In the Words of Jack Trout, It's Time to Differentiate or Die
One of the best recommendations I received early in my career was to read Differentiate or Die: Survival in the Era of Killer Competition by Jack Trout. Talk about a title that gets you hooked right away! In summary, Differentiate or Die is that consumers are overloaded with choice, and companies are competing for their attention. To be successful, they must somehow stand out from the crowd. Hypergrowth companies find a way to package, position, and communicate with their target audience to beat the competition.
Why hasn’t healthcare embraced this same methodology when attracting patient referrals?
A recent study by the Physicians Advocacy Institute found that 31% of U.S. providers still operate independently. These independent practices are the lifeblood of many healthcare communities. They refer patients to area hospitals, order tests, lead value-based care transformation, and support patients post-discharge. They also have many choices about where to refer their patients for care.
This study got me thinking: using some of Jack Trout’s Differentiation Attributes, how can hospitals better position themselves with community physicians?
1. Be First
A first mover is a business that gains a competitive advantage by being the first to market with a product or service. Hospitals get a “first-mover advantage” by launching a new service line or procedure in a community, but there are challenges:
First movers take on the burden of educating the market about a procedure. Which patients are a good fit? What makes this procedure different? How safe is it? What outcomes are being seen? These are all questions a provider will have before referring their patient for care.
I recently met with a provider who was the first to successfully perform a BASILICA valve procedure in his region. His team had great outcomes with frail cardiac patients but needed a way to educate other cardiologists about the right patient profile for the procedure. Their solution? Include general information about the procedure and outcomes in every digital interaction with cardiologists.
2. Quality
Hospitals must deliver great outcomes to their patients to maintain a good relationship with community providers. Typically Quality means a great outcome, with the best experience at the most reasonable cost. A less frequently discussed aspect of Quality is enabling primary care physicians (PCPs) to better care for their patients after a hospitalization. Many PCPs view hospitals as a “black hole” of information. How can hospitals differentiate themselves?
Hospitals should provide timely and relevant clinical information after a hospitalization. Most practices want to know medication information, diagnoses information, trending vitals, results, and physician notes. (Hear how Tampa General Hospital has approached community physician engagement in the video at right.)
Patient safety, accreditations, and quality metrics should be shared consistently with community providers. While hospitals often put this on their website and billboards, clinician-to-clinician interactions must also include this information.
3. Collaboration
If you ask many community providers about their biggest challenge working with local hospitals, it’s usually a lack of communication. A referring provider often doesn’t hear about a patient’s procedure until that patient’s next primary care visit! Collaborating during the referral process improves relations and patient outcomes. Hospitals should:
Share clinical updates into providers’ preferred workflows. Hospitals often give access to EHRs, but since external physicians do not natively work from those systems, they can miss updates and care becomes fragmented.
Exchange Medical Records and Results in real-time. We recently met with a large Cancer Center with two full-time employees faxing medical records externally and uploading incoming faxes to their EHR. It’s time to go digital: FHIR standards enable forward-thinking hospitals to reduce overhead and focus on patient care.
Ensure digital tools are physician-friendly. Hospitals should ensure community providers receive flexible Transitional Care Summaries (not 100’s of pages of a verbose medical record!), allowing them to understand their patient’s hospitalization and conduct follow-up quickly.
Referral competition has never been more fierce. Service lines that embrace differentiation and better community physician relations will see continued growth. For those that don’t, well, I fear that Jack Trout’s title says it all.
I’d love your feedback, so please comment below or email me anytime.
Ryan