Many hospitals and health systems hire marketing representatives to increase referrals. However, as the health care landscape changes, the role of the marketing representative is experiencing a drastic evolution.Being a marketing representative today involves more than just increasing physician referrals; it is about building and maintaining meaningful relationships through service promotion, business development and sharing information. And for Martin Health System, this new role also includes becoming well versed in our new state-of-the-art clinical electronic health record system.
In the past, marketing representatives were primarily responsible for promoting hospital services through informal office visits, scheduled formal presentations and a combination of physician-focused and consumer-focused marketing materials.
These marketing materials would be left at the offices to remind the physician and office staff about the services, as well as for promotion to patients. Then the marketing representative would track referral patterns while continuing to build strong relationships with not only the physician but the office staff as well. Each day was spent in the field on formal and information visits.
Today, service promotion has grown beyond physicians to include internal hospital-based service lines. Marketing representatives are a catalyst for strategic business development. They are constantly evaluating potential new services, strategies and products/technologies that will increase revenue and give their health system a competitive edge.
For Martin Health System, this means developing strategic business plans with each major service line. Meanwhile, they still maintain their field presence with the physician community.
Marketing representatives have become the face and voice of the health care system to the physician community. It is easy to understand why the marketing representative becomes the communication conduit, as they visit seven to 10 offices each day.
Whether it is a formal or informal visit, they provide information on the health system, its services or even information on new technologies. These same representatives also bring added value as they become the “one place to go” for help. Whether offices need help with a referral or want additional information about a new service, they have become accustomed to calling their marketing representative.
The marketing representatives bring valuable information to the physician offices and become the physician’s voice with the health system.
That role became even more valuable when Martin Health System went live with a new electronic health record. What physicians valued and needed changed. This had a direct and immediate impact on the role of the marketing representative. The marketing representative quickly became an expert on helping and training physicians and their office staff to gather the electronic information for their patients such as lab and imaging reports.
The marketing representatives continued to be the “one place to go” but for a different reason. Once again, they were also able to act as a conduit to share issues and help develop solutions and bring resolution to issues.
Marketing representatives play a vital role in developing and maintaining physician relationships. They have proven invaluable to physicians as conduits of information, internal strategic business partners, and in Martin Health’s case, as technology experts. That continued relationship between the health system and physicians is beneficial for everyone involved.
