Across the US, 39.8 percent of total healthcare spending is spent in hospitals (ranging as high as 49.4 percent of dollars in South Dakota to as low as 32.9 percent in New Jersey). Collectively, hospitals employ 42 percent of the physicians in the country. 

Clearly, hospitals play a central and significant role in our $3 trillion healthcare system. Given those stakes, it should come as no surprise that hospitals are complex businesses.

There are multiple layers of leadership and decision makers; it can often be challenging to identify the right stakeholders to target. One of our recent posts focused on the C-Suite level of hospital leadership — who they are and what they care about — but there are more roles within a hospital that a MedTech business needs to understand. Clinical leadership encompasses some of those roles. In this piece, we’ll examine what clinical leadership is and who makes up a clinical leadership team.

Selling to hospitals is complex. With multiple decision makers and stakeholders, it can be difficult to know which titles to target, as well as how to target effectively. Once you define who you want to go after, you have to understand that buyer intimately, including what they are responsible for and what matters to them.

When looking at the highest level of hospital leadership, some argue that “selling higher” is the best approach. However, according to a study published by Forester, executives consider less than 20 percent of their meetings with salespeople to be valuable.

So, how do you get to be part of that 20 percent? You have to know that persona completely with a 360-degree viewpoint. In breaking down the who’s who of leadership, you need to know what they do and what matters to them, so you remain relevant.

Any discussion of email marketing to physicians must begin with the understanding that most doctors are incredibly busy. Some are so busy they barely have enough time to provide proper patient care, so they certainly don’t have time to read the vast majority of emails that clutter their inbox every day.

In an age when so many messages are deleted without ever being opened, how do you break through the noise and ensure your email marketing gets noticed by a physician? Simple. Follow the rules below.

Here are nine tips to greater email marketing success with clients and prospects when you’re selling to doctors.

Let's start with a short quiz.

​In which of the following scenarios should you incorporate email as part of your marketing strategy?

• Supporting a hospital's efforts to build awareness for your surgical equipment among community doctors after the sale
• Educating surgeons on the latest data on morbidity and length of stay for your company's high-tech surgical assistance tool 
• Exposing physicians to a brand new device or implant that your company is launching
• Following up with a group of radiologists you met at a trade show who wanted to learn more about your latest digital imaging machine
• Convincing an independent physician to adopt your electronic health record or back-office billing app
• All of the above

Like many well-seasoned healthcare marketers, planning and executing outreach campaigns to target physicians may conjures up memories of poring over countless spreadsheets, with a feeling of dread that you'll be faced with a sparsely-filled hotel conference room on the day of the event. The lesson learned is that the success of any given physician marketing campaign relies on your ability to identify, understand and meaningfully engage the right physicians.

It's well into Q1 and you likely staring down an intimidating quota. Selling to hospitals and physicians is tough given the historical dependence on relationships. To meet and exceed your quota this year you need to find new ways to engage busy providers.

Maybe you are approaching a brand new lead. Perhaps you are trying to resurrect old prospect. ​How are you going to get through to them to book that next meeting?

Healthcare claims data are an excellent resource to deeply understand how facilities and physicians deliver care. Healthcare codes allow you to better understand your market, target new opportunities, and segment your campaigns with precision.

​To fully leverage this invaluable resource, it’s helpful to know how the underlying mechanics of healthcare billing and reimbursement work.

We've all seen the billboards, lining the highways in our cities, advertising the wait times in the ER.  A not so subtle reminder that (potentially) expedient service is available during your next medical emergency.

Hospitals and health system often try to extend the success they have had with driving a message to consumers to advertise their other specialty service lines... robotic surgery, colonoscopies, cardiovascular care, join replacement. While hospitals may be targeting to potential patients, they are equally trying to reinforce a message to community doctors who may refer patients to their facilities and specialists for advanced care.