National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization Palliative Care Resource Series KEY CONSIDERATIONS FOR BRANDING AND MARKETING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Stan Massey Chief Branding Officer Transcend Hospice Marketing Group

INTRODUCTION Your palliative care program can offer a variety of advantages to patients, families and your organization alike. Palliative care not only relieves the symptoms and stress of living with a chronic serious illness – contributing to a higher quality of life – it also presents a prime opportunity to build relationships with patients and their families early in the progression of an illness or disease. Marketing your palliative care program, however, presents a variety of challenges and opportunities…

A LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE TERM “PALLIATIVE CARE” Challenges: Many consumers are still unfamiliar with the word “palliative” In surveys conducted by Transcend Hospice Marketing Group and the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), 70% or more admitted they were “not at all knowledgeable” about “palliative care”

A LACK OF DISTINCTION BETWEEN HOSPICE AND PALLIATIVE CARE Challenges: Those who are familiar with palliative care, including physicians, can’t distinguish it from hospice care In the CAPC study, focus groups of physicians said they associate palliative care with “hospice” or “end-of-life” care

A GROWING NUMBER OF HOSPITALS SAY THEY PROVIDE PALLIATIVE CARE Challenge: About 1,500 hospitals have a palliative care program, including 63% of hospitals with more than 50 beds* Competition for palliative care patients may be stiffer than you think *Source: “Today’s Hospitalist”

THE NEED FOR ADEQUATE REIMBURSEMENT FOR PALLIATIVE CARE SERVICES Challenge: Hospice organizations may refer to their palliative care program as a “loss leader” Need to build relationships with patients earlier and convert to hospice care when appropriate

OPPORTUNITIES PROVIDED BY A PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Promote a fuller continuum Encourage earlier engagement Experience services without ending curative care

CHALLENGE: DISTINGUISHING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM FROM OTHERS Define your scope of services What are the exact services provided? Who are the staff? What are their credentials? How are they differentiating in your market? Are you offering palliative care in patients’ homes, hospitals, community clinics or all of these?

RECOMMENDATION: DISTINGUISHING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM FROM OTHERS Establish and market palliative care as a distinct medical specialty Position your services as complementing, not competing with, care from other providers

BRANDING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM THE BIG QUESTION Should you associate your palliative care brand with your hospice brand or separate them?

BRANDING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM CHALLENGES: “Hospice” comes with baggage of negative connotations to imminent death Supporting two brands with separate identities and the costs that go along with them (logos, letterheads, website, etc.) A connection should exist between the respective service lines to reinforce conversion

“PALLIATIVE CARE” VS. “SUPPORTIVE CARE” “Palliative care” is an unknown term to many, and physicians still equate it to hospice A growing number of healthcare organizations call their palliative programs “supportive care”, saying it is: More descriptive Language is familiar Provides a platform to educate services support both patients and families

“PALLIATIVE CARE” VS. “SUPPORTIVE CARE” Others believe sticking with “palliative care” because that’s the clinical name of the specialty Proponents feel people should be educated about what “palliative” means and how to pronounce it

RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH A TRUE UMBRELLA BRAND Umbrella brand: A single, unified name that is modified with descriptors to denote separate products or services. Position palliative care as part of a service portfolio under umbrella brand Reposition/redefine the service lines with the same cohesive brand identity

RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH A TRUE UMBRELLA BRAND Stick with “palliative care” as the service line name; it’s the clinical specialty and education continues to familiarize See next slide for an example

RECOMMENDATION: ESTABLISH A TRUE UMBRELLA BRAND Before After

PROMOTING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Patients and Families Market palliative care as a distinct medical specialty to families, listing the benefits to patients Educate patients that palliative care can be a great supplement to curative care, relieving side effects of treatment Emphasize palliative care is for any serious illness, any age, any stage Let families know you can help them navigate their options

PROMOTING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Referrers Position services as complementing, not competing with, the referrer’s care plan Communicate that palliative care does not automatically require a conversation about the end of life Inform that palliative care can be received in conjunction with curative care

PROMOTING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Hospital C-suites Partner with hospitals and healthcare organizations Gather data to show how palliative care can play a major role in preventing ER visits and hospital re-admissions Collecting financial data to show cost savings/cost avoidance is a must

PROMOTING YOUR PALLIATIVE CARE PROGRAM Hospital C-suites Analyze where hospitals are struggling and where your program can help Suggest participating in a research trial to measure how their patients do with or without palliative support, and how palliative care can impact costs Hospital performance data is available through Medicare

HOSPITAL C-SUITES Prepare a branded presentation on the proposed advantages of your palliative care program Call the hospitals CEO and/or CFO and ask to make an appointment State a quantified goal as an outcome (such as a realistic dollar amount of potential savings) Specify a short time frame (such as 15 to 20 minutes) for the initial discussion

SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY Recommendation: Start on a smaller scale to fine-tune successful methods for promoting your palliative care program and for controlling the demands of your services

SUMMARY Differentiate your program by explaining exactly what services you offer, who provides those services, and where you provide them Establish an umbrella brand for continuity across all service lines For patients and families, explain palliative care in down-to-earth language and emphasize it’s for any serious illness

SUMMARY For referrers, reinforce collaboration and promote palliative care in addition to curative treatment For hospital C-suites, arm yourself with data that quantifies positive clinical outcomes and clear cost savings/cost avoidance Start your palliative care marketing on a small scale to fine-tune your methods and control the number of patients