At SV Hospital, new services mean new revenue
How does a rural hospital survive and thrive in a very tough marketplace? For Sonoma Valley Hospital, the strategy involves greatly expanding – and then effectively marketing – the services it offers.
While the goal is to provide community members with access to a wide range of healthcare services without needing to leave the area, a secondary goal is to develop niches that draw patients to the hospital from out of the immediate area, according to hospital CEO Kelly Mather. “We’re first and foremost a community hospital, and our emphasis remains on emergency services which our community expects from us,” Mather said. “We see a number of opportunities to develop new revenue, especially given our modern Surgery Center.”
While the hospital receives nearly $4 million from the parcel tax, it also receives about $54 million of our $58 million budget from hospital services. “Because we are largely dependent on government payers – over half of our patients have Medicare, and another 18 percent use Medi-Cal – we face ever-tightening reimbursement from the government. This has prompted us to explore new services with good margins.”
Mather points to several services that are bringing in new patients or have the potential to do so. The hospital has opened a specialty clinic and a physician‘s office, and recruited more than a dozen physician specialists.
Bariatric, or weight loss surgery, is one of the hospital’s success stories. There are few bariatric surgeons in the North Bay and the hospital has two experienced surgeons, Dr. Scott Perryman and Dr. Crystine Lee. The hospital has used online advertising and direct physician communication to promote the procedure, which helps obese people lose weight and improve their health by addressing obesity-related medical conditions such as diabetes.
SVH works with several orthopedic surgeons who offer a number of services, including knee and shoulder replacements. Two of the surgeons, Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Robert Harf, are among a very few in the region to offer ConforMIS Knee, an implant that offers individualized fit by converting a CT scan of a knee into a 3D model which forms the basis for designing an implant custom-made for the knee. The hospital works with the manufacturer to market this implant.
Early this year the hospital opened A Woman’s Place, a new service offering comprehensive health care and preventive screening services just for women. Staff includes three board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists with different specialty areas, a breast surgeon, a physician specialist in female urology and gynecology, a family practice physician, and a pelvic health physical therapist. As part of women’s services, the hospital recently opened a new 3D mammography suite.
Pain Management is another service area where the hospital is adding physician specialists and has already seen an increase in patients. It expects to see this service develop in the coming year and expand into helping those struggling with opioid addiction.
Within the past year, SVH introduced Dr. Sabrina Kidd, one of the North Bay’s few colorectal surgeons, and is seeing an increase in this form of surgery, including endoscopy cases. The hospital also introduced Dr. Michael Saidel, an ophthalmologist, and as a result the number of eye procedures at the hospital has grown significantly.
Because of the tight budget, the hospital has become very efficient in promoting these services, notes Celia Kruse De La Rosa, SVH marketing manager.
In a few cases, advertising is used, especially online advertising, social media promotion and some traditional print ads. But most marketing involves targeted communications to physicians who refer patients, or in those areas where patients can choose a service, communication directly with patients. Marketing also includes direct mail and email, a social media presence, brochures, and physician and community outreach that can include talks and educational events.
The hospital recently announced an affiliation with UCSF Health, a leading California healthcare provider. While the main goal of the relationship is to enhance services provided to Valley residents, Mather notes it is likely the relationship will in time see the addition of new services offered in partnership with UCSF Health that will draw patients from outside of the area.
SVH also partners with – and promotes itself through – several health plans including Western Health Advantage, Canopy Health which is a new Bay Area-wide plan, SCAN, a plan for Medicare patients, and Meritage Medical Network.
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” This has prompted us to explore new services with good margins.” . Sounds to me that people who work and pay for health insurance are supposed to now help the hospital to show profits so they can turn around and provide care to the deadbeats and idiots who have unprotected sex and produce unplanned offspring .