by admin | Aug 23, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., August 23, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare information technology public relations and marketing agency, announced today that Morgan Lewis Jr. has joined the agency as Senior Writer. An award-winning healthcare journalist and experienced public relations professional, Lewis will create a wide variety of PR content for the agency’s healthcare/healthcare IT clients.
Lewis brings 20 years of journalism and PR writing experience, focused almost exclusively on business and healthcare. He most recently served as Senior Copywriter at MERGE Atlanta, formerly Dodge Communications, an integrated healthcare PR and marketing communications agency. As Senior Copywriter, Lewis created ghostwritten bylined thought leadership articles, white papers, case studies, blog posts, website copy and other pieces of strategic PR and marketing content for dozens of healthcare and healthcare IT clients over four years.
Before joining MERGE Atlanta, Lewis was an independent healthcare and healthcare IT writer creating content for several PR agency clients, as well as crafting his own bylined articles that appeared in publications such as Medscape, Physicians Practice, Managed Healthcare Executive, Medical Economics and Chiropractic Economics. Lewis previously served as Senior Editor at Medical Economics, where he focused on healthcare IT, and won three writing awards from the American Society of Healthcare Publication Editors (ASHPE), including two Gold Awards.
Agency CEO Jodi Amendola said: “Morgan’s knowledge and experience as a healthcare journalist and PR copywriter will be tremendous assets to our growing team and expanding list of diverse clients. Morgan is not only an exceptional writer, but he is also a strategic collaborator who understands how to engagingly share clients messages amidst a rapidly changing industry.”
Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in English-Journalism from Miami University of Ohio.
Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes | mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | Jun 5, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., June 5, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, is pleased to announce that it has been selected as the PR agency of record for VisitPay.
Amendola will utilize a broad range of public relations and content services to promote VisitPay’s market-leading platform for fully automated patient financial engagement.
Founded in 2010, VisitPay is the developer of a cloud-based platform used by major providers to deliver transparency, choice and control to patients managing healthcare financial transactions and outstanding balances. Through VisitPay, patients can access a complete and comprehensive accounting of their financial obligations, as well as critical health plan and healthcare information, through health system-branded portals.
For health systems, VisitPay’s proprietary analytics tailors consistent and fully compliant financing options to the unique needs of individual patients and their families, creating a simplified billing experience that drives both higher payment rates and improved patient satisfaction scores.
“VisitPay counts some of the largest and most innovative health systems as clients. We wanted a public relations agency that could capitalize on that momentum,” said Will Reilly, Vice President of Marketing at VisitPay. “Amendola’s deep experience in health IT will help us shape and lead the conversation on patient financial experience.”
Amendola will promote VisitPay through a number of public relations and content marketing programs, supported by Amendola’s top-tier media research and relations. The agency will work with VisitPay to increase brand awareness and thought leadership by delivering its core value proposition to target audiences, drawing on its deep industry knowledge and significant media relationships in health IT. Amendola will also be responsible for delivering a range of content demonstrating the thought leadership and expertise of VisitPay’s corporate and client-based leadership.
“Hospitals and health systems are challenged with uncovering the tools and strategies for bringing transparency, choice and control to the patient financial experience,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “Our collective experience in the patient-as-payer space will be instrumental in helping
About VisitPay
VisitPay is the first and only platform for Patient Financial Health. The culmination of seven years learning and development, this proprietary cloud-based platform enables health systems to dramatically increase the amount paid on patient balances because patients can finally exercise control over their financial health. VisitPay is proudly headquartered in Boise, Idaho, one of the most livable cities in the country, where it has assembled a powerful team focused on predictive analytics, user-driven software design and consumer finance. More information about the company and its solutions can be found at www.visitpay.com.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | May 22, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., May 22, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and healthcare IT (HIT) public relations and marketing agency, announced today that it has added another accolade from the PR industry. The agency was recently recognized in the overall Healthcare Agency category in Ragan and PR Daily’s Ace Awards 2017.
The Honorable Mention award is just the latest national recognition for the agency, which provides a full range of PR and marketing services, including media and analyst relations, messaging, media training, content development and management, social media, digital and online marketing, collateral development, website design and content creation, crisis management, strategic counsel and other services.
“We have received many awards focused on specific campaigns, but we’re especially proud of this award from Ragan and PR Daily because it recognizes the agency as a whole our work, how we operate, our development of a high-performance team and culture, and the results we generate for clients,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We’ve lived and breathed healthcare technology for nearly two decades and, as a result, have developed a team of healthcare veterans with the experience, connections and creativity to drive meaningful business results for businesses of all sizes, whether they’re early-stage startups or established public companies.”
The Ace Awards honor individuals, in-house teams and agencies in communications and marketing. Entrants represent the most talented and innovative thinkers across a variety of industries.
Media Contact:
Marcia Rhodes
Amendola Communications
mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by admin | May 10, 2018 | News
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. May 10, 2018 Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and health IT public relations and marketing agency, announced today that it has been selected as the agency of record for Lightbeam Health Solutions, a leader in end-to-end population health management solutions and services. Amendola will promote Lightbeam’s brand, solutions and thought leaders through its deep relationships with industry media, influencers and events.
Irving, Texas-based Lightbeam integrates data warehousing, data analytics, health information exchange and care management capabilities to deliver the most comprehensive population health management solutions in healthcare. Lightbeam’s technology provides the guidance needed to deliver the right care at the right time, while reducing costs and delivering outstanding financial results.
“Lightbeam is committed to equipping providers with the solutions needed to improve the lives of whole populations of patients across the continuum of care, while helping them to better manage the cost of that care,” said Jorge Miranda, EVP of Lightbeam Health Solutions. “We look forward to benefitting from Amendola’s strategic vision and expert execution as we continue to help healthcare organizations and ACOs make the challenging journey from volume to value.”
“Population health management is a crowded field with numerous companies struggling to achieve the sort of end-to-end solution that Lightbeam has developed,” said Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola Communications. “We are thrilled to partner with Lightbeam’s leadership several of whom we have worked with in previous companies to accelerate their ability to attract new customers and partnerships.”
About Lightbeam Health Solutions
Lightbeam Health Solutions delivers a revolutionary model for managing patient populations and associated risk. Lightbeam’s vision is to bring health data into the light through the use of analytics, and to provide the insight and capabilities healthcare clients need to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time. Lightbeam’s platform facilitates end-to-end population health management for ACOs, payers, provider groups, health systems, and other healthcare organizations aspiring to provide superior care at a lower cost. For more information, visit
www.lightbeamhealth.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes | mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com
by Ken Krause | Apr 4, 2018 | Blog
One of the biggest changes that has happened in healthcare IT (HIT) public relations over the last 10 years is the increased demand for vendor-neutral byline articles, blog posts, and other materials.
It makes sense from the publications business model perspective. With ever-thinner margins they can’t afford to keep a legion of writers on-staff, or even to pay a legion of freelancers to write for them.
So, they supplement their own articles with content provided by various vendors. The caveat, of course, is that it must be vendor-neutral. In other words, it can’t overtly promote a particular company’s products or services. Instead, it must address a general industry topic, or adopt a general industry point of view.
While it makes sense to those of us directly involved in HIT PR, the idea of being vendor-neutral doesn’t always appeal to everyone within the organization. Especially those who are closest to the products, such as product managers.
“What’s the point of writing an article or a blog post if we can’t link back to our product (or service)?” they’ll ask. “Do we think customers or prospects will hunt for it on their own?”
While it’s easy to understand their concern, it represents transactional thinking. They expect readers will be so wowed by a product or service that they’ll click on the link immediately. And start engaging in the sales process.
That would be nice. But it doesn’t represent reality. Most products and services in HIT tend to have long sales cycles due to the cost, complexity, or disruption involved in replacing what an organization is already doing with a new solution.
That begs the question, “If the goal isn’t to secure a direct sale, then where’s the value in contributing the article at all?” Actually, there are several benefits.
Opening the conversation
In some cases, organizations who have been doing things a certain way for a long period of time may not realize they have a need. Or there is a different, better way to accomplish what they’re doing.
For example, a health payer may have systems and technology in place that enables them to process claims at a rate that keeps them profitable. But they may not realize they could be doing it in one-quarter of the time at one-eighth of the cost.
Or a provider may have analytics that are giving them a comprehensive view of what is happening in the organization. But they may not realize the same data could be telling them what to do next instead of looking back on what they’ve already done.
The vendor-neutral article or other materials become the opening salvo, alerting them to possibilities they haven’t even considered. That doesn’t mean they’re going to run right out with a credit card in their hands. But if they come to realize everything isn’t as hunky-dory as they thought, it creates an opening where none existed before. And guess who they’re going to look to when they start looking into solutions?
Establishing expertise around a topic
What if they organization realizes on its own that it needs to make a change? If the decision-makers don’t know how to address it internally, or they don’t have the resources to dedicate to it, most likely they’re going to perform some type of search to see who has expertise around that topic.
Returning results tied to articles from respected industry publications will have far more credibility than simply returning sales sheets. It will show your organization understands the problems HIT faces and is trying to help solve them. As opposed to your competitors who are simply trying to sell products.
Offering these vendor-neutral articles or other materials in a knowledge center on your website also helps establish your expertise. And your desire to work with them as a partner.
By demonstrating you understand what is happening within the big picture of healthcare, customers and prospects will get more of a feeling you’ll help them address their specific issues. Rather than just try to sell them whatever product you have that comes closest.
Once they feel you understand their needs, you can direct them to the product(s) or service(s) that address their issues.
Building your brand
Most vendor-neutral materials are created with the express desire to have an immediate impact on sales at some level. But they also provide another valuable function. They help build the brands of companies as well as the individuals attached to the materials.
Typically, we will ask clients what they want to be known for in a branding exercise. The answer is never a product. It’s always some sort of solution to an industry problem.
There’s no better way to get that message out there than to create materials that support this point of view. If you want to be known as the company that simplifies collecting from patients, producing a series of materials that explain what the need is and what needs to be done, at a high level, helps you capture that position. Especially if all your competitors are only offering up product-related materials on their own websites.
Establishing a strong brand gives buyers confidence that they are making a safe choice in a risky, uncertain world. That’s especially valuable for start-ups and/or companies venturing into new areas. You’ll be chosen more often if you look like the smart choice.
Accelerating the sales cycle
One of the least-understood aspects to public relations, especially in the digital age, is the value doesn’t come solely from the original placement. It’s what you do with the placement afterwards that really makes the difference.
A vendor-neutral article that has been published in a respected industry media outlet opens up all sorts of additional, sales-accelerating opportunities.
It can be added to your website, preferably in a knowledge center as mentioned earlier. That way, when a customer or prospect is looking around your website they get a sense that your organization is an industry expert, not just a seller of products.
It gives salespeople another reason to contact customers and prospects with a twist. An email that shares knowledge from company experts is far more likely to be read than another overt sales pitch.
Sales can use it both in an email blast to everyone and as an answer to specific inquiries, too. Imagine the power of a response that includes both the vendor-neutral article and the product or service that fulfills the needs the article lays out.
Vendor-neutral materials are perfect for sharing on social media. The organization can use its own channels, and even post in groups it belongs to (where appropriate). High-quality content will be of much greater interest than a product message that can be easily dismissed.
The more you use them, the more customers and prospects will become groomed to the idea that you have the solutions they need.
Taking the long view
For most HIT products and services, the sales cycle is a long one. It takes multiple touches, many of which will come before you’re even aware a buyer is interested.
Authoring vendor-neutral articles, blog posts, or other content helps you raise awareness of your organization. It also demonstrates you understand the challenges facing customers and prospects. It’s then a shorter leap to demonstrating how your products or services solve those challenges.