El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA extends patient care and serves employees, volunteers, and visitors with healthcare retail.

A conversation with Patty Tager, Director of Retail Services

Explain your retail operations, their opening dates and expected revenue.

I oversee four stores. The Gift Connection, The Health Connection, and The Maternal Connection, and The Gift Connection, Los Gatos. The Maternal Connection existed, Los Gatos opened last August, and The Gift Connection and The Health Connection opened in February 2010. The Gift Connection, with approximately 1,000 sqft of selling space, offers a wide variety of products and price points and was designed with a “high-end” look. Although we carry the more typical hospital gift shop items, we also reach into the higher price points to serve that community as well.

The Health Connection is about 900 square feet. This is where we connect our promotion of living a healthy lifestyle with products that make it a reality. We have spa products, all natural body products, clothing, books, calming music,yoga mats and accessories. We also have the core clinical products for patient discharges such as surgical rehab items and bariatric post-surgery products.

This store has a very spa-like feel. We offer personal back and neck massages in the store by appointment, and also have a massage chair available at all times. We wanted to offer visitors and staff a place to go to get away from stress. We have incorporated music and pleasant aromas to create a soothing environment.

The Maternal Connection is about 500 square feet located in our Lactation Services and Maternity building. We have everything to support mom and baby and do a large breast pump rental business, carry products to aid with nursing, and do bra fittings.

While we consider ourselves to be in start up mode, we are projecting 1.3 million within the first year.

How has retail added to the patient continuum of care? How has it supported the staff of El Camino?

We are committed to meeting specific needs for our patients whether it is items to pass the time or basic care items. We carry a broad price range throughout our large assortment of products.

Our new hospital encourages family visits and family stays. All the rooms have extended stay opportunities so we want retail to support the visiting families as well. We want to help them prepare for any home care the patient will require. The products extend the care we provide at the hospital into the patients home. The goal is to allow for the patient to go from the hospital to home without having to make additional stops. We also have a local independent out patient pharmacy as an additional convenience for the patient.

Our incredible staff is another audience we serve. They are under a large amount of stress. Our retail supports them with a destination for relaxation. Massages are very popular. The staff doesn’t have time to shop other places so they shop here. The stores represent a significant convenience factor for our staff. It truly does contribute to employee retention.

How has the Senior Leadership Team been supportive of retail?

Our focus on retail has been of great interest to our CEO and executive team. They understand how it enhances patient care, revenue, and continues to draw from within the community. This was a huge push for our community relations area and our community programs. They (leadership) even offered me a designer and together we came up with the store design. I received significant financial support for these start-ups, which has helped make it successful.

What are your best category sellers? What are the most profitable products? How does price point affect how you price?

We opened the new stores in February 2010, so we will have to track our sales information. We plan on using that information, along with other sources, to best determine what will and will not work.

Our price points go all the way up to the $300 range.. Jewelry is a great success and is a high margin category for us. Stationary is well developed. Our inspirational category is a good seller for us. We have some more whimsical lower priced items that sell very well. Our floral category is successful and we work with a local florist. Some arrangements go up to $100. Most are within $25 to $50 dollar range. We brought in a line of silk floral with price points in the $100 to $200 price range and we can’t keep them in stock.

From the moment we opened the doors to The Health Connection our customers have been very impressed and see the need for a space to “decompress”. Its almost therapeutic for our staff, volunteers, and visitors. Our best selling items range from inspirational books to Buddha-style statues, with price points going up to $200+. We sell quite a bit of comfortable clothing and uxurious robes, blankets, and sleepwear.

How do you think retail will impact healthcare in the future?

Healthcare Retail will have a huge impact the future. I think if we continue to offer our patients, visitors, and staff products and services that will make their experience less stressful or painful it will only increase patient satisfaction which will, in turn, make our organization more successful. This translates into increasing growth.

Share some of your successful marketing tools you did to promote retail.

Our initial focus was on getting the stores open. The current plan includes internal marketing efforts focused primarily on the staff. We plan to reach them through email, signs, flyers, and table tents in staff areas and patient waiting areas. Print materials are brought to the units for the staff to help educate patients on what we have or them. We have a hospital television system in the patient rooms, which we can use for advertising our retail services.

We plan to reach themthrough email, signs, flyers, and table tents in staff areas and patient waiting areas. Print materials are brought to the units for the staff to help educate patients on what we have or them. We have a hospital television station in the patient rooms, which will be used for advertising our retail.