From bio-terrorism to a dramatic nursing shortage, the healthcare industry is making news nationwide. The wide variety of issues affecting every healthcare organization is
opening new doors for PR to play a significant role in the future of the industry.
"Healthcare PR is doing phenomenally well as a sector, especially when you compare it to what has been going on in the technology sector," says Jim Weinrebe, SVP at Schwartz
Communications. "It is essentially a recession-proof part of the public relations business."
One of the biggest trends impacting all aspects of the healthcare industry is the arrival of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which calls for the
industry to standardize electronic patient data and to ensure the privacy and security of all such data. With its threat of steep fines and other penalties for those who do not
comply, HIPAA poses not just a technical challenge, but also a PR opportunity.
Take, for instance, Andrew Weissberg, a VP at CPRi Communications. In an effort to position his healthcare technology clients as thought leaders on HIPAA, he has been working
to win space in medical journals and other industry publications.
"We give them real case studies on a regular basis," he says. "Health-industry publication editors love to see real world examples. They don't have a big editorial staff; and
if they just relied on the newswires, they would not give the user anything more credible than a press release."
Beyond just offering much-needed case studies, he says, PR provides healthcare clients credibility with the media. "When a customer calls and wants to know how a solution is
totally HIPAA-compliant, we are the ones writing the copy that demonstrates their compliance. We delve into their solutions; we do our due diligence; and then we craft the
positioning language that goes into ads and brochures and the annual report."
No New Nurses
In addition to HIPAA, it's well-known that hospitals and other healthcare organizations are wrestling with a severe nationwide shortage of nurses. (The shortage has become so
pronounced, in fact, that lawmakers on Capitol Hill have passed a bill to combat the problem - see page eight.)The shortage creates another opportunity for PR to strut its stuff,
however, as HR begins turning to PR for creative recruiting solutions.
"I have been more involved in recruiting over the past year than I ever was before," says Lisa Wyatt, VP of PR and marketing at Washington Hospital Center, the largest tertiary
hospital in the nation's capital area.
As a PR professional, "you don't recruit for a specific job, but you do help to figure out the strategies, figure out the campaign, things like that," she says. "You need a
very sophisticated Web site. You create all the collateral materials that go out by specialty. You design booths for trade shows and signage for recruitment fairs and special
events."
On the media front, "the more that an organization can demonstrate to the general public that this is a good nursing environment, the more successful you will be," she says.
"To help create in the public's mind the awareness that this is a great place for nurses, a lot of hospitals have started looking for great nursing stories, in addition to stories
about doctors and patients. That is what nurses have always wanted: They want to feel valued, they want to feel that they are part of the team, and not just subordinates to
physicians and administrators. So, anything you can do with the media to increase their profile is desirable."
A Week for Everything
The competition to make the best use of hot PR opportunities like national awareness weeks is also heating up. Research and awareness efforts for almost anything that ails you
come from a variety of sources, but often have less impact than a more focused initiative.
A few years back, George Tzamaras, public relations director for the American Podiatric Medical Association, produced a video for the media touting Diabetes Awareness Month,
since foot doctors are often the first to spot the warning signs (poor circulation can have dire consequences for the feet). But other groups like the American Diabetes
Association and the Centers for Disease Control were also in the mix with new campaigns and research. That kind of overkill "only hurts you in the long run," says Tzamaras.
Lately, he has been working aggressively to forge communications partnerships with other diabetes-oriented nonprofits in the hope of making the PR process more efficient and
more cost-effective.
It's not always easy. While the PR folks may see the value of interagency teamwork, the docs and executives sometimes become territorial. When that happens, Tzamaras says, the
best thing to do is to check your own ego and take a back seat, "in the hopes that in the next go-around, you will play a more prominent role."
Plastic PR
Diabetes and nursing shortages are serious issues - and so is cosmetic liposuction. At least that's how Katherine Rothman has positioned it.
As president of KMR Communications, Rothman has seen her clients - mostly elective-surgery practices - hurting in the post-9/11 environment. A slow economy is damaging their
business, Rothman says, and reporters - at least in the immediate aftermath of September's tragedies - were not responding to the cosmetic surgery stories Rothman typically
pitched.
Undaunted, Rothman has angled for her share of ink by sending out the message that looks really do matter. She helped get a quote from one of her clients in a national business
publication, talking about how for some people in the fall of 2001, "changing their bodies made it feel like they were taking control of their lives in some fashion," she
explains. For editors looking at the economy, she put out a press release recently on how some men are getting chin implants, on the theory that a strong chin makes you look young
and powerful. Overall, "we want to have our medical clients comment on situations that are tasteful, timely and appropriate," she explains.
(Contacts: Andrew Weissberg, 201/641-1911; Katherine Rothman, 212/527-7511; Jim Weinrebe, 781/684-0770, Jweinrebe@schwartz-
PR.com; George Tzamaras, 301/581-9221; Lisa Wyatt, 202/877-6305, [email protected])
Healthcare Job Hopping
Healthcare PR is booming. But is the healthcare PR job market experiencing similar activity? We talked to Jay Kizer, managing partner with Ray & Berndtson, an executive
recruiting firm that specializes in communications positions and caters to the healthcare/life science market.
PRN: Does the healthcare boom translate to the healthcare PR job market as well?
J.K.: There have been more jobs in healthcare because healthcare is stronger than the rest of the economy - healthcare is always steady. It's not so much that healthcare and
life sciences are booming, but that they are continuing at a steady growth rate.
PRN: How easy is it for a communications professional to make the leap from another vertical industry into healthcare?
J.K.: Our experience is that it's a difficult jump to make. Where you have to make the jump is at a lower level. You have to learn the business before you're the person in
charge. You really do need to understand the science.
PRN: What are the requirements for most of the healthcare communications openings you're seeing?
J.K.: What's important to scientifically oriented companies is that the corporate communications person be able to talk about molecules and proteins in a way that the layman
understands. Particularly in biotech, the top communications people have to be the top IR person, the top employee relations person, the top external comms person, the CEO's
confidante.