MARKET RESEARCH

University of Utah Health Conducts Original Market Research to Add Value and Enhance Its Reputation

Leaders at University of Utah Health have always had to work a little harder than their peers in other parts of the country to gain influence or recruit talent, given their geographic location and people’s general unfamiliarity with the state. 

To help address the problem, the Salt Lake City-based health system’s marketing-communications department performed an ambitious, first-of-its-kind national survey to better understand how patients, doctors and employers define value in health care, and they’re using the results to elevate University of Utah Health’s profile and image among internal stakeholders, the local community and health care organizations across the U.S. 

Amy Albo, one of the survey’s developers and the director of publishing at University of Utah Health, believes the strategy is making an impact, but getting to this point has required a change in mindset. “Discovering new knowledge is part of our mission and an important way to add value, and yet we often don’t think about that in marketing and communications. We utilize the research that’s done by others. So, it was a bit of a paradigm shift for us to realize we can actually create this new knowledge.”

Albo said her department’s journey toward developing the survey started when University of Utah Health hired Dr. Vivian Lee as its senior vice president. She asserted that the organization was “doing amazing things that no one knows about it,” and challenged communicators to “get the word out” in a way that added value to the national conversation. 

“We know that just sending big, glossy brochures to people talking about ourselves is what I call ‘bad manners.’ It’s like going to a dinner party and just talking about yourself the whole time,” Albo said. “Often, you’re not invited back.”

For the past 10 years, University of Utah Health had a laser focus on improving “value” in health care. The institution had created a value equation (quality plus service, divided by cost) and an operational plan to match. But the team realized that nationally, “value” had become a buzz word without a clearly defined meaning. University of Utah Health’s marketing-communications department decided to get to the bottom of that question by contracting with consulting firm Leavitt Partners to conduct nationwide market research among more than 5,000 patients, almost 700 physicians and more than 500 employers. 

Some of the key questions included:

• How do we understand and evaluate quality in health care?
• What are Americans’ attitudes about the cost of health care and who do they hold responsible for those costs?
• What importance do we place on service in the field, and how does that stack up against measures of cost and quality?
• How do those paying for, providing and receiving care define value, and where are there alignments in that understanding?

The online survey, which Leavitt completed in late 2017, found some major misalignments between how those three stakeholder groups define value. The survey asked respondents to select five statements that indicate what they most value in health care, and 90% of patients picked value combinations that differed from anything physicians selected. 

For consumers, the top value statement was, “My out-of-pocket cost is affordable.” Physicians had a clearly defined top five that focused on quality and service. Only about 32% of patients picked “my health improves” as a top priority, which University of Utah Health said may surprise doctors who were trained in medical school to prioritize clinical outcomes. 

One of the important takeaways from the survey is that providers need to more thoroughly address access, convenience and cost factors as they relate to value, and they must better understand how value is defined by their key constituencies. 

Albo believes the survey has been successful in guiding how the organization communicates and engages with the three stakeholder groups on value, and contributes to the national conversation about the issue. The survey results have drawn local as well as national media attention and are helping to position University of Utah Health as a thought leader. More than 50 media outlets across the country — ranging from Modern Healthcare to STAT, Harvard Business Review, the local Desert News and Becker’s — all published articles about the survey findings.

University of Utah Health has seen some impressive evidence that peers and consumers are connecting with the survey. The marcom department created a value website, which has recorded more than 24,000 page views from over 17,000 users. More than 1,400 people have downloaded the survey results from the website and 1,900 have subscribed to receive further value-related content. Email campaigns on average have garnered a 44% open rate and 17% click-thru rate. University of Utah Health also partnered with a national media outlet to promote the survey in their email campaigns. Total reach was 126,000 recipients with a 26% open rate. 

Tips for Performing Market Research to Enhance Your Organization’s Reputation Choose a topic that will help your organization meet its strategic goals. Do a landscape review to see what is already out there and if there’s a gap in knowledge. Engage survey professionals, either an outside team or researchers at your own institution. Engage your internal experts about the selected topic to create content for survey. Create a plan for communicating the survey results and key message points to important stakeholders. Share with internal audiences (e.g., employees and physicians) first. Distribute via owned and paid media and social platforms. Pitch to local, regional and (if appropriate) national media. Make sure you have the budget for the project (it’s expensive). Determine return on investment goals and metrics to measure the success of the initiative.

There have been other spillover benefits. Leadership from the American Hospital
Association reached out to the health system
to commend the survey, saying that there is
little such information on the topic, and it’s
been helpful framing the value conversation
with AHA members. They’re now collaborating
with Priya Bathija, vice president of the association’s Value Initiative, on a number of
future projects. 

Albo and the survey’s executive sponsor,
Chief Medical Quality Officer Dr. Bob
Pendleton, have been invited to present about value at many health care conferences. She’s
also encouraged to see medical leaders across University of Utah Health using the survey
findings for their own purposes. 

“We shared communications materials about
the research, such as PowerPoint slides, with our physicians to educate them and provide them with additional resources on value, and we have been very pleased with how they have responded,” she said, adding that faculty members have also
shown interest in using the survey results to help write peer-reviewed journal articles. 

In the end, University of Utah Health believes the survey has accomplished its primary goal of raising the organization’s stature with internal stakeholders, the local community and the health care field across the country. 

This article features an interview with: 

Amy Albo
Director of Publishing 
University of Utah Health
Salt Lake City, Utah