2009 Platinum PR Awards: Editorial/Op-Ed—The Marcus Group Inc.

“As a for-profit, Horizon will have even less inclination to care”

In September 2008, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia was told by Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield that it would be dropped from the insurer’s network. The reason: The hospital’s health services were too inexpensive, contributing to the increasing cost of health care coverage. Horizon’s decision, if executed, would mean that a large pool of potential patients would no longer be able to seek insured medical care at the facility.

Wishing to remain in Horizon’s network, the hospital partnered with The Marcus Group and planned a course of action. The linchpin of their efforts was an op-ed article written on behalf of Dr. Steve Altschuler, the hospital’s president and CEO, which argued that Horizon was squeezing all health care providers in order to maximize their profits before converting from a not-for-profit to a stock-selling, for-profit firm.

After the op-ed piece ran in NJ’s The Star-Ledger in November 2008, Horizon returned to the bargaining table with the hospital. Within weeks, a final contract was approved and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia remained in the Horizon network. ■

Honorable Mentions:

U.S. Marine Corps/First Marine Expeditionary Force: “Winning in Anbar”—A lack of news coverage of Iraq led the First Marine Expeditionary Force in Southern California to recruit its own Maj. Gen. John F. Kelley to write an op-ed article, which first ran in The North County Times and subsequently dozens of newspapers.

Sage Communications: Into the Deep: Educating the Market on an Emerging Deep Packet Inspection Technology with Contributed Columns—Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) is a recently developed software program by Bivio, which allows for “visibility” into network data. To educate consumers and IT managers, Sage developed and placed five guest columns and opinion pieces in publications reaching Bivio’s target audience.

Roche & Fleishman-Hillard: CEO Byline Reaches C-Suite Executives with Antiviral Stockpiling Message, Drives Web Traffic—In order to further explain the need for companies to purchase antiviral stockpiles, Roche published an editorial piece by its CEO. The article, which ran in Chief Executive Magazine, called attention to 2008 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidance about the benefits of corporate stockpiling, which was not widely promoted at the time of its release.

Ogilvy PR & National Rural Electric Cooperative Association: Our Energy, Our Future—Partnering with the NRECA, Ogilvy launched a campaign to stimulate conversations with elected officials about the need for a balanced energy policy. A series of op-ed articles catering to the needs of each region of the country were published in 19 different newspapers.

October 26, 2009