Delaware Healthcare Association
Scope of Work:
Fighting state takeover of hospitals
Mounting comprehensive fight against anti-hospital bill
The problem
Facing a fast-moving legislature, the Delaware Healthcare Association wanted to stop or improve a bill that would give a politically appointed board budgeting control of the state’s hospitals, threatening 4,000 jobs, $360 million in funding and the public’s access to quality health care.
The bill was uniformly supported by legislative leaders who had not included hospitals in any discussions while drafting it.
The solution
Within a day of the bill’s introduction, we used our proprietary research tool to measure Delawareans’ feelings on the health care industry and used the findings to develop the core message of our two-month-long omnichannel advocacy campaign: “Life’s too short for politician-controlled health care.”
That message was hammered across traditional and digital channels to the point where the media used DHA’s messaging word-for-word and even bill sponsors used DHA language in their remarks. By leveraging social media, text messages and email, Bravo recruited thousands of advocates statewide who deluged lawmakers and the governor with thousands of emails opposing the hospital cost control board using Bravo’s proprietary advocacy tool.
The results
DHA defined the debate and owned the coverage. After just a few days of the media and public onslaught, bill sponsors were willing to negotiate changes with DHA, which successfully muted nearly all of the bill’s harmful provisions and established its seat at the table.