BMI. CPR. NICU. PCP. RN.

The health care industry is chock-full of acronyms.

Take any one to 10-letter concoction and it likely carries meaning in the medical world. Amid the countless abbreviations that imply different things to different practitioners, there is one five-letter acronym that is critically important to anyone and everyone coming in contact with the health care industry.

That acronym is HIPAA.

HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has been around since 1996 and has evolved in scope and complexity over the past 16-plus years. HIPAA started out as an initiative that protected the health insurance coverage of workers as they changed employment, and has morphed into a multifaceted federal guideline designed to safeguard electronic health care records, enhance data security and ensure patient privacy.

HIPAA guidelines emphasize the protection of patients’ personal information and establish limitations to disclosing identifying information. In today’s modern, information-driven world, one wrong data transfer, human error or lost laptop could spell absolute disaster for any health care organization, big or small.

Companies must learn from the mistakes of others, educate their employees, make HIPAA a regular discussion point and start taking privacy policies seriously in order to stay in business.

Paying the Price

In 2009, CVS Caremark paid nearly $2.25 million dollars for a HIPAA violation because some CVS locations were throwing patients’ personal information away in unsecured trash bins. Since, federal authorities have taken a strict stance on enforcing privacy regulations.

Just last year, the UCLA Health System was forced to pay an $865,000 fine due to improperly disclosing the records of Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Maria Shriver, among others. In this case, employees of the UCLA Health System allegedly snooped into the celebrities’ records and simply viewed information that wasn’t meant for their eyes.

“People are under the general misconception that because someone is an employee of a facility or a provider, that they can look at any type information,” said Patricia Sanchez, an attorney at Fenton Nelson in Los Angeles, specializing in the development of corporate HIPAA compliance plans and policy manuals. “Employees should only be handling the minimum information necessary to complete given tasks, otherwise they are going outside of their permitted disclosure.”

Educating the Workforce

Sanchez has seen her share of HIPAA-related mistakes, having represented a number of California’s most reputable health care organizations. From faxed papers and computer screens being publicly visible to company Facebook posts disclosing patients’ identities, Sanchez has pinpointed that a lack of education and attention are the primary reasons for violations.

“The biggest problem is that companies are not educating the workforce on what true access to health information is,” said Sanchez. “We like to help our clients through the process of being HIPAA compliant. They need help developing policies and procedures, training their staff, conducting walk-through assessments and pinpointing any red flags.”

To prevent a HIPAA violation, Sanchez recommends that companies create their own, custom-tailored HIPAA policy and make sure to keep a detailed paper trail of any HIPAA-related training.

“Companies are going out there and buying products and services from lawyers and consultants that aren’t tailored to their needs and they’re not getting help with implementation,” said Sanchez. “Documentation is so important. In an audit, they ask for all of the acknowledgements, all of the signed personnel sheets… you must have a paper trail of everything you do. Everything needs to be documented.”

Keeping it Fresh

In addition to providing quality care, adhering to HIPAA guidelines has become a top priority for many health care organizations across the United States. One of those organizations is HealthCare Partners Nevada, a leading Las Vegas-based coordinated care network consisting of more than 270 physicians and over 1,000 employees.

“We are constantly educating our employees,” said Denise Warren, Clinical Compliance Specialist for HealthCare Partners Nevada. “Every employee of [HealthCare Partners] is required to take a yearly online course and participate in continual training.”

HealthCare Partners Nevada has six full-time employees devoted to HIPAA, plus a HIPAA privacy officer and a 20-member “privacy committee.” The privacy committee meets quarterly, along with the company’s IT department, to review the company’s compliance with HIPAA regulations and patient privacy guidelines.

“It really is a team effort,” said Warren. “We all work together to assure our patients’ privacy and general wellbeing.”

Taking it Seriously

HIPAA is no laughing matter to the companies who take a proactive approach to their patients’ privacy. With potential fines, government audits and patient lawsuits looming with a simple mistake, it certainly helps to be organized.

“Companies need to start looking at HIPAA very seriously,” said Warren. “The federal government just started doing audits… before they had never done privacy audits and recently hired a firm to come out and make sure everything is okay. They’re not starting with the big companies and hospitals, but with the private practices.”

While HIPAA may seem daunting, scary and downright tedious at times, Sanchez said that it is only enforced to keep patients safe and make health care organizations stronger.

“It really forces people to be organized and to know where everything is,” said Sanchez. “When you really, really become HIPAA compliant, you become paperwork and data compliant and know how information is relayed back and forth.”

Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the uninsured with access to preventative and comprehensive medical care, has retained MassMedia Healthcare Marketing as its public relations agency of record.

“MassMedia has experience in creating and implementing campaigns for a variety of health care organizations,” said Paula Yakubik, managing partner of MassMedia Healthcare Marketing. “Our dedicated team has the tools necessary to assist Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada bring public awareness to its compassionate and driven mission.”

Volunteers in Medicine of Southern Nevada was established in 2008 by Florence Jameson and a group of concerned citizens wanting to provide access to health care for Southern Nevada’s working families. Their mission is to identify, understand and serve the health and wellness needs of Southern Nevada residents who do not have access to health care.

To learn more about Volunteers in Medicine, visit www.vmsn.org.

By: Ryan Tarkowski — @ryantarkowski

As Media Relations Specialist, Ryan Tarkowski works with account executives to oversee the media interactions of health care clients, HealthCare Partners of Nevada, Nevada Head Start State Collaboration and Early Childhood Systems and Women’s Cancer Center.

He brings nearly a decade of news experience to MassMedia. Working in radio and television as a producer, reporter, assignment editor and talk show host, he learned how to tell a compelling story in a limited amount of time.  MassMedia Health sat down with Ryan to talk about how health professionals can get the most out of opportunities.

What makes for a strong health care news story?

In general, news is anything that is timely, unique or novel.  Stories that do the best job of holding the attention of the audience will be covered by the media, so conflict, failure and scandal often generate the most interest.

Beyond these generalities, what constitutes news varies depending on the medium, the outlet and the individual reporter or editor. 

Why should a doctor or medical professional care about media relations?

Being called upon as an expert source by the media allows you to reach patients and potential patients in a way not offered by traditional advertising.  Media provides you with a third-party endorsement in the eyes of the audience.  People generally believe that if the reporter trusts you they should, too.

When crisis situations arise, a strong relationship with the media helps ensure that your story is presented in a fair manner.  That is why it’s important to always return a reporter’s phone calls – every interaction is an opportunity to build goodwill.  Even if you do not agree to the interview, offer to help with the story in another way.

What do I need to know about reporters?

The most important thing to remember is that reporters are just doing their jobs.  They are usually working on tight deadlines so they appreciate someone who is available, prompt, and concise.  Reporters are often not experts on the stories they cover so it is your job to answer their questions with understandable, accurate information delivered in an interesting way.

What can I do to become more “media friendly”?

• Be available.  Reporters don’t always interview the best source; they interview the first source that returns their phone call.
• Avoid sales pitches.  Pitching your business can discredit you.
• Be honest.  Nothing can ruin your relationship with a reporter faster than giving false information.
• Do your research.  Ask what the story is about before your interview and try to anticipate the reporter’s questions.

By: Aimee Romero

Getting your practice in front of the public through the media is an invaluable opportunity. Many think of it as “free advertising,” but it shouldn’t just be perceived this way. The public knows that a practice cannot pay to be featured or quoted in a media outlet. It must be thought of as a credible source by the media, a non-biased third party. Thus receiving media coverage also establishes your practice as a trustworthy source by the public.

However trying to receive  coverage is not easy. You can send out press releases about your company or you can try to pitch a story to a reporter that will include your practice, but you are rarely guaranteed editorial space in the paper or news broadcast. You are also in a sense competing against numerous other companies or practices that are all vying for coverage as well.  

Below are a few tips to keep in mind when pitching the media:

• Journalists and producers get numerous pitches daily, so you must craft your pitch carefully to make sure it is unique, useful, newsworthy and will stand out.
• Determine which media outlet would be most interested in turning your pitch into a story by knowing your target audience and what publication they read or types of news they watch.
• Find the reporter or producer that covers the healthcare field in their outlet.  Do the research so that you are contacting the right person right off the bat instead of jumping through hoops to find who the appropriate person is.  One way of doing this is by going through recent news stories and determining what reporters are doing health stories.
• Attract the reporter by showing them that you follow their stories and take an interest in it. Provide them angles that you think they will appreciate based on their previous stories and on events and happenings in the healthcare field.
• Similar to making sure you contact the right person the first time, keep it short.  Recognize how valuable their time is and that you would like them to do the story because it is in their best interest, not just yours.
• Stay on the reporter’s or producer’s top of mind or radar by keeping in touch. When they have a story and need a source that you or your practice would be a good fit for, then they may be more inclined to reach out to you.  

Follow Aimee on Twitter at @AimeeDRomero or contact her at aimee@massmediacc.com

If correctly utilized, media can be a powerful third-party endorsement for your practice. Recently, Good Night Pediatrics was able to position themselves as excellent sources for health-related news stories and promote their practice through the media.

Challenge

Six years ago, Good Night Pediatrics opened its first all night urgent care for children in Phoenix. The popular practice was an instant hit with parents.  Five years later, three more clinics were operating in Arizona and business was booming.

Last year, Good Night Pediatrics expanded to a new state and opened its first clinic in Southern Nevada.  After a year of slower-than-expected business, the practice managers contacted MassMedia to develop a plan to grow the number of new and returning patients. They wanted to get the word out that Good Night Pediatrics was a new urgent care alternative to the emergency room.  They wanted parents to know that this was the best place to take sick kids in the middle of the night. 

Good Night Pediatrics had two main message points to communicate with potential patients. 

1) They are experts in children’s health care.

2) They are open every night, including weekends and holidays and every child sees a pediatrician rather than a nurse practitioner or ER doctor. 

 Solution

MassMedia recognized Good Night’s unique business model as an opportunity to position its doctors as excellent sources for health-related news stories.  Good Night Pediatrics’ physicians are experts in children’s health care and urgent care, which makes them an interesting expert source to health reporters. Good Night has another unique attribute that makes them an attractive interview, especially in the 24-hour news world – it is open all night long.

On February 3, a report was released that ranked Nevada last in the nation in health care for children.  MassMedia immediately seized on the opportunity and secured a television interview with the doctor and a tour of the facility for the local Fox news station.

Results

That night at 10pm and 11pm, the local Fox affiliate reported the story live from the lobby of Good Night Pediatrics and used Dr. Sandy Kalm as an expert source on the state of health care in Nevada.  Dr. Kalm was presented as a very knowledgeable person in this area, making her a legitimate expert to discuss this topic.  Dr. Kalm explained that Good Night came to Nevada in response to the need for an overnight urgent care for children.  The two key message points were reinforced during the broadcast; the practice specializes in children’s health care and the facility is open all night.  The news station also interviewed several parents who were delighted with the care their children received at Good Night Pediatrics.

Next Steps

With summer rapidly approaching, MassMedia is now pitching Dr. Kalm as a source for stories that involve heat exhaustion in children. She will provide the signs and symptoms of this heat-related illness as well as prevention tips. In doing so, Good Night Pediatrics and its competitive advantages will be highlighted in the stories as well.

The future media coverage obtained will continue to reinforce Dr. Kalm as an expert in children’s health care and will increase her name recognition in Southern Nevada. This will lead to increased awareness of Good Night Pediatrics in addition to more patient care for the urgent care clinic.

Heidi Hurst, MA is the Director of the Northern Nevada Immunization Coalition (NNIC). She talks to MassMedia about the implementation and success of their 2010-2011 flu vaccination marketing and public relations campaign.

Heidi has more than16 years of experience in nonprofit program management. She joined NNIC in 2007 and has since lead the coalition in fiscal partnerships, strategic planning and project management. Heidi specializes in coalition building and advocacy.

How has your experience been using MassMedia’s services (scope of work, outcomes, etc.)?

Overall it has been great. MassMedia’s response has been really fast, which was important to this campaign. The campaign wouldn’t have worked without it. Also, even though there were people in the Vegas office working on the campaign and people locally in Reno working with us, everything felt seamless and ran smoothly.

Why was it imperative to create a marketing outreach campaign for the influenza vaccination?

We wanted to create something new that hadn’t been seen before. The problem with flu season is that it’s always the same message, delivered in the same way and people stop listening. We wanted to give people the message in a new and fun way.

What elements did this campaign include and were they effective?

We thought the billboards were really effective. We received several comments on them. They were colorful and well placed which made them stand out. The blog was also something we received good feedback on and that was nice since it was something new for us. We also liked partnering with the banks in rural areas. It was a great opportunity for regional outreach and it worked. The rural communities were supportive. From publishing stories in the local paper to handing out collateral, it really helped out.

Describe some of the feedback you’ve received in response to the InFLUence Others: Get Vaccinated campaign?

Our coalition members really liked the campaign, which was important to us. We do an annual strategic planning survey and through this we received really great feedback on the campaign, better than we have on previous campaigns. Our coalition members are not marketing people, so if they saw, liked and responded to the campaign that’s a really good sign. They are a sample of the general public who we also received comments from here and there at events.

Also, the campaign was well branded. I just think the play on the title, tagline, the t-shirts, and everything all came together nicely. The fact that the campaign has won an ADDY Award is a testament to that. We have also submitted the campaign to the National Influenza Vaccine Summit and hope to be hearing back from them soon.

What was your favorite part of the entire campaign?

I thought having people hold the “I Can InFLUence” sign and taking pictures of them was a lot of fun. We posted these pictures on Facebook and they were well received. The Facebook flu shot application was also a great element and I was surprised to see how many were sent, it was a lot! Our Facebook fan base and interaction definitely increased during this campaign. We have never had the opportunity to incorporate social media in that way or to that extent, and it was a lot of fun!

What was the biggest challenge for the campaign and do you think it was overcome?

The biggest challenge was the timeline. I remember thinking when I was writing out the RFP that it would be tough, but everyone at MassMedia really stepped up and did an incredible job with it. We basically had everything designed, done and ready to print within the first week; I have never had that happen before.