Marketing to the healthcare C-suite: Who to target for your health IT product

Gartner reports show that complex B2B solutions involve a purchasing committee of 6–10 individuals, each spending 45% of their buying journey on independent research.

Committee-based purchasing decisions are arguably most difficult within healthcare systems, so you can be confident that for health IT buying, these numbers trend even higher.

Before healthcare marketers can determine how to reach the healthcare C-level, we must first understand who has a seat at the proverbial buying committee table.

The ever-expanding health IT buying committee

In our healthcare marketing agency’s 20+ years in business, we’ve researched, targeted, and engaged with just about every C-suite role.

Of course, committee size, member makeup, and buying cycle length will depend on many factors, including organization size, structure, budget, and existing infrastructure, among others.

With that in mind, here are some of the committee members you can expect to encounter based on the type of health IT product under consideration.

These C-suite titles can also be reasonably expanded to include VPs, directors, and managers within their departments. You will always find nuances in both titles and responsibilities, including some executives with dual roles. And new titles are added to the growing list each year.

Healthcare executives to reach and engage by product category

Click to jump to a product category:

• EHR, data integration, HIE, interoperability
• Patient engagement, patient safety, patient satisfaction
• Revenue cycle management
• Telehealth, remote patient monitoring
• Analytics, business intelligence

EHR, data integration, HIE, interoperability

Strategy: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business Development Officer, Chief of Managed Care, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Integration Officer

Budget and revenue: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer

Clinical: Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Chief Clinical Officer, Physician-in-Chief

IT: Chief Technology Officer, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Health Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Medical Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Security Officer, Chief Nursing Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Data Officer, Chief Privacy Officer

Patient engagement, patient safety, patient satisfaction

Strategy: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business Development Officer, Chief of Managed Care, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Integration Officer, Chief Population Health Officer

Budget and revenue: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer

Clinical: Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Chief Clinical Officer, Physician-in-Chief

IT: Chief Technology Officer, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Health Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Medical Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Security Officer, Chief Nursing Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Privacy Officer

Experience and quality: Chief Quality Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Patient Experience Officer, Chief Patient Engagement Officer, Chief Patient Safety Officer

Revenue cycle management

Strategy: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business Development Officer, Chief Innovation Officer

Budget and revenue: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer

IT: Chief Technology Officer, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Health Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Security Officer, Chief Privacy Officer

Experience and quality: Chief Experience Officer, Chief Patient Experience Officer, Chief Patient Engagement Officer

Telehealth, remote patient monitoring

Strategy: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business Development Officer, Chief of Managed Care, Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Integration Officer, Chief Population Health Officer

Budget and revenue: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer

Clinical: Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Chief Clinical Officer, Physician-in-Chief

IT: Chief Technology Officer, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Health Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Medical Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Security Officer, Chief Nursing Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Privacy Officer

Experience and quality: Chief Quality Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Patient Experience Officer, Chief Patient Engagement Officer, Chief Patient Safety Officer

Analytics, business intelligence

Strategy: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Business Development Officer, Chief of Managed Care, Chief Innovation Officer

Budget and revenue: Chief Financial Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer

IT: Chief Technology Officer, Chief Technology Innovation Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Health Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Medical Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Information/Informatics Security Officer, Chief Nursing Information/Informatics Officer, Chief Data Officer, Chief Privacy Officer

Target the healthcare C-suite wisely

The most important thing to keep in mind is the bigger the purchase (both in dollar amount and impact on the health system), the bigger the committee — and the bigger the required marketing and advertising budget to effectively reach all influential stakeholders.

Account-based marketing (ABM) is ideal for reaching target companies and different individuals on the buying committee with content specific to their role. And don’t sleep on intent data, even if you feel your product is too niche (spoiler alert: it’s not). Public relations and analyst relations can also get you in the publications and reports that weigh heavily in the C-suite decision-making process.

Any one of these individuals can kill a deal. On the flip side, any one of them can be your biggest advocate. Provide each with as much useful information as possible, relevant to both their job and the health system as a whole.

Remember, each is spending 45% of their buying journey on independent online and offline research, so produce marketing materials that align with each target’s priorities. Are they focused on value-based care initiatives? Managing M&A activity? Improving quality measures? Something else?

Show how you can help them succeed.

Need to reach the healthcare C-suite?

We can help.

Did we miss any titles? Let us know!