47% of health systems have no clear owner for patient activation. CMOs call it the biggest untapped growth opportunity in healthcare. Marketing has the strongest unclaimed toolkit for the work. Chris Boyer and Reed Smith on whether marketing claims the category, and what it accepts in return.

This week's episode runs a thought experiment. What if marketing simply claimed the category. Not partial credit. Not co-ownership with clinical operations. The whole thing, identification through completed care. Chris Boyer and Reed Smith map the teams currently sharing the work, the asymmetric capability marketing brings to it, and the operational accountability marketing has to absorb to make the claim defensible.

If the largest unclaimed growth category in healthcare is sitting on your desk and your function has the strongest unclaimed toolkit for it, the question isn't whether you want it. It's whether you're willing to be measured on completed care.

Mentions from the Show:

Forum for Healthcare Strategists / Digital Health Strategies, Health System Chief Marketing Officer Survey, May 2026
Patient Access Collaborative, Industry Insights 2025: The New Imperative for Patient Access Leadership, September 2025: https://www.patientaccesscollaborative.net/news/industry-insights-2025-the-new-imperative-for-patient-access-leadership
Patient Access Collaborative Access Framework, BMC Health Services Research, 2025: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-025-12561-8
Linear Health, Referral Leakage Isn't an Out-of-Network Problem. It's a Follow-Up Problem, March 2026: https://linear.health/blog/referral-leakage-follow-up-problem
Hospitalogy, The Health System Navigation Problem and Why You Should Fix Your Leaky Referral Pipeline, April 2025: https://hospitalogy.com/articles/2025-04-21/the-health-system-navigation-problem-and-why-you-should-fix-your-leaky-referral-pipeline/
US Tech Automations, Care Gap Outreach Is Failing: Why Manual Methods Can't Keep Up, April 2026: https://ustechautomations.com/resources/blog/healthcare-care-gap-outreach-pain-solution-2026
QuadMed, Closing Preventive Care Gaps Through Data-Driven Patient Outreach in MyChart, January 2026: https://quadmedical.com/outcomes/closing-preventive-care-gaps-through-data-driven-patient-outreach/
CipherHealth, Advocate Health case study on patient-centered outreach: https://cipherhealth.com/blog/advocate-health-patient-centered-outreach-close-care-gaps/
Health Catalyst / Upfront Healthcare, Scalable Strategies Increase Patient Activation and Close Care Gaps: https://www.healthcatalyst.com/learn/success-stories/closing-care-gaps
Upfront Healthcare, Healthcare Psychographics and Segmentation: https://upfronthealthcare.com/psychographics/
Hibbard et al., Development of the Patient Activation Measure (PAM), Health Services Research, 2004: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1361049/
BMC Health Services Research, The role of patient navigators in ambulatory care: https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-021-07140-6
Artisan Strategies, Healthcare Patient Acquisition vs Retention Costs 2025: https://www.artisangrowthstrategies.com/blog/healthcare-patient-acquisition-retention-costs-statistics-trends
MGMA Stat Poll, No-show fees in medical practices on the rise, January 2025: https://www.mgma.com/mgma-stat/no-show-fees-in-medical-practices-on-the-rise-to-balance-bumpy-attendance-rates
Reed Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reedtsmith/
Chris Boyer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisboyer/
Chris Boyer website: http://www.christopherboyer.com/
Chris Boyer on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/chrisboyer.bsky.social
Reed Smith on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/reedsmith.bsky.social

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