Case Study: Sentara Healthcare

BETTER CARE, BY DESIGN

Before leaders at Sentara Healthcare even considered putting a shovel in the ground for a new cancer center, they knew they needed to better understand the patient and caregiver experience path — both from those currently undergoing treatment and those who had been through it and could reflect. 

Step in, SIR. 

Following a landscape assessment of Sentara and peer institutions, we conducted in-person and bulletin board focus groups with current and former caregivers and patients in the Hampton Roads area, as well as conducted a brainstorming and listening session with Sentara’s providers. 

The first thing our research revealed was just how much the area needed a state-of-the-art cancer center. But more than that, we discovered opportunities for Sentara to better engage and support patients and caregivers not only through the care and emotional support it offered, but also the amenities present and the physical space itself. Of prime importance, we found, was having all cancer-related providers and services under one roof, so patients wouldn’t be as burdened juggling multiple appointments and visits. 

These insights were baked right into the blueprints of Sentara’s new cancer center. And when it opens in mid-2020, it will mark the epitome of patient- and caregiver-centric design.

BRING IT ON HOME - Home Instead Senior Care 

As one of the first and most successful in-home senior care companies in the country, Home Instead Senior Care was bound to encounter some challengers in the marketplace. To stay ahead, the company tapped SIR.

Through our product development, market positioning and public relations research, we sought to answer three separate, but interrelated questions:

·       What kind of new programs would real consumers find appealing? 

·       What concrete evidence could Home Instead use to substantiate its claims about its services? 

·       And how could it better deliver its message in the marketplace? 

Across multiple research projects, SIR set forth an approach to package a premium in-home dementia care program, uncovered specific evidence that paid in-home care from firms like Home Instead is more effective than family care, and created what has become the highly publicized and industry standard “40-70 rule.” SIR discovered that positive elder care outcomes occur when  parents and their adult children have conversations about their care needs. The time to have those talks isn’t in the middle of a crisis, but once either the parents reach age 70 or the children are 40. 

Millions of dollars in new revenue? Unassailable evidence to use in its promotion and lobbying efforts? A positive, useful message to earn media coverage? Check. Check. And check. 

WHY SHOULD I GIVE TO YOU, EXACTLY? - Medical College of Virginia Foundation

In the world of healthcare fundraising, the fight for donor dollars can be intense, especially when you’re an organization like the Medical College of Virginia Foundation, tasked with supporting research, education, and patient care across one of the largest and most impactful health systems in the state. 

To strengthen the foundation’s fundraising efforts, we assessed the landscape, collected input from the key voices at the table, synthesized what we learned, and tested potential new brand positions that could make the foundation stand out and spur donations. 

This led to a revamped vision and mission, brand promise, message, core values, and reasons to believe — all of which centered around the MCV Foundation’s ability and track record to take philanthropic support and put it to its best use, supporting some of healthcare industry’s most cutting-edge research, care practices and education. 

Today, you can see the brand architecture SIR provided in every communications piece the MCV Foundation produces.