Client: Memorial Health

Description:

In October of 1955, Memorial Hospital opened as a 300-bed non-profit facility amid much fanfare in the Savannah community. Dedicated to those who gave their lives during WWII, Memorial pioneered a new era in medical services and was hailed as “the most modern hospital in this section of the country.”

Situation:

By mid-1997, nearly all of the optimism of the early years had evaporated and the aging hospital, now known as Memorial Medical Center, found itself at a strategic crossroads.

• MMC's 1997 financial performance was a dismal $20 million loss.
• Senior leadership turnover, board governance issues, and physician unrest created much negative PR in the community.
• Employees were disgruntled and concerned with job security.
• Memorial was dead-last in consumer preference and was perceived as “the indigent hospital.”
• MMC was shut out of several major insurance plans and business group purchasing agreements.

Things were so bad, the Board seriously considered either selling the hospital or turning over the operation to an external management company. Instead, they hired a dynamic new CEO who was determined to create a new brand image – one that would change internal and external perceptions of the hospital.

Strategy:

The COO knew he had to challenge the status quo on every front.

“We can't just say we care more than our competitors. We need a revolutionary way to advertise healthcare.”

Enter Anderson. Memorial hired Anderson in 1997 because of a long track record of creating unconventional, yet successful, healthcare advertising. And because we could immediately put our most senior staff to work on helping solve their enormous communications challenges.

Our first challenge in creating the new Memorial brand experience was to put his radical vision of the future into terms that each and every employee would understand, and then take to heart. These early days were all about culture change on a grand scale, and the communications that Anderson developed played a central role in the battle for hearts and minds within Memorial Health. Simultaneously, Anderson began preparations for the public launch of the new Memorial brand and creating a long-term plan for communicating the benefits to the community as Memorial achieved each new milestone in its strategic plan.

Results:

• In the first year of our engagement, employee satisfaction rose 30%, patient satisfaction rose 35% and market share increased 15%.
• Today, Memorial Health is the leading healthcare organization in the region. The system includes its flagship, Memorial Health University Medical Center, a 530-bed tertiary medical center; CareOne, its two-state home care division; Memorial Health University Physicians primary and specialty care networks; a major medical education program; business and industry services; and NurseOne, a 24-hour call center. In addition, Memorial Health has established internationally recognized centers of excellence in advanced treatment of cancer, heart disease, and neurological disorders.
• On the business side, Consumer Preference has increased from 20.8% in 1997 to 47.4% in 2006 (1st in the Region). Its overall patient satisfaction score of 90.1 exceeds the national average. Its Market Share is a very healthy 49.1%, up over 20 percentage points since 1997. In 2005, Memorial Health University Medical Center achieved net income of $26.3 million.