touch point podcast

The adage “perfect is the enemy of good” is more than just a saying - it has become a design principle. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer explore when “good enough” is good enough, and share ways individuals and organizations can move away from the desire of perfectionism and embrace the 80/20 rule, while still ensuring they are meeting customer (patient) and business strategies. ...

The advancement of AI in healthcare is seemingly moving at a very fast rate. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how AI and Machine Learning could be applied in telemedicine, and then are joined by Svein Willassen of Daily.co who shares his experience with telemedicine adoption in the UK and outlines some significant ways AI could be used to enhance video visits.  Mentions fr...

Join hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith in an engaging episode of the Touch Point podcast as they revamp the format and bring you a curated selection of vital news stories and articles. Tailored specifically for professionals in health systems and hospitals, this episode covers diverse topics, including the AHA letter to the OCA on the HIPAA Privacy Rule, insights on patient experience, and the sign...

Health systems today are facing ongoing pressure to become more consumeristic and act with speed, in order to be more competitive and stay fiscally solvent in today’s industry. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the how structural and organizational health system strategies may be part of the challenges faced when implementing change management at an organization.  Mentions...

Health systems are beginning to realize that developing a first-party data strategy is becoming one of the most critical things to do to support marketing, operations and clinical success. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss first-party data efforts, how health systems are realizing they are important to engage (re-engage) patients and employees, and why CDP’s are the key tec...

As health systems face the challenges of re-aligning to the current needs of the post-pandemic era, the importance of branding and thought-leadership is often misunderstood. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer welcome friend of the show, Rob Rosenberg, to share his expertise on branding and share insights every organization should consider to ensure their brand remains relevant to th...

For hospitals and health systems, many of us strive to continuously add value to the customer experience. But are we “consumer obsessed?” In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the concept of being consumer-obsessed, how organizations can begin aligning around the customer to help empower loyalty and growth and the critical role that CX plays in supporting these efforts.  Mentio...

Web tracking for hospitals and health systems are currently undergoing significant disruption. In some cases, health systems are actively pondering the usefulness of website analytics. In this episode, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss how data and analytics strategies are important for healthcare digital marketers, and outline ways to can defend and support a website analytics practice.  Mention...

In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how digital health and digital marketing solutions can help address the “triple aim” - improving patient experience, improving population health and reducing healthcare’s costs. They also share the five main traps healthcare organizations should avoid, to prevent them from falling into “digital myopia.” Mentions from the Show: The Future of...

In this episode, Reed Smith sits down with Ben Texter of Digital Health Strategies and Sam Seering of Epic, to discuss the new role of marketing in a health system, and how to leverage marketing’s understanding of patients (existing and new) to better support clinical efforts, and leverage technologies (such as the EMR) to engage the new healthcare consumer. Mentions from the Show:  Ben Texter on...

Intranets are one of the oldest digital marketing and communications tool in most organizations’ toolkit. But even now, the age-old question persists: who owns the intranet? In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the various stakeholders across an organization with a rightful claim to own this important internal communication platform, and they share best practices in intranet g...

For health systems, the partnership between digital marketing and IT is an important one, but sometimes it can be complicated. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer define the different types of “digital” in a provider setting and why the partnership between IT and Digital Marketing is critical. They also discuss the ever-changing role of the Chief Digital Officer.  Mentions from the S...

In health systems, the marketing technology stack is constantly evolving. However, in some ways it could also be seen as regressing. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the challenges CMOs face with managing their MarTech stack and share ways digital marketing professionals can begin strategically assessing their technology investments.  Mentions from the Show:  The evolving...

Adoption of telemedicine for hospitals and health systems has, to a certain effect, followed the Gartner technology hype cycle. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how the soon-to-expire COVID-19 public health emergency might harm the long-term adoption of virtual visits, AMA’s predictions on the future of telehealth and share some challenges retail telemedicine companies are...

In this episode, Reed Smith and Chris Boyer welcome Matt Gove for an open and frank discussion on the progress our industry is making towards embracing consumer centricity and why there is a tendency to amplify disruption from outside players in the healthcare space. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Digital health is here to stay: nearly half of the US population actively use wearables and connected health devices. However, many still express concern and doubt, which is impacting overall adoption. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the public use of health apps and wearables, the concerns that patients have with these devices and how those concerns may extend into other...

Health system marketers often develop strategies to address online reviews, ratings and even how their organization rank with third-party sites and organizations. In the episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the differences between each, the interrelation between ratings and reviews, and the challenges of bias with ranking methodologies.  Mentions from the Show:  Wave of leading medica...

For digital marketers, it might be said that Google has a strong influence on the tools and strategies that influence how we do our work - however, will this last? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the current-state of Google’s search engine (and the new conversational search engines being announced), the decline in Google advertising spend and the impact that the HSS.gov r...

The need for virtual health solutions at the onset of the pandemic led to wide-spread adoption of telemedicine by providers and patients alike. However, over the years, this adoption rate has shifted and changed - based both on shifting patient expectations and provider acceptance of these tools. In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the current trends impacting telehealth use...

Recent news reports of ChatGPT and DAL-E seem to imply that AI and machine learning is on the verge of taking over many functions of the marketing team. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss how AI/ML has already started to play a role in copy editing, creative design, digital advertising, CRM and website development. They are then joined by Matt Cohen and Christian Boylston of...

Healthcare digital marketers are spending more and more time focusing on improving the digital patient experience - but are they leveraging an important tool in the overall digital toolkit? In this episode, hosts Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss how patient engagement technologies - and most notable, the EMR - impact the overall patient experience, and share the results of a recent study outlini...

Healthcare professionals realize the importance of focusing on healthcare consumerism. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss why health systems and hospitals still struggle with developing experiences that are simple and accessible, including sharing what the modern healthcare consumer wants (and what they complain about the most), the challenges to consumer-driven healthcare a...

Healthcare marketers are very familiar with acquisition marketing, but are these strategies enough? In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the trifecta of patient-centered marketing strategies: acquisition, retention and leakage. By understanding their roles and align their outreach efforts, marketers can build a comprehensive approach to marketing to patients in their service a...

Building a marketing plan and strategy is important, but the evolution of health system marketing is creating a demand for something bigger - the development of a business case. In this episode, hosts Chris Boyer and Reed Smith discuss the challenges that healthcare marketing is facing and how by moving outside of simply patient acquisition and branding requires us to build partnerships with the C...

Many health systems have begun to formally develop a customer experience center strategy. But what does that actually entail? In this episode Reed Smith and Chris Boyer discuss the design and technical elements of s customer experience center, the purpose and ways that organizations can find value when adopting this critical strategy. Mentions from the Show: HOW A CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE STRATEGY HELP...