Even hospitals and physician groups need to market their facilities and services, but when it involves gleaning marketing information from patient data in EHRs, well, it’s not so simple.
Consider Internet marketing. You're working on your computer and need to look at a Web site or a news site. There's a banner advertisement from a retailer that you either buy from or has a site you've perused. Suddenly, you see a parade of items you either looked at or purchased. Maybe for a lot of people used to e-marketing, this is nothing new. I find it unsettling.
Would I find it unsettling if I got an e-mail or snail mail marketing piece about services for a condition I had? That's quite different than getting health management information or general knowledge about my condition through the hospital or physician office.
Yes, consumers are getting savvy about healthcare services and providers, but somehow I think they'd rather look up the information themselves or get it through a third party than the healthcare organization or office that you had recently visited.
And I'm not a big fan of using data from EHRs to create marketing campaigns. There's just a line you shouldn't cross. Healthcare organizations may say it's leveraging EHRs to help with customer relationship management (CRM) or revenue generation.
I think you can get plenty of benefit when you use EHRs for improving clinical outcomes, health information exchange and public health. There is potential for revenue generation there.
I'm just against using it for CRM purposes. Do you feel differently? Let us know.
Photo via drewqstephens courtesy of Creative Commons license.
