Outsource Marketing Solutions blog

Zimmer Antitrust Investigation

From the Timesreporter.com

"Zimmer Holdings Inc. is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division.

The company, based at Warsaw, Ind., and with a facility at Dover, received a subpoena requesting documents for the period beginning January 2001 through the present, pertaining to an investigation of possible violations of federal criminal law, including possible violations of the antitrust laws, involving the manufacture and sale of orthopaedic implant devices, according to a statement on Zimmer’s Web site." Read on

"Founded in 1927 and headquartered at Warsaw, Zimmer is a worldwide leader in designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing reconstructive and spinal implants, trauma and related orthopaedic surgical products, according to its Web site. Zimmer has operations in more than 24 countries and sells products in more than 100 countries. Zimmer’s 2005 sales were about $3.3 billion and the company has more than 6,700 employees worldwide, according to the Web site. There are about 300 employees at the Dover facility."

Interested in the Zimmer eCatalog for orthoses? - Click Here and enter brace in the search box.

Retirees Left Without a Leg to Stand On?

Now's a good time to educate your patients whose O&P care is covered by their retiree health plan. 
Read the whole article - click here.
(If they've even got adequate O&P coverage, they probably won't have it much longer.  Note: "plan design changes" never means anything good for O&P!) 

BusinessInsurance online:

• 49% intend to make plan design changes for current retirees, and 50% expect to change plan design for future retirees;

Another September Florida Special

$69 -- Florida Waterfront Hotel w/FREE Upgrade

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Travel dates: Midweek through October 8 (Weekends $20 more)

Top 20 deal - sells out quickly!

Stay waterfront at the Fort Lauderdale Grande Hotel & Yacht Club for just $69 per night (Sun.-Thu.), and receive a FREE upgrade to a Grande View room. This deal is also available on weekends for $20 more per night.  Either way, you save you up to 45% OFF regular prices.

Formerly the Fort Lauderdale Marina Marriott.

Blackout Dates:  Jul. 13-16; Aug. 21-23.  Book by July 5.

Click here to book online with the Fort Lauderdale Grande.
Or, call the hotel directly at 1-866-380-1110 and be sure to mention promo code:  FLG ZOO

You must use the link above to get the special rate.

Been to church lately?

Church of the customer.  Jackie Huba & Ben McConnell's blog. Word of mouth, customer evangelism and citizen marketers. 

Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool.  Very powerful.

Anyone who knows me well (or who happens to be within 10 feet of me during the Southwest boarding process) knows how I feel about Southwest Airlines and their ridiculous A,B,C group cattle herding.  (Do you REALLY need to stand in line if you have an "A" boarding pass? You're going to get whatever type of seat you want anyway.) Speaking of which  USA Today reported SWA efforts at changing the seating/boarding process "But now, Southwest is competing in new cities where potential customers aren't seeing the charm of open seating the same as many Southwest loyalists who grew up with it."  I guess it's not just me!

According to Huba & McConnell's article in MarketingProfs.com :

"A customer evangelist is like a friend you've known for years. Their relationship helps support your organization through good times and bad.

What does a customer evangelist look like? How do you know if someone is extolling your virtues?

• They purchase and believe in your product or service.
• They are loyal and passionately recommend you to friends, neighbors and colleagues.
• They provide unsolicited feedback or praise.
• They forgive occasional dips in service and quality; they let you know when quality slips.
• They are not bought; customer evangelists extol your virtues freely.
• As your evangelist, they feel part of something bigger than themselves."

Who are your word of mouth marketers? What are they saying about you?

Are they evanglists? Or do they feel about you like I feel about Southwest's boarding process?

Yuck.

Ft Lauderdale Travel Special

I got this from Travelzoo.com - awesome travel website. Sign up for their weekly newsletter. It's full of travel specials around the world.

$79 -- Ft. Lauderdale Resort w/Upgrade (Reg. $199)

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Travel dates: Through Sept. 30

Stay across the street from the beach at the Bahia Mar Beach Resort & Yachting Center for only $79 per night (Sun.-Thurs.), and get a FREE upgrade to an ocean view room. Weekends are only $20 more per night. This deal is available through September.  During this time rooms regularly go for as much as $199 per night!

The Bahia Mar dates back to 1875. Today, this historic resort is in Ft. Lauderdale's beachfront and shopping district.  It has a marina that houses the area's largest yachts and offers a large variety of water activities. Other amenities: tennis courts, a restaurant, and fitness center. 16 miles north of Hollywood, Florida.

Click here to book online with the Bahia Mar.
Or call the resort directly at 1-888-80BAHIA (1-888-802-2442), and ask for rate code: BAHIAZOO

Health Insurance Industry Updates

The following are all articles from Business Insurance Online.  Great site!  Definitely worth signing up for their email newsletter.

(The skull and cross bones are just my personal feelings regarding the health insurance industry in general. Perk of being the blogger, you get to pick the pictures!)

(Reuters)—More than 14% of Americans lacked health insurance last year, a slightly lower share than 2004, according to federal statistics published on Wednesday.

The survey, by the Washington-based National Center for Health Statistics, also found that 8.9% of U.S. children were not covered by health insurance.

MINNETONKA, Minn.—UnitedHealth Group Inc. has filed a motion seeking a protective order to block a request by Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch for documents relating to its executive compensation practices.

UnitedHealth is one several companies that are being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. It also has received a subpoena concerning options practices from the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—The California Public Employees’ Retirement System on Wednesday adopted a health plan package that will increase its members’ health maintenance organization premiums by an average of 11.6% for 2007.

CalPERS said it spends $4 billion a year to purchase health care coverage for 1.2 million members. It is the United States’ third-largest purchaser of health benefits.

Keeping Customers in the Loop

Top of mind.  It's where you want to be.  You and/or your company need to be the first thing anyone thinks of when they think  Orthotics & Prosthetics!! How do you get and stay top of mind? 

Keep your customers in the loop.  Postcards , newsletters, email newsletters, (frequently updated) websites, even phone calls...just let them know what you are up to and how you can help solve their problems. 

Here's a tip - save all your "junk" mail for a month.  See who is sending you what. 

I guarantee if you're an Amex card holder you've got at least one mailing from American Express.  I get an average of 4 postcards a week and several different emails from them.  They are always letting me know what events are coming to town or what new products and services they are offering.  They make sure I don't think twice about Visa.

Why?  Obviously, the more I use that card, the more money they make.  So they have chosen the most cost-effective means of reaching me over and over and over again. 

Email and postcards.  Keeping me in the loop.  Keeping them top of mind. 

How are you staying top of mind with your customers?

Need some help? Email me. elizabeth@askelizabeth.net

Guaranteed Prosthetic Coverage? Maybe You Should Move to San Francisco

S.F. mayor urges health coverage for all uninsured
Taxpayers would subsidize program to pay medical costs

From the San Francisco Chronicle:  "Mayor Gavin Newsom announced an ambitious proposal Tuesday that would make San Francisco the first city in the country to provide taxpayer-subsidized health care to all uninsured residents, covering services like doctor visits, surgeries and prescription drugs....

Everything from emergency room stays, physical therapy and psychiatric care to radiology, allergy tests and prosthetics would be covered. Dental care and fertility and cosmetic procedures would not."  Click HERE to read the whole article.

Question for San Francisco O&P providers?  Who is going to take the proactive step of defining qualified O&P providers?  Who will be able to be reimbursed for their O&P services under this plan?

Oh My! What A Beautiful Website! Can Anyone See It?

1 in 12 people has a color deficiency.  If you haven't taken that into account when you, or your web designer, designed your website, then go HERE.
Newman Services site allows you to check your site and see what it looks like to someone who is color blind.

In the presentation I do on website do's and don'ts I talk about using color when designing your site but what people sometimes don't realize is that color use also comes into play on a PowerPoint presentation!!

Talking about website colors with a friend of mine who is extremely color deficient and he mentioned that he attended an educational presentation put on by a large O&P vendor and he couldn't read some of the slides! Maybe they should check their slides at Vischeck.  For PowerPoint slides, you can save all your slides as PNG images with "Save As..." and run Vischeck on each slide. Vischeck allows you to simulate colorblind vision. 

Resource Guide for Those Who Work With People with Disabilities

The Connecticut Office of Protection and Advocacy - a federally mandated department that assists people with disabilities - has produced "A Guide for Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness Planning."

"This guide is primarily intended to assist people involved in 
preparedness planning at the municipal and regional levels.  
It also contains information that will 
be useful to individuals with disabilities and families."