Health Homes of Upstate NY
How we overcame low awareness, audience confusion and a lack of time to take action.
Get the attention of Medicaid patients (and their caregivers) with complex health needs:
For those who qualify, Health Homes of Upstate NewYork (HHUNY) provides personalized case management support to find resources to address their healthcare and other needs.
Clarify that a “health home” is not a place, but a virtual collection of a vast array of community resources:
HHUNY is overseen by the New York Care Coordination Program (NYCCP) and is led across 22 counties by four affiliate health home organizations (Chautauqua County Department of Mental Health, Huther Doyle, Lake Shore Behavioral Health and Onondaga Case Management Services). The resources are implemented by case workers from these numerous case management organizations.
Convince busy physicians to undertake yet another activity unrelated to direct care:
Given their busy schedules and multitude of other distracting statewide and local initiatives (EMR roll-outs, DSRIP, reimbursement challenges, etc.) grabbing the attention of physicians was our last barrier to success.
Our solution
To discuss these challenges and confirm alignment of HHUNY’s objectives, priorities and messages, Tipping Point led a half-day workshop with 25 organizational leaders. The effort enabled HHUNY leadership, affiliates and partners to have a voice in communications planning.
Outcome
Our experience with targeted urban and suburban/rural publications, tied with our strong relationships with editorial staff in major Upstate New York markets helped develop an aggressive media relations campaign that:
- increased earned media coverage of HHUNY
- helped increase awareness and understanding of the available, free services among qualified consumers and referring professionals
This media relations campaign helped push the comprehensive suite of marketing communications materials developed for HHUNY:
- consumer brochure
- infographics
- in-depth but easy-to-use Provider Toolkit
