Marketing Plan: Visiting Nurse and Hospice of VT & NH

Competitive Healthcare Environment Means More Emphasis on Marketing

 

The Visiting Nurse and Hospice of Vermont and New Hampshire (VNAVNH) has provided home health and hospice care for over 100 years, serving an area of over 4,000 square miles. In 2009, a national, for-profit home health company expanded into Vermont and VNAVNH had to compete for patients, provider referrals, and employees for the first time in its history. At the same time, the healthcare landscape was changing drastically due to rising costs, healthcare reform changes, and lower Medicare reimbursements.

VNAVNH engaged Executive Services Corp to develop a marketing plan to help them compete. Lynn Post, working as an ESC consultant, created a marketing plan that positioned VNAVNH as a solution provider that helps partners such as Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center meet unique challenges imposed by the aging population, higher acuity, and shrinking Medicare reimbursements. The plan also included:

• Key value propositions for the agency’s audiences, including doctors, patients, donors, and current and prospective employees.
• A roadmap and budget for building new marketing capabilities such as a new website, email marketing, social media, and public relations campaigns.
• Recommended business development initiatives aimed at doctors and hospitals to increase patient referrals to the agency.

Jeanne McLaughlin, Executive Director of VNAVNH said this about the plan, “Lynn Post’s plan was exceedingly thorough and in-depth.  It effectively articulated the challenges for our agency and laid out sound strategies for dealing with our rapidly changing market.  With it we were able to shape and implement an aggressive new marketing and branding plan that will help us compete in a strategic and successful way.”

The Post Group builds sustainable capacity for nonprofits, including developing staff capabilities. The VNAVNH Marketing Plan provided a strategy for the agency’s 2013 marketing efforts and roadmap for a newly hired director to execute.

 

On January 17, 2015   /   Marketing, Marketing, Non-Profits, Spotlight, Work