This article was written by Jessica Levco, a healthcare writer who covered HCIC19 for Greystone.Net.

It’s a hospital marketer’s job to not only be responsive to the market, but to move ahead of it. 

That was the message that Drew Diskin, director of marketing technology at Virtua Health, wanted to get across to attendees at the 23rd annual Greystone.net Healthcare Internet conference in Orlando. The presentation, “Daring to Put Data at Decision Points,” was co-led with Melinda McDonald, senior account executive at Greystone.net.

Diskin’s team figured out the best way to move ahead of the market is by asking patients what they want.

Specifically, they use Greystone’s gSight, a suite of digital improvement tools. One of the tools is an online survey, which pops up on Virtua’s website. Once patients fill out the survey, Virtua marketers are able to see responses in real time.

“Data isn’t always transactional,” Diskin says. “It’s about understanding relationships. We use the data we get from gSight to inform the consumer experience.”

McDonald explained how the survey tool works:

• First, a patient sees a branded pop-up invitation to take the survey
• Then, they take the survey
• Marketers see detailed reporting and recommendations from Greystone.net
• Marketers can view a dashboard that shows scores from their peers, benchmark scores and more

By asking a question as simple as, “Why are you here?” the Virtua team has been able to make improvements to the following categories: appointment scheduling, job information and viewing lab results.

One attendee said his hospital had a survey tool on their website, but not too many people were taking the survey. McDonald says gSight is successful with eliciting responses from website visitors because each survey question is backed by data science.