COVID-19 Impact: Healthcare Industry

COVID-19 Impact: Healthcare Industry COVID-19’s Impact on Healthcare and How the Industry’s Marketers Can Prepare for Post-Pandemic Outreach While healthcare workers are busy treating the influx of patients from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, medical offices and elective treatment centers are suffering from a decline in services. The dramatic shift for many hospitals and facilities to accommodate COVID-19 patients has elective surgeries and appointments postponed, which is a large source of revenue for many healthcare systems.

What’s more, after the surge of pandemic cases passes, healthcare won’t necessarily return to business as usual. During COVID-19, many consumers shifted to using telemedicine for issues that weren’t life threatening to minimize their potential for contamination. According to Kaiser Health News, “Millions of Americans are seeking care by connecting with a doctor electronically, many for the first time. Health systems, insurers and physician groups said it allows people to practice social distancing while reducing the spread of the disease and protecting health workers. Many hospitals have also recently added telemedicine services to keep patients concerned about the coronavirus from clogging their emergency rooms.”

Globally, telemedicine was a $45.5 billion industry in 2019, according to Global Market Insights, and that figure is estimated to rise to $175.5 billion by 2026. Not surprisingly, many healthcare facilities and hospitals fasttracked their technology projects in order to scale up telemedicine operations, health-related wearables and text messaging programs, so they could treat patients and educate people about COVID-19 from a far. But this shift could have a long-term impact on the industry, as many experts anticipate that new tools used during the pandemic will stay habits after things return to normal.

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Where to Focus Now for the Greatest Impact Later From technology innovations to consumer messaging, we believe there are three key areas where healthcare marketers should be focused right now for the greatest long-term impact: •

Check Your Own Vitals: While facing today’s influx of patients, healthcare systems must also prepare for a potential second wave of COVID-19 patients as states reopen and a surge of patients who deferred elective care or put off doctor’s visits during the first part of the year. From a billing standpoint, rescheduled surgeries and visits is a positive. However, it is important that healthcare marketers ensure the system can handle increased demand and that any operations gaps are addressed. Now is the time to train physicians and nurses on virtual encounter best practices and to smooth out any technical issues in online scheduling or services. Delivering efficient services across all mediums – inoffice or online – will be key to ensuring long-term loyalty for your healthcare brand.

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Build Messages That Matter: Prioritizing an emotional connection is critical in these sensitive times for healthcare brands and non-healthcare brands alike. According to a recent survey by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, 43% of people say they want messages that are “reassuring from the brands I know and trust.” Explore opportunities to build that connection through messaging on the careful planning that has been done to ensure the wellness and safety of patients as your medical offices and specialty departments reopen. Patients who have put off elective surgeries and other appointments with doctors will need to be reassured that it’s safe to enter your offices. Build your go-tomarket strategy now to ensure that when the time comes to reopen all your facilities, patients and their guests are confident that the proper health-related precautions have been put in place to make them feel safe.

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Shift Your Ad Focus to Telehealth: The brands who will fare best during COVID-19 and beyond are the ones who can both accelerate their telehealth capabilities and promote them to the right audiences.

The pandemic expedited the need for virtual care, but those able to promote these services through paid campaigns will be the ones to capitalize in the long-term. Patients realize they have more virtual and digital options for healthcare services now, so there is no better time to put the spotlight on your online services and remote monitoring tools to take care of patients. Most importantly, regularly examine which messages and products are receiving positive traction within your organic and paid media; then shift creatives to align with what you’re seeing.

Goodway Group is the digital partner advertisers trust to drive campaign performance and media efficiency. Proud to be completely independently owned and operated, Goodway provides trustworthy expertise that meets its clients’ needs — and no one else’s. Using predictive intelligence, Goodway helps advertisers get the most value out of every impression across all paid digital media. Through the combination of employing the smartest technology and the most experienced people in the industry, Goodway delivers authentic results. © 2020 Goodway Group. All rights reserved.

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