December 2002
Volume I, Issue 2

News

HIPAA: A Hot Topic? or Are Editors Saturated?

With the April 14, 2003 privacy regulation deadline fast approaching, HIPAA is very much on the minds of practice managers, hospital executives - and healthcare industry reporters. Healthcare PR managers have responded by issuing a large number of HIPAA oriented news releases. A recent check of PR Newswire found that within the last 30 days, it had distributed 51 news releases that mentioned HIPAA.

Is the media saturated? Are their any opportunities left for news coverage on this topic?

Yes, but success will require careful strategy. An informal survey of industry trade editors found that they have received a flood of product announcements on HIPAA. One editor told me "I haven't seen anything like it since Y2K." Another said "It is not enough to say your product is HIPAA compliant. That's not news."

But I also heard from editors that they were still open to "legitimate" expert advice on compliance. While large hospitals and health plans have spend millions on HIPAA compliance and are well on the way to full compliance, many smaller physician practices are still wondering what to do.

Successful news releases or pitches will need to include three elements. First, the specific advice. For example, physicians will need to back-up data and store if offsite. Second, how your company helps meet the specific need. Third, establish the credentials of the company or expert.

The April 14, 2003 deadline to meet the privacy and security requirements is the next hurdle facing healthcare organizations. Many publications will be running special stories or columns on the requirements. Since most trade publications work three-four months in advance, there is still time for long-lead pitches.

Trends

Using Case Histories: Researching and Packaging

Like the news release, the case history has a formula. For example, one leading healthcare technology magazine gives these directions for submitting case histories:

The story should be about 600 words. It should follow this format: problem description; why the solution (software) was chosen; installation and training; benefits in productivity, increased revenue, etc.

Other publications will have slightly different rules for length or format but the concept is the same.

Most editors will want the software or hardware system to have been installed for a minimum of six months, others require a one-year period. Editors will also want statistics to back-up the claims of success. These can include: increased revenues, improved HEDIS scores, decreased hospitalization rates and other aggregated clinical statistics.

Editors will almost certainly ask about revenue numbers, but these are frequently difficult or impossible to obtain from providers. In the current contentious environment, many hospitals and medical groups are reluctant to highlight the fact that they increased their revenues by 25%.

In some cases, it is possible to show benefits without revenue figures. For example, staff physicians are able to see 20% more patients per day because of improved scheduling.

A final word of caution: don't pitch a case history or success story that you haven't completely researched. You should confirm the key facts in advance with your customer contact.

Industry Insight

"Ten years ago, our customers were focused on technology. Today, technology performance has to be translated into improving patient outcomes, enhancing quality and reducing costs. It's a more subtle conversation. So the biggest challenge for salespeople is to get quality time in front of their customers."

-Beth Klein, President and CEO, GE Medical Systems. From an article in Fast Company, Oct. 21, 2002

Resources

Peter Fingar's home page:
P Fingar home page
Peter Fingar, a partner with the Greystone Group, author of the best-selling book, "The Death of E" and a frequent contributor to Internet World magazine, is one of the more easy-to-understand thought leaders on e-commerce.

Fingar does not write about healthcare information technology per se, but he has many valuable insights that are applicable to our sector. For example, in one recent article posted on the site, he discusses BPML (Business Process Modeling Language) and why it is the "next frontier" in achieving a fully integrated enterprise. He noted that to date, "limited purpose middleware" has achieved only a "partially satisfying state, ill prepared for the future."

His site has links to recent articles. His books are available for sale at Amazon.com.

You are welcome to forward this publication to other public relations professionals for noncommercial use.

© 2002 Westside Public Relations. All Rights Reserved.