In healthcare, the acronym “CMO” most often refers to a Chief Medical Officer, and rightly so. But another variety of CMO, the Chief Marketing Officer, is found in just about every industry––including healthcare. And today, the role of the healthcare CMO is evolving quickly. 

In post-pandemic America, marketing and branding have taken on new meaning as hospitals, health systems, MCOs, ACOs, and insurers all seek to engage the consumer. For provider organizations, it’s not simply a matter of maintaining reputation and driving traffic through the door. Value-based care and the increasing focus on population health are influencing the messages that marketers must deliver.

When most folks think about marketing, advertising and public relations are typically the disciplines that first come to mind. While these remain core elements of any marketing program, they are just a few of the tools in the modern healthcare CMO’s arsenal, which is increasingly omni-channel, data-driven, and needs to be hyper-personalized.

Today's episode focuses on the reinvention of the healthcare chief marketing officer. Host Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., Innovaccer’s general manager of CRM, speaks with special guest Dorie Klissas, chief marketing and communications officer at Hackensack Meridian Health.

An Emmy Award-winning producer for Today on NBC and former Chief Medical Producer for the CBS Evening News, Dorie oversees all marketing, communications, media relations, crisis management, brand, creative, digital, social media, and video and podcast production for the 17-hospital system spanning New Jersey’s Bergen and Ocean Counties.

Together, Gary and Dorie delve into the dynamic and changing role of the healthcare CMO. Here’s what they discussed: 

• Chief Marketing Officer or Chief Strategic Storyteller?
• Conveying the brand voice with omnichannel marketing
• Data and analytics now have a seat at the table with creative
• Hyper-localization of messages down to the Zip-Code level
• The new realities of consumer engagement in healthcare
• Mapping the evolving patient journey
• The inherent complexity of health systems’ brand messaging
• Elevating the consumer growth story in the marketing mix
• Engaging patients with exceptional content
• Using data to identify care gaps and opportunities to connect
• Validating campaign effectiveness and ROI
• Expanding the patient funnel to provide concierge healthcare
• A shift in focus in the wake of the pandemic
• How health system CMOs can keep brand ID on point in a rapidly-evolving market
• Juggling multiple stories via multiple channels for multiple audiences
• Marketing’s role in addressing health equity and social determinants
• The best use of PR
• Population health, VBC, and instilling patient loyalty

Show Resources

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