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This is Laura Dirdle with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
Paul Matson,
chief marketing and communications officer at Cleveland Clinic.
Paul, it's a pleasure to have you on
the podcast today.
Thank you, Laura. Great to be with you.
Now I am looking forward to our discussion
because I know Cleveland Clinic is on the
forefront of so much happening in health care
today and particularly, obviously, technology, innovation,
and being able to expand and care for
so many different communities,
in Ohio and across the world. But before
we dive into my questions, can you tell
me a little bit more about Cleveland Clinic
and what makes it unique?
Yes. Cleveland Clinic is,
over a hundred years old. We were founded
in 1921
by four physicians
who had practiced together in World War one
on the battlefield,
And they came away from that experience believing
that a team approach was the best way
to practice medicine,
and that ethos is still,
the focus of Cleveland Clinic's culture today.
We we have a team based approach to
clinical care
that puts the patient at the center of
everything that we do, and then that team
based approach
carries over into all the other work that
we do. So within our organization, marketing and
communications,
we work in a fully integrated manner,
and
that team based approach,
I think, helps us bring more comprehensive,
more innovative solutions
to the
programs that that we pursue.
But one thing that's also unique about Cleveland
Clinic, we are a truly global health care
system.
You know, today, we have 23 hospitals, including
a hospital and cancer center in The United
Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi.
We have a hospital in London.
You mentioned we have a presence in Florida
and, of course, our main campus and system
in Ohio. So
it's incredible to see how the Cleveland Clinic
culture
takes root and gets adapted,
to different markets around the world always with
the patients first at the center of what
we do.
And that's fascinating to hear and really impressive
to see how Cleveland Clinic has grown over
the years and expanded into so many different
areas. And as you mentioned, having that Cleveland
Clinic culture as the centerpiece
of everything you do, I know it's a
critical part of that mission and expansion. And,
you know, when you do
have these so many different spaces where you're
providing care in in so many different markets,
how do you ensure that culture,
is front and center? How do you create
that and instill that within so many people
across the world?
Our Cleveland Clinic caregiver office does a tremendous
job,
instilling the culture in
Cleveland Clinic caregivers
from
the hiring process,
through their careers at Cleveland Clinic. There's a
constant focus on
training and development.
We, as an organization, invest a great deal
on communicating with our caregivers. That's something my
team is deeply involved in,
making sure that,
with transparency,
we're sharing all the information people need to
know about the health system,
what's changing in health care, and then the
innovative things that we're introducing
to,
improve patient care to improve quality and safety.
Just in the last month, we released our
annual state of the clinic broadcast, which our
CEO, Tom Halovich,
leads, and it comprehensively
covers everything
that was accomplished in the past year, but
more importantly,
everything that's ahead for the health system in
2025
and beyond.
And I think that goes out worldwide
to all caregivers. It's accessible through our internal
channels, through social media,
and I think that communication
keeps everyone deeply connected to who we are
as an organization.
I remember during
COVID how caregivers around the world commented how
deeply connected and supported they felt because
of the regular communications they were getting, including,
frequent videos from our CEO that that really
made them feel like, you know, he was
and we were paying attention to, you know,
what the the challenges they were facing. So,
I think those are some of the things
that that keep our culture alive and vibrant
and constantly
growing and evolving.
That's really helpful to understand and great to
to hear more about how you stay connected
and really spread that culture
across the enterprise.
Now and you're looking at the last year
or so, what accomplishment are you most proud
of?
We've been working for a number of years
to build our global brand using digital content.
We set
a goal back in 2021,
which looking back, the fact that we we
started it during the pandemic is unique and
impressive. We we set a goal in 2021
to become
one of the leaders in health care content
globally.
The centerpiece of that is that we've built
a health library.
It's comprehensive,
covers,
over 10,000 articles on different diseases and conditions.
We tried to make it fresh,
compared to other existing health libraries
and, have created
tremendous illustrations.
And recently, we've been adding,
significant video content to it as well. Over
a three year period, we've we've created over
10,000 articles with our team,
and we surpassed over a billion sessions
on our website last year,
which makes us one of the most visited
websites in the world.
And it's been a tremendous journey, a lot
of learning,
and,
it's taken a lot of teamwork
to make it happen.
Not only have we created what I think
is very valuable content that helps educate
patients worldwide. It's coming from a trusted
health care brand
that also helps the performance of the content.
And at the same time, we also,
because of the scale of our website,
had to
put it out on new
technology
platforms, new content management systems. So we've scaled
all of our content, but we've also scaled
our technology
platforms and really helps bring our brand to
life for people around the world.
And we have we have users and traffic
all over the world,
and digital content today
is the number one way
that,
patients find out about the Cleveland Clinic for
the first time.
That's amazing to hear. And what a huge
accomplishment building a library, as you mentioned, with
more than 10,000 articles, videos,
other types of content, but then more than
a billion sessions a year last year is,
incredible
To think about the digital traffic that it
takes and to build something like that, I
can imagine was no small task.
Now, you know, I think,
looking ahead for the next year or so,
where do you see some of the biggest
growth opportunities,
whether it's in, the additional continuing on with
the this, digital library or or other areas
for the health system that you really see
huge growth?
So,
it's impossible to talk about the future without
talking about generative AI and the impact it's
having on
the world around us, but particularly within marketing
and communications,
there are opportunities
to use generative AI.
We started a comprehensive
process
about eighteen months ago
to,
form a strategy for marketing AI.
We developed with the full participation of our
organization. We made sure we gave everyone a
baseline level of understanding
and training on AI,
and then we developed,
a focused number of use cases.
And we've spent the last year,
piloting those use cases,
a lot to that process
to select technology partners
to get those vetted by cybersecurity,
by,
legal, by IT,
and then stand those technologies
up.
But our use cases have included things,
like photo retouching,
managing our social media platforms,
helping us with podcast efficiency,
editing, and transcription.
Also writing, we've been experimenting using
generative AI, of course, for writing
and, also for some analytics functions as well.
So we're really beginning to develop some
significant learning about where the opportunities are for
more impact,
but also more efficiency. And, of course, in
health care today,
we're all seeking ways to become more efficient.
So we're very excited about what we accomplished
in the past year, and now we're looking
to the next stage of generative AI
and how we can,
make these technologies
an integral part of the work that we
do within marketing and communications
at Cleveland Clinic.
That's great to hear. And certainly,
having that generative AI technology,
has made such a big difference across the
board with hospitals and health systems. And it's
cool to hear how you're using it in
the marketing capacity
to really make a big difference in those
you're reaching and the type of content you're
creating.
I'm curious. When you look at your teams
and generative AI coming in as a booster
for everything that you're doing,
across the board, how do you see the
roles and responsibilities
for health care marketing changing?
So that's something we're,
we're developing a better understanding
of. I think that, as I mentioned, we
want everyone in our marketing communications
organization to have
a basic understanding of,
generative AI and the tools and what the
potential is for those tools. But I think
we're also recognizing
that
not everyone can be a subject matter expert
on AI
and that, as we move forward
to be successful, we may need to evolve
some of the roles within our organization
to train and have dedicated specialists
who know how to get the most out
of these tools.
And,
and each of the tools is is different.
You know, there's some similarities, but but they
but they're each different. So I think we're
asking ourselves now as a marketing
communications leadership team, how do we get the
most out of these tools? What's the right
way to organize ourselves
in the future to to be impactful with
these tools? I think back to when we
really were focusing on becoming a digital first
marketing and communications team.
And,
you know, I was always exhorting the team
to think digital, think mobile, think measurable.
We had a lot of people who had
grown up in an analog world of design
and writing
and management. And
over time, we help people make that transition,
but roles evolved. You'd had to have people
who were specialized in social media,
people who were specialized in search engine optimization,
specialized in search engine marketing. So I think
AI is gonna present the same opportunities
to develop new roles that can really maximize
the potential of these technologies.
That's great to hear. And, you know, really
a fascinating way to look at things and
that evolution of technology, whether, as you mentioned,
going from analog to
computer online and now integrating in AI has
just been a fascinating transition and transformation.
I'm curious.
I I know there's a lot of opportunities,
coming down the pipe based on our discussion
today, but
challenges as well. What are some of those
big challenges that you're anticipating for the next
year or two?
So we're,
you know, working to
as I've mentioned,
we're working to,
get our team members as comfortable as possible
with AI,
and we want people to recognize that it's
a tool
to enhance the way we work. I heard
a great I think perspective on AI that,
someone showed it as a spectrum from
fully AI to fully human. And and, basically,
the the thought was very few things at
least initially are gonna be going to be
fully AI.
But what but but many things don't need
to be fully human. AI can help us
advance or be more efficient. So how do
we get people comfortable with finding where
various things in the organization
are on that perspective
and to embrace these tools
and not be intimidated by them. So I
think that's
one of the big challenges we continue to
face. We're,
you know, we're continuing to communicate and be
transparent with the team about the things we're
doing, and we want people to,
understand them and engage with them as much
as possible. I think, you know, the other
challenges,
you know, are just process challenges.
Every time, you you know, we look at
a new technology, it has to be vetted.
Can it fit within the Cleveland Clinic's,
IT,
architecture?
Is it safe from a cybersecurity
perspective?
What's the cost and benefit of AI? You
know, we really have to make sure that
if we're investing in these technologies that we
are getting a positive return. So,
as exciting as these technologies are, we we
do need to approach them with a level
of discipline
to make sure that we get the intended
benefits.
That makes a lot of sense. And, certainly,
I know so many organizations in health care
and otherwise are are trying to navigate that
similar challenge of making sure, one, new technologies
are gonna be beneficial long term, but, two,
their teams are comfortable and ready to embrace
them in a way that is optimizing them
as much as possible.
Is there anything that you found that worked
particularly well,
in terms of getting this message across and
and increasing the comfort level of your teams?
Yes. I I think at the very start,
we brought in,
an outside partner who's an expert in generative
AI,
and we,
held a
briefing for for all the members of our
marketing communications team worldwide.
Everyone was invited to participate,
and everyone got the same
overview
of the AI landscape. We'll probably repeat that
process this year
because so much has changed in the last
fifteen to eighteen months.
And now we can
add to it a perspective on what we've
learned,
from the tools that we were using
as well as a look forward in in
terms of what our road map will be
for 2025
and hopefully beyond, but it's hard to look
too too far down the road.
But,
you know, I think,
I think we have to keep experimenting. We've
tried in certain certain use case,
examples. We've tried multiple technologies already because,
you know, if we found something wasn't working,
wasn't meeting our needs, we needed to adapt
and and and move on. So in some
cases,
I think the, you know, phrase you you'll
hear is, you know, fail fast and it
may you know, if it's not gonna work,
then make a decision and and find another
solution. So,
you know, it's we're still very much in
the
early stages of this, technology.
And, you know, I think we know there's
a a long way to go, so we
have to stay open minded,
stay,
transparent,
and, you know, see where it takes us.
That's really helpful advice. I think, it makes
a lot of sense. It's cool to hear
that evolution even in just one year. So
much has changed, but still, you know, you
can bring in the experts as well as
incorporate what you've learned, into
how you're connecting and communicating with your broader
teams, about AI as well. Now before we
wrap up here, I'm wondering, what is the
number one thing that you are doing right
now to set, Cleveland Clinic up for long
term success?
So,
when I saw this question, I I had
to give it some thought, and I wanted
to pivot away from,
AI. I think, you know, I've I've spent
a lot of time talking about that. But
I think, you know, right now, we're we're
coming out of a year in 2024
and the prior year in 2023
where a lot of organizations
face
stiff headwinds
with the changing health care environment.
And,
you know, certainly, Cleveland Clinic, we weren't immune
to that. We had to overcome
some of those industry headwinds, and and we're
still working through those processes.
I think for for my organization,
you know, to be successful long term,
we have to have a deep understanding
of
the organization's
strategy
and how marketing communications
support that. You know, we don't operate in
a vacuum.
We are an integrated part of,
a highly integrated health care system. So
one of the things that we're focused on
right now
is,
as we go through organizational
change,
that we're continuing to meet
regularly and consistently
with leaders across our entire organization
to understand what the needs are in their
markets
and for their service lines,
and not to predetermine,
you know, what the marketing or communication
solutions might be.
So, we're having great conversations across the organization.
As I mentioned, market service lines, research, education,
and how can we in marketing and communications
help them
achieve their goals. Ultimately,
you know, that's our truest measure of success
for the work that we do.
That makes a lot of sense. And, you
know, great to to hear and understand that,
the marketing communications, as you mentioned, is really
such a big part of the overall health
system. It makes everything else work. And, truly,
truly carrying that message forward is a huge
responsibility,
but one that it seems like is an
exciting,
exciting thing to come to work every day
and really make happen.
Yes. I mean, we're it it takes, you
know, it takes teamwork. It takes,
really having an ability to listen and understand
before you try to work through solutions.
One thing we're very proud of that's
a product of that kind of approach to
working is we just launched a brand new
global brand campaign.
It'll run across all of our markets in
London, in Florida, and in Ohio,
and,
that's quite an accomplishment for our team. It
was a different way of thinking of working
for all the markets, but we've gotten great
support.
And I think that's really what a
Fantastic. Well, Paul, thank you so much for
joining us on the podcast today. This has
been a really fascinating conversation, and I look
forward to connecting with you again soon.
Laura, appreciate it. It was great to be
with you. Thanks for having me.