Population Health, Collaboration & Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare marketers will play an important role as healthcare organizations transition from a focus on distinct episodes of care to maintaining the health of entire populations. That is part of the message delivered in a new article by Dan Dunlop and Kate Gillmer of Jennings, published in the October 2017 issue of Healthcare Marketing Report.

The article, titled “Community Health, Collaboration and Healthcare Marketing,” addresses the importance of health systems collaborating with community and public health organizations to improve population health. Addressing upstream causes of poor health, specifically, the social determinants of health requires a community-based approach. In short, hospitals and health systems cannot do this work on their own.

Within their article, Dunlop and Gillmer give the example of Copley Hospital’s “Live Well Lamoille” population health blog. In creating the blog, Copley Hospital (Morristown, VT) brought together representatives from more than 10 local organizations who serve as regular contributors. The blog serves as a resource for healthy living, taking on topics such as healthy eating and physical activity, homelessness, the opioid crisis, and stroke awareness.

Dunlop and Gillmer envision a future where healthcare marketers, like those at Copley Hospital, help to facilitate those populations health initiatives involving community partnerships.