After chatting it up with several communicators who made a career shift into and within healthcare, PR NEWS and its sister publication, Healthcare PR & Marketing
News, confirmed a no-brainer: the healthcare sector is a magnet these days. While the salaries can be a major draw (healthcare is the second most profitable sector for
communicators, behind high-tech), the industry also touts other perks. Among them: the fast-evolving, image-shaping managed care issues, the personal gratification derived from
communicating about life-saving products and services, and the entrepreneurial spirit that's now driving ventures in e-health and biotech. Here, we offer insights from some
recent converts:
From Prison to Managed Care
When it comes to healthcare crisis communications, Laura Marshall has an arresting ice-breaker to share. During her stint as a spokeswoman for a state prison in Georgia,
Marshall had to put a positive spin on a penal disaster -- the escape of violent prisoners (a murderer and a child molester). Soon after the escape, she went to the local media,
provided key information about the prisoners' identities and emphasized the critical role reporters and the general public could play in helping catch the escapees. The prisoners
were found within a couple of hours. Although the prison's security was scrutinized, the immediate outreach to the media was seen as proactive and forthcoming.
Her PR work with the prison system has given her the boot-camp-type training in managing high-profile crises that has prepared her well for putting out healthcare fires. "I
always tell the physicians and researchers I media train, if you can make it in the prison system, you can make it anywhere," says Marshall.
She moved to healthcare PR four years ago and now works as a media relations consultant for Kaiser Permanente's Oakland, Calif., office. Whether she's managing a health plan
crisis or tackling the trial-by-fire drug funding issues, Marshall's a stickler for early and consistent media relations. Her experience five years ago as a TV news reporter in
Atlanta informs this philosophy.
PRN: How did you make the leap from doing PR for a prison system to healthcare?
Marshall: A change in commissioners prompted me to look elsewhere. A job as the director of public information for the Georgia Medicaid agency was advertised in the
paper and I went for it. My learning curve was tremendous and abrupt. There was a lot to learn -- the lingo, jargon and especially all of the acronyms. It took me a couple of
months before I could answer reporters' questions.
I have since segued into Kaiser Permanente's system, first in Georgia and now in Oakland.
PRN: How has your experience as a reporter benefited
you as a PR professional?
Marshall: Everyone in PR should be a reporter [first]. You need to know
how a newsroom works and how editors and producers make decisions about what
goes on the air. Because I've been a reporter, I'm sensitive to deadlines. One
of the first questions I ask when talking to a reporter is 'What's your deadline?'
A lot of PR people don't ask that basic question.
PRN: What advice would you offer others about making
a significant career switch into healthcare?
Marshall: Be up front about what you know and what you don't know. This
actually shortens the learning curve. Humor also is important. I tell people,
'You can't hurt my feelings, I use to be in the prison system and a reporter.'
Laura H. Marshall
Media Relations
Consultant, Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, CA
Age: 42
510/271-5826
[email protected]
Banking on Patients' Rights
Three months ago Chuck Moran joined the Pennsylvania Medical Society (PMS) as the director of media and public relations. But he made his initial plunge into healthcare a few
years ago when he left the banking industry and took a job as a communication manager for a nursing home facility, Presbyterian Homes in Harrisburg, Pa. Back then, Moran thought
healthcare was an industry that didn't have to market itself. After all, people knew to go to the nearest hospital when they got sick, right?
Once Moran immersed himself in the emotionally charged issues that shape the nursing home industry -- from Medicare to managed care -- he quickly realized how wrong he was.
While banking gave him a solid background in developing integrated marketing strategies, healthcare is where Moran's PR skills were really put to the test.
He had to become a quick study on the complex issues that drive public health, learning the industry's technical jargon and developing targeted messages for multiple
stakeholder groups, from consumers and community organizations to insurer groups and hospitals. His latest gig with PMS has him tackling high-profile legislative issues like the
patients' bill of rights, pharmaceutical drug pricing and how physicians are affected when a managed care organization dominates a market.
PRN: What drew you to healthcare from banking?
Moran: I was a victim of my bank merging with another bank. If I stayed
with the bank, I would have had to relocate which I didn't want to do. At the
time, there were a lot of opportunities in healthcare.
PRN: What are the most significant differences between
communicating for a bank and a healthcare organization?
Moran: Healthcare is just now starting to come into its own where branding
and integrated marketing strategies are concerned. This was still a foreign
concept when I joined Presbyterian Homes. Also, at the bank, I was part of a
marketing staff of 18 people. But at PH, I was pretty much a one-man marketing
staff who reported to a VP of marketing. So we had to enlist the help of outside
ad agencies and I had to become good at developing marketing messages that pushed
emotional buttons.
At PMS, marketing isn't as much of a foreign concept but the emphasis is on establishing trust [among physician leaders] through research. For example, PMS needs to build
stronger awareness of the organization and its advocacy efforts. But we won't start this process until we've identified all of the problem areas with our image. We're researching
patient attitudes toward physicians and what kind of priority legislators place on medical issues that affect physicians.
PRN: What was most challenging about your most recent transition
from the nursing home industry to a physician trade association?
Moran: Getting used to the corporate culture and understanding the protocol
for communicating with a physician audience.
Chuck Moran
Director, Media and PR
Pennsylvania Medical Society
Age: 32
717/558-7750, ext. 1437
[email protected]
Consumer Focus Travels Online
After a 10-year PR gig with Kmart Corp., Maria Seyrig craved a career change where she'd be given the opportunity to learn something new. This desire to apply her retail
experience to healthcare made her a shoo-in when she interviewed for a PR specialist position with Saint Luke's-Shawnee Mission Health System in Kansas City, Mo., four years ago.
The hospital wanted someone who could bring an outside perspective to its marketing department. Seyrig took this ball and ran with it. "At Kmart, I was always thinking about
what marketing tactics would keep consumers coming back to the store. At Saint Luke's, I was constantly asking 'Is that marketing program going to bring patients back to the
hospital?' and challenging my colleagues to think like a healthcare consumer."
The hospital tapped into Seyrig's consumer-centric marketing flair when it redesigned its Web site. While researching ways to improve Saint Luke's online presence, Seyrig
discovered where her next career move should be -- e-health marketing. Last fall, Seyrig took the online plunge and joined DoctorDirectory.com as director of public relations.
At DoctorDirectory.com, she's using what she knows about online hospital and physician marketing to publish co-branded directory-style sites for healthcare providers.
PRN: What are some of the key differences between working
for a hospital marketing department and working for a dotcom?
Seyrig: Since DoctorDirectory.com is so new, there's no one to say 'we've
always done things this way,' because there's really no marketing frame of reference.
I also don't have to go through a lot of red tape to get things done.
My boss is down the hall and if something makes sense, his attitude is 'just do it.' Compared to what I did at the hospital, which was more traditional PR, I have a lot more
responsibilities here.
I'm involved in business development and sales strategy.
PRN: What is most difficult about online healthcare marketing?
Seyrig: Educating physicians on the need to have an online presence and getting them to look at the Internet with a clean slate. None of the traditional marketing models
apply to the Internet and physicians have a hard time with that.
PRN: What do you miss most about hospital PR?
Seyrig: The interaction with patients and using positive patient experiences to generate compelling press stories for the hospital. At DoctorDirectory.com, I can't meet
the users.
Maria Seyrig
Director of Public Relations
DoctorDirectory.com
Asheville, NC
Age: 38
828/255-0012, ext. 111
[email protected]
Biotech PR: An Art Form
What could be more exciting than promoting concerts, performing arts and sports events? The unpretentious, no-holds-barred world of biotech. After managing the fickle egos of
the performing arts world at Michigan State University and the insatiable expectations of Detroit Piston fans, Christopher Williams was ready to take it down a notch and pursue an
industry that offered more personal gratification. When Williams was first presented with an opportunity to get into healthcare marketing three years ago he passed it up. But when
that same opportunity presented itself in 1998, he went for it. STATPROBE's VP convinced Williams to join its ranks as a manager of corporate communications by offering him
something he'd yet to experience -- a shot at shaping the image of a hot new healthcare firm. STATPROBE is one of the nation's largest contract research organizations (CRO),
servicing the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries.
PRN: How steep has your healthcare learning curve been?
Williams: It's been a slow process. It took me about a year to understand
the details and intricacies of what STATPROBE offers clients and where the company
fits into the overall healthcare industry. Meeting with directors and learning
about their areas of expertise has helped with my ramp-up time.
PRN: How do you think your background in entertainment
and sports PR is benefiting you at STATPROBE?
Williams: I quickly recognized how verbose marketing in the CRO industry
tends to be. My goal is to simplify the complex messages without dumbing them
down. I'm also focusing on developing a succinct image for STATPROBE by casting
a broad marketing net [of simple, direct messages] and letting account managers
fill in the blanks. What I did with direct mail and print advertising [as an
entertainment and sports marketer] also is useful to what I do now.
PRN: What advice would you offer others making a transition
into healthcare?
Williams: Think about healthcare as a fascinating and diverse industry
loaded with career challenges. I get the opportunity to work with brilliant
people who are experts in this field day in and day out. I would also suggest
that people look beyond the big pharmaceutical companies and HMOs and consider
the exploding opportunities with smaller biotech firms and medical device companies.
Most importantly, look for a healthcare environment and a team you feel you can work with the best.
Christopher M. Williams
Manager, Corporate Communications
STATPROBE, Inc.
Ann Arbor, MI
Age: 37
734/769-5000, ext. 189
[email protected]