At the most trusted health systems in the U.S., marketing leaders know when to pivot.
Molly Biwer, chief marketing officer of Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare, said the most important shift her organization made was abandoning the idea that marketing alone builds trust.
“Historically, many healthcare organizations — including ours — have focused heavily on promoting expertise, rankings, awards, and clinical accomplishments,” she said. “Those things matter, but we’ve learned that trust isn’t created by what we say about ourselves. It’s earned through the experiences patients have with us every day.”
Rather than broadcasting the system’s strengths, the team now works across operations, access, patient experience, digital and clinical functions to identify where friction exists and address it. The logic: If a patient can’t get an appointment, struggles to navigate the system or doesn’t feel heard, no campaign overcomes that.
“Today, we view trust as an organizational outcome rather than a marketing objective,” Ms. Biwer said. “The strongest brands in healthcare aren’t the ones that tell the best stories — they’re the ones whose patients tell those stories for them.”
Chrisie Scott, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at Virtua Health in Marlton, N.J., found the same ceiling through a different route. Virtua had been pushing patients toward digital access channels — the data supported it — and patients pushed back.
“I think what we’ve changed that has helped build trust is that we’re designing our experiences for the unique human as opposed to the average patient,” Ms. Scott said. “In healthcare, we tend to optimize for efficiency: one ideal path, one best channel.”
So Virtua rebuilt its patient touchpoints around choice. Scheduling now means picking from online booking, MyChart, an AI agent-assisted phone line or a live representative, with a callback option if the wait is long. Patients can check in via smartphone from the parking lot or walk up to the desk. Paperwork can be completed digitally in advance or on a clipboard on arrival.
“Everywhere we can offer options, we do,” Ms. Scott said. “The shift sounds small, but it requires us to let go of the belief that we know best or that everyone wants the same option. We had to stop measuring success as ‘how many people did we move to digital?’ and start asking ‘does every person feel like they have a real choice?’”
One of Virtua’s patient feedback questions now asks directly whether each person was treated as a unique individual. Ms. Scott said the answer to that question is where trust resides. “What we found is that trust comes from control,” she said. “When people get to choose their own path, they get to own their experience.”
Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System, moved away from data-driven assumptions and toward patients as active partners, said Katrina Helmus, director of patient experience.
BayCare now connects with patients through bedside conversations, discharge follow-up calls and email outreach alongside traditional surveys. Patients codesign initiatives, including systemwide educational materials, and weigh in on what it means to feel safe in a care environment.
“This approach has allowed us to move beyond feedback collection and toward true collaboration,” Ms. Helmus said. “Most importantly, these improvements have led to increased patient and family trust and are directly shaped by the voices of the patients and families we serve across west-central Florida.”
UT Health San Antonio has worked to extend the care relationship beyond the patient leaving the hospital, said Heather Adkins, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer.
“Rather than viewing care as something that ends at discharge, we’ve invested in a more connected model that keeps patients linked to their care team throughout their recovery,” she said.
Through UT Health San Antonio’s Advanced Care Clinic, patients who have recently been hospitalized have direct access to their care team around the clock — including, in many cases, the same clinicians who cared for them during their inpatient stay. Ms. Adkins said that continuity is what separates the model from standard follow-up protocols.
“Trust is built when patients feel heard, known, supported and connected,” she said. “And that’s exactly what this model is designed to deliver.”
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.
