Before the pandemic triggered global recession of 2020 emerged, disruption of traditional revenue streams for associations was already underway. Association leaders were already concerned in 2019 about declining nondues revenue from meetings, publications, education, and advertising.
But trying to squeeze more dollars from legacy sources of revenues will not fill the gap created by the potent combination of a global recession with ongoing industry disruption.
Health care associations face the added threat from the accelerating shift to value-based payment and the digital transformation of health care delivery. Together these forces are disrupting traditional models of clinical care, practice operations, and health systems business models. And now in 2020, consider the fragility of our public health system and the hospital capacity limits exposed by Covid-19. The resulting uncertainty across the health care sector is creating new needs for support from associations when the sector is already apprehensive about the declining viability of traditional nondues revenue sources.
One pathway to convert health care disruption into opportunity is to accelerate business development with new corporate partnerships, digital business models, and entrepreneurial strategies. But how prepared are health associations to venture outside the comfort zone of traditional nondues revenues sources and envision new opportunities for value creation?
The first step is to replace the narrow association mindset of dependency on traditional nondues sources. Consider how health care associations can drive value with new business ventures that advance clinical practice and meet health ecosystem needs.
In this approach, Health care associations move beyond traditional nondues sources by leveraging existing assets as the basis for new products and services for new customer segments. Those foundational assets for business innovation include three asset categories: trusted brand, quality guidance, and clinical innovations.
Trusted Brand: Your association's brand recognition is the basis of market credibility and access to new customers. Being nationally recognized and trusted within your specific health care sector is a powerful access channel to health professionals at the front line of diagnosis and treatment. As a leader in professional recognitions of providers and institutions, your association has standing in the professional certification and institutional accreditation sector.
Quality Guidance: Many health associations are highly influential leaders in quality guidance. Often associations are champions of health services quality within their disciplines. These associations' research care best practices set standards for high-quality care outcomes and measures and are hosting organizations for clinical guidelines and data registries.
Clinical Innovation: Often, association members are at the forefront of clinical care Innovation. As clinical executives in the full range of health care organizations and companies, these influential association members are industry thought leaders that can serve as business innovation advisors for association initiatives.
While current association members can be a source of nondues revenue for innovative products and services, health associations have the potential to reach the broader health care market of paying customers of association mission-aligned products and services. This broader market of potential customers for nondues revenue services includes nonmember health professionals, health care organizations, hospitals, clinics, insurers, government agencies, and emerging digital health companies.
This latter category of startup and fast-growth digital companies offer a promising array of partnerships and customer channels. In a recent report of investor funding of emerging companies, the top five categories of digital company startup investments all match up with innovation assets held by health care associations: patient empowerment, health administration workflow, clinical practice workflow, personalized health, wellness, and prevention. (2019 Midyear Insights Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.startuphealth.com/2019-q2-insights)
As you inventory your existing foundational assets for new products and services, also consider exploring new markets (customers and user segment). Find the path to stay within your mission. But still shift to growing nondues revenue coming from nonmember sources of other clinicians, health care organizations, hospitals, clinics, insurers, government agencies, just to name a few new customer segments for nondues revenue.
Next, consider the big picture of your innovation ambition. It may be comfortable staying within the first horizon of innovation. However, the reality of pandemic, recession, and accelerating health sector disruption make clear that growing nondues revenue will require a new mindset, one that elevates ambition and leverages current assets in a new formula for success and impact.
