Market Heart Health in February

Heart health will be highlighted throughout the month of February to encourage healthier living and heart disease prevention. Use this observance to emphasize the benefits of discharging to home health when calling on heart specialists within your service area.

Cardiac patients routinely undergo procedures that require post-hospital care. Supply your referral sources print media featuring your services and how partnering with your agency can expedite patient recovery and reduce readmissions.

How discharging to Home Health can benefit hospitals:

• Reduce readmissions

• Reduce length of stay

• Reduce urgent/emergency care

• Improve outcomes and control cost

How discharging to Home Health can benefit physicians:

• Access to current clinical assessment data and outcome feedback

• Improved case management thereby reducing calls

• Early detection / intervention

• Streamlined plan-of-care

• Improved physician follow-up

How to incorporate Heart Health in your February marketing strategy:

• Partner with your referring Cardiologist and the local Red Cross to sponsor a CPR training event. Provide heart disease specific print media customized with your company branding.

• Celebrate National Wear Red Day to raise awareness about women and heart disease. Encourage your staff to wear red on February 1st. Visit Go Red for Women for more information.

• Organize a lunch walk with your staff and your neighboring offices to promote daily exercise.

• Share heart healthy recipes on your social media outlets throughout the month of February.

Grab some special edition Heart Month print media and start building referrals.

Visit TAGWebStore.com for all your Home Health and Hospice marketing needs.

Related topic of Interest:  Portable defibrillators … should you get one? 

Increase referrals with Heart Month-focused activities

Heart disease continues to be the nation’s leading cause of death, with about 600,000 people dying every year. In all, about 26.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with heart disease (that’s 11.5 percent of all adults!).

With such huge numbers of people affected by this disease, it’s no wonder the medical community emphasizes cardiac care in February. Join this effort, which includes American Heart Month, Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day (Feb. 14), Cardiovascular Professionals Week (Feb. 14–20), Cardiac Rehabilitation Week (Feb. 14–20), and National Wear Red Day (Feb. 5). And don’t forget what may be the most symbolic heart day there is: Valentine’s Day.

• Partner with a local cardiologist and sponsor a heart health-focused education class for local women’s groups in your area.
• Distribute free flyers featuring the warning signs of a heart attack, as well as your agency’s disease-specific brochures at all your local medical office waiting rooms.
• Join forces with a local registered dietitian and have community classes about heart-healthy foods. Create a mini-cookbook on your agency’s letterhead. Find recipe inspiration here.
• The best way to show referral sources that you’re the best choice to keep their patients healthy and out of the hospital are your positive outcomes. Use your outcomes scores as compared with statewide and national averages to demonstrate your agency’s success. Highlight them this month as you visit cardiologists, hospital discharge planners and other referral sources. Home health agencies: don’t forget to include your Quality of Patient Care star rating!
• Set up a booth with a clinician at a community health fair this month and offer free cholesterol screenings. Make sure you have plenty of information about cardiovascular diseases on hand, as well as your agency’s marketing materials.

January 2015: Happy New Year! Now let’s get moving.

The new year is finally here and it’s time to take a moment to refocus your vision for the year ahead. Get the year started off right with a strong plan for February’s marketing efforts.

February is American Heart Month. About 2,200 people die in this country every day due to heart disease and stroke. Become a community leader as you focus on heart education and advocacy.

• Visit https://www.tagwebstore.com/American-Heart-Month.php to check out the wide range of heart-related materials available for both patient and physician marketing and education.
• Volunteer to teach a community education class on heart health. Find a complete done-for-you Heart Health class and related materials at www.tagwebstore.com/startupkit-products.php.
• Use blood pressure logs to help patients stay on top of their condition while educating them about proper blood pressure tracking. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/bloodpressurelog.php.
• Give heart patients the ultimate tool to manage and participate in their care. Patient Education Guides will help patients cope with conditions such as CHF, Heart Attack, Hypertension and Stroke. Find them at  www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.

February also is National AMD/Low Vision Awareness Month. Spread the word about age related macular degeneration.

• Find Vision Health flyers at www.tagwebstore.com/AMD.php and distribute them at local physician waiting rooms.

Finally, February is Senior Independence Month. Highlight your agency’s efforts to help seniors continue living independently at home. We can help.

• Volunteer at a local senior center to teach a community education class. Relevant, done-for-you class topics include fall prevention, senior exercise programs, understanding medications and diet and nutrition. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/startupkit-products.php.
• Use our Patient Outcomes Brochures to highlight your fall prevention efforts and outcomes to local physicians and their patients. Show them just how well you can help keep their patients safe at home. Find them at https://www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-physicians.php and https://www.tagwebstore.com/patient-outcomes-senior.php.
• Visit senior centers, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and other communities and hand out senior fun packs to encourage continued socialization and engagement. Find them at www.tagwebstore.com/seniorfunpack.php.

January 2014: New Year, New Plan

Now that January is here, it’s time to push marketing efforts into high gear and get focused on growing referrals and revenue in 2014. Let’s start by focusing on February’s emphasis on cancer awareness and prevention. February is National Cancer Prevention Month, and Feb. 4 is World Cancer Day. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 13 million Americans are living a current or previous diagnosis of cancer. Experts estimate about 41 percent of all men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lives. Spread the word about the seriousness of this disease and how home care can help.

• Distribute flyers about the benefits of to hospice the oncologists in your area. Be sure to discuss the appropriate time for hospice admission. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/hospice-specialty-care-flyers.php.
• Place brochures about cancer and your agency’s services for patients with the disease in the waiting rooms of oncologists, surgeons and infusion centers. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/disease-information-brochures.php.
• Demonstrate to referral sources that your agency is serious about making patients active participants in their care. Patient Education Guides not only help patients be more compliant and informed about their condition, but they are a tangible example of your agency’s dedication to patient care and unnecessary hospitalizations. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-education-guides.php.

The heart takes center stage this month. Not only does the organ synonymous with love find its way onto store shelves and greeting cards, but it’s a vivid reminder that it’s also the time of year when we should all stop and focus on keeping our own hearts healthy. February is American Heart Month, and National Cardiac Rehabilitation Week and Cardiovascular Professionals Week take place Feb. 9-15. Remind people in your community that one of the best ways they can show their love for someone else is by taking care of his or her own heart.

• Participate in a local health fair and distribute flyers about heart disease, high blood pressure, myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/health-care-flyers.php.
• Spread the word about your agency’s commitment to heart health with “We’re all about heart” flyers, brochures and magnets that highlight heart disease and congestive heart failure. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/heartmonth.php.
• Use blood pressure logs to help patients stay on top of their condition while educating them about proper blood pressure tracking. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/bloodpressurelog.php.

You already know you wouldn’t be in business without your patients. It’s time to let them know how much you appreciate them. National Patient Recognition Day is Feb. 3. Make sure you do everything you can to convey the message that they are the reason you work hard every day to provide stellar service.

• Connect with seniors and raise awareness of your agency with puzzle books personalized with your logo and contact information. Display them in referral source waiting rooms, distribute them at senior centers, and offer them to your patients, too. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/puzzlebook.php.
• Give patients a powerful tool to improve compliance, disease monitoring and overall health. Patient Scorecard Logs are informative, helpful and easy to use. Get them at www.tagwebstore.com/patient-scorecard-logs.php.
• Host a community education class on a topic such as nutrition, making the most out of your doctor’s visit, or understanding Medicare. In addition to the participants at local senior centers, be sure to invite your clients’ family members to attend. Find ready-made classes at www.tagwebstore.com/healthmatters-education-series.php.