America's Hospitals seek to restore Medicare Reimbursement rates
Problem:
Cuts in reimbursement rates to hospitals for Medicare had actually gone beyond the lower levels imposed in the Balanced Budget Act. A coalition of hospitals was seeking ways to increase support for more federal funding to hospitals through a paid advertising campaign, BUT without negatively affecting the image of hospitals or the perception of the quality of care given at hospitals.
What we did:
Our research demonstrated that support for more funding logically increased with the view that hospitals are facing bad financial times. Focus groups with younger opinion elites and seniors demonstrated that one of the basic concerns of hospitals - how Medicare cuts were adversely affecting programs for everyone - was very confusing to respondents, and even had the potential of creating a backlash among seniors. Our language therefore did not focus on "Medicare" but instead on "restoring" government funding. We also tested spokespersons (an actual nurse named Claire was eventually used in the ads), names for the coalition, and tested the advertising to refine and hone language which connected the problem with the audience (Claire refers to the care of "her patients" in the ad).
The Result:
After three waves of advertising, we were able to demonstrate a 28 point increase in the perception that hospitals were facing bad economic times among voters in the media markets which had seen all three waves, and without negatively impacting the image of hospitals.
Most importantly, reimbursement rates for Medicare were increased by Congress.
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