The situation
A nonprofit community hospital faced mounting financial challenges driven by inflation and economic pressures. To remain sustainable, the hospital needed to renegotiate its contract with its largest payor, an organization known for aggressive public disputes. Market benchmarking revealed that the hospital was receiving up to 40% lower reimbursement rates than competitors for many services.
The challenge
As a two-hospital system, the organization had limited leverage in negotiations, making advocacy and public support essential. The hospital had recently undergone a rebrand and needed to strengthen awareness of its market differentiators to reinforce its value to patients, employers, and the community. Benchmarking data would be critical to shaping both the contract strategy and the communications plan, while outdated contract language and rates required significant updates.
Strategic approach
We partnered with the hospital to guide both strategy and execution, including:
- Replacing and expanding the benchmarking process to inform negotiations and long-term planning
- Analyzing termination sensitivity to identify risk and timing
- Developing a comprehensive strategic communications plan and creative assets
- Educating the hospital board and leadership team on the negotiation process and messaging
- Leveraging quality awards and market distinctions to motivate advocacy from key audiences
- Implementing an integrated earned, owned, and paid media campaign that emphasized local access and community value
- Deploying assertive, eye-catching creative assets that drew positive national attention from healthcare leaders
Results
The advocacy campaign and negotiation strategy achieved:
Significant gap closure in reimbursement compared to other payors in the market
The highest rate increases in years
Improved quality payments and performance thresholds
Modernized contract language to improve operational process and collaboration
Elimination of poor-performing products