As a marketing agency that has the privilege of working directly with healthcare systems, community hospitals, healthcare consultants, and physician educators and advisors, we have a broad perspective on the challenges frequently encountered in healthcare marketing. Next month, our President, Karolyn Raphael, has the privilege of moderating a panel of distinguished colleagues at Modern HealthCare’s Annual Strategic Marketing Conference. The topic of the panel is Targeting Millennials: Connecting to the Patient of Tomorrow.
The panel will feature Margaret Coughlin, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mount Sinai Health System; Lawrence Montgomery, Senior Director of National Advertising, Kaiser Permanente, and; Arra G. Yerganian, Chief Marketing and Branding Officer, Sutter Health. Each member of the panel will bring a different perspective to the conversation. As they discuss the challenges that marketing to millennials creates for organizations, the goal is to uncover a handful of strategies that have proven successful in connecting with this much-discussed audience.
Millennials are currently the largest generational group in the United States and have become a driving force in the communication style healthcare organizations are now using to engage with patients. Healthcare is a consumable service, and patients, specifically millennials, want choices and information. The demanding expectations of this generation have providers examining everything from how healthcare is delivered to cost transparency for services.
Here are a few interesting facts from Statista, ZocDoc, Salesforce, Harris Poll, PNC Healthcare and PwC’s Research Institute:
- As of 2016, around 77% of millennials in the United States rated their general health condition as excellent or good.
- The most common disorders millennials were diagnosed with include: depression, being overweight, and anxiety.
- 24% of millennials smoke cigarettes, compared to only 10% of Gen Xers and 13% of baby boomers.
- More than 1/3 of millennials exercise 2 – 3 days per week for at least 30 minutes.
- 93% of millennials don’t schedule preventative health visits.
- Only half of millennials report having a personal relationship with their primary care doctor.
- Telemedicine is of interest to 74% of this demographic.
- 71% of millennials want providers to use mobile apps to make appointments, share health information, and manage preventative care.
- 50% of this population compares insurance options online.
- Millennials are the most likely population segment to ask for a discount or a less expensive treatment option. They are also the most likely generation to request a price check or appeal an insurance decision.
If you want to know more about this topic, or are currently debating whether you need to change the way that you market to this audience of 75.4 million people, register for Modern Healthcare’s conference to attend the session.