Communicating the Deal: Ten Rules for Successful Healthcare M&A
-
Upload
jarrard-phillips-cate-hancock-inc -
Category
Healthcare
-
view
85 -
download
0
description
Transcript of Communicating the Deal: Ten Rules for Successful Healthcare M&A
Strategic Healthcare Communications
Communicating the Deal: Ten Rules for Successful Healthcare
M&A
Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting
May 16, 2014
Jarrard Inc.
• National strategic healthcare communications firm
• Communication efforts for $20 billion in announced transactions since 2011
• “Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions and Partnerships: An Insider’s Guide to Communications”
• @jarrardinc
M&A in Health Systems Today
87%
Percentage of hospitals planning to pursue alignment with another hospital or health system
-Dixon Hughes Goodman
M&A in Healthcare Systems Today: High Creativity
• Partnerships– Acquisitions, alliances, collaborations
• Ownership structures• Shared resources
Health System Partnerships
- New
- Unknown territory
- Outcome is unclear
-Emotional
- Big
Best Communications Approach?
- It’s not a marketing campaign
- It’s not a rounding campaign
- It’s not a media campaign
- It’s not a direct mail campaign
- It’s not an ad campaign
- It’s not…
Best Communications Approch?
A political campaign
It’s a Political Campaign
• An emotional, milestone event• Touches every constituent• Their support can give a deal momentum, their
opposition can kill it • You have: – Support to win– Opposition to anticipate– A clear election day
• Change management on steroids
You Have a Campaign to Run
Why Deals Fall Apart
Source:Don Seymour & Associates
10 Rules of Successful M&A
Rule #1: Build a Campaign Team
• Perspectives that matter:– Finance– Clinical– Operational– Political– Community– Regulators– Competitors
• The Goal: One Team. One Strategy
Rule #2: Be Transparent
• Commit to transparency – internally and publicly• Right information at
the right time• The Risk of Secrecy
– “We’re working on that” is a perfectly fine answer
Rule #2: Be Transparent
• Question of Risk Management• The benefits of transparency:
– Set the stage– Establish trust– Engage– Quiet competitors– Stay in control
Rule #3: Think Like the Opposition
• Sources of opposition– Internal– External
• Strike the right balance:– When do you just listen?– When do you engage?
• Develop a plan for each potential opposition source
Rule #4: Be Flexible
Listen!• Build a Team: Have a living
focus and action groups of staff and close physicians– Equip them to speak and
listen in ways you can’t• Monitor social media• Have coffee. Lots of it.
Rule #5: Don’t Dance to Someone Else’s Music
• Challenges and criticisms should not dictate what you say, and how and when you say it
• Be proactive, not reactive• Keep everyday campaigns going• Communicate, communicate…
communicate
Rule #6: Own the Message
• Partnerships are complex; messages can’t be• Translate tactical benefits into a vision• Emotion is critical• Never, ever, ever forget the patient• Joint with the buyer/seller sends a signal
Rule #6: Own the Message
Threat- Context- Status quo must
change- Current situation or
anticipatory action- Must be credible- Can be done for a
year- Lays the ground
work
- A story of future success
- Big-picture & close-up
- Operational, aspirational and community-based
- Vision is separate for the specific transaction
- What changes; what stays
- Provides clarity- Answers what
employees care about most
Vision Solution
Rule #7: The Messenger is a Message
• Your message is more than your words
• Most powerful communications are non-verbal
• Trust is most critical characteristic of your messenger
• How a person delivers a message can change the message
• It takes a coordinated, trained team
Rule #7: The Messenger is a Message
• Candidates– CEO – main media
spokesperson, messenger to staff
– CMO – messenger to docs, clinical voice to community
– Board chair – messenger to community leaders
– Another trusted individual with community stature
Rule #8: Get the Talk Right Inside, then Out
• Talk internally first and often• What physicians and nurses say matters
– Inside to colleagues– Outside to patients– Turn them into advocates
Rule #9: Overcommunicate
• Balancing act: Informative vs. Distracting
• You are competing for attention• “Me first” communications. People
want:– Assurance of safety for their
family and colleagues– Conversation – Details, which matter next
Rule #10: It’s Not Over When It’s Over
• Exchange of keys is the beginning– Communications to speed
operations and logistics, but also affects cultural transformation and community expectations
• Set the tone for the future….together
Rule #10: It’s Not Over When It’s Over
• Have a Day Two Plan– Internal focus is culture shaping
• Set the tone• Engage new employees• Start well before the deal is
done if possible– External focus
• To patients• To community leaders and
media• Move quickly to plant your
new flag
The Political Approach
Everything is Politics -- Thomas Mann
Strategic Healthcare Communications
Communicating the Deal: Ten Rules for Successful Healthcare
M&A
Becker’s Hospital Review 5th Annual Meeting
May 16, 2014