Non-profit Kaleida operates five hospitals and multiple other healthcare providers, such as ambulatory surgery centers, in Western New York. The ad campaign directs Canadian patients to a Web site designed specifically for them and their needs, according to the report.
The idea for the advertising campaign has been a result of a three-year increase in patients coming to Kaleida’s Millard Fillmore Hospital for stroke treatment from the Ontario health system, according to the report. The two systems have entered into a formal arrangement that brings over 15-20 patients monthly.
The advertising campaign is focusing on bariatric surgery for obesity, pediatrics, joint replacement and spine surgery, MRI and other radiology services and gastrointestinal services such as colonoscopies to check for colon cancer. Many patients in Canada seek these services as they can be in short supply in their home country, according to the report.
Ontario has taken measures over the past year to contract with 40 U.S. “preferred providers.” The province will cover the cost of treatment in four areas: bariatric or gastric bypass surgery, diagnostic imaging, residential treatment for behavioral problems and substance abuse, and cancer treatment for three costly therapies, according to the report.
Kaleida expects two kinds of Canadian patients to seek their services: those who seek the services the Ontario health system will cover and those who can afford to pay for services out-of-pocket. Since November, the Kaleida Web site has received 5,200 hits, according to the report.
Although Kaleida is the first hospital system to actively seek Canadian patients, The Cleveland Clinic opened a center in Toronto in 2006 and Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo has received patients through its advertisement on Buffalo television stations broadcast in Canada, according to the report.
Read the Buffalo News’s report on Kaleida’s Canadian advertising effort.
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