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Making The Most Of Trade Show Media Opportunities

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Heading to ViVE 2024 in Los Angeles or HIMSS24 in Orlando? These key industry trade shows aren’t just a chance to escape the winter weather for warmer destinations! They can present a great opportunity for executives to establish relationships with journalists from a variety of publications and mediums.

Chances are if you’ve landed an interview, it’s for a brief window, so read on for best practices for making the most of your time.

  • Plan Ahead

Most journalists attending trade shows start to populate their calendars weeks, if not months, in advance – which is why many PR pros also start early to secure interviews for key subject matter experts. It’s important for companies to identify which trade shows they will be attending as well as key personnel well ahead of the show. This can be done as part of an annual marketing plan. An added benefit to planning early is that some shows offer early bird registration, so you may even get a deal to attend.

  • Do Your Homework

If you’re offered an interview, make sure you have basic knowledge of the outlet, the topics it covers, and their target audience. You’ll want to frame your responses in a way that’s relevant to readers of the publication.

For example, if the outlet targets members of the C-Suite, big-picture, high-level strategic responses are appropriate. If readers or listeners are clinicians, you’ll want to address clinical or patient benefits of your technology. You can’t tailor your answers if you haven’t researched the outlet. Additionally, reporters appreciate it when you reference past stories they’ve done on the topic at hand. This shows that the relationship is a two-way street and further establishes that you aren’t only interested in talking about your company – and are dialed in on relevant conversations and coverage of key issues in the industry.

  • Arrive Early

The show floors at ViVE and HIMSS are a maze of vendors, sponsors, analysts, media and more. Be sure you keep and use the map you get at check-in. Confirm your meeting location. Is there a designated media meeting area? Will the reporter be stopping by your booth?

Find out and arrive early for the interview. Set an alarm in your phone to remind you of the meeting, just in case you get caught up talking to a client, prospect or colleague. With only a few minutes for each interview, if you’re late, you might miss out depending on the reporter’s schedule. We’ve seen this happen many times. While many journalists will graciously offer to connect another time, the odds of it happening in a timely manner are understandably slim, as journalists are just as busy in the days immediately following a show as they are while they are onsite.

  • Have Something to Say

There’s nothing worse for PR professionals than sitting through a client interview where the interviewee rehashes old news or espouses cliches. If you want to stand out in the crowd, have something to say. Everyone knows that “innovation is key” and “AI is the future.” But how is your company disrupting your space? How does this benefit patients, clinicians and others in the healthcare ecosystem? Where do you see the industry going and how are you helping to get there? What are you doing that’s different than the other guy?

Clearly defining your differentiators (without directly referencing the competition) and outlining talking points ahead of time are key for a successful interview. For extra credit, have a colleague or your PR team do a mock interview in which you can practice steering likely questions to your talking points. And remember, if you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s perfectly acceptable to say you will follow up. Don’t try to answer what you don’t know.

Pro tip: Shows such as ViVE offer the opportunity to share news in a group distribution to media attending the event. This is an extra opportunity for you to get your message in front of journalists who will be there. While you may not get an interview out of it, your news could be included in a roundup during the show or in a post-event wrap-up.

  • Be realistic

Remember that every meeting does not yield immediate coverage. However, we have repeatedly seen “meet and greets” at trade shows turn into follow-up, in-depth interviews or coverage that seems to be out of the blue months later. The main goal of these trade show meetings is to meet key journalists, introduce them to your company and technology, and explain why you are making a difference in the healthcare scene.

  • Give them something to remember you by

Have you done a recent study, survey or analysis? An eye-catching infographic with meaningful information and guidance (URL or QR code) on where to learn more can be something that sets you apart from others. However, don’t give journalists run-of-the-mill marketing collateral. Anything you leave behind should have a news peg and not simply be self-serving information about the company.  

  • Be authentic

This may be the most important tip of all. While you shouldn’t be overly casual and should always keep in mind that nothing is ever really “off the record,” you do want to establish a rapport with the reporter. Interviews don’t need to be buttoned up and extremely formal. Use a conversational tone and avoid jargon whenever possible.

Best of luck with all your trade show media opportunities!

For more tips on getting the most from trade shows, check out these tips.

How To Get the Most Out Of Healthcare Trade Conferences

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Attending healthcare conferences is an investment for your company. Balanced against the costs of travel, lodging and registration are the opportunities to make valuable connections, showcase your company and learn more about the industry. Accomplishing those goals requires a plan to get the maximum benefit from your two to three days at the conference.

At Amendola, our public relations experts boast decades of combined experience planning strategy and executing performance across a wide range of healthcare trade shows, from HIMSS and HLTH to RISE and ViVE.

Creating a successful conference strategy begins with defining what your company is and how it can help clients improve care delivery, reduce costs, or boost efficiency – and how you want to characterize those factors to the market.

“Healthcare tradeshows give you the opportunity to showcase your company’s identity to the world,” says Grace Vinton, account director. “Similar to the way each person has a unique identity and personality, so does your company. Are you smart? Funny? Wise? Risk-taking? Get out of your comfort zone and show the industry who you really are!”

Once strategy is set and media targets are selected, schedule meetings and interviews, but don’t make the mistake of walking into these discussions unprepared. It’s important to prepare and know your audience.

“Plan ahead!” recommends Jodi Amendola, CEO. “Schedule meetings well in advance with prospects, partners, potential investors, new hires, etc.  When I attend a key trade show, I have a full calendar of meetings and events before I even pick up my badge and this has served me well. Trade shows are the ideal venue for meeting new people, but also a time to build on existing relationships and catch up over coffee or drinks. Reuniting with former clients, editors and other industry veterans that I have known for years is my favorite part of the craziness at conferences.”

“As a thought leader packing a lot into just a few short days, it’s vital to stay organized,” notes Katlyn Nesvold, senior account director. “Make sure all your meetings are on your calendar, including media interviews, networking lunches with clients or prospects, and add any sessions you would like to attend directly into your calendar so you know where you’re going on the fly! Print and review briefing documents for interviews in advance in case wi-fi isn’t working, and so you can plan for your day.”

In other words, do your homework.

“My best recommendation for clients participating in media interviews is to spend time reviewing the media briefing information so you are familiar with the publication, the reporter, and the likely direction of the conversation,” says Michelle Noteboom, senior director of accounts and content. “Check out previous stories and interviews to familiarize yourself with the topics that might be of interest to the interviewer.”

Whether your company has a booth, is speaking, or is hosting an event, a thoughtful social media strategy is also important. “When I’ve taken the time to align social content with clients’ conference activities, I’ve seen a huge jump in exposure online and in booth traffic,” notes Maddie Noteboom, account manager. “Whether it’s on LinkedIn or Twitter, there is so much chatter throughout these conferences and it’s a wasted opportunity to be sitting on the sidelines. Start by researching relevant hashtags and trends, making a checklist of photo opportunities, and planning out pre, during, and post-conference insights from company leaders. Do the prep work ahead of time and get in on the action during the conference!”

For newer companies, healthcare trade conferences are an excellent opportunity to raise their profiles among key stakeholders such as investors, partners, and analysts.

“Startups looking for industry credibility to increase sales should implement smart thought leadership strategies to drive recognition from credible third parties, such as industry analyst firms, awards programs, speaking opportunities at high-profile events, and even creative collaborations that allow the lesser-known company to leverage the brand equity of a more-known entity,” recommends Mardi Larson, media relations and account director. 

Similarly, journalists come to conferences hungry for news and the chance to learn about latest industry developments. Companies attending trade shows can take advantage of this need for news by delaying big announcements until the show.

“I always advise clients to save their big announcements for a trade show,” shares Marcia Rhodes, vice president. “Journalists are always looking for news so if you can hold off announcing a new product or acquisition for a few months so that it is unveiled during a trade show, your odds of getting media coverage doubles. Then be sure to bring hard copies of the press release to hand out in your booth and during media and analyst meetings.”

Of course, there’s never a bad time for a refresher on the basics of trade show attendance, including perhaps the most important consideration for conference-goers: The right footwear.

“The important things to remember about healthcare trade conferences are to get plenty of rest, wear comfortable shoes, and leave enough time between meetings for contingencies,” says Philip Anast, general manager.  “Employing these basic tips will amplify your chances of making the most of your media interviews and analyst briefings and bringing the best reflection of ‘you’ to your company and the influencers you’re targeting.”

What’s My Tagline?: Grace Vinton and James Aita at HIMSS 2022

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The HIMSS Global Conference and Exhibition is a well-established healthcare innovation industry conference that Amendola has attended with our clients since the company’s inception. Members of our team were onsite at the 2022 event this year to support our participating clients.

Check out insights on this year’s tradeshow from one of our Media Specialists Grace Vinton on Healthcare NOW Radio’s, “What’s My Tagline.”

Case Studies: Understanding the Difference Between Results and Activities

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Case studies (aka customer stories) are one of the most powerful tools in an organization’s marketing arsenal. And for good reason.

If you are an unknown or little-known company, a great case study that names the customer can provide you with instant credibility. Many (most?) organizations are fairly risk-averse, which means they’re reluctant to take a chance on a new solution no matter how much promise it holds. A case study often gives them the confidence to overcome those fears.

If you are an industry leader, case studies are a great way to demonstrate that your reputation is not just a product of marketing hype. You are a substantial company that continues to work hard to deliver value to your customers.

Of course, all of this assumes one key factor: you have actual results to show.

What do I mean by that? Of course you have results! You created all these materials, delivered all these widgets, documented all these exchanges, etc.

Nope, sorry. Those aren’t results. Those are activities.

So while all of those things are good and necessary, they’re just the table stakes. What your readers will really be interested in is what impact all those activities had on your customers, or their customers.

Here’s a quick healthcare example. If you produced a program to help a hospital’s patients with diabetes gain control over their HbA1c levels that’s great. The fact that you produced four YouTube videos, six pamphlets and three infographics gives the reader a sense of the scope of the program.

But those aren’t results. Results would be something like 60% of those who enrolled in the program got their HbA1c levels under 7.0 and 85% lowered their rates by at least two points in the first six months.

What’s the difference? In the first example you did something that was necessary to success but it didn’t cause anything to change.

Had all those same materials been produced but not distributed there would have been no way of knowing whether they would be effective or not because they weren’t yet in the hands of the people who needed them. You might as well have blown up balloons with pictures of clowns on them.

In the second example, the materials you produced were distributed and produced outcomes among those to whom they were targeted. THAT is what your prospects want to know.

They’re not interested in your ability to produce slick materials in a variety of formats. They’re interested in whether the program achieved the intended goals.

This distinction between activities and results becomes particularly important when the case study is repurposed for a speaker application – especially a complex application for an event such as HIMSS.

While all the background and steps that were taken are important, having real results to speak to is critical. I’ve never been in the room where it happens, but I imagine that when HIMSS applications are received the reviewers immediately go to the results section. If all you have to show is activities, the application immediately gets sent to the discard folder.

I understand that securing customers to participate in case studies can be difficult, and often beggars can’t be choosers. If your only option is a customer that either isn’t tracking results (unthinkable in today’s digital world but apparently it happens) or doesn’t have quantifiable results to speak of yet, so be it.

But if that’s the case you need to recognize that the effectiveness of your case study (or speaker application) will be diminished. Prospects will leave a bit disappointed, the media will be reluctant to write their own stories about it, and event organizers will be likely to pass on your speaker application. Expectations for success should be set accordingly.

Case studies are wonderful tools, but their effectiveness is closely tied to the results you have to tout. Understanding the difference between activities and outcomes will help ensure you do all you can to deliver the best – and most effective – case studies to help your PR and marketing efforts.

Selecting the Right PR and Marketing Agency: Is Bigger Better?

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When it comes to finding the right PR and marketing agency, is bigger better?

It depends who you ask.

Early in my career as an agency leader, I was surprised that it was Amendola’s largest Fortune 500 clients who most clearly understood and could articulate the benefits of working with a smaller, boutique agency. As time passed and a few comparatively smaller clients switched to a bigger agency (often in response to reaching a major growth milestone) and subsequently came back, I realized that the larger, more well-established companies simply had the benefit of experience. They’d previously worked with one or more large corporate agencies, and already understood the advantages and drawbacks.

So why do many of the world’s largest, most successful healthcare and technology companies prefer to work with smaller, highly specialized agencies? It’s a fair question, and the answer can help healthcare/healthcare IT companies of every size find their ideal agency fit.

Depth of understanding is even more key in a complex industry

Many of Amendola’s largest clients voice frustration with the inconsistent levels expertise at big agencies, especially those that don’t focus exclusively on healthcare and healthcare IT.

As one Fortune 500 client said in our initial conversation, “We don’t feel like we’re getting any value from [large corporate agency]. They understand tech in general, but don’t really have a clue about healthcare IT. And they don’t seem to have any of the media relationships we need.”

Another prospective client put it more wryly: “We spend half our time explaining value-based care, and the other half reminding them to stop talking about it like it’s brand new.”

To be fair to larger agencies and the hardworking folks who make them hum, it’s all but impossible for anyone to be an expert on multiple complex industries. Especially if one of them is healthcare. In fact, that’s why Amendola serves only healthcare and healthcare IT clients, and has since the outset. There’s always something new to learn in healthcare, and always something on or just over the horizon that will impact the industry in unexpected ways. If you don’t eat, sleep, and breathe it, how could you possibly keep up?

Still, I can understand these clients’ frustration. If an agency needs constant coaching on what’s happening in healthcare, the best case is that the relationship becomes more time-consuming for the client.

The more realistic case? Missed opportunities, muddled messaging, and even missteps in the market.

It’s harder for large and multi-industry agencies to develop strong healthcare/healthcare IT media relationships

Clients also often mention that a larger agency they worked with was unable to secure high-quality (or even very many) media opportunities. I’m never surprised to hear it. After all, any junior PR professional can pitch journalists all day every day every…but how effective can they be if they don’t really understand the story they’re pitching?

Yet inconsistent expertise isn’t the only contributing factor. The fact is, large agencies have several things working against them when it comes to healthcare/healthcare IT media relations.

Imagine you’re a healthcare reporter. You’ve just been assigned a 1,200-word article about how healthcare organizations are screening for unmet social needs and addressing SDoH, especially within their high-risk/high-cost patient populations. Your editor would like to see you include perspectives from at least three different organizations. Either vendors or providers, but at least one of each. Oh, and it’s due tomorrow. End of day today would be better.

Now ask yourself who you’d reach out to:

The comparatively junior contact you have at a big corporate agency you know, the one who keeps pitching you out of the blue about the same one or two clients.
The comparatively senior contact you have at a smaller, healthcare-specific PR agency you know, the one with a diverse client portfolio who can probably be your one-stop shop for all three of the interviews you need to conduct.

Actually, any chance you could turn the article around sooner? It’d be great to get it out on social ASAP.

The hotter the topic and the busier the news cycle, the higher the demands on journalists’ time and attention. During the weeks preceding HIMSS, it’s not uncommon for a healthcare reporter at a top-tier publication to receive well over 200 pitches a day. From a purely practical standpoint, the only way they can wade through the noise is to focus on their most reliable agency contacts (who, by the way, have been regularly pitching and checking in on HIMSS opportunities for months, not weeks).

How much of a difference do strong media relationships make? Consider the Fortune 500 client I mentioned earlier.

In our first month working together, we secured more media opportunities for them than their most recent large corporate agency had secured over the course of three years.

Now, did our agency-wide expertise in healthcare and healthcare IT enable us to craft higher quality, more sophisticated pitches and thought-leadership content? Absolutely. Did we also do a better job targeting the right reporter/editor/publication with the right pitch at the right time? You bet your bylines.

But the wealth of opportunities we had to choose from were partly a function of a fundamental truth about healthcare/healthcare IT PR. As a boutique agency exclusively serving healthcare and healthcare IT clients, we hear about opportunities that larger and less focused agencies don’t because healthcare journalists’ lives are already hard enough.

Another key difference: Who’s *really* doing the writing?

The complaint I hear most frequently from prospective clients is the amount of time they spend rewriting the content their current agency produces. The shared sentiment is, “in the time we spend rewriting everything, we could have just drafted it ourselves.” And that isn’t just an idle thought for many companies when I spoke with a large publicly traded company last week, they explained they use their current agency for media pitching only, having brought all content creation back in-house after years of constant rewriting.

Obviously, any agency of any size can hire bad writers. And, at least conceivably, any agency with the resources to do so can hire good writers.

So where’s the breakdown?

First (and this is the last time I’ll mention it), lack of expertise plays a role. If the writers assigned to the account aren’t strong on healthcare/healthcare IT, there’s no covering it up. Especially if they’re writing based on input from deeply knowledgeable subject matter experts.

Second, depending on the agency, even a reasonably large healthcare or healthcare IT company might be comparatively low-priority when it comes to resource allocation. The bigger and less healthcare-focused the pond, the more likely that other accounts or client-types will be seen as the truly big fish. And the big fish gets the worm, which in this modified idiom represent the more senior writers.

It sure would be nice if there was a just a checklist of what to look for in an agency

Wouldn’t it? I’ve always thought so. So here are consolidated insider tips and key questions you can use to streamline your search for the perfect agency.

Expertise Do they know your space? Do they understand the lingo? Have industry connections? Will they have senior level executives on the account, or will you be delegated to a junior team? Check references and make sure the agency is everything they actually say they are. If you’re making your decision partly based on writing samples, make sure you see the samples of the writers you’ll actually be working with.

Range of Services Do you need a PR firm only, or are you looking for an integrated marketing communications firm that can handle all of your marketing needs? If the agency only handles one service line, do they have partner agencies for other areas?

Team – Make sure you ask to meet your team. Very often with a big agency, the high-level execs you met at the presentation aren’t the team who will be working on your account. That’s unfortunate, because experience and compatibility matter.

Ideally, at least one of the people who would be on your team will also be at the initial presentation. If they are, chat them up. Are they someone you would enjoy working with on a regular basis? Remember this is going to be a close relationship, so comfort and rapport are key!

Budget/terms/scope of work – Be sure to compare apples to apples when assessing services and quantities/deliverables. Are you going to engage in an annual retainer program or project work? Will you be billed by the hour or by scope of deliverables? Based on my experience, the latter will get you more value. Teams won’t be clocking out the second your hours for the month are used up; instead, they’ll work tirelessly to successfully execute your campaigns with no limit to the time they put in. And don’t get caught in the trap of assuming a higher retainer equals better service, especially if you aren’t going to be one of the agency’s largest accounts or if they don’t specialize in healthcare or healthcare IT.

The fit matters

Once you’ve narrowed the field of potential agency partners to a fully vetted top five, you can reasonably assume that any of them are capable of handling the nuts and bolts of PR and marketing. That’s why I recommend focusing on the fit to help you make your final decision. Does it feel right? Is this the company and are these the people that you want to serve as an extension of your own team? And where do you fit in their agency world or to put it another way, what’s the pond look like?

Ultimately, every organization has to decide what’s right for them based on a host of factors. Understanding how agencies differ beyond the simple metric of size will help ensure the strengths of the PR and marketing agency you do select align with the work you want them to do and the results you want them to deliver. In some cases, a bigger agency can be better but as many of the largest healthcare and healthcare IT companies already know, it isn’t always best.

Trade Shows and Events: Four Ways to Improve Your ROI

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Whether you personally believe trade shows are the land of opportunity or merely a relic of a bygone era where primitive being skulked through the aisles without the benefit of a smartphone, there is no question that they are still a fact of life for many of us. In fact, some (such as, oh, I dunno, HIMSS?) are not merely a minor blip on our radars but a huge disruptor to the otherwise semi-orderly flow of our lives.

Trade shows can be a time-sink as well as a budget-sink, so if you’re going to make that type of investment, it’s critically important that you be sure the organization gets something out of it. Something more than “exposure” and free leftover pens, tote bags and the kind of hard candy your grandmother gives you when you come to visit, and that you only eat when there is absolutely no other choice. Love you, grandma!

Toward that end (getting something out of your trade show investment, not getting hard candy), Amendola Communications CEO Jodi Amendola has written a blog post in her role as a member of the Forbes Agency Council. “Trade Show ROI: Four Ways to Make the Most Out of Industry Events” offers some great suggestions for ensuring marketers get a pat on the back rather than a kick in the backside for the results of their organization’s trade show efforts. The four tips include:

  • Ensuring you have a well-honed elevator pitch that carefully walks the line between proper and over-the-top self-promotion
  • Making Twitter your go-to social media platform for engaging other attendees
  • Hosting a reception for clients and prospects
  • Being sure you do something with all those leads you capture

Obviously there’s more to it than just those four bullet points, so it’s well worth giving the post a full read. You can do that here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2019/02/08/trade-show-roi-four-ways-to-make-the-most-out-of-industry-events/#17e432e9174f

Whatever your personal feelings about trade shows, however, they still loom large in many industries – especially healthcare. So if you’re going to do it, do it right.

Take the time to prepare properly, and then maximize your time on the floor – whether you’re in front of the counter or behind it. It will pay off in the end.

HIMSS19 Educational Session Recommendations from Amendola, Healthcare IT’s Top PR/Marketing Agency

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Clients’ technologies to shine brightly at largest health IT event of the year

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. Feb. 6, 2019 Innovative technologies from Amendola health IT clients will be highlighted in a number of key educational sessions presented by the clients’ end users at HIMSS19, which takes place Feb. 11,15, 2019, in Orlando.

“This year marks Amendola’s 15th anniversary and the 15th consecutive year that our agency will have a presence at HIMSS,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of the award-winning healthcare and health IT marketing and public relations agency. “It’s been amazing to see how much the conference has grown in the nearly 20 years I’ve been attending and gratifying to see the tangible results that healthcare organizations are realizing from our clients’ technologies, which will be highlighted in these presentations.”

The speakers, who in a few of the sessions are joined by the technology vendors as co-presenters, will explain how they have overcome some of the biggest healthcare challenges of today by leveraging solutions from Amendola clients, including Alliance for Better Health, Arcadia.io, Ayasdi, Bernoulli, Health Catalyst, Medicomp Systems, Recondo Technology, SAP, SCIO Health Analytics, VisitPay, Vivify Health and Vocera.

Accountable Care Organizations

Predictive Analytics for Data-Driven Care Management Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization (BIDCO), a leading, value-based accountable care organization participating in five risk-based contracts, will discuss how to leverage predictive analytics to identify patients most likely to benefit from care coordination. Details: Presented by Sarika Aggarwal, MD, MHCM, Chief Medical Officer of BIDCO, and Bill Gillis, MS, Chief Information Officer; 2:30,3:30 pm Wed. Feb. 13, Room W208C. Highlights technology from Arcadia.io.

Building a Quality-Driven Narrow SNF Network CareMount ACO, a physician-owned multispecialty medical group participating as a Medicare Next Generation ACO in the Hudson Valley, will explain how it leveraged a population health platform to aggregate data needed to develop a narrow Preferred Provider Network of skilled nursing facilities, home health and other ancillary providers. Details: Presented by Peter Kelly, MBA, Executive Director of CareMount ACO, and Richard Morel, MD, MMM, FCAP, Deputy Chief Medical Officer; 11:30 am,12:30 pm Wed. Feb. 13, Room W315A. Highlights technology from Arcadia.io.

AI and Machine Learning

Cloud Analytics: A Fast Lane to Enable Real-World Evidence Mercy, one of the largest Catholic health systems in the country, is powering data-driven healthcare with artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics to benchmark best practices across its 44 acute care and specialty hospitals. As a result, Mercy is uncovering cost savings, improving patient outcomes, and creating new revenue streams to monetize data. Details: Presented by Curtis Dudley, VP of Performance Solutions, Mercy; 9:45,10:15 am Mon. Feb. 11, Rosen Centre Executive Ballroom I. Highlights technology from SAP.

Driving Physician Engagement and Patient Outcomes with Artificial Intelligence Vituity, a multispecialty partnership of physicians, improved population health and enhanced patient experience by developing AI-driven real-time clinical decision support tools. Details: Presented by Dipti Patel-Misra, PhD, MBA, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, Vituity, and Joshua H. Tamayo-Sarver, MD, PhD, FACEP, BCCI, CPHIMS, Vice President, Informatics; 10 11 am Thurs. Feb. 14, Room W207C. Highlights technology from Health Catalyst.

How AI Enabled a Community Hospital to Tackle Clinical Variation and Reduce Length-of-Stay Flagler Hospital saved an average of $1,350 per case, reduced the average length of stay by two days, and decreased readmissions by seven times eliminating nearly $850,000 in costs by tapping into powerful, unsupervised AI technology. Details: Presented by Michael Sanders, FAAFP, MD, CMIO, Flagler Hospital; 11:40 am 12 pm Mon. Feb. 11, Rosen Centre Junior Ballroom F. Part of the HIMSS19 Machine Learning & AI for Healthcare pre-conference symposium. Highlights technology from Ayasdi.

Machine Learning to Predict Risk and Enhance Efficiency A regional health system in New York applied machine learning to multiple data sources to create a risk model that identifies high- and low-risk patients to reduce 30-day readmissions. Details: Presented by Simer Sodhi, Director of Data Management and Analytics, Westchester Medical Center; 10:45 11:05 am Mon. Feb. 11, Rosen Centre Junior Ballroom F. Part of the HIMSS19 Machine Learning & AI for Healthcare pre-conference symposium. Highlights technology from Health Catalyst.

Inpatient Monitoring

A Business and Clinical Case for Continuous Surveillance Virtua Memorial Hospital leveraged continuous capnography monitoring in a medical-surgical unit to detect adverse clinical events while also mitigating artifacts related to patient movement, suspect measurements and other medical device-generated alarm signals. Details: Presented by Leah Baron, MD, former Chief of the Department of Anesthesiology at Virtua Memorial Hospital, and John Zaleski, PhD, CPHIMS, CAP, Chief Analytics Officer, Bernoulli; 10 11 am Thurs. Feb. 14, Room W206A. Highlights technology from Bernoulli.

Improving Sepsis Care with Data Analytics Allina Health developed and implemented a comprehensive, data-driven approach for early identification and reduced variation in sepsis care. Details: Presented by Mischa Adams, MSN, RN, CCRN, Clinical Standard Coordinator, Allina Health, and Sarah Jenson, MS, Analytics Director, Health Catalyst/Allina Health; 1 2 pm Thurs. Feb. 14, Room W206A. Highlights technology from Health Catalyst.

Patient Experience

Restore Human Connections with Collaboration and Technology The University of Chicago Medicine designed effective approaches to improve the human experience, collaborating with clinical and information and technology leaders to drive positive human connections and transformative change in healthcare. Details: Presented by Sue Murphy, RN, Chief Experience Officer, University of Chicago Medicine, and Diane M. Rogers, CPXP, ACC President, Contagious Change, LLC; 11:30 am 12:30 pm Wed. Feb. 13, Room W204A. Highlights technology from Vocera.

Population Health and Chronic Condition Management

Enhancing Patient Care with Physician-Driven Documentation Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s ongoing clinical documentation improvement initiative enables efficient, structured documentation, but also allows the organization to harness patient data to create real-time clinical dashboards for more effective care for patients with chronic disease. Details: Presented by Vinay Vaidya, MD, Vice President and Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, and Michael Shishov, MD, Division Chief of Pediatric Rheumatology; 1:30 2:30 pm Tues. Feb. 12, Room W311A. Highlights technology from Medicomp Systems.

Cracking the Code to Better Quality and Financial Outcomes Rush Health describes how it used advanced analytics to improve the way it manages risk, resulting in improved patient care and enhanced revenue. Details: Presented by James Grana, PhD, Chief Analytics Officer, Rush Health, and Bala Hota, MD, Chief Analytics Officer, Rush University Medical Center; 1:30 2:30 pm Tues. Feb. 12, Room W206A. Highlights technology from SCIO Health Analytics.

Remote Monitoring Shows Significant Pop Health Benefits University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Ontario Telemedicine Network utilized remote patient monitoring to improve patient engagement and outcomes for chronic disease management. Details: Presented by Andrew Watson, Vice President, Clinical Information Technology Transformation, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and Laurie Poole, Vice President, Clinical Innovation, Ontario Telemedicine Network; 10:30 11:30 am Tues. Feb. 12, Room W315B. Highlights technology from Vivify Health.

Patient-Centered Referral Workflow Automation Steward Health Care Network automated referral workflows improve efficiency, care coordination and patient satisfaction. Details: Presented by Heather Trafton, PA-C, MBA, Senior Vice President of National MSO Operations, Steward Health Care Network, and Kristin Ottariano, MS, Director of Medicaid Operation; 2:30 3:30 pm Thurs. Feb. 14, Room W206A. Highlights technology from Arcadia.io.

Doing Well by Doing Good: Finding the ROI Social Care Programs This invitation-only roundtable focuses on the outcomes and ROI of treating social needs. The session will focus on identifying disconnects in the current system, and the opportunities for innovations in technology and collaboration to play an important role in the solutions. Details: 3 4 pm Tues. Feb. 12, Hyatt Regency, Room Hyatt Rock Springs II. Highlights key thought leaders from Alliance for Better Health.

Revenue Cycle Management

How Web Bots Freed $20 Million from a Billing Bottleneck Avera Health improved cash flow by $20 million dollars in its first year, while reducing aged A/R accounts by almost half, after automating claim status follow-up with healthcare insurance companies using AI technology. Details: Mary Wickersham, MHA, Vice President, Central Business Office Services, Avera Health, and Ryan Ayres, Vice President, Product Management, Recondo Technology; 4:15 5:15 pm Tues. Feb. 12, Room W308A. Highlights technology from Recondo Technology.

The Patient Behind the Bill: Creating a More Satisfying Financial Journey St. Luke’s Health System in Boise fundamentally re-imagined the patient financial journey, creating a personalized experience that offers patients transparency, choice and control over billing obligations while turning bad debt into consistent payments. Details: Presented by Michael Rawdan, Senior Director, Revenue Cycle & Patient Experience, St. Luke’s Health System; 11:00 11:35 am Mon. Feb. 11, Rosen Centre Grand Ballroom D. Part of the HIMSS19 pre-conference Revenue Cycle Solutions Summit. Highlights technology from VisitPay.

Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola

mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
Ph: 480.664.8412 ext. 15

6 Reasons Why You (and Your Company) Should Participate in National Healthcare IT Week

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On this blog we often talk about how to use PR and marketing to help build the brand and drive sales for healthcare and healthcare IT (HIT) products. Most of the time the activities we discuss require some significant effort. But there’s an online event coming up next week that can actually pay big dividends with considerably less of an investment on your part: National Healthcare IT Week. Here’s the skinny”

Who: Thought leaders, Health IT companies and future Healthcare IT entrepreneurs

What: National Healthcare IT Week #NHITweek

When: October 8th – October 12th

Where: Online and locally

Why: It’s easy, relevant, it’s a great cause and great for building trust as a brand

Founded by HIMSS and the Institute for e-Policy, U.S. National Health IT Week (NHIT Week) is a nationwide awareness week focused on catalyzing actionable change within the U.S. health system through the application of information and technology. The week-long event is celebrated through partner-driven, national and local events along with online conversations through social media. It’s easy to get involved, so what’s the holdup?

Social media is often misunderstood as an unnecessary evil, especially in healthcare, but it is an amazing tool that allows you to reach your audience in a way that was never possible before. While developing and maintaining an online community does take time and resources, events like this allow users to reap some of the benefits quickly.

Even if you don’t have an internal social media coordinator or an amazing agency managing your online presence, you can still participate in National Healthcare IT Week and other similar events. Here are six reasons to jump on board if you haven’t already.

  1. Engage with like-minded people and companies. These types of events create a community around the cause. By finding like-minded people you may be able to make beneficial connections that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
  2. Gain a better understanding of the conversation. Conversations during these events come from a variety of perspectives. It’s common to get stuck viewing the world with tunnel vision by reviewing the same new sites, having favorite writers and viewpoints.
  3. Find new influencers. Participating in events like this including tweet chats are a great way to quickly find people with similar ideals with your company. You might find people experiencing problems you can solve.
  4. Gain trust with your target market. Trust is one of the most important aspects of the customer experience. These events offer a condensed time-frame that allows you to be a part of the conversation. It’s a great opportunity to show other users that your company actually wants to help. Humanize your brand and spread awareness for the cause.
  5. Stay top of mind. Your competitors are likely participating in these events. Stay top of mind with your prospects and target market. Bonus: you will be top of mind with good sentiment.
  6. Take advantage of scalability. These events allow your organization to really adjust your involvement based on your resources. Participate in every aspect or do what you can with the time you and your team have available.

Here’s how you can get involved:

  • Become a partner
  • Share on social media
  • Share your story
  • Create or participate in an event locally

Be sure to let us know how you participate in the comments below too!

Rhodes’ Map to Turbocharged Presentations

Rhodes Map to Turbocharged Presentations

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When it comes to HIMSS Global Conference speaker proposals, Amendola Communications enjoys a 75% win rate. That means that out of 12 speaking abstracts we write and submit on behalf of our clients, nine are accepted.

Quite impressive considering that HIMSS has a less than 30% acceptance rate. In fact, for HIMSS18, 742 proposals were received and only 224 were accepted, which means 518 were declined.

The process is not easy and takes anywhere from 12-16 hours per proposal. If only clients would invest the same time and energy in preparing their presentations! If clients were willing to carve out time for presentation training or coaching before they get up on the stage, here is what I would suggest.

Grab attention. High tech need not be dry tech. Instead of diving right into your presentation, open with a bang with one or more of the following:

  • Startling statistic or statement
  • Rhetorical question
  • Historical analogy or example
  • Quotation
  • Personal anecdote
  • Something specific to your audience
  • Something to make audience feel good about themselves
  • Promise
  • Meme
  • Short story (see example below)
  • Headline from today’s newspaper (show newspaper)

For this last one, I am quoted in the book Presentations for Dummies (as Marcia Lemmons, my former married name) sharing this very tip. I first saw it used by a business development director at Accenture where I worked in the 90’s. The biz dev director would begin his presentation by holding up a fresh copy of USA Today or the Wall Street Journal. He would point to a headline and find a clever way to tie it to his presentation. This had the effect of making his presentation more current, relevant and way more interesting.

Short stories can be impactful if you can deliver them in 30 seconds or less. I saw this technique used very effectively by a Six Sigma Master Black Belt who would tell “The Dolphin Story” to open a workshop on the Voice of the Customer. It went like this:

“During World War II a mythology developed that dolphins love people. It was a myth propagated by sailors who dolphins rescued from drowning by pushing them ashore. A crew decided to set up camp on a ship to observe this first hand. After a few weeks on the ship, they concluded: dolphins don’t love people”¦they like to push things”¦the problem is we never hear from the people they push back into sea.”

State the problem or need. Why should the audience care? Spend one to two minutes sharing evidence, data, news reports or personal experience to illustrate the problem or opportunity. Stating the challenge up-front makes the audience uncomfortable enough that they will want to stay to hear your solution. This is referred to as the “tension-relief” technique used by playwrights.

Establish a pattern. Tell the audience what to expect from you in the next hour. Provide a roadmap agenda so they can more easily follow along.

Presentation patterns can be in the form of:

  • Lists
  • Chronological order
  • Physical location (ex: Europe, Asia, N. America)
  • Extended metaphor
  • Divide a word
  • Before/after
  • Theory/practice
  • Why/how/what
  • Provider/payer/pharma
  • Classic story (three acts)

Share the solution. This is the guts of your presentation; the knowledge or expertise you have been asked to share. Tip: When creating your presentation, you can get a jumpstart by working on this section first then working on your intro, extro and other slides later. You will find your creativity will kick in once you feel confident in what you have to say and can easily build on top of it.

Finish strong! Remind your audience of what they’ve just heard. In this section you can underscore the problem or remind them of what’s worth remembering. What are they supposed to do or change? Tie your closing statements to your opening grabber so the presentation feels whole and complete; you’ve come full circle. Give a clear signal that “We’re done.”

Rethink Q&A

Many presenters make the mistake of ending their presentation with the audience Q&A. They take questions from the audience and provide answers that they may not have had a chance to prepare for. This is also the section where it is easy for a speaker to lose control of the room. We recommend taking no more than six questions before bringing your presentation to a proper close with a few choice statements. You might even ask and answer your own question at the very end. For example, “One question CIOs almost always ask me is”¦.” Then provide your well thought-out answer.

Making it work

As a society, we don’t just want to be informed. We want to be entertained too. Just look at the news today compared to 30 years ago. As they say, “Educate the best, entertain the rest.”

The same holds true for presentations. The more lively and engaging you make it, the more your audience will be interested in what you have to say. Think through the structure, grab their interest from the beginning, and give them valuable insights they didn’t know before and you’ll keep your audience riveted. Then sit back and enjoy the applause.

And if you need a little help, give us a call!

What I learned at my first HIMSS

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First and foremost, this is a BIG show. Okay, obviously this is a big show. But it’s important to understand this isn’t the type of trade show where the cool startup with hopes and dreams of changing the world can make a huge splash. At least, not without a plan.

As a first-time attendee, there were some confirmations and surprises that led to a few insights. Here are some tips to help kick-start your strategy for your first HIMSS.

Stop singing the same old song

Reporters are booked solid well before the conference begins and they are hearing “stories” all day. If it’s your first HIMSS, you may be surprised by the amount of similar ideas, products and solutions across the board. Let me tell you, the editors are not.

Whether it’s your first HIMSS or your 30th, make sure you have something to say. Passion plus results are rewarded in almost any industry and the same rings true in Healthcare IT. Don’t offer one without the other.

No one wants to hear about a product and all the technical aspects you have painstakingly perfected. They want to hear about what your solution is going to do for them (or their readers) now.

Don’t get it twisted. We are all very thankful for all the hard work, but the fact of the matter is there is too much going on to appreciate all of that hard work. Have something to say with weight.

Do your research before you go

Don’t waste time deciding what you’re going to do once you get to HIMSS. Everything moves too fast, and it takes too long to get from one place to the other. The conference may be several days long, but it goes by in a blink. Have a plan as an attendee or as an exhibitor.

Most of all, don’t make meetings with people that don’t make sense. Time, space and (good) coffee are precious luxuries at HIMSS. Don’t waste them.

Talk to people, and ask questions

Not just any questions – ask the one that you are hesitant about.

As a millennial, I think that we undervalue face-to-face interactions. There is something about being in front of people where you can get answers to questions you might not ask in a formal meeting setting or email. For one, they can’t just ignore your question.

Before all of my telehealth peeps give me a hard time – don’t worry, I still have no interest in physically stepping into my doctor’s office on a regular basis. Telemedicine rules!

A lot of flash doesn’t mean a lot of cash…flow

It was sad to see the booths with a premier spot just watch all the attendees walk by without giving their super cool mini golf game a try. Booth traffic success comes in layers, and although this conference was in Las Vegas, you can’t just take a shallow approach to entice the shrewd people of this trade show.

Take a note from the brilliant Lisa Chernikoff, “As savvy marketing professionals know, the best trade show marketing strategies start early and establish a regular cadence of communication.” Emphasis on start early. Your booth traffic strategy should not rely solely on a game of putt-putt. Meetings with a purpose, strategies that give attendees something they can use to fix their problems and well thought-out strategies for making conversation are what seem to be the keys to success at mega trade shows such as HIMSS.

The thought of tackling this type of huge trade show without a specialized agency and expecting results brings to mind a few analogies

  • Scuba diving without a tank
  • Planning a wedding for tomorrow
  • Teaching a fish to ride a bicycle
  • Baking a cake with cardboard appliances

And of course, the rumors are true – you will always be lost, hungry, searching for an outlet and totally amazed at what we are doing as an industry to improve healthcare. Now, I need to go buy some AirPods and avoid ever using or hearing the word leverage again.