It can be. Sleep is important to our overall well-being. It can even be a matter of life and death. For example, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Bureau are blaming sleep apnea for two recent commuter train crashes. It turns out engineers in both crashes lived with the disorder, but were undiagnosed. It is fairly prevalent. Roughly 5% of Americans have sleep apnea.
What does that mean for you? Consider your commute to work. How many drivers do you pass? For every 20 cars you spot, at least one driver is likely suffering from sleep apnea. That is a lot of potential crashes.
You can help
As a marketer you are in a position to help. Medicom Health’s Sleep Apnea HRA raises awareness for community members and if your hospital has a backlog for sleep studies the HRA can act as a pre-screener to segment High versus Low Risk users:
Sleep Service staff can automatically be notified to contact users who are High Risk and schedule appointments.
In doing so, you are offering useful content to everyone who completes the HRA, yet only funneling the most qualified patients to your Sleep Centers.
As you plan for social, SEM, or traditional marketing tactics, you may need some help determining who to target. We have seen great success creating like-audiences using the following:
- Males
- Overweight
- ≥ Age 40
- Large neck size (Men: ≥17″& Women: ≥16″)
- Large tonsils, tongue, or small jaw bone
- Family history of sleep apnea
- Acid Reflux
- Nasal obstruction due to a deviated septum, allergies, or sinus problems
Bridget Thomas
Growing up in a family of providers to critical access hospitals, she took note early on of the importance of quality healthcare and proper outreach. From there she went on the work as a marketing manager for a small system in south central Wisconsin, eventually moving into clinic management and liaison work.
In 2014, she shifted gears to the SaaS-vendor side of healthcare and spent years in the CRM space, where she worked remotely doing client work, running trainings, and developing relationships. A good portion of her time is spent face-to-face with clients talking through operational hiccups, ways to best target consumers, appropriate use of budgets and most importantly – how to measure effectiveness of marketing dollars.
Bridget has a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin – Platteville, M.A. in Public Relations from Webster University and an M.A. in Counseling from Lakeland University. She is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development, and Forum for Healthcare Strategists.
Latest posts by Bridget Thomas (see all)
- Health Month: Exploring Options in Weight Management this Summer - August 1, 2018
- Staff Spotlight: Tami Weigold is treasure trove of healthcare marketing experience - August 1, 2018
- Case Study: HRAs at Events - July 31, 2018