Advocate Health Care (Oakbrook, Ill.) to acquire Humana's 13 health centers in Chicago.
Acquisition agreement was announced March 3. Approval is expected this spring (early May).
There has been no impact on staffing yet. Advocate has 5 corporate communicators professionals who have been communicating about the impending merger with both Humana and Advocate physicians. So far, Humana's corporate communicators have not been involved.
The most significant marketing impact of the proposed acquisition will be the name change of Humana's health 13 centers to "Advocate Health Centers." The external communications strategy will focus on assuring Humana's 164,00 managed care patients that the merger will not affect their physician coverage, says Dan Parker, Advocate's VP of PR.
Internally, employees and physicians are being told that the Humana acquisition strengthens Advocate's outpatient marketshare and ability to attract managed care contracts.
For now, merger campaign emphasizes Advocate's mission of "listening and responding" to the community and improving patient satisfaction. Throughouth the merger negotiations, Advocate's administrators targeted physician leaders at each Humana health center with updates on why they will benefit from the Advocate affiliation. The messages focus on increased access to patients and managed care organizations.
Advocate's track record with promoting physician-community relationships and attracting managed care contracts are highlihted in its press releases.
(Advocate, 630/990-5606)
Have you recently survived a merger, acquisition or alliance as a PR/marketing pro. If so, tell us about it and we'll profile how your strategy worked. Please fax or email your responses to editor Ann McMikel at 301/340-1451; or email at: [email protected].