Ryan Lilly of Matter and Tara Auclair of Modernizing Medicine's HITMC presentation: “How to Build a Diverse Media-Facing Thought Leadership Bench” took place on Thursday, April 5 at the New Orleans Marriot. Attendees learned how specialty-specific health IT leader, Modernizing Medicine, partnered with Matter to create engaging and impactful platforms for its spokespeople.

2. Building a Bench of
Thought Leaders
1. Background
2. Lay the foundation
3. Identify leaders
4. Diversify the bench
5. Develop a differentiated point of view
6. Build a playbook
7. Work with the media
8. Measure

3. Background
Modernizing Medicine
• 2010 Modernizing Medicine founded by Dan Cane and Michael Sherling; EMA is launched in dermatology
• 2011 EMA Ophthalmology launches and the company raises $2m in angel investment and $7m in VC funding
• 2012 200 providers on EMA, 110 employees, additional $12m secured in funding
• 2013 partnered with Matter Communications, raised another $14m and launched into orthopedics
• 2014 launched in GI, acquired RCM company and raised another $15m in funding
• 2015 acquired gMed, raised another $38m and launched PM and RCM for all specialties
• 2016 500 employees, launched version 5.0 solution with telehealth, PM, pathology and more
• 2017 closed $231m equity investment and received $6m in incentives from Florida to create 830+ jobs
• 2018 discussed thought leadership program at HITMC….???

4. Laying the Foundation
Audience Matters
Identify, define and prioritize your audience –
who do you want to reach and influence?
• Providers
• Private practice, hospitals, ASCs, etc.
• Ophthalmology, orthopedics,
dermatology, GI, etc.
• C-Suite, physicians, nurses, RNs,
MAs, administrators, etc.
• Payers
• Patients
• Vendors
• Policy makers
• Investors / shareholders
• Etc.?
Where do they go for information?
• National / Business Press
• Forbes, WIRED, Fast Company, WSJ, NYT,
Fortune, etc.
• Specialties
• Dermatology World, Becker’s GI and
Endoscopy, Ophthalmology Management
Today, Orthopedics Today (Healio), etc.
• Trades
• Healthcare IT News, HISTalk, Modern
Healthcare, Healthcare Finance News,
Becker’s Hospital Review, etc.

5. Identifying Thought Leaders
Who and why?
Vetting spokespeople
• Titles – they matter
• Size and stage will influence this decision
• C-suite should have a broader
perspective
• Managers should focus on developing
more niche expertise
• Always a “we” mindset regardless of title
• Can they see past the brand or product?
• Story telling at the appropriate level
• Passionate / authentic
• Charisma / confidence
• Truly differentiated PoV / flexibility
• Provocative – as is possible in Health IT
Story teller
PassionateCharismatic
Authentic
Confident
Proactive

6. Identifying
Thought Leaders
Who and Why?
Other considerations
• Availability
• How often can your leaders talk to your
PR team / the media?
• How often and quickly can they be
made available?
• Do they like to write?
• Do they have or desire a personal brand?
• How active are they on social media?
• Are they open to feedback?

7. Identifying Thought Leaders

8. Identifying Thought Leaders

9. Who else to tap
• There is a level of disillusionment and skepticism in healthcare
• Inherently skeptical, healthcare pros trust their peers
• Providers
• Tech Vendors
• Patients
• Etc.?
• Expertise vs Human Stories
• Brands must be human
• Advocates (Customers)
• Leverage experience outside of the organization
• Leverage research or proprietary data
• Keep an open mind – new angles are always presenting
themselves and media training is always an option
Diversifying
Your Bench
Fielding a Whole Team

10. Diversifying
Your Bench
Fielding a Whole Team
Beyond the Founder(s)
• Karen O’Byrne, CFO & COO
• Brad Rennick, SVP Customer Success
• Patrick Edmondson, SVP Product
Development
• Ida Mantashi, Senior Product Manager
(EHRA Chair)
• Dr. Nadeem Dahani, Medical Director of
Urology (EHRA Committee)
• Mihai Fonoage, VP of Engineering
• Matthew Schreiber (gMed)
The Docs
• Dr. Jordan Miller, Derm
• Dr. Steven Rosenfeld, Ophth
• Dr. David Goldman, Ophth
• Dr. Michael Rivers, Ophth
• Dr. Paul Gallogy, Ophth
• Dr. Jonathan Criss
• Dr. Julie Servoss, GI
• Dr. Arnold Levy, GI
• Dr. Jason Weisstein, Ortho
• Dr. Stuart Davis, Ortho
• Dr. Andrew Rosenthal, Plastic Surgery
• Dr. David Lehman, ENT
• Dr. Elana Oberstein, Rheum

11. Diversifying Your Bench
1. Setting goals: 4 gastroenterologists on
what they want to accomplish in 2016
2. 5 effective ways technology can help
grow your practice and maintain
quality care

12. Diversifying
Your Bench
Fielding a Whole Team
Customer advocates
• Advanced Vision Care, Dr. Nicole Fram
• South Palm Orthopedics, Dr. Steve Meadows
• Capital Digestive Care, David Smith CISO
• Premier Dermatology, Dr. Brad Abrams
• The Eye & Laser Center, Noah England
• Lemak Sports Medicine, Jordan Estus
• Peachtree Dermatology, Cynthia Holsworth
• Randall Dermatology, Paula Ubelhor

13. Diversifying Your Bench

14. Your products are not
thought leadership
- they just aren’t…
Why Should Anyone Care?
…but

15. Building A
Differentiated PoV
Reducing noise pollution
• What do your products address?
• What are you hearing?
• From customers, partners, press, etc.
• Meet in the middle with your agency
• What do we want to talk about and what are people
(reporters) already interested in?
• Invest in research or leverage proprietary data
• Consider the greater good
• What have we learned?
• Where are we heading?
• Where do we have counterintuitive positions?
• What, if anything, can we take a provocative stance on?

16. Building A
Playbook
Keep Consistent and in Your Lanes
Set clear expectations
• Identify and assign key areas of interest / expertise
• Promote thought leaders
• Internally and externally
• Regularly audit bench against key industry trends
• Don’t let your thought leaders hide
• Constant story mining
• Regular calls
• Daily news scans
• Ad hoc discussions
• Direct line to experts for rapid response
• Organic evolution

17. Working with the Media
Influencers with Influential Friends
Become a valuable source
• Working closely with your PR team to build and maintain human relationships
• Maintain regular touch points, even if you don’t get ink
• Come to the table with a differentiated PoV
• Ask the media for their insights
• Make introductions when possible – experts know experts
• Even if you aren’t the right source, your ability to point them to the right source
still establishes real value
• Be as accessible as possible
• Top considerations for a reporter – are they smart and can I actually get in
touch with them when I need to
• Face time, whenever possible
• Not everything needs to be about your company
• It’s okay to act as a source for something that isn’t all about your company

18. Measuring Thought Leadership
What Really Matters?
How can you tell it’s working?
• Quantitative
• Benchmarking
• Share of Voice –
competitors, keywords /
trends
• Site traffic
• Engagement
• Coverage
• Impressions
• Unique vs syndication
• Qualitative
• What you’re hearing
• Tone
• Alignment with strategy
• Message pull through
• Quality of coverage
• Etc.

19. • Transparency and collaboration are key
• Set strategic goals – prioritize stakeholders and define success
• Don’t fall into the trap of “because that’s how we’ve always done it”
• C-suite spokespeople are great, but a broad, diverse bench is even better
• Differentiate your PoV and foster personal relationships
• Measure, adjust and repeat
Key Takeaways

20. A Brand Elevation
Agency