VIA Interaction

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Live surgery as online marketing - who'd have thunk it?

We've seen Webcasts as effective marketing tools for technology companies trying to explain complex products.

What I'm not sure we would have anticipated is the value of Webcasts of surgical procedures as effective marketing tools for hospitals.

A West Hartford Webcasting company has discovered that in the course of presenting live surgery Webcasts intended as physician training tools. Instead, according to an article in The New York Times, they found patients were the most interested: About 70 percent of viewers are consumers.

From the article (emphasis mine):

Slp3d charges $35,000 to $40,000 for the Webcasts, which the hospitals are willing to pay if they think doctors will refer patients to them as a result. And consumers thinking about getting treatment may decide they want the doctors on the computer screens to provide it.

Methodist University Hospital said it received 80 inquiries from potential patients after its Webcast showing a device that allows surgeons to repair a spinal disk hernia through a thumbnail-size incision in the lower back.

With Webcasting, of course, there is the risk that the operation may not go as planned. Last September, for example, a broadcast from Italy to cardiologists meeting in Washington showing a new procedure to insert an aortic heart valve in an elderly woman was terminated when problems arose. She died soon afterward. Cardiologists at the meeting, who were aware that the procedure was a last resort for a patient believed to be too frail to survive regular surgery, said they did not view the result as a public relations disaster for the Italian cardiologist or the manufacturer of the new valve.

But consumers, especially those with the medical condition on display, may not be so forgiving. Thus slp3d and the hospitals have been Webcasting procedures that are relatively new but less daring than those seen at medical conferences. Mr. Joel said excessive bleeding in one case and the discovery of a tumor during a diagnostic procedure were the only instances of Webcasts featuring unexpected drama.

posted by Tim Beidel at 7/06/2005 07:35:00 AM

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