Inside the mind of a disruptor

TakeawaysThroughout his career, Matt has taken on the mindset of a disruptor. He was an early adopter of the title, Chief Consumer Officer, technologies like chatbots, and star rating systems.Matt now works for Summit Health, the byproduct of a private equity-backed merger between CityMD and Summit Medical Group.Advantages of working in a non-hospital system Because Summit Health operates largely in the urgent care setting and doesn't own hospitals, they're not bogged down by fixed costs or financial dependence on high acuity admissions.Instead, Summit Health can focus on delivering the best possible care and experience outside of a hospital setting. Summit Health, however, does partner with hospitals and physicians to accommodate high acuity cases.The transition from fee-for-service to value-based care forces hospitals to replace lost revenue from the top of the funnel with revenue from high acuity settings.Summit Health has low acuity access points with retail-like infrastructure in denser urban settings to provide easy access to high-quality care. This network infrastructure works because care and financial incentives are aligned. How to leverage consumer data and understand the consumer  For the first 5-10 years of his healthcare career, Matt listened to doctors, administrators, surveys, and focus groups, to understand consumers rather than listening to the data.He found that this produces a skewed understanding of our audiences because the patient may see – or report – preferences different than they are in reality. For example, patients may weight quality higher than their behaviors suggest.   A little healthy discord on the importance of brand According to Matt, in healthcare, brand don't impact patient decisions and needs. Instead, he recommends direct response advertising meant to drive people into your funnel and downward.Matt concedes that healthcare brand advertising can be effective when introducing a new brand or if your system has a large, easily accessible, low acuity service line such as urgent care centers.Brand advertising, in Matt's opinion, may serve internal purposes, however. For instance, some physicians and staff members may derive value from advertising because it recognizes their accomplishments.Chris agrees that brand advertising for clout is not productive but believes that brand is about driving people to take action to engage with you.Focus on physician relations Doctors play a huge role in keeping patients in a system because they're making the referrals. To improve, we need to understand what drives physician referral behavior.This is a "ground war" approach that is extremely difficult but yields a high return.Marketers should consider operational blockers to simplify referral documentation for doctors.