-tailored-
marketing-campaigns.aspx
■ Cited source from news article: http://
www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/February/06/
Hospitals-Mine-Patient-Records.aspx