Who: Vencor Inc. (Louisville, Ky.) acquired Transitional Hospitals Corp. (Las Vegas)
When: June 20 (effective)
Total Employees: 80,000 (4,500 Transitional; 7,500 Vencor)
Effect on PR/Marketing: The Transitional acquisition was a strategic marketing move to expand Vencor's network of long-term acute care hospitals nationwide. Transitional, which has 18 long-term acute care facilities throughout the country, gives Vencor a combined total of 58 hospitals, 314 skilled nursing centers, more than 4,000 institutional patients for contract ancillary services, and anticipated revenues of about $3.3 billion.
Transitional's marketing was primarily investment relations-oriented and handled by one person. Before the acquisition, Transitonal's marketing focused on expanding its investment base and providing collateral support to field case managers that targeted case workers, doctors and social workers.
Shortly before the acquisition became official, Transitional's marketing person left. Now Vencor's 10-person marketing team, headed by Susan Moss, vice president of corporate communications, is handling marketing strategy for the combined company.
Acquisition Campaign: Vencor's marketing strategy will focus on its strengthened continuum of care, according to Moss, who says long term plans should include consumer advertising once a field marketing plan is firmly in place for case marketing managers.
Currently in the process of changing the names of Transitional's 18 sites to Vencor, Moss's team is also creating starter kits for each hospital in the Vencor system that will provide information on how to order stationery, business cards and overall marketing materials.
Vencor does not do any trade advertising, but focuses on trade show materials, collateral for field reps and direct mail to therapists.
Each facility has its own marketing budget that these efforts are funded from. But Moss hopes that once its marketing infrastructure is in place, she will have a formal marketing budget that will allow her to do some national branding campaign to support its rapid growth.
Since 1995, Vencor went from being a $500 million regional long-term healthcare system to a $2.5 billion national fully integrated long-term system with skilled nursing facilities and at-home care in 1997.
Acquisition Challenges:
(Vencor Inc., 502/596-4055)