Loyalty programs are everywhere...why not healthcare?

We see organizations in every industry employ tactics to build customer loyalty through “membership programs”.  This strategy has its skeptics, but there is data to support that its popularity is increasing.  Accenture’s 2010 annual global consumer survey stated over 52% of respondents said they opted in to loyalty programs in 2010, compared with 45% in 2009. And the percentage of consumers who stayed with their loyalty program climbed to 54% from 49% among retail consumer programs.

So why would a healthcare provider want to start a loyalty program?  The competition now for services in healthcare has reached the level of many other consumer products and similar strategies are required to maintain and build market share.  Some of the reasons for this include:

• Increased use of Health Savings Accounts giving consumers increased control and outlets for healthcare spending
• Increased competition from other hospitals and now private interests (i.e. urgent care, free standing care centers, physician owned specialty hospitals, commercial providers)
• Greater level of consumerism giving individuals more control over decisions and affecting their health care.
• Increased transparency enabling consumers to compare the quality and price of health care services
• More government regulated focus on customer service measurement
• Consumers willing to travel for perceived higher level of care

Many of the more robust programs that require sophisticated IT systems to track usage patterns are often too cost prohibitive to integrate into a hospitals current (often antiquated) system.  There are exceptions like the “My Healthy rewards” programs that some hospitals have implemented.  These however are largely retail focused and apply to gift store and other in-hospital purchases. 

Short of a long term IT investment there are still ways that a healthcare organization can begin to build loyal patients through membership programs.  Building a loyalty program can start with providing access to exclusive “members only” programs.  These would require some type of sign-up that can be actively tracked. Examples I’ve seen include:

• Exclusive admittance to classes, wellness fairs, screenings, seminars, interactive clinics
• Invites to annual or other special events
• Preferred access to special parking, set aside appointment times, exclusive phone numbers, or concierge services while at hospital
• Discounts on “out of pocket” services or at strategic partners throughout the community (gyms, specialty stores, etc.)
• Newsletters, give-aways or other chachkies

There are obviously many more, but all of them would be dependent on having some type of registration process requiring the participant to give out some personal information in change for services they wouldn’t normally received.  The key is to provide a sustained benefit to make it worthwhile for consumer/patients to keep coming back.  Over time the program can become more sophisticated to track points or rewards, but there is no need to run before you can walk.