Rebranding seems to be everywhere these days. Whether it's a product with which we're all familiar or a well-established company, organizations routinely are engaging in a process designed to communicate new messages, perhaps to new audiences, that capture the essence of what the product or company stands for today or intends to be in the future. Unfortunately, rather than being informed by a strategic process, rebranding often doesn't go much further than an organizational name change or creation of a new logo.
Now you may be asking yourself what a hospital CEO knows about branding, and, truth be told, I'm hardly an expert in marketing. I've learned something about rebranding, though, because my own institution recently underwent a rebranding process. In our case, though, this effort didn't signal a new start or an effort to reposition ourselves in the marketplace. Rather, it was the culmination of nearly a decade of changes that have taken place, all of which have been driven by a desire to define the organization as a regional leader in the delivery of progressive and innovative healthcare.
How did that happen? Frankly, it started with a very simple premise, but one that needed to be emphatically stated and consistently reinforced. As a non-profit, hospital, we are owned by the community. As such, before everything we do, every new program we consider introducing, every new technology or piece of equipment we think about purchasing, we must ask ourselves, "Is this the right thing to do for the community?" If so, then the decision on whether to move forward is obvious.
With that central theme as the tipping point in our decision-making process, we adopted what can best be described as a "Why not?" philosophy. Our employees are no less committed, no less accomplished; our physicians are no less brilliant, no less experienced; our community in no less deserving than any other place on the planet; so if it can be done elsewhere, why not here? Turns out — in most cases — there isn't a single good reason "Why not."
With that mindset firmly in place, we began to add new programs and capabilities that the Frederick community needed and deserved to have close to home. Why should premature neonates born in Frederick County, Md., have to be flown out to hospitals in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., for care, separating families and placing undue hardship on new parents? We worked with the State of Maryland to establish the Billy Miller Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The need to fly newborns to tertiary centers for neonatal care rarely happens anymore.
That same kind of will and determination drove us in other areas as well. We developed an interventional cardiology program and built a state-of-the-art angioplasty and electrophysiology lab so that patients suffering from certain kinds of heart attacks have access to immediate diagnostic angioplasty and stent placement; we implemented a stroke center that is now a Center of Excellence so that FMH is no longer passed by when ambulances are transporting patients in the midst of having a stroke. We established the FMH CyberKnife Center and recruited one of the world's foremost practitioners of radio surgery so that patients with tumors located anywhere in the body can be treated — even if they have been told that their tumors were inoperable. The list goes on and on. If the discipline or modality of care is the right thing to do for our community, we get it done.
Success breeds success, and with each improvement, FMH attracted interest from more doctors and medical personnel interested in working here. We also began to draw national attention. We received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers, an international organization focused on transforming cardiovascular care by helping hospitals to create centers of excellence. We were named a top performer nationally in a CMS project that rewards hospitals for delivering high quality clinical care. We were named by Premier healthcare alliance’s national QUEST collaborative as one of the nation's top performing hospitals for increasing the quality of care provision, reducing mortalities and lowering patient costs.
I'm convinced that the determination to strive for excellence is a deeply seated human imperative that only requires structure and channeling to bring it to the fore. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a hospital or a little league team, a car dealership or a high school football team, the desire to be the best is in us all. The secret is to garner support, buy-in and belief in the cause. Listening is the key.
Encouraging open conversations with everyone who has (or might have) a stake in the operation is a must. No one can be omitted. And no idea — no matter how big or small, important or seemingly insignificant — can be ignored. Doing so will help to foster not just a feeling of inclusion, but ownership.
At FMH, interdisciplinary teams were established to formalize the dialogue process. The teams discussed ideas, solicited input and feedback, gauged community need and impact, built consensus and ultimately considered what would accomplish the most good for the most people. Decision-making was driven by our "Why not?" philosophy. Initiatives, activities or ideas were not dismissed because of funding barriers, nor were they taken off the table because of prioritization. Not every idea was accepted, but all ideas were discussed.
Closing the loop in this regard is an absolute imperative. If a recommendation is not going to be implemented, the individual making that recommendation deserves an explanation. Doing so didn't always make people happy, but it ultimately helped them to recognize that their opinion was important and valued even if it wasn't accepted this time. Gradually, this kind of ongoing dialogue with the stakeholders helped everyone to understand not just what was happening, but why it was happening. That, in turn, instilled a feeling of ownership. Individuals began talking about FMH as "my hospital."
Inevitably, this kind of open process will ruffle some feathers. Its very nature invites pushback. At FMH, re-engaging the physicians proved to be particularly challenging. Ultimately, though, most of our physicians came to realize that their opinion was not only being asked but valued.
That realization helped them to understand that our organization's commitment to excellence went far beyond mere words on a page. Our commitment to excellent customer service included them as a most valued constituency. The benefits of that realization are evident every single day.
All of this brings us back full-circle to the notion of rebranding. I would urge any organization that is considering a rebranding effort not to put the cart before the horse. Rebranding can't be a quick fix. It should never be reduced to simply slapping a new name or a new logo on the organization and then moving on.
Rather, it should capture the essence of all that the organization is and aims to be in the future. It should represent what the organization means to the board of directors, its leadership team, employees and the people it ultimately serves. It should never signal the beginning. Branding is the culmination of a multidisciplinary process that honors the organization's rich history and background, and captures the excitement of possibilities. In the end, it's all about vision.
Capture it.
Tom Kleinhanzl has served as president and CEO of Frederick (Md.) Regional Health System since December 2004. Prior to Frederick, he served in a variety of healthcare leadership positions, including COO and acting president and CEO of Emerson Health System in Concord, Mass.; senior vice president of the Palmetto Health Alliance in Columbia, S.C.; and an administrative director at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where he also completed an administrative fellowship.
7 Hospitals, Health Systems That Recently Changed Names
Mercy Northwest Arkansas Renames Hospitals to Unify Brand
Now you may be asking yourself what a hospital CEO knows about branding, and, truth be told, I'm hardly an expert in marketing. I've learned something about rebranding, though, because my own institution recently underwent a rebranding process. In our case, though, this effort didn't signal a new start or an effort to reposition ourselves in the marketplace. Rather, it was the culmination of nearly a decade of changes that have taken place, all of which have been driven by a desire to define the organization as a regional leader in the delivery of progressive and innovative healthcare. The importance of vision
The focus of our efforts is captured in our vision statement: "Superb Quality. Superb Service. All The Time." Over the course of the past decade, those words have become more than our vision. They have literally morphed into who — and what — we are. Our vision statement guides every activity — no matter how big or small. It is now a part of our cultural DNA.How did that happen? Frankly, it started with a very simple premise, but one that needed to be emphatically stated and consistently reinforced. As a non-profit, hospital, we are owned by the community. As such, before everything we do, every new program we consider introducing, every new technology or piece of equipment we think about purchasing, we must ask ourselves, "Is this the right thing to do for the community?" If so, then the decision on whether to move forward is obvious.
With that central theme as the tipping point in our decision-making process, we adopted what can best be described as a "Why not?" philosophy. Our employees are no less committed, no less accomplished; our physicians are no less brilliant, no less experienced; our community in no less deserving than any other place on the planet; so if it can be done elsewhere, why not here? Turns out — in most cases — there isn't a single good reason "Why not."
With that mindset firmly in place, we began to add new programs and capabilities that the Frederick community needed and deserved to have close to home. Why should premature neonates born in Frederick County, Md., have to be flown out to hospitals in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., for care, separating families and placing undue hardship on new parents? We worked with the State of Maryland to establish the Billy Miller Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The need to fly newborns to tertiary centers for neonatal care rarely happens anymore.
That same kind of will and determination drove us in other areas as well. We developed an interventional cardiology program and built a state-of-the-art angioplasty and electrophysiology lab so that patients suffering from certain kinds of heart attacks have access to immediate diagnostic angioplasty and stent placement; we implemented a stroke center that is now a Center of Excellence so that FMH is no longer passed by when ambulances are transporting patients in the midst of having a stroke. We established the FMH CyberKnife Center and recruited one of the world's foremost practitioners of radio surgery so that patients with tumors located anywhere in the body can be treated — even if they have been told that their tumors were inoperable. The list goes on and on. If the discipline or modality of care is the right thing to do for our community, we get it done.
Success breeds success, and with each improvement, FMH attracted interest from more doctors and medical personnel interested in working here. We also began to draw national attention. We received Chest Pain Center Accreditation from the Society of Chest Pain Centers, an international organization focused on transforming cardiovascular care by helping hospitals to create centers of excellence. We were named a top performer nationally in a CMS project that rewards hospitals for delivering high quality clinical care. We were named by Premier healthcare alliance’s national QUEST collaborative as one of the nation's top performing hospitals for increasing the quality of care provision, reducing mortalities and lowering patient costs.
Gaining support for fulfilling the vision
None of this would have happened, though, had a solid foundation not been laid from the outset. Getting people — both on the hospital's team and in the community — to believe and buy into superb quality and service all the time was not always easy. It took time, patience, many conversations and a tremendous amount of consensus building. But in time, people began to believe that "Superb Quality. Superb Service. All the Time." was more than just a slogan. It became a way of life.I'm convinced that the determination to strive for excellence is a deeply seated human imperative that only requires structure and channeling to bring it to the fore. It doesn't matter whether you are talking about a hospital or a little league team, a car dealership or a high school football team, the desire to be the best is in us all. The secret is to garner support, buy-in and belief in the cause. Listening is the key.
Encouraging open conversations with everyone who has (or might have) a stake in the operation is a must. No one can be omitted. And no idea — no matter how big or small, important or seemingly insignificant — can be ignored. Doing so will help to foster not just a feeling of inclusion, but ownership.
At FMH, interdisciplinary teams were established to formalize the dialogue process. The teams discussed ideas, solicited input and feedback, gauged community need and impact, built consensus and ultimately considered what would accomplish the most good for the most people. Decision-making was driven by our "Why not?" philosophy. Initiatives, activities or ideas were not dismissed because of funding barriers, nor were they taken off the table because of prioritization. Not every idea was accepted, but all ideas were discussed.
Closing the loop in this regard is an absolute imperative. If a recommendation is not going to be implemented, the individual making that recommendation deserves an explanation. Doing so didn't always make people happy, but it ultimately helped them to recognize that their opinion was important and valued even if it wasn't accepted this time. Gradually, this kind of ongoing dialogue with the stakeholders helped everyone to understand not just what was happening, but why it was happening. That, in turn, instilled a feeling of ownership. Individuals began talking about FMH as "my hospital."
Inevitably, this kind of open process will ruffle some feathers. Its very nature invites pushback. At FMH, re-engaging the physicians proved to be particularly challenging. Ultimately, though, most of our physicians came to realize that their opinion was not only being asked but valued.
That realization helped them to understand that our organization's commitment to excellence went far beyond mere words on a page. Our commitment to excellent customer service included them as a most valued constituency. The benefits of that realization are evident every single day.
All of this brings us back full-circle to the notion of rebranding. I would urge any organization that is considering a rebranding effort not to put the cart before the horse. Rebranding can't be a quick fix. It should never be reduced to simply slapping a new name or a new logo on the organization and then moving on.
Rather, it should capture the essence of all that the organization is and aims to be in the future. It should represent what the organization means to the board of directors, its leadership team, employees and the people it ultimately serves. It should never signal the beginning. Branding is the culmination of a multidisciplinary process that honors the organization's rich history and background, and captures the excitement of possibilities. In the end, it's all about vision.
Capture it.
Tom Kleinhanzl has served as president and CEO of Frederick (Md.) Regional Health System since December 2004. Prior to Frederick, he served in a variety of healthcare leadership positions, including COO and acting president and CEO of Emerson Health System in Concord, Mass.; senior vice president of the Palmetto Health Alliance in Columbia, S.C.; and an administrative director at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., where he also completed an administrative fellowship.
More Articles on Hospital Rebranding:
Naming Challenges: When and Why to Consider a Brand Makeover7 Hospitals, Health Systems That Recently Changed Names
Mercy Northwest Arkansas Renames Hospitals to Unify Brand