How We Think

In 2016 as the state of New Mexico faced both new and continued financial challenges, state agencies were asked to implement dramatic and wide-ranging budget reductions. For hospitals, physicians and dentists, reductions in Medicaid payment rates were expected to reach $78 million. The cuts were expected to have a disproportionate impact on safety net hospitals, which would experience a 5% cut to inpatient payments, a 3% cut in outpatient payments and a 20% cut in the enhanced supplemental payments intended to offset uncompensated care.

In 2016 as the state of New Mexico faced both new and continued financial challenges, state agencies were asked to implement dramatic and wide-ranging budget reductions. For hospitals, physicians and dentists, reductions in Medicaid payment rates were expected to reach $78 million. The cuts were expected to have a disproportionate impact on safety net hospitals, which would experience a 5% cut to inpatient payments, a 3% cut in outpatient payments and a 20% cut in the enhanced supplemental payments intended to offset uncompensated care.

As documented in a New York Times article, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book and now a Netflix docuseries, the days inside Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans following landfall of Hurricane Katrina were truly horrific. Within a week of the evacuation of the hospital, our firm was engaged by LifeCare Hospitals – the owner of the long-term acute care unit that leased space within MMC – to help them prepare for regulatory scrutiny, civil and criminal lawsuits, and an avalanche of international media interest.

Hospitals and health systems face constant economic pressures that require creative approaches to ensure the communities they serve receive high-quality, patient-centered care. An increasingly common – but potentially disruptive – solution involves partnering with clinical and non-clinical outsourcing companies.

A nation-wide medical group providing physician-led, office-based treatment for individuals suffering from opioid and alcohol use disorders, was investing in its network of centers and needed a creative digital strategy to reach potential patients.

Following years of declining admissions – including a reduction in births to fewer than one per week – the board of a small New England hospital made the difficult decision to close its OB unit.

Faced with two separate and wide-ranging data breaches affecting more than a million patients, a health system needed our support as they navigated the complex corrective actions each crisis required. The tangle of problems stemmed from malicious phishing attacks that infiltrated the client’s email system, which not only exposed private health information but also threatened team member direct deposits.

After continued financial losses, a large integrated health system made the strategic decision to sell its health plan operations.

Trinity Medical Center needed a positive and decisive vote from a state review board to move forward with plans to relocate their operations.

As the strategic communications partner for a major regional health system, Lovell Communications was called upon to help shape communications strategy around the organization’s planned merger with another large system.