Pam Landis, Senior Vice President of Digital Engagement at Hackensack Meridian Health, spoke candidly about what it really takes to get new projects moving in a large health system. She also pulled back the curtain on gaining buy-in, budgeting, alignment to organizational goals, and why flashy logo slides don’t impress decision makers.

Key Takeaways

Align with system goals or don’t bother. If your solution doesn’t help the organization achieve strategic priorities, it’s a non-starter. Health systems won’t carve out time or budget for projects that don’t advance their top-line goals. Internal buy-in is non-negotiable. Health systems don’t have lone decision-makers. They operate by consensus. Expect to win over physicians, operators, compliance, and IT before your project ever sees the light of day. Budget cycles demand long game thinking. Healthcare sales cycles are measured in years, not months. If you’re not engaging a year before budget planning, you’ve already missed the window. Start with the Organization’s Goals or Don’t Start at All

It doesn’t matter if the economy is bullish or bearish, every healthcare project is measured against the organization’s strategic priorities. If it doesn’t map directly to those goals, it doesn’t move forward.

Landis was pleasantly blunt in her statements: “What we look at in my division is how am I supporting Hackensack Meridian Health’s network goals? And if it’s not on the network goals, I’m not doing the work. If I’m not there to serve what the goals and the strategy are of the health network, then I’ve got to really rethink the work that I’m doing.”

While your solution may be innovative and beneficial, organizations may not be interested if it doesn’t match their intended strategic direction which is where their funding and attention is going.

Consensus is the Currency of Progress

There’s no lone hero in the healthcare buying process. From physicians to IT to the C-suite, everyone has a voice. Ignoring that reality just slows your marketing and sales efforts down.

As Landis put it, “You better have buy-in and partnerships…when we were looking to upgrade our Find-a-Doctor system, you better believe that doctors were part of that selection. Credentialing was there. Compliance people were there. They have to be part of that [decision].”

The myth of a single executive decision-maker is a favorite one of sales and marketing teams, yet Landis highlights what has always been the truth – committees make the buying decisions and any individual on that committee can veto that decision.

Budgeting Runs on a Long Clock

Healthcare marketing and sales cycles stretch across seasons, sometimes years. Companies need to know how to adjust their efforts to account for the fact.  Planning for new projects and technology solutions starts well before most vendors even make first contact.

“We’re replacing a big system in two weeks,” shared Landis. “The discussions with the companies that we invited to the RFP started last spring. The contract wasn’t signed till this past February. And now we’re in implementation.”

That timeline shows just how early the groundwork must be laid.

Healthcare Red Tape is not Delaying Your Sale

Landis makes it clear that getting the attention of a large provider like hers has almost nothing to do with bold pitches or splashy events. It is more basic (and therefore harder) than that. It requires vendors to do homework to learn the organization’s strategic priorities, budget cycle, and decision processes BEFORE making a pitch.

What looks like bureaucracy from the outside is often careful stewardship of resources and alignment around care. As Landis put it, every dollar spent on software is one less for a nurse, a lab, or a community health worker. Think about that next time you budget for an after-party.

This article is one in a series. The Swaay.Health team will be speaking with many other healthcare executives. Our goal is to tell the real story of how healthcare systems buy so that the Swaay.Health Community can be more effective with their marketing efforts.

Learn more about Hackensack Meridian Health at: https://www.hackensackmeridianhealth.org/en/