Symptoms include revenue loss, a spike in staffing shortages, and higher costs of drugs and supplies. In the last year, most hospitals have bounced back from the worst of COVID1, but they still face a long financial recovery.
- Hospitals lost an estimated $22.3 billion between March and May 20202 due to cancelled elective procedures. The Omicron variant exacerbated these cancellations in 2021 – 2022.
- Staffing shortages are causing labor costs to spike — the allocated budget for high-cost traveling nurses jumped from 5% in 2019 to 39% in 2022. Overall, labor cost per patient rose by 19% in 2021 from 20193
- Supply chain disruption and persistent inflation have caused operating costs to spike.
The C-Suite’s Long COVID means you have to message to a unique and influential audience
Sales and marketing plans for hospital technologies, devices, and drugs tend to be user centric — framed by a product's features, performance, and how it benefits the user and/or the patient. But how do you sell to someone who may never lay hands on the product nor have any time for the details? The hospital C-Suite is scrutinizing more capital cost decisions because they must prioritize their economic recovery. So, marketers need to draft a unique story for administrators who aren't clinicians, but are losing sleep over canceled elective surgeries, staffing shortages, and persistent inflation.
Crystalize your message by focusing on financial recovery and stability
Clinical product stories tend to be complex, branching out into many topics — clinical efficiencies, user experience, outcomes, etc. To capture and hold the attention of a C-Suite executive, simplify your message by focusing on its financial impact. This may go against your instincts to tell a product-centric story. But the C-Suite is making more purchase decisions now, so you many want to tell them a story about how your product can help them get a better night’s sleep.
