SHSMD Spectrum Newsletter
November/December 2025
Featured Articles
  
How Small Teams Can Use AI in Social Media Content Creation
Artificial intelligence has become a bit of a buzzword, as new tools promising enhanced capabilities for content creation and other tasks are released.

As the technology continues to evolve, there are already important ways health-system marketing and communication professionals can use AI to assist in outreach initiatives, such as promotional materials and blog posts.
  
Designing Ambulatory Pricing Strategies in a Competitive Marketplace   
As ambulatory care continues to expand, pricing and cost strategies must also evolve. How do hospitals and health systems ride this new wave of care delivery to remain competitive?


Dan Clarin, Managing Director and Co-Leader of the Strategy and Business Transformation practice at Kaufman Hall, a Vizient company, a featured speaker on “Designing Ambulatory Pricing Strategies in a Competitive Marketplace” at SHSMD Connections 2025, explains how surgical procedures once performed solely in inpatient hospital settings are now regularly performed in outpatient clinics and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Cost and convenience are driving forces behind this shift, he says, which is making hospitals and health systems rethink traditional pricing practices.

  
How Health Systems Can ‘Humanize’ Data to Affect Real Change  
Stacey Mueller likes to use the example of Chipotle to highlight how “humanizing” data can drive change for all organizations, including health systems.


As the Executive Director of Experience Management at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin describes it, the fast-food chain and others in that industry “have dialed into ‘the vital few’ and developed a model that balances what consumers want—in this case, personalization of the dish they are eating, healthy choices as well as commitments to the ethical treatment of animals—with a cost-conscious array of ingredients.”

  
Revolutionizing Patient Engagement Through Clinical Propensity Models  
How can health care professionals, marketers, and strategists influence a patient’s care journey and have a meaningful impact on their life?


That was the challenge facing Jonathan Beltran, MBA, the Senior Director of Marketing Operations and Analytics at Keck Medicine of USC, in Los Angeles. During his 2024 SHSMD annual conference presentation—"Leveraging Clinical Propensity Models in Health Care”—connecting with patients requires stepping outside the shoes of a health care professional and into those of community members experiencing a health challenge.

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Community Connections

Access these My SHSMD community discussions to get helpful insights from your peers (for SHSMD members only):

Hospital Milestone Ideas – Marketing Community
Focus Group Vendor Recommendations – Strategic Planning
Targeting messages on screensavers – Public Relations & Communications Community

Content Partner

Save the Date!

SHSMD RECOGNITION WEEK | November 16–22, 2025

Celebrate Health Care Strategy & Market Development Week! Recognize marketing, strategy, communications, and business development professionals driving health care forward.

Use #HCSMDWeek to share your story and access the Recognition Week Toolkit to join the celebration.

Learn More about #HCSMD Week➜

LEVERAGING AI IN HEALTH CARE MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION | December 2–12, 2025

Learn practical ways to use AI in marketing through live and on-demand sessions. Discover real-world workflows, prompts, and tools to boost efficiency and creativity. Not able to attend the live sessions? Recorded access runs through January 31, 2026.

Register Today➜

VIRTUAL CONFERENCE | On-Demand

Experience SHSMD25 Virtually! Access 30+ recordings, three keynotes, and five new webinars through April 30, 2026. Premium attendees already have access; others can add for $100 by contacting shsmd@aha.org. Learn more➜

If you didn’t attend the in-person conference, register here➜

View all upcoming and on-demand SHSMD education here.

The SHSMD Advantage

Complimentary Resources Crafted for SHSMD Members

SHSMD provides its members with ongoing news and reports to bring new knowledge and thought leadership. Below are two key resources recently released to guide your strategic thinking about emerging trends. 

NEW! 2026 CALENDAR OF HEALTH OBSERVANCES & RECOGNITION DAYS

Plan community events, craft communications, and align campaigns with over 240 observances. This interactive calendar is a must-have for marketers and strategists. The calendar is sponsored by Baldwin Publishing.

Access the 2026 Calendar

SHSMD ADVANCE™ | ASSESS: HEALTH CARE STRATEGIST SELF-ASSESSMENT

Evaluate your skills in marketing, planning, communications, and strategy using SHSMD ADVANCE™ | Assess. Identify growth areas and guide your professional development.

Start Assessment➜

To search for other resources free to members, visit the SHSMD Resource Library.

Career Center
Houston, Texas: The Health Unit Coordinator (HUC I) is accountable for the daily (shift) clerical operation and coordination of the activities on a nursing unit(s). The HUC I works closely with the charge nurse/nurse manager to facilitate and support unit operations to assure patient needs are met. The HUC I monitors and facilitates compliance with select environmental and process safety and regulator standards and maintains unit supplies and equipment. The HUC I functions as the hub for coordinating unit activity and communication. The HUC I is competent in medical terminology, communication skills, organizational skills, technical skills, clerical functions and computer skills. The HUC I demonstrates personal and professional effectiveness.
Dallas, Texas: A Product Designer 2 plays a central role in shaping BSWH strategic initiatives through a customer?s lens - directly responsible for driving the quality, creativity, and delivery of human-centered digital products for our patients and their families. We are building a versatile team of designers with complementary strengths in either UI or UX capacities. In this role, the Product Designer 2 will collaborate cross-functionally with research, service design, content design, engineering, analytics, product managers, and CX leadership, helping to solve pain points, empower our users, influence stakeholders with clear rationale and strong visual and verbal storytelling, gather and integrate feedback, and create energy and alignment through strategic visions and creative innovation.
Santa Fe, New Mexico: While utilizing AIDET framework of communication, the MOS associates facilitates a welcome and easy access to the clinic. MOS associates are responsible for establishing an encounter for any patient who meets the guidelines for the clinician group.  MOS associates ensure that all data entry is accurate including demographic and financial information for each account. MOS associates have numerous procedural requirements including data elements, insurance verification, and collections for all patient portions including prior balances.  MOS associates are responsible for the successful financial outcome of all patient accounts. MOS associates are responsible for ensuring the Christus St. Vincent Medical Group (CSVMG) maintains compliance with State and Federal regulations, The Joint Commission, and Department of Health and Hospital compliance standards (for HOPD clinics). MOS associates communicate directly with patients and families, physicians, nurses, insurance companies and third-party payers.  In addition, MOS associates responsibilities include some and/or all of the following; scheduling clinic appointments, check in/out process, answering incoming phone calls, reminder phone calls, taking and/directing messages to appropriate staff.  Provide clerical support, scanning documents, sorting the clinics fax inbox, and daily working the Missing Reg Items WQ. This position requires professional appearance, good communication and effective organizational skills.  MOS associate representatives require dependability, flexibility, and teamwork. MOS associates may provide valuable support and cover staffing shortages in other clinics.  Floating to other clinics promote teamwork and collaboration among the clinician group.
Miami, Florida: The Database Specialist will be responsible for implementing, designing, and maintaining clinical databases in the Brain Institute. The primary focus of this role will be to build, input, and maintain databases used in clinical research, outcome tracking, writing papers and presentations, and related studies. This includes overseeing data collection, conducting audits for data quality checks, monitoring data, and building/running reports for clinical, research, and outcome purposes. Works closely with leadership, and physicians in the Brain institute and Brain Institute Programs, ensuring that data systems support ongoing research and clinical objectives. Also works in collaboration with the Director of IT Data/Research IT Administration in the Research Institute for development and to ensure compliance with protocols, regulatory and risk oversight.
Irving, Texas: The Financial Analyst II will be responsible for providing support to CHRISTUS facilities, functional corporate groups, senior leadership, and other affiliates through the design and implementation of Enterprise wide and regional Revenue Cycle data analysis and reporting. The primary function involves synthesizing data from multiple sources into clear, meaningful analysis. This involves assisting in identifying opportunities and supporting efforts related to the standardization of management reporting, benchmarking and data collection necessary to support both. Additional responsibilities include assisting in identifying, quantifying and prioritizing opportunities to improve net revenue realization and cash flow at the system level, the facility level and at a Payor level as well as development of financial models and other analysis related to the development and implementation of solutions in revenue cycle areas.