Today’s post is quick, and was a fun one for me. It dives into everything Hospitalogy – how things went in 2022, growth, expectations for 2023, challenges I faced as a creator, and more.

Also, as a quick reminder, here’s the upcoming content schedule which should be a great slate to start the year:

• January 3rd: 2023 predictions piece
• January 5th: 2022 healthcare year in review
• January 10th: First Dollar deep dive

Join 13,000+ executives and investors from leading healthcare organizations including HCA, Optum, and Tenet, nonprofit health systems including Providence, Ascension, and Atrium, as well as leading digital health firms like Tia, Carbon Health, and Aledade by subscribing here!

Hospitalogy Wrapped: 2022

I joined Workweek in February 2022 as a full-time creator and Hospitalogy officially launched in April (it took us 2 months to come up with a name; don’t ask). I sent the first ever Hospitalogy newsletter on April 26 to around 2,000 subscribers, and we just crossed the 13,000 mark this week with growth steadily ramping up in the waning months of the year. To be honest, it’s pretty crazy to see that big of a number.

Some other fun writing stats (Apr – Dec):

• Newsletters published: 70
• Total words written: 145,436
• Words per post: 2,077

The Good

My favorite parts of being a creator in healthcare:

• Community: Bar none, having the ability, editorial control, and flexible schedule to meet incredibly smart, gifted folks – founders, operators, execs, investors, other creators, and everyone in between – and witnessing the grind & level of hustle present in our healthcare industry has been an absolute treat. You guys are who I write for and I strive every day to make reading this newsletter worth your while. I’ve heard so many diverse perspectives through meetings and Twitter DMs, have met some amazing folks, and it’s been eye-opening!
• Shouting out others: Why have a newsletter if I’m not trying to lift others up? Every time I see a new healthcare Substack my eyes get bright. My ears perk up. I devour content. Anyway, my favorite section in my Tuesday newsletter has to be the Hospitalogy top picks – where I can highlight interesting perspectives, healthcare hot takes, investigative reports, and everything in between from other writers & journalists.
• Testimonials: Any time someone takes a minute or two out of their day to think about me and Hospitalogy enough to recommend it to others on social media, it blows my mind. The kind words and thoughtful responses from readers is a big part of what keeps me going!
• Providing value: I get great feedback from readers on how I seem to be doing something right with Hospitalogy, which is wonderful to hear. That being said, I’m in a state of constant iteration and improvement. Every time I meet with folks, I ask them “What can I add to Hospitalogy? How can I provide value for you or your organization?” I love hearing from industry folks that certain posts of mine were helpful for understanding what’s going on, or diving into a particular concept. By the way, if you have any suggestions, I’m all ears.

Challenges

Although the good vastly outweighs the bad, I did want to call out some challenges I faced this year when writing and creating Hospitalogy:

• Healthcare firewalls and open rates: This one annoys me to no end. Pretty much every day I get multiple people signing up from healthcare provider organization e-mail addresses, but they never open up the welcome e-mail. Why’s that? Healthcare IT firewalls. The bane of my existence. Plz whitelist Hospitalogy and add me to your contacts, I’ll love you forever.
• Transitioning to a creator: Moving from a very professional setting as a consultant into a media startup was a complete 180 transition. I love Workweek, but there was definitely an adjustment period!
• Keeping up with messages: This one has been so tough for me. I do my best to keep up with responses coming into the Hospitalogy e-mail, work e-mail, LinkedIn messages, Twitter DMs, meeting requests, etc. and it’s honestly really difficult for me to do. I’ll completely forget that I reached out to someone or unfortunately have to ignore messages when it gets overwhelming. I do my best but there’s plenty to improve here.
• Content ideation: Since I’m on a weekly cadence for Thursday essays (the Tuesday send is news-based which makes it easier), it’s difficult to decide exactly what I want to write about – will it provide the most value for readers? is it timely? is it even interesting? will people open the newsletter? etc.
• Impostor syndrome: I think this one is pretty self-explanatory, but I’ll venture here anyway. Healthcare is massive. Even when I start to think I have an inkling of understanding as to what’s going on, I quickly realize how much I don’t know about our insane healthcare system. It’s pretty easy to feel like I have no idea what I’m talking about, or have the fear of getting called out by some person who has worked in some super micro niche of healthcare for the past 20 years about some sub-topic that I happened to miss while writing a particular post. Finally, there is some insane level of gatekeeping going on in healthcare and some very easy to perceive animosity among certain players, which makes it tricky. Being on social media and putting yourself out there can be tough sometimes, especially when some industry mogul thinks he’s better than you.
• The Curse of the Introvert: Being a creator involves intertwining a certain level of your personal self into your content. This is hard for me – I definitely am an introvert, consider myself more reserved (AKA, I take a sec to warm up to folks and am bad at large people gatherings – I also hate phone calls lol) and need to create/spend energy to put myself out there. I think it’s been really great for me from a personal growth perspective to take on the opportunity of being a creator (thanks Workweek!) but I’d be willing to bet that most creators are extroverts. This is going to continue to be tough for me as Hospitalogy evolves into more event-based and more community-based content over time.

What’s Next for Hospitalogy in 2023

You might be asking yourself “why am I still reading this?” and if you’ve read all of this, I appreciate you. Here’s what you can expect next for Hospitalogy in 2023:

• Deeper, but thoughtful monetization: Hospitalogy struggled with monetization this year. In 2023, we’ll be finding more sponsorships, developing thoughtful sponsored deep dives covering impactful companies and startups, and diving deep into paid research reports, the first of which will be launching shortly into Q1. Be on the lookout for it!
• Product Diversification: At some point in 2023 (stay tuned) I’ll be launching a podcast (which will somehow be differentiated from the 100 healthcare podcasts currently out there), and we’ll dabble with some virtual events and more community events – happy hours and more
• Putting myself out there: I want to continue to meet thoughtful folks and put myself out there. Part of that will hopefully be attending some of the larger conferences this year!

Thanks for reading the Hospitalogy 2022 wrapped – I’m so excited for 2023. We’re just getting started fam.

That’s it for this one! Join 13,000+ executives and investors from leading healthcare organizations including HCA, Optum, and Tenet, nonprofit health systems including Providence, Ascension, and Atrium, as well as leading digital health firms like Tia, Carbon Health, and Aledade by subscribing here!