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