CommonSpirit Unlocking Operational Improvements and Savings While Improving Brand Impact

The Situation

CommonSpirit Mountain Region (formerly part of Centura Health) is a regional health system with 20 hospitals and numerous physicians. Following years of acquisitions, CommonSpirit Mountain Region had thousands of redundant branded assets and multiple approaches for creating and managing marketing and brand assets.

The Challenge

CommonSpirit Mountain Region’s marketing and brand team had a mandate to prepare to improve brand impact and patient experience while setting the stage for ongoing savings and efficiencies. BrandActive was engaged to conduct an assessment to identify areas to rationalize and simplify branded assets, processes, and workflow.

The Solution

We identified and prioritized opportunities and actions based on the potential for each initiative to improve the patient experience, streamline CommonSpirit Mountain Region’s marketing and brand operations, and save costs. Key actions spanned branded asset optimization, form simplification and rationalization, ID badge systems, and branded asset creation improvements including:

• Marketing materials of all types were rationalized and simplified. Marketing collateral in use was reduced from 5,000 to less than 3,000 pieces. Print processes were overhauled and the video library rationalized leading to further efficiencies, cost reductions and greater brand consistency. A new, unified exhibit and event kit strategy was also developed to enable hospitals across the system to adopt a streamlined approach to creating materials and to share use of expensive, less frequently used assets such as branded walls.
• The overlap in business forms was eliminated to resolve patient and employee confusion and wasted effort on the part of hospital staff in reviewing forms containing redundant information. The forms rationalization was accompanied by a streamlined ordering process adding to the savings realized in employee effort and eliminating the expense of excess inventory. This rationalized approach has reduced the number of forms used by CommonSpirit Mountain Region and its patients by 50%.
• Physicians had been carrying up to five ID badges. An innovative approach was developed that allowed CommonSpirit Mountain Region to migrate to a single badge type for all personnel across all facilities – a move greatly appreciated by practitioners. The new ID badge template features large type and a consistent design language to allow patients to easily identify the role of the individual they are interacting with thereby provide a better patient experience.

The Results

CommonSpirit Mountain Region is seeing improvements in brand impact and consistency, patient experience, internal resource efficiencies and cost savings as a result of the improvements that were made. A six-figure annual savings has been realized from the changes to ID badges alone. Marketing employees now manage half the volume of marketing collateral and there is a consistent application of the CommonSpirit Mountain Region brand. Patient interactions with CommonSpirit Mountain Region personnel have improved as the result of fewer and clearer forms and a better understanding of staff’s role/affiliation as expressed by the new ID badges. In short, a better brand and patient experience all around.

Outcomes such as these will continue to save money, improve brand consistency across the organization, and streamline day-to-day marketing and brand operations for years to come at CommonSpirit Mountain Region.