HFMA appoints Highland Marketing to deliver awareness campaign on integrated care delivery

Programme of PR and social media activities to promote educational webinars and support launch of range of advisory services and technology

Highland Marketing has been appointed by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA), the professional financial voice of healthcare in the UK, to deliver a range of PR and social media activities in support of HCS, the trading arm of HFMA.

HCS is introducing a range of advisory services and technology which will help health economies in the UK implement integrated care delivery models. Integrated care delivery allows clinical, financial and operational data to be brought together in a single view to help organisations: co-ordinate care more effectively; minimise clinical, financial and operational risk; and realise financial and productivity gains.

The campaign being run by Highland Marketing will have two main objectives. The first being to launch HCS and its new range of consultancy and technology services, the second to help HCS increase understanding and awareness throughout the NHS of the benefits and the relative simplicity and speed of establishing and sustaining an integrated care model.

These objectives will be supported through a sustained PR campaign based around thought leadership and customer references, to demonstrate return on investment (ROI), and social media channels to stimulate discussion and debate. The campaign will include promoting a series of six free webinars, being run by HCS, that will explore the integrated care model targeted at chief executives, chief financial officers, chief information officers, clinical commissioning group board members, clinical directors and other front line clinical champions.

Martin Walsh, director of HCS commented, “With the NHS in England facing structural reforms, and NHS organisations across the UK being challenged to deliver more services with fewer resources, the time is right to introduce integrated care delivery into UK health economies. We need to quickly and effectively explain to relevant audiences, how integrated care delivery models can be implemented, simply and cost-effectively.

“Working with Highland Marketing will give us access to their knowledge and understanding of our target market and audiences and advice on how best to reach them. With strong contacts and connections with a wide range of media, and an impressive track record of utilising PR and social media techniques, we are confident they will help us meet our objectives.”

Mark Venables, CEO Highland Marketing, said, “It’s vital for a company like HCS, whose commercial success supports and funds HFMA’s on-going charitable activity, that they engage with an agency that can deliver the maximum ROI for every marketing pound spent. The range and depth of our expertise and contacts in the UK healthcare market will enable us to do just that.

“As our focus is healthcare, our drive is always to support and promote the benefits that technology can deliver to the NHS and ultimately patients. So working with HFMA’s subsidiary HCS, which is such a respected organisation, provides us with an opportunity to help them with their drive towards making integrated care delivery in the UK a reality.”