Hospital Reorganization: Merger

The community had three local hospitals. The leaders of two had been meeting privately for several months to discuss merger. Both 400-bed hospitals were in good financial condition. Their objective was to create a major new regional health care center.

A management consultant had been employed to evaluate the economic feasibility of a consolidation. With positive results from that study, a law firm was retained to prepare for the merger announcement. As public relations counsel of record for one of the hospitals for the past 15 years, PCI was selected to represent the two organizations.

Two communications objectives were established:

• Position the two corporations as absolute equals in the consolidation. Neither could be perceived as acquiring the other.
  
  
• Achieve overwhelming acceptance of the consolidation from the community, from employees and from the medical staffs of the two hospitals.

Only six members of management from each organization were participating in and directly aware of the consolidation talks. PCI was authorized to begin development of a public relations program 28 days before the target date for public announcement of the consolidation. During that time PCI:

• Interviewed all members of upper management to develop a "vision statement".
  
  
• Drafted the "vision statement" which was adopted by the two corporation boards the day of the announcement.
  
  
• Drafted and prepared for mailing nearly 3,000 letters to community leaders, donors, volunteers and auxiliary members, explaining the rationale for the merger.
  
  
• Scripted all management presentations to the boards of directors, employees, medical staffs and the press.
  
  
• Provided general counsel on how to respond to the questions and anxieties of internal and external constituents of the two hospitals.
  
  
• Prepared a brochure for department heads with guidelines on likely questions from employees and how to answer them.
  
  
• Coached and rehearsed hospital spokespersons for their presentations to the boards, employees and medical staffs.
  
  
• Conducted print and broadcast media interview training for the hospital spokespersons.
  
  
• Prepared the press release and background materials.
  
  
• Managed the press conference at which the merger was announced.
  
  
• Managed a joint employees' meeting at a local convention arena the day of the announcement.
  
  
• Designed a "Two Leaders — One Vision" banner for the arena.
  
  
• Prepared a two-page advertising spread for the local newspaper stating the reasons for the merger and the hospital leaders' vision for the future.

Confidentiality was important because it was always possible that either hospital board might decline approval of the consolidation. It also was important that the employees and medical staffs hear about the merger form hospital management before they read about it in the newspaper or heard it from television or radio.

Instead of trying to achieve publicity, PCI's role was to prevent any media knowledge of the consolidation — at least until the hospitals were ready to announce it.

The announcement of the proposed consolidation came as a genuine surprise to the community and most employees and physicians. Yet the merger received virtually unanimous approval from all constituents.

A variety of communications techniques were used during ensuing months to maintain community enthusiasm while representatives of the two hospitals worked on the terms of the consolidation. PCI developed and placed a series of weekly "advertorials" discussing various aspects of the consolidation in the Sunday viewpoint section of the local daily newspaper.

A special joint newsletter provided information to employees and medical staffs on the progress of the merger. Periodic video reports showed additional news on monitors in the employee cafeterias and doctors' lounges. A "Letter from the Presidents" provided updates on the consolidation to community leaders.

PCI was assigned the role of developing a system of names for the new consolidated corporation and its subsidiary hospitals and corporation.

As of this writing, the two hospitals were awaiting approval of their merger from the U.S. Department of Justice.