With all of the recent media coverage on health maintenance organizations (HMOs), healthcare PR executives are now bearing the brunt of communicating ongoing, controversial issues such as their company policies on denial-of-care, physician gag-rules and referral guidelines.
Because HMOs and other healthcare organizations have vastly different policies and priorities on care, executing PR that balances a company message and addresses constituents' needs is no small feat.
For example, many enrollees are not aware of their health plan's restrictions or guidelines until they need care. When care is denied because of policy restrictions, the situation becomes a public relations headache.
Kathy Cripps, president of NCI Group PR firm in New York, said the firm's attitudes when dealing with customers of its healthcare clients are always empathetic and honest.
"We use a shotgun theory, not a cannon theory. We don't blast information at people, but offer focused, disseminated information," she said. NCI handles HMOs, pharmaceutical companies and various disease prevention and education programs.
For example in a denial-of-care situation, NCI executives direct individual consumer opposition to any new policy changes, such as what medicine or hospital treatments are covered under insurance, to third-party associations, said Cripps.
Cripps said associations representing Alzheimer's or cancer interests are better suited to lobby for a patient's need for treatment, or adjust a specific policy that fails to address patient concerns, she said.
Cripps said that she also has plans encouraging their members to become more involved in their own healthcare and learn about their insurance policies.
"We try to help them learn about their conditions, but not be frightened by them. We tell patients where to go for more information or sometimes we just help them identify that they have a disease," said Cripps.
With new healthcare reform laws being passed almost every month, NCI's approach differs on the client and issue. NCI works with many associations that represent patient advocacy and stays abreast of the industry by attending association meetings and working with executive boards or healthcare industry leaders.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, the largest HMO in the New England area with more than one million members, keeps its enrollees updated by sending letters through direct mail and tailoring a quarterly-published newsletter to each of the five states that it represents.
Just as each state has its own healthcare regulations, each individual situation in the state is completely different.
Todd Ringler, media relations specialist at Harvard, said that an employer may call wanting information about how he can best cover his employees while saving himself money, while an employee usually wants information on something more specific, like filing a medical claim.
The PR department at Harvard is constantly keeping representatives of the industry, such as lobbyists or legislators, on top of new developments. Ringler said, "since there is such a great disparity among plans, decision-makers consult organizations that are doing it well, so they can figure out a way to help the rest of the industry develop these standards."
Harvard, active in community outreach programs, has disseminated three educational kits to schools and libraries in the area that concentrate on violence prevention, AIDS and teenage sexuality.
Harvard also sends clinicians to local schools to give lectures and further educate children.
"Although some people may say we're doing all of this just for good PR, that's not the case. We have a certain responsibility as a not-for-profit organization, to go beyond delivering standard medical care. If you get the good word out, you can inspire other organizations to do more," said Ringler.
Phillip Weinbach, senior partner at Paradigm Marketing healthcare consulting firm in Miami, said that when it comes to relaying information from a client to its enrollees, "we use really candid communication, no beating around the bush. We make people understand the rationale behind a new policy and explain why it's necessary." At Paradigm, there is an ongoing rule of acting as an interpreter from the client to its constituents, and vice versa, said Weinbach.
At the beginning, Paradigm does formal research on its audience, and always tries to be compassionate.
Weinbach said that if something in an HMO plan disrupts the relationship between the client and the member, Paradigm will make recommendations to the client to adjust how a policy is formally stated or designed.
Paradigm stresses that it does participate in developing new client rules by bringing member sensitivities to a client's attention. The better the client/member relationships are, the easier they are to maintain; a little bit of work goes a long way.
(NCI Group, 212/293-6900; Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, 617/731-7400; Paradigm Marketing, 305/251-1522)