The go-to-market approach below was so successful that it became the model for subsequent launches of large medical facilities.

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Directive

Successfully launch a unique medical center model to meet its business goal of being at full capacity from day one.

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Situation

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center’s (CCHMC) busy main campus has provided world-class care near downtown since 1883.

 

But in the early 2000s, with housing costs rising, families moved to new suburbs up to an hour’s drive from the city. Market research confirmed that this trend would continue ― and that these families were worried about local medical and emergency care for their kids.  

 

CCHMC leaders saw that they’d need to put pediatric general and emergency care closer to this growing customer base to retain this business. Their first target was Liberty Township, a new suburb halfway to Dayton. Most locals knew the area as farmland, but that was changing fast. And I-75 went right through the area, providing easy access. That’s where the new Cincinnati Children’s Hospital outpatient facility would rise.

 

Data showed that this distant suburb would need more services than is typical in outpatient facilities. So, in addition to medical specialties, radiology, and PT, the Liberty Campus site would have a full emergency room with a trauma unit and life flight helipad, outpatient surgery, and inpatient observation beds for visits of up to 24 hours.

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Challenges

• A freestanding pediatric ER, surgery center, and inpatient observation unit in a facility made this more than a traditional outpatient center. Getting pediatricians, EMTs, and parents familiar and comfortable with this model was critical to success.  

• Brand recognition was low in this new market.

• The site was visible from the highway, yet few knew how to drive there - all the streets were new.

• Reaching multiple audiences is crucial to success – first responders, pediatricians, parents, community leaders, and employees must be included.

• Parents are a hard-to-reach audience.

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Target Audiences

Using market research with patient and referral data:

• Parents - current patient parents and those within the target region.

• Referring physicians - pediatricians, primary care doctors

• Emergency Rooms of regional adult care hospitals

• First responders

• CCHMC community – the medical staff and employees

 

Positioning

We positioned the hospital facility as the pediatric experts, using the "pediatric advantage" and why it matters messages.  While perhaps an obvious position, when moving into an area not used to having pediatric options, communicating why it matters was important.