Why Your Health System Should Invest in Marketing Despite Economic Uncertainty

Updated from February 16, 2023

In times of economic uncertainty, cutting marketing can hurt hospital growth. Strategic healthcare marketing strengthens resilience by maintaining visibility, supporting high-value service lines, and building patient trust. By focusing on data-driven outreach and empathetic communication, health systems can protect revenue, sustain patient acquisition, and emerge stronger when financial pressures ease.

With the Trump administration back in office, hospitals and health systems are navigating a rapidly shifting economic and regulatory landscape. Inflation and high interest rates continue to drive up operational costs. Meanwhile, proposed cuts to federal healthcare programs fuel ambiguity around long-term funding streams, and immigration restrictions limiting foreign medical graduates and workers further strain staffing pipelines. At the same time, efforts to roll back regulatory frameworks present new compliance challenges for health systems that are already stretched thin.

Between shifting regulations and rising labor costs, many hospitals and health systems are facing difficult budget decisions, but cutting marketing isn’t the answer. Far from being a luxury, marketing is a vital lifeline.

When done well, strategic marketing does more than promote services. It builds public trust, supports high-margin service lines, and delivers measurable ROI. In times of financial strain, smart marketing keeps hospitals visible, relevant, and competitive, enabling resilience and growth.

Understanding the pressures hospitals face is the first step to creating a health system marketing strategy that fosters growth and drives patient acquisition. By aligning outreach with today’s economic realities and following some key marketing moves, health systems can strengthen their position even in uncertain times.

Establishing Certainty in Uncertain Times

It can be tempting to take the rising operational costs, healthcare program funding cuts, immigration restrictions, and regulatory changes as a sign to cut ad spending until the market recovers. Yet research on past downturns shows that the opposite is true: maintaining and even increasing marketing spend during uncertain times not only drives resilience and protects current market share but also positions hospitals for faster growth once conditions improve.

Successful brands across industries have shown that resilience isn’t just about budget. It’s more about how you show up. During the pandemic, for example, hand sanitizer brand Touchland earned lasting loyalty by leaning into empathy and transparency. Their honest SMS campaigns and authentic social media presence demonstrated that patient communication needs to be both clinical and human, especially when anxiety and uncertainty are high.

Likewise, skin care brand Topicals grew by building a vibrant online community that prioritized mental health, proving that connection can happen even in physical isolation. For healthcare organizations, the takeaway is clear: digital spaces are powerful tools for cultivating trust and fostering meaningful patient engagement.

Partake Foods found its momentum by anchoring every message to a clear mission: making allergy-friendly foods more accessible. That focus helped the brand stand out in a crowded market. Health systems can do the same by leveraging platforms like Healthgrades to reinforce their commitment to accessible, high-quality care and to help patients find the right doctors with confidence.

Even brands like Warby Parker thrived by solving practical problems in new ways. Their virtual try-ons and at-home eyewear kits allowed them to meet people wherever they were. Healthcare marketers can apply the same mindset by investing in easy-to-navigate digital tools that make every step of the patient journey more seamless and stress-free.

The common thread across these examples isn’t flawless execution but rather the ability to stay flexible, grounded in purpose, and responsive to change. In healthcare, this strategy is essential. Adapting quickly to shifting reimbursement models, regulatory updates, and patient behaviors can offer a competitive edge.

Understanding Today’s Pressures: Context for Smart Marketing

Health systems nationwide face a complex mix of financial, operational, and legislative forces that make budget planning a moving target. But these challenges don’t imply marketing should shrink. In fact, they create opportunities for bold, strategic efforts that protect revenue, strengthen patient connections, and set organizations up for long-term success.

By grounding strategies in today’s realities and aligning outreach with shifting market conditions, leaders can ensure every marketing dollar works harder. Below are the key pressures shaping health system decisions today:

Funding and Reimbursement Pressures

Low reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid continue to create significant financial headwinds for hospitals, especially as care delivery costs rise. According to the American Hospital Association (AHA)’s report, Medicare reimbursed only 83 cents for every dollar spent in 2023, resulting in over $130 billion in underpayments from public payers.

Inflation has only widened the gap. Between 2022 and 2024, inflation rose 14.1%, while Medicare inpatient payments grew only 5.1%, effectively reducing reimbursement rates.

With federal proposals threatening further cuts to core healthcare programs, health systems face even greater barriers to long-term planning, investment, and growth. However, strategic marketing can help. By prioritizing high-value service lines and reinforcing trust, healthcare organizations protect revenue streams, even when reimbursements fall short.

Labor Shortages and Rising Costs

According to the AHA, labor now accounts for over half of hospital operating expenses. Persistent staffing shortages, especially among registered nurses, have pushed RN salaries up 26.6% faster than the inflation rate over the last four years.

The financial toll is steep. Replacing a single bedside RN costs roughly $61,000, and the average hospital loses $3.9 to $5.7 million annually to RN turnover. The issue is likely going to worsen, as 41% of nurses in a study conducted across 200 healthcare organizations indicated plans to leave their jobs within the next two years. Immigration limits, visa limitations, and reduced caps on international medical graduates are also constraining the talent pipeline when hospitals need it most.

Meanwhile, inflation is driving up costs of everything from pharmaceuticals to utilities, straining already-tight budgets and limiting operational flexibility.

In this environment, strategic marketing becomes a buffer. Effective campaigns that attract and retain patients help hospitals offset rising labor and operating costs while sustaining growth in an increasingly volatile market.

Regulatory and Compliance Challenges

Hospitals must also devote substantial resources to keep pace with evolving regulations. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed sweeping changes to the HIPAA Security Rule in 2025. Between the mandatory multi-factor authentication, encryption standards, annual security risk assessments, and formalized incident response planning, updates are projected to cost $9 billion in the first year alone.

Additionally, hospitals must keep up with updated CMS quality reporting requirements and evolving Joint Commission accreditation standards, all of which require ongoing investment in IT systems, staff training, and oversight.

Amid these pressures, thoughtful marketing can play a pivotal role. Clear, consistent communication reassures patients that their data and care are protected, while strengthening brand trust and demonstrating transparency at a time when confidence is paramount. Positioning compliance as part of a broader commitment to safety and stability allows health systems to turn regulatory challenges into a competitive advantage.

Tariffs and Supply Chain Disruptions

New tariffs on imported medical devices are pushing costs even higher. A Black Book Market Research survey found that 82% of healthcare leaders expect hospital expenses to rise by at least 15% in the next six months due to tariffs, and 94% are delaying equipment upgrades as a result.

Since 69% of U.S. medical devices are manufactured overseas, these disruptions risk financial losses, potential delays in care, and compromised treatment quality. Marketing can help fill that gap by keeping hospitals top of mind and preventing competitors from capturing market share.

Shifting Care Patterns and Patient Demographics

The aging U.S. population is driving greater demand for high-acuity care. As of 2022, 17% of Americans were over 65—a figure projected to rise to 23% by 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This demographic shift means more chronic conditions, longer inpatient stays, and more intensive care needs.

Meanwhile, shifts in payer mix are complicating revenue predictability. Observation stays are up, yet they are reimbursed at lower outpatient rates despite requiring similar resources. Complicating things further, the HHS reports that Medicare Advantage plans are denying claims more frequently, with 13% of prior-authorization denials and 18% of payment denials involving services that Medicare would have traditionally covered. 

These trends make it harder to predict incoming revenue, increase coding and billing complexity, and raise administrative burdens, especially for service lines vulnerable to economic downturns, such as:

• Sports medicine and orthopedic clinics
• Bariatric (weight-loss) surgery
• Preventive health screenings (such as colonoscopies and mammograms for low-risk patients)
• Non-urgent cardiac procedures (including elective angioplasty and diagnostic cardiac testing)
• Elective gastroenterology (such as endoscopies for non-urgent issues)

Addressing these pressures requires health systems to reassess how they prioritize, staff teams, and support service lines to balance short-term realities with the broader goal of comprehensive care. As the U.S. population continues to age, strategic marketing will be key to connecting with older patients, building loyalty, and positioning hospitals for long-term resilience and growth.

In short, today’s pressures don’t diminish the need for marketing. They make it more important than ever. To stay resilient, protect revenue, and drive growth despite economic uncertainty, health systems need marketing that is top-tier, agile, and strategic.

Four Marketing Moves to Build Stability Through Strategy

Experts recommend these three health system marketing strategies to manage money wisely during times of economic unpredictability.

1. Preserve Strong Revenue Channels

Reallocate money from awareness campaigns into low-funnel initiatives that drive demonstrable near-term revenue, such as search, paid social, and appointment-based conversion campaigns. Lean on your high-margin, priority service lines like orthopedics, cardiology, and surgery to continue driving volume and profitability even during periods of market volatility. It’s also a smart time to invest in strategies that bring in more commercially insured patients who typically offer higher reimbursement rates.

Sponsored profiles on Healthgrades help achieve this by elevating your doctors across patient search pathways, including competitor listings, ensuring your brand stays visible when patients actively compare specialists and coverage networks.

Focusing on retaining loyal patients also helps your health system maintain a steady profit as you adjust your marketing goals to accommodate shifting economic factors and refine your hospital patient acquisition strategy. Think about setting your health system up for success, not just survival.

2. Empathy-Driven Communication

When consumers tighten their budgets and become more cautious about spending, cost transparency and honest messaging become even more valuable to patients who need care but may have financial reservations about seeing a doctor.  Therefore, your campaigns should acknowledge the financial stress many families face and clearly communicate that your health system is here to support them.

Craft messaging that speaks directly to patients who may have lost coverage, delayed care due to cost, or are struggling to navigate healthcare decisions during times of financial uncertainty. Consider highlighting available solutions such as payment plans, upfront pricing tools, telehealth services, asynchronous care options, and resources for the uninsured to ease financial hesitation and encourage patients to stay engaged in their care. You can also encourage consumers to prioritize their health by offering free educational content about chronic conditions and preventive care.

Some health systems are already leading the way. During the pandemic, one Texas hospital group launched “Neighbors in Care,” a locally focused campaign that offered free virtual seminars on managing chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. By addressing the specific health concerns of communities hit hardest by economic and public health challenges, the health system gained trust, increased participation among vulnerable groups, and reinforced its reputation for providing empathetic and responsive care.

When patients feel understood and supported, they’re more likely to stay connected to your health system, even when circumstances are difficult.

3. Deliver Messaging Where It Matters Most

Once you’ve established what to say, the next step is choosing how and where to deliver that message for maximum impact.

Video ads remain one of the most effective tools for emotionally resonating with patients. It can humanize your brand in a format that feels approachable and relatable. For instance, a short testimonial-style video featuring a real patient sharing how they managed a chronic condition thanks to your hospital’s telehealth access can show the real-world impact of your services without feeling transactional.

Complement that connection with geotargeted awareness campaigns in areas that offer real potential to grow patient volume, such as underutilized clinics or local markets where capacity is strong. Healthgrades’ Advertising Solutions can help you target specialties and regions with the greatest opportunity, ensuring your campaigns reach patients where they’re most likely to convert.

To build visibility across media platforms and strengthen brand awareness, Healthgrades’ Brand Solutions leverage proprietary data from Healthgrades Audience Intelligence, which combines billions of online consumer interactions with de-identified claims data, and machine learning to identify potential prospects. By using this foresight with condition-specific targeting, you can proactively engage with high-intent individuals early and guide them to your health system.

Therefore, keeping patients active in their care journey, even when it may not be at the top of their minds, helps sustain demand for key service lines and protect revenue during periods when every margin point counts. It’s critical to any hospital patient acquisition strategy and should remain central to your messaging.

4. Drive Strategic Growth With Advanced Data Intelligence

Health systems cannot afford to make decisions based on guesswork during times of economic pressure. Strong marketing performance depends on more than tracking clicks and impressions. It requires turning data into clear insights that guide both short-term choices and long-term strategy.

The first step is consistent performance tracking. Monitoring KPIs such as qualified leads, conversion rates, and website engagement shows what is working and where adjustments are needed. These metrics help ensure budgets are directed toward campaigns that deliver measurable results.

Advanced analytics can take this further. Predictive models highlight which patient segments are most likely to seek care in the future, while detailed reporting allows marketers to refine audience targeting and personalize outreach. These capabilities ensure resources are directed toward the patients most likely to take action, leading to stronger conversion rates.

Finally, data is most powerful when it is connected across the organization. Linking marketing insights with financial and clinical data gives organizations a fuller picture of how campaigns affect patient acquisition, resource use, and revenue.

5. Strengthen Referral Networks and Physician Loyalty

Beyond just campaign performance, it’s important to consider how your marketing efforts support broader operational goals. Take patient leakage, for example. With average leakage rates ranging from 55% to 65%, U.S. hospital systems lose an estimated $150 billion each year. For a single affiliated physician, that can translate to nearly $821,000 to $971,000 lost per year. 

Strengthening referral networks is one of the most effective ways to protect growth. 

Healthgrades supports this through a two-pronged approach: 

Targeted Engagement 

Healthgrades’ HCP Marketing helps health systems address leakage by reaching employed and affiliated physicians directly with list-matched advertising. This solution ensures your priority doctors see your brand messaging across high-impact digital channels such as email, display, and trusted healthcare sites. With access to over 90% of active healthcare professionals, HCP Marketing empowers you to build stronger relationships, reinforce loyalty, and position your organization as an employer of choice.

Strategic Referral Management

To complement this outreach, Healthgrades partners with Doctivity Health, a physician relationship management (PRM) platform that consolidates claims, EHR, and CRM data into a single source of truth. This visibility allows you to see referral flows, identify at-risk service lines, and understand physician loyalty. The result is reduced leakage, faster physician ramp-up, and stronger network alignment. 

For example, in a recent Doctivity case study, Geisinger’s Musculoskeletal Institute used the platform to uncover referral challenges and implement a focused physician relations strategy. Within six months, referral leakage dropped from 70% to 30%, new patient referrals rose 55%, and the institute generated more than $2 million in additional revenue.

Together, HCP Marketing and Doctivity make referral management not just a defensive strategy but a growth driver that improves care continuity and financial performance.

Enhance Overall Health System Resilience with Operational Innovation 

Beyond strategic marketing, fortifying your health system’s operational backbone is critical for resilience in uncertain times. Streamlining workflows and leveraging technology can lead to significant cost savings and improved patient experiences.

You can improve operational efficiency with tools like Medchat·ai, which not only automates scheduling, triage, and patient messaging but also supports a wide range of operational and patient access needs. These capabilities reduce administrative burden, helping staff concentrate on higher-value interactions that improve both patient satisfaction and overall efficiency. In an environment where every dollar counts, strengthening workflows is one of the most effective ways to stretch tight budgets without sacrificing quality of care.

At the organizational level, AI solutions like Medchat·ai extend these benefits even further. Beyond staffing support, they help reduce costly errors, increase accuracy, and create consistency across departments—translating into measurable cost savings and stronger patient outcomes.

More specifically, organizations can benefit from:

• Streamlined workflows and reduced administrative burden: AI automation handles repetitive, time-consuming administrative tasks that slow operations. For example, Medchat·ai automates scheduling and patient messaging, ensuring patients quickly access the right services while keeping processes efficient.
• Increased operational efficiency and cost savings: By automating billing support, medical records requests, discharges, and pharmacy refills, tools like Medchat·ai reduce errors, improve accuracy, and accelerate processes. The result is less waste, fewer delays, and in some cases shorter patient stays—all of which translate into measurable cost savings. Lowering reliance on manual intervention also helps reduce labor costs and mitigate staff burnout.
• Improved patient access and satisfaction: AI-powered solutions extend access beyond traditional business hours, handling everything from routine questions to appointment scheduling. Around-the-clock availability reduces wait times and improves the overall patient experience.

For data-driven solutions that provide rewarding results without overextending budgets, healthcare marketers can turn to Healthgrades’ comprehensive suite of hospital marketing and automation solutions, which revolutionize patient access, engagement, and care coordination.

Healthgrades Drives Marketing That Pays for Itself

When margins are tight and patient behaviors shift, flexibility becomes your greatest asset. That’s where Healthgrades comes in. Our solutions support your hospital’s marketing strategy by helping your organization run high-impact campaigns and stay visible when it matters most.

Healthgrades Advertising Solutions for Health Systems

When patient attention is fragmented, competition is high, and margins are tight, visibility is everything. Healthgrades Advertising Solutions position your health system front and center—not just on healthgrades.com but also across our network of partner sites. We drive conversion-ready traffic with clear calls to action, ensuring your system is seen first through prominently branded profiles on search results and physician pages.

 By targeting patients actively searching for care in your specialty areas and promoting your system as an alternative on competitor profiles, we help you stay top of mind during real-time decision-making moments. Plus, by linking directly to your existing scheduling platform or integrating with Healthgrades’ Online Appointment Scheduling (OAS), we remove friction and enable patients to book appointments immediately, turning visibility into action.

Healthgrades Brand & Marketing Solutions for Health Systems

With Healthgrades Brand Solutions, your brand reaches the industry’s most qualified and action-oriented audience at scale by leveraging Healthgrades Audience Intelligence proprietary data. This data combines billions of consumer behavioral site interactions and HIPAA-compliant, de-identified claims data with exclusive machine-learning modeling techniques to identify consumers most likely to make an appointment soon. From PatientConnect’s hyper-targeted display ads on healthgrades.com to PatienTarget’s omnichannel reach across web, connected TV, video, and audio, our solutions help maximize every branding dollar while elevating your presence in all the places that matter.

HCP Marketing for Health Systems helps you reach, engage, and influence doctors with targeted, direct-to-physician advertising and communications solutions. This list-matched advertising solution breaks through the clutter and ensures the right healthcare professionals see your organization’s brand messaging. Run branded outreach across high-impact digital channels, including email, display, and top healthcare sites trusted by doctors.

Medchat•ai for Health Systems & Practices

Efficiency and responsiveness are critical when every second counts. Boost patient conversion and streamline the healthcare journey with Medchat·ai for Health Systems & Practices. Medchat•ai is a HIPAA- and SOC 2 Type 2-compliant AI solution that augments and automates complex communications and workflows across health systems and practices. Its flexibility allows staff to automate everything from patient scheduling and triage to pharmacy and discharge workflows, making it one of the most versatile tools in any health system’s tech stack.

Partner with Healthgrades to build stability in uncertain times.