The #HITMCworkflow Top Ten at the 2017 Health IT Marketing and PR Conference

I’m like a truffle hound when it comes to sniffing out workflow. Yes, I know there is another animal that likes truffles. And I do have a big appetite for workflow and can be a bit of a bore on the subject… But that’s not important! I just spent two days searching every tweet and associated websites of the more than speakers at the 2017 Health IT Marketing and PR Conference. Here is the Twitter list if you’d like to subscribe or follow some or all the 67+ HITMC speakers and/or speaker organization (in some cases).

I am impressed! First of all, John and Shahid are to be congratulated. What an impressive collection of speakers and attendees! And what variety!

I shouldn’t have been surprised (about the workflow). Health IT Marketing professionals are workflow savvy for at least three reasons. First, marketers increasingly leverage IT to manage marketing workflows. Marketing automation is a prime example (See Marketing Automation for Healthcare IT and Marketing Automation Software: Are You Using it Right? on HITMC.com). Second, marketers increasingly represent products and services that are themselves great examples of workflow technology. Third, HIT marketers increasingly focus on patient experience in an experience economy, and patient journeys are most usefully described as complex workflows. When I took my three credit undergraduate marketing course decades ago, its spine was the Marketing Mix, four Ps standing for Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Since then, a fifth P was added: Process! Other lists of marketing concerns now exist, such as the four or seven Cs, and they all include or imply workflow and process ideas.

In other words, workflow is becoming an important and powerful health IT marketing meme!

Here are The Workflow Top Ten at the 2017 Health IT Marketing and PR Conference , in no particular order (except for that guy!)….

1

What can I say? I love workflow too. You can see the almost visceral marketing workflow connection. If you love marketing, and you love digital tools and platforms, you gotta love workflow and process too!

2

Jess, who , nails it! #HITMCworkflow! Why didn’t I think of it!

3

Dodge Communications caught my eye four years ago.

Dodge tweets lots about workflow …

… and recently published a fantastic multimedia video animated introduction to marketing automation.

“Using marketing automation to find, engage, convert and keep customers this video shows how marketing automation works to find prospects, keep them engaged, convert them into customers and ultimately create advocates for your brand.”

Dodge Communications is represented at HITMC especially well by Kelcie Chambers and Michelle Morris , who also tweet about workflow!

4

Cool! HITMC has a speaker, Sonali Nigam, Director, Healthcare & LifeSciences, from Newgen Software, a BPM (Business Process Management) company! has many hundreds (1000s?) of wonderful tweets about workflow and BPM and many about healthcare! From their Twitter profile: “Newgen Software is a leading global provider of #BPM, #ECM, #CCM, #DMS, #Workflow, #CaseManagement and #Process #Automation #Software.” Newgen Software has a great post explaining BPM: What is Business Process Management (BPM)? I am delighted to see a modern BPM company at HITMC!

5

Shereese said “workflow” a million times! w00T! , . Keep it up, Shereese!

6

Chris Slocumb, of Clarity Quest, shows what I mean when I said earlier that there are important connections among marketing workflows, health IT workflows, and marketing automation? To appreciate and understand any one of the three is already half way to doing so for any of the others!

7

Colin and I have lots of fun bouncing workflow ideas and memes off each other. I’ve found his (and ) #HCLDR invaluable for forcing me to think about connections among workflow and a wide variety of healthcare subjects. Colin has tweeted about workflow at least 74 times since his first workflow tweet, in 2011. By the way, I just found out Colin is a certified professional (mechanical) engineer! In marketing! Engineers are systems thinkers who really “get” workflow. As workflow becomes more and more important in healthcare, marketing health IT, I think we’ll see more engineers move into health IT marketing positions.

8

It’s hard to believe, but Colin’s 74 tweets edged out John Lynn’s 73 tweets. However, has been tweeting about workflow since 2009. And there are over 2000 hits on just one of his many websites.

Aside from an enthusiastic curiosity about everything, I suspect that John’s early experience implementing and EHR, in combination with managing complex social media content marketing workflows, give him a unique perspective on just how truly important workflow is, in healthcare, in marketing, and life! In fact, I think I see a trend. I’m seeing John more and more address patient workflow! Also see Neil Versal below re this.

PS. I miss John’s almost weekly blabs about everything under the health IT sun!

9

The above tweet, from way back in 2013, doesn’t specific mention workflow. I specifically recall his tweet because I agreed so emphatically, and had to search for it using “interoperability”. Healthcare “workflow thinking”, and workflow technology, will be essential to the practical systems integration to which Shahid refers. Shahid also said something nice about one of my blog posts about interoperability and workflow the next year.

10

What can I say? Flattery, especially about anything workflow, will get you everywhere, around me at least!

But then there’s this tweet, from 2012.

Screenshots and workflow diagrams? Been there. Done that. I can see that Sarah has indeed come up through the workflow trenches! BTW, Sarah was present at the birth of one of my favorite memes: Workflow-Man!

11

(OK, one more person than I promised! But I just had to squeeze Neil in. You’ll see why!)

Neil Versel, a journalist who has written many insightful articles about workflow and health IT tech over the years, !

More about Neil…

HIT Journalist becomes patient advocate after seeing the danger of uncoordinated care and poorly designed workflows

I think patient workflow is, despite Neil being among the first to nibble at it, the next great uncovered health IT story. One usually thinks of workflows in hospitals and clinics, but all purposeful human activity involves workflow, even if you don’t call it workflow. Call it life-flow, journey maps, ritual, or just plane ol’ “flow,” understanding, facilitating, and empowering the series of steps/tasks/activities/experiences, consuming resources, achieving goals, is at the heart of the digital transformation of healthcare. And I am so glad Neil is writing about it!

Have a great Health IT Marketing and PR Conference! Next year I think HITMC should be held in my current home town, Columbus, Ohio. It’s a day’s drive from 60 percent of the population of the United States and just six hours to both Chicago and DC!


On Periscope!

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