An Eye On The Changing Healthcare Climate
Who: Hamot Health Foundation, in Erie, Pa., ends consolidation efforts with Saint Vincent Hospitals, also in Erie. These healthcare providers are among the top three employers in the market.
When: The announcement was made on Aug. 12, ending a two-year quest to merge.
Effect on Marketing: Hamot, a 467-bed provider and St. Vincent, a 472-bed provider announced its intention to merge more than two years ago.
Over that time period, the two hospital systems earned community support, buy-in from area businesses and legislators citing the need to become more competitive in the region.
When the two providers voluntarily sought approval from the state's attorney general's (SAG) office, via a consent decree, the deal dissolved.
The two hospitals couldn't come to agreement on the level of financial risk that should be taken to merge, suggested by SAG, says Karen Kraus Phillips, Hamot's director of community relations.
Ironically, the two key communicators - Phillips at Hamot and Dotty Law, program leader at St. Vincent - continue to work as a team even though the merger effort was killed.
"We wanted to make sure that both audiences [Hamot and St. Vincent] got the same messages because the news could have created dissension among employees at both organizations," says Law.
Phillips adds: "We didn't want this to become a mud-slinging issue, our strategy involved communicating that both organizations will continue to work together."
Prior to the merger announcement, Hamot and St. Vincent co-sponsored several health fairs and their two boards often made community presentations together. This kind of relationship is expected to continue in spite of the failed merger initiative.
M&A Campaign: Given the solid relationship of the two hospitals and the strong buy-in the merger received from the community, the communications about the efforts ending had to be handled sensitively. The key internal audiences who had to be reached were physicians, legislators, hospital employees and volunteers. (Both hospitals have about 2,500 employees.)
The internal communications had to address:
- Concerns over job loss;
- Rumors that the hospitals would now merge with bigger healthcare entities;
- Concerns about the hospitals' individual abilities to compete given the region's influx of major metropolitan heatlhcare systems seeking market control.
These issues are being tackled with core messages that emphasize the strength of the two hospitals as individual entities and their ability to continue to work together on joint ventures and community health projects, say Phillips and Law. (St. Vincent, 814/452-5150; Hamot, 814/877-2507)
M&A Search: 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 440/878-9196; or email at: [email protected].