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Standing Strong: Protecting Access to the Highest Quality in Care
The Partner
Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH), a recognized leader in healthcare and one of Healthgrades’ America’s 100 Best Hospitals for 2024, is an independent non-profit Advanced Community Healthcare System™ based in Naples, Florida. NCH is in a transformative phase as it continues to uphold its mission to help people live healthier, happier, and longer lives through clinical advancements and visionary leadership.
Opportunity
Protecting Access to the Highest Quality in Care Amid Negotiation Stalemate
As part of its ongoing transformation, NCH faced a major challenge: negotiating fair reimbursement with one of Florida’s largest commercial payors, Florida Blue, which threatened to remove NCH from its in-network providers. Amid rising inflation and financial pressures faced by hospitals nationwide, NCH’s goal was to secure fair compensation for patient care without increasing the cost to patients and without compromising its commitment to the highest quality of care and innovation in the region.
During its due diligence process, NCH learned that Florida Blue’s current agreement not only didn’t keep pace with inflation, but it also reimbursed NCH between 30% to 40% less than other comparable regional health systems. For several months, NCH strove in good faith to arrive at a fair and reasonable agreement with Florida Blue but received little response from the regional giant and was counseled by many to take the best deal it could get–even if that deal meant reimbursement for care that was below the health system’s cost of delivery.
The community hospital realized it needed to raise awareness among patients and local constituents to if it was going to protect generations-long relationships between doctors and their patients, ensure affordable in-network care, and advance the best-in-class services and facilities the system had built with the support of the community over the last several decades.
NCH needed a strategic approach to influence key stakeholders, educate the public, and rally the community behind the importance of keeping NCH in-network.
Social Posts
Approach
Integrated Marketing and Advocacy Strategy: The Partnership designed a comprehensive public relations, marketing and communications plan focused on mobilizing the community and pressuring Florida Blue to prioritize patient care. The approach involved reaching stakeholders at multiple touchpoints to build awareness, engage local media, and drive grassroots action.
Key Tactics Included:
- Paid Advertising: Targeted direct mail, radio, and audio streaming, and print digital ads to ensure maximum exposure and local reach.
- Public Relations: Opinion pieces and extensive local news coverage through articles and video segments to raise awareness about NCH’s mission and the impact of the negotiations.
- Grassroots Marketing: A dedicated landing page, electronic and text messaging, organic social media content and a series of virtual and in-person town halls allowed the community to easily engage, share, and voice their support for keeping NCH in-network.
This campaign ran for 20 weeks, successfully amplifying the message across multiple platforms and touchpoints, nimbly pivoting and escalating messages as the termination date, and allowing this non-profit community-based health system to apply considerable leverage against a significantly larger corporate entity.
Impact
Through the combined efforts of NCH, The Partnership, and community members, the campaign successfully helped NCH secure a new multi-year contract with Florida Blue. This agreement ensured:
- Continued in-network access to NCH doctors and health services for Florida Blue members without any interruptions.
- Fair compensation for NCH, aligning reimbursement rates with other local healthcare providers and supporting the hospital’s operational needs.
This multi-year agreement prioritized both quality healthcare and financial fairness. The community’s engagement proved critical in the success of this negotiation, ensuring that NCH can continue to serve its patients with excellence for years to come. This case demonstrates the power of an integrated approach that combines strategic marketing, public relations, and grassroots efforts to achieve lasting impact in healthcare.
