March, 2003
Volume I, Issue 5

News

With our nation facing war and international turmoil threatening our economy, what will be the impact on healthcare public relations? To make strategic marketing decisions, we need to separate out the facts - as they pertain to our industry - from a welter of scary headlines and jarring images.

Fact #1. In terms of consumer marketing sector, the overall healthcare coverage news hole has shrunk dramatically, as a huge amount of newspaper space and TV airtime is taken up with reporting on war and diplomacy. Much of the remaining consumer healthcare coverage is now devoted to homeland security issues.

Fact #2. For business-to-business marketing, the media relations opportunities have changed little. After all, most trade publications set their editorial calendars 12 months in advance. Some business publications will be seeking current-events related news from companies.

Fact #3. Despite the prospect of war, private and public spending on healthcare technology will remain strong in 2003 and 2004. On March 7, President Bush pledged to boost federal funding by 53% for hospitals to acquire clinical information technology in the name of patient safety. In the fourth quarter of 2002, 128 healthcare companies raised an aggregate of $1.3 billion in private equity during the fourth quarter, almost 30% of the $4.7 billion total invested across all industries.

Fact #4. Now is the time to prepare for summer and fall PR and marketing activities. No company can afford to put everything on hold until all uncertainties are eliminated. Whatever the outcome of the Middle East crisis, healthcare trade publications will still want case histories, new product announcements and explanations of technological advances. Companies that make sensible preparations now will be ahead of those that stall and procrastinate.

Trends

The upcoming April 14 deadline on the HIPAA privacy rule offers a good opportunity for companies that provide solutions in this area. You should look at both short term and long-term activities. While there is still time to get out a news release before April 14, placement options for it will be limited to weekly business journals and on-line publications.

In the long-term, consider contacting major trade publications for summer and fall issues with HIPAA focus. The deadline for electronic transactions is October 14 and a number of publications including Healthcare Informatics and Health Data Management will have special coverage in August, September and October issues.

Many physicians and employers remain confused about what the HIPAA requirements mean for them and what government enforcement policies will be. This places added responsibilities upon PR managers and vendor companies to check their facts and avoid unclear or misleading statements that could damage credibility later.

Industry Insight

"Faced with a nuclear winter of IT spending, Forrester Research has come up with a green-sounding slogan to describe our predicament: organic IT. The slogan makes it sound like we're in a wholesome, natural era for IT, not one that's characterized by Draconian budget cuts and intense skepticism about the promises of business advantage through IT.

"...(Forrester)says infrastructure resources are typically about 20 percent utilized and that efficiency can increase to 40 percent or even 80 percent...Other organizations are also talking about doing more with less. Meta Group calls it portfolio management."

--"The Last Word," by Stan Gibson, eWeek Magazine March 3, 2003

Resources

Where to get the facts on HIPAA and its enforcement? There are literally hundreds of web sites that offer resources. The federal government has half-a-dozen sites with HIPAA materials, the primary one being www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa. Although fairly easy to navigate, it tends to be a "for the record" site with lots of source materials, often written in government jargon.

Two private sites offer excellent analysis. The PriceWaterhouseCoopers health practice site, www.pwchealth.com, has a number of in-depth "bottom line" type reports, including two by Bill Braithwaite, M.D., Ph.D., a PWC director and one of the leading authorities on the topic.

Davis Wright Tremain, a Seattle-based law firm with an extensive healthcare practice (they also organize many popular conferences) offers some excellent legal commentary at its HIPAA site, www.dwt.com.

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

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