Healthcare Branding in a Vague Future

As near as we can tell, there is only one thing that is certain about our nation for the next four years beginning January 20: nothing is really certain. Except, of course, death and taxes.

As for taxes, we don’t know if they will go up or down. Will the poor get richer? Doubtful. Will we wind up with one huge middle class and fewer poor and rich, like a triple-double-stuffed Oreo cookie? Perhaps.

To be certain, we’ll have to wait and see.

What will happen to the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, is an even bigger question mark. Hospitals, medical centers and healthcare entities have spent so much time and money reading and analyzing and reacting to and re-reacting to proposed government regulations since the act was, well, enacted by President Barack Obama in 2010, it’s a wonder any people have actually received care.

And yet, people have been receiving care, and treatment, and therapies. Hospitals have stayed open and, so we are told, more people now have insurance to help get them the care they need, and to help healthcare providers receive the compensation they need.

So here’s our point. No matter what happens, we will find a way. Americans are a resourceful, determined species. Not just rich Americans. Not just educated Americans. And not just lifelong Americans. Put our backs to a wall – any wall – and we will find a way. How? By working together. A single pilot can cross the Atlantic but it takes a team of people to build the airplane. The same is true with the Apollo missions to the Moon. A handful of astronauts made it there but it took thousands of Americans working together to send them on their way and bring them back alive, while millions more cheered them on. There is strength in numbers.

Healthcare entities, particularly healthcare systems, need to tap into that strength to weather the uncertainty of the next four years. They need to build upon the equity of their pasts and channel it into the days to come by making more people aware. Their brand has to be more than a blue road sign with a white capital H in the middle. It has to be a loudspeaker broadcasting the experience and dedication of every surgeon, specialist, nurse, therapist and caregiver who separates them from their competitors. If their current brand doesn’t do the job, it’s time for a rebrand that does.

They certainly can’t afford to wait and see.