If you work for a Shared Services Organization (SSO) that supports rural and critical access hospitals, this article is for you.
SSOs like yours have long played a vital role in helping hospitals remain operational. By centralizing administrative functions like finance, compliance, and IT, SSOs relieve individual hospitals of costly burdens and bring stability to communities that might otherwise lose their lifeline to healthcare.
Of course, stability isn’t the same as sustainability. In today’s healthcare environment where margins are thin, workforce shortages are chronic, and patient expectations are evolving, savvy SSOs will feel called to do more. Specifically, the time has come for SSOs to extend their reach beyond supporting operations and into igniting growth, which stems from strategy. That’s why quality marketing has become an essential service that SSOs must deliver.
A Strategic Shift in Shared Services
SSOs are built to optimize. Their administrative and operational solutions create cost-efficiencies that help make care possible in regions where resources are tight. Despite their effectiveness in administration, however, most SSOs do not offer strategic marketing or brand-building services.
That’s a missed opportunity to really expand the mission of helping rural hospitals. SSO’s member hospitals are competing with larger systems armed with national reputations, high-tech websites, and coordinated media strategies. Patients and providers are mobile. A local brand without visibility is a local brand at risk.
To compete effectively, rural hospitals need support that positions them, promotes them, and protects their relevance in the market. This is where SSOs can and should step in.
What Rural Hospitals Are Asking For
When we talk to rural hospital leaders, their needs are remarkably consistent:
- “We need to attract and retain staff.”
Marketing can reinforce your employer brand and help differentiate your hospital in a highly competitive workforce market.
- “We need more volume.”
Community trust is critical, but awareness and access are just as important. Strategic outreach helps patients understand and choose local services.
- “We need support.”
Most CAHs have minimal (or no) internal marketing staff. They need scalable solutions they can trust, not one-size-fits-all templates.
Rural hospitals don’t want to mimic the marketing of big systems – they want the strategic infrastructure that allows them to remain independently strong. That’s exactly what SSOs can deliver if they choose to expand their scope.
What SSOs Can Offer (That No One Else Can)
SSOs are uniquely positioned to lead this evolution. Here’s why:
- Systemwide Strategy with Local Execution
SSOs can design marketing frameworks that support all member hospitals, with room for local adaptation. That’s scalability without sacrificing identity.
- Built-In Trust and Governance
Because SSO boards are often made up of hospital CEOs and regional leaders, strategic marketing decisions will reflect the lived reality of member hospitals, not abstract marketing theory.
- Efficiency in Action
Just as SSOs deliver cost savings through shared IT or finance solutions, they can do the same for branding, campaign development, and digital infrastructure. The result will be reduced cost per facility and increased impact across the network.
The Role of a Specialized Marketing Partner
While SSOs have the structure and relationships, they typically lack deep in-house marketing expertise. That’s where a strategic partnership becomes key. A partner like Onspire Health Marketing brings:
- Decades of healthcare-specific expertise, with a focus on rural and critical access hospitals
- Scalable packages tailored to CAHs and regional networks
- Creative strategies that connect with real people in real communities, not just market segments
- Reputation management, referral growth, workforce marketing, and more
This isn’t about “outsourcing.” It’s about equipping SSOs with an experienced team that extends their capabilities and magnifies their mission, ultimately supporting growth for your SSO by sparking growth for your network hospitals.
Read the Full Report: The Expanding Role of SSOs in Rural Growth
This blog draws from insights in our Rural Partnership Briefing, The Expanding Role of Shared Services Organizations in Rural Hospital Growth. The full report outlines how SSOs can help member hospitals compete, grow, and stay mission-aligned in today’s changing environment by expanding into brand, marketing, and patient engagement. Inside, you’ll find:
- The strategic case for adding growth services to the SSO portfolio
- A practical roadmap for delivering marketing support across hospital networks
- Clear rationale for partnering with a healthcare marketing firm to build sustainable systemwide impact
From Support System to Growth Partner
The future of rural healthcare belongs to those who create value. By adding marketing to your portfolio as an SSO, you become something more: accelerators of growth, champions of visibility, and protectors of local trust. That’s the kind of partnership rural hospitals need now more than ever.
About Onspire Health Marketing
Onspire Health Marketing ignites long-term, sustainable growth for hospitals, medical specialties and practices, and healthcare organizations of all types. We combine digital innovation, data-driven marketing strategies, and transformative growth solutions to provide full-service healthcare marketing solutions. With a vision that extends well beyond the conventional, we drive healthier brands through the power of authenticity, trust, and innovation.
Connect with us online or by email at grow@onspirehm.com today.