Challenge
In 2016 as the state of New Mexico faced both new and continued financial challenges, state agencies were asked to implement dramatic and wide-ranging budget reductions. For hospitals, physicians and dentists, reductions in Medicaid payment rates were expected to reach $78 million. The cuts were expected to have a disproportionate impact on safety net hospitals, which would experience a 5% cut to inpatient payments, a 3% cut in outpatient payments and a 20% cut in the enhanced supplemental payments intended to offset uncompensated care.
To raise awareness of this issue and persuade lawmakers to consider actions that would have lesser impact on healthcare providers, the New Mexico Hospital Association enlisted HMA Lovell to develop and implement a comprehensive communication and outreach plan aimed at improving community loyalty and appreciation of member hospitals.
Strategy and Tactics
To assist in development of the communication plan, HMA Lovell conducted an in-depth intake analysis and assessment of the overall market, the political landscape, stakeholders and the key issues faced by member hospitals. This included discussions with NMHA leadership and interviews with NMHA board members (member hospital CEOs), representing rural, urban, independent, investor-owned and government-operated hospitals across the state.
Working closely with NMHA leadership and their government consultants, HMA Lovell determined key stakeholders, identified communications challenges, recommended strategies and tactics, and built out a fact-based message platform that detailed the economic impact of the state’s healthcare economy.
Execution and Results
HMA Lovell developed various materials to support the message platform, including position statements, news releases, fact sheets, op-eds and letters to the editor, city and county resolutions, community presentations and infographics. The infographics served as the cornerstone for presentations, flyers, webpages, fact sheets and other communications. The materials, which reflected the state’s colors and cultural motifs, were used extensively in meetings with all types of stakeholders – from state and local officials to local newspaper editors and publishers to small, community meetings with doctors, pharmacists, and midwives. Graphic elements were used to create localized fact sheets with county-specific data.
The messaging also formed the basis of a series of op-ed pieces placed in community newspapers around the state. NMHA representatives and members held meetings in their local communities and in Santa Fe, comfortably citing statistics about the 37,500 jobs provided by their state’s hospitals, the $248 million they provided in charity and uncompensated care and the $3.3 billion-dollar economic impact they generated. Headlines such as “Invest in a Healthy New Mexico” (Albuquerque Journal) and “Medicaid Funding Key to Strong Hospitals” (Las Cruces Sun-News) generated considerable online dialogue that was echoed in conversations at the capital.
