Yes. When it comes to healthcare marketing, it can be tricky to navigate the many regulations set in place to keep the patient data safe and secure.  As a result of the regulations, many are more prone to go with traditional avenues of marketing, such as TV, print and radio because the mass marketing is easier to bypass any targeting tactics that require additional data.  However, there’s a huge missed opportunity that comes with digital ads’ capability of precise aim at the target audience.  

The interesting thing about HIPPA required compliance in digital marketing for healthcare organizations is that many are unfamiliar at how to translate the regulations into their digital marketing strategy, thereby, bypassing it altogether. Meaning, many healthcare organizations haven’t focused on digital strategy, giving those who do, a leg up on the competition. At TC,  we understand how to produce quality ads while remaining HIPPA compliant.

How you make your ads HIPPA compliant is in the creativity you use. We need to be sure as marketers that when utilizing programmatic advertising tactics such as retargeting or geofencing that we do not disclose PHI to a 3^rd party.

Let’s use a quick example, Larry is having pain when using the restroom.

He searches his symptoms on Google and your practices ad comes up.

He clicks, reads your page on his symptoms, leaves the website and gets up from his computer.

Then Larry’s Wife sits down and she’s served up a Google Ad about getting his symptoms diagnosed and treated by your clinic.

What you’ve done is basically disclosed protected health information about a medical condition (one that necessitates an ultrasound) to an unauthorized third party. You have no control over and no way of knowing who is using a given browser when you add that cookie and retarget your ad.

This is a clear violation of HIPAA and an invasion of a user’s privacy.

In order to utilize retargeting while staying HIPAA compliant, you have to do it in a generic fashion. You can’t advertise a particular treatment or any specific conditions. The safest way is to send the people who click on the ad to your home page or a nonspecific landing page. Again, it all to come back to the creative the campaign is utilizing.

For additional information regarding HIPPA compliance, view this checklist here.

Very Important! If you tackle this on your own, you will want to (carefully) read all 563 pages of the Final HIPAA Omnibus Rule. This Rule will become effective with increased fines for non-compliance.

How will you measure up? “Marketing” has been redefined, and some activities by healthcare entities—insurance companies, hospitals, providers and others—may need to change. And the rights of patients regarding the use and disclosure of their personal information by their healthcare provider, insurer or a third-party business have been strengthened.

Under HIPAA, a patient’s written authorization is required before a hospital or health plan can market products or services that are outside of the patient’s treatment or benefit plan. Hospitals can communicate with patients about health services that are included in, or add value to, the member’s plan.

Pay per click marketing (PPC) is a form of marketing that is measure by the amount of people who engaged with your ads when they search anything in relation to your ad.  With PPC ads, you’re able to promote your organization to find new patients or nurture existing patients.  PPC enables you to track a campaigns effectiveness, to better optimize for future campaigns.  The healthcare industry spends about $10.1 billion on PPC in 2020. On average, healthcare providers get about $3 back for every $1.60 they spend.

Search marketing is not only effective, it is necessary to stay competitive. Here is the breakdown of consumers that ran a search before scheduling an appointment with a new provider:

                                                               i.      Health Clinics: 67%

                                                             ii.      Hospitals: 69%

                                                           iii.      Nursing homes: 79%

                                                           iv.      Dentists: 71%

                                                             v.      Optometrists: 74%

                                                           vi.      Physical Therapists: 84%

                                                          vii.      Physicians & Surgeons: 71%

                                                        viii.      Chiropractors: 61%

1. Put yourself in a patient’s shoes. If someone were to land on any page of your site, would they know your practice’s location, or your medical practices ‘multiple locations, and primary services in about 5-10 seconds? Would they be able to contact the right person quickly? Do the imagery and wording represent your healthcare clinic’s, or practice’s, average patient?
2. User experience is an important consideration in website design. But sometimes, designers are so focused on making the website look good, they forget to focus on the patient experience. These small changes such as site speeds, responsive websites, and navigation structure can make a world of difference when it comes to converting prospective patients learning about your practice online

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94% of healthcare patients use online reviews to evaluate providers. Reading online patient reviews is an easy first step for your audience to get a feel for your practice

When implemented properly, marketing automation allows you to stay in front of your patients automatically without sounding robotic, while keeping your staffs schedules free to do what they do best.  Automatically Follow up with patients after an appointment or procedure to see how they’re doing. Ask about your patients’ families, or send out birthday emails with a personalized touch. Send reminders for follow-up appointments (in-person or via telemedicine), and do whatever you can to maintain a healthcare relationship. Patients will always appreciate that you took the time and may make a point to recommend your local medical practice to their friends and family.

Not if you have the right marketing team.

Firefox and Safari phased out 3^rd party cookies already and Google is next. This doesn’t mean all the marketing you have been doing goes out the window, this only eliminated 3^rd party cookies. We will still have the ability to remarket to our current traffic If you’re thinking that all your cookie-fueled marketing strategies will soon be rendered obsolete, take a breath.

So far, Google says its only planning to phase out the third-party cookie on its browsers. However, first-party cookies that track basic data about your own website’s visitors are still safe.

In fact, in Google’s 2021 announcement, the tech giant called first-party relationships “vital.” So, ultimately, any first-party data you gain from your website’s visitors on all browsers will still remain in-tact.

Good Blog Post also: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/third-party-cookie-phase-out