Funding has always been a primary concern for nonprofits within the healthcare industry. But when the Balanced Budget Act went into effect in 1997, that concern became a crisis
for one healthcare system in the suburbs of Chicago.
Northwest Community Healthcare (NCH) had a 40-year history in Illinois after being established by a group of community leaders who went door-to-door to raise funds for the
hospital more than four decades ago. It had provided "sub-acute" care to patients who were ready to be released from the hospital but not yet ready for home care through its
Continuing Care Center (CCC) since 1985. But after the Balanced Budget Act, the organization was essentially subsidizing the operation of the CCC with little reimbursement. By the
fall of 2000, the crisis reached a critical level, and NCH executives made the difficult decision to close the CCC.
In-house communications execs were then charged with the even more difficult task of communicating the closing to a variety of stakeholder audiences - while maintaining the
community's longstanding trust for NCH.
Diagnosis & Treatment
The team identified a variety of stakeholder groups that would be affected by the decision to close the CCC:
Patients and family members; referring physicians; NCH employees who served as direct caregivers at CCC; NCH management and employees; NCH medical staff members; Hospital
Community Services Board Committee members; Hospital Foundation donors; Hospital Auxiliary members; Hospital volunteers and CCC volunteers; local media.
"Every constituency group you could think of would be affected," says Angie Stefaniu, director of marketing communications for NCH. "Our challenge was how to go about
communicating the necessity for change to all those groups while maintaining trust."
Communicators would have to be particularly sensitive to patients and family members (including family members who had lost loved ones who spent time at the CCC), and to
employees whose jobs would be cut as a result of the change.
Timing was critical to ensure that stakeholder groups had heard of the change through NCH. The comms team planned extensively to decide which stakeholder groups to target at
what times.
Internal audiences were notified first, beginning with the NCH management team members, impacted CCC employees and referring physicians. Key message points were carefully
drafted for personal notifications of CCC patients and family members.
Because there were around 20 nursing homes and other facilities for sub-acute care in the area, the communications team was able to offer alternatives to families whose
relatives would no longer be able to receive treatment at the CCC.
Within a day of the initial notifications, NCH's CEO contacted the mayor to notify her of the decision. Various memos were issued to the NCH employee population at large
(approximately 3,000 individuals), the medical staff (750 doctors) and auxiliary members, volunteers and donors.
The PR team issued a simultaneous press release on an exclusive basis to the Daily Harold, the main newspaper serving the northwest Chicago suburbs. Stefaniu personally called
the newspaper's president and offered him an exclusive interview with the NCH CEO. An experienced reporter from the paper was quickly assigned to the story.
The campaign was essentially an exercise in "back to basics" PR, Stefaniu says. "It was about being honest. We felt that although it was a challenge it was important to educate
everyone about the Balanced Budget Act [and why the closing was necessary]." Being proactive about announcing the closing in a timely manner and finding the right messages for all
constituents made all the difference in this community-based campaign.
Results
NCH's difficult decision, which could easily have developed into a significant crisis, did not. The organization has continued to experience strong growth in marketshare, and
it recently conducted a consumer study gauging trust in NCH. A similar study in the fall of 1999 (prior to the closing) showed consumers viewed the healthcare provider with a high
degree of trust. The November 2001 study showed a growing number of consumers believed the organization's reputation was strong and continuing to improve. "This is a general study
and not directly related to the closing," Stefaniu says. "But if we hadn't handled that well, I don't believe we'd see growth in consumer trust."
(Contact: Stefaniu, 847/618-5506)
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: Fall 2000
Budget: The cost for the campaign was limited to staff time. The only other cost involved was postage for mailings to various constituents.
PR at the Strategy Table
One reason the campaign was so successful was that the PR department was involved in the decision to close CCC from the beginning. "This was a decision that was several years
in the making," Stefaniu says. "It was not an impulsive decision. Our VP for marketing was part of the planning."
Having PR represented at the strategy table for the decision allowed the communications department time to plan and develop messaging and timeframes that were appropriate for
each stakeholder group.