Healthcare Mergers, Acquisitions, and Partnerships: An Insider's Guide to Communications

Based on the experience of communicating critical healthcare mergers, this book is a practical guide to building a strategic communications plan to share the news of a healthcare organization's merger, acquisition, affiliation, or joint venture. Tried-and-true advice from experts who participated in 20% of hospital partnerships in 2012, this book will help you: - Develop practical steps to use while in the trenches of planning partnership communications - Build a communications plan that brings together all those involved in the announcement of a partnership, from C-suite insiders to outside counsel to communications - Differentiate your communication strategy as one that is unified, positive, and devoid of rumors - Identify what needs to be done when the deal is signed or when it falls through Take a look at the Table of Contents: Section 1: The Communicator's Guide The Communicator's Guide - A New Vocabulary - A Glimpse of the Future - Culture Counts A Road Map for Communications - How to Use This Guide - Ongoing Online Resource What's the Big Deal? - Top 10 Partnership Terms to Know - The Steps of a Partnership Transaction - Partnership Structures Communicating a Partnership - Change Management on Steroids - How to Think About Partnership Communications - Your Political Campaign The Case for Communications: Take It From a Matchmaker Section 2: The 10 Rules of Engagement Rule 1: Get Smart. Stay Smart. - The Big Idea - The Best Practice: Create a Campaign Team - Take Action: Be a Reporter Rule 2: Own the Message - The Big Idea - Take Action: Create Your Core Message Rule 3: Be Transparent - The Big Idea - Take Action: Ask the Tough Questions Rule 4: Think Like the Opposition - The Big Idea - Take Action: Plan for Opposition Rule 5: The Messenger Is a Message - The Big Idea - Take Action: Build Your Spokes-Team Rule 6: Get the Talk Right Inside, Then Out - The Big Idea - Take Action: Build Your Audience Lists Rule 7: An Army of Advocates - The Big Idea - Take Action: Build a Grassroots Team Rule 8: Overcommunicate - The Big Idea - Take Action: Develop Coordinated Communications Vehicles Rule 9: Be Nimble - The Big Idea - Take Action: Listen, Listen, Listen! Rule 10: Don't Dance to Someone Else's Music - The Big Idea - Take Action: Respond Responsibly - Take Action: Don't Abandon Every Day Campaigns Section 3: Of Particular Note ... The Power of Digital Media - Simple yet Unique: Why a Deal Website Matters - The Next Step: Social Media - So, Do I Turn on or up the Social Media Now? Partnerships Old and New - Risk and Opportunity Management Troubleshooting: What to Do When - Faith-Based to Secular Conversion - Not-for-Profit to Investor-Owned Conversion - Name Change - Antitrust Concerns - Winning the Public Referendum - Facility Repurposing It's Not Over When It's Over - The New Normal Campaign - Using the Rules in a New Way - Two Parallel Tracks - Three Phases If the Deal Fails Get Inside Their Head: Unique Considerations for Not-for-Profit Leaders Considering a Partnership - Case Studies Reinvented: A New Future for a Community Hospital