MWMC Docs Star In Online Videos
Hospital hopes new media will bring new paying patients
It seems fair to say that the average hospital patient probably does not know what Balloon Kyphoplasty is.
And if they do, they more than likely think the advanced medical procedure can only be done at one of the world renowned hospitals in downtown Boston.
Framingham-based MetroWest Medical Center is aiming to change those perceptions with a new series of videotaped medical procedures that began airing on its web site late last year.
The intent of the very slickly produced, interactive web videos was threefold, said Andrei Soran, president and CEO of MWMC.
"The first layer of people we want to attract are those in need of these kinds of procedures, to show them what they involve," Soran said.
"The second thing is we want to show these people that the procedures are available at the local level. The third thing is that it is a showcase for our doctors, and it can help people connect even more to our clinicians."
It is Soran's second point that may ultimately prove the real worth of the videos.
Andrei Soran, president and CEO of MWMC.The Mother Ship
Community hospitals like MWMC face a unique situation in Massachusetts, according to Bob Fields, president of Framingham marketing and advertising agency Commonwealth Creative Associates. Commonwealth lists a number of community hospitals among its clients.
Community hospitals aren't only competing among themselves for patients and procedures, Fields said, they're competing against huge "mother ship" institutions in Boston like Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
"All the big mother ships, they try to suck all of the very profitable procedures into Boston," Fields said. "Somebody from Shrewsbury or Springfield, they could go get a hip replacement in Springfield, but they don't. Instead they go into Boston."
Because of that, Fields said, smaller hospitals are forced to show their own competency and prove to patients that they don't have to go into Boston to get quality care.
Richard Copp, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Hospital Association, agreed, noting that MWMC is not alone in its efforts to put more useful information online.
"Educating patients locally about what services are available in their own backyard has always been important," Copp said. "This is definitely a trend we're seeing. Getting information out about services offered at your hospital, and getting video on the Internet is going to be a key tool in the future."
Soran said the marketing element of the videos was intended to both inform the local audience that the procedures were available, and also to let them know how advanced the procedures were.
"In this very crowded market, only 20 miles from Boston with its large and great medical centers, it gets lost in the shuffle the fact that we provide some very advanced medicine here," Soran said.
The five- to 10-minute videos are produced by MassMonopoly Media Productions Inc. of Worcester, and feature soundtracks, digital graphics and interactive elements that allow a user to find out more about certain topics in the presentation.
A still image from a video posted by MetroWest Medical Center that details a procedure known as kyphoplasty.Blood And Guts
Weak-stomached potential viewers shuddering at the prospect of a graphic, bloody medical school-type surgical instruction video will be pleasantly surprised at the decidedly PG feel of the videos. Soran said the hospital made a conscious decision to keep the films clean.
"Given the fact that you don't know who's looking at the videos, we didn't want to go too graphic or explicit," Soran said. "We wanted to keep it in the realm of education, but not at a medical level where there's much more detail."
So far, the hospital has only one video up, the aforementioned Kyphoplasty procedure, which alleviates pain caused by injured spinal vertebrae. The hospital has begun filming procedures at the rate of one or two per month, and plans on uploading an ultrasound-assisted gastroenterology procedure and an angioplasty soon, Soran said.
The goal is to create a comprehensive library of procedures that can be used as marketing or educational tools.
Soran said the site has already seen an appreciable increase in the number of hits it is receiving, and efforts to advertise the new feature have not yet begun.
Only time will tell if the combination of online marketing and educational campaign will ultimately drive more business to MWMC, but Copp said it can't hurt.
"We live in the age of Facebook, MySpace," Copp said. "That type of communication vehicle isn't just for teenagers anymore."
Fields said he was impressed with the quality of the videos, and that MWMC, while perhaps not ahead of the technological curve, is definitely on top of it. "If I needed a procedure like this, I think I'd certainly feel a little better about it after having seen this (video)," he said.
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