Board Approves $195,000 Yearly Contract with Marketing Firm to Improve Hospital's Brand

By City News Service:

Riverside County supervisors approved a $195,000 contract with an Irvine-based advertising firm this week to raise the county health system’s profile and make the Riverside County Regional Medical Center more attractive to a broader clientele.

“We’re working to expand our population base to include the commercial market,” said hospital CEO Zareh Sarrafian. “We want to take care of our Medi- Cal patients, but we also want to aggressively pursue the commercial market. In order to do that, we have to position the organization. We need the expertise of this firm because we don’t have the expertise in-house. We are seeking to establish a brand in the community.”

The Board of Supervisors voted on Tuesday 3-0 -- with Supervisor John Benoit absent -- to use the marketing, website design and consulting services of Johnson Gray Advertising Inc. for what remains of the current fiscal year, with the option of automatic contract renewals for the next four years, at a not-to- exceed cumulative cost of $975,000.

The firm competed against 17 other companies for the county’s business, but won in the end thanks to its substantial experience in health-care marketing, according to documents posted to the board’s policy agenda.

Under the contract, Johnson Gray will examine how to boost the county health system’s image and make its 60 primary and specialty outpatient clinics, its 10 community-based family health centers and the county-operated regional medical center in Moreno Valley inviting to patients with private health insurance.

The hospital is in the final year of a revamp that, according to county officials, has led to improved services, reduced bloat and streamlined operations to make the medical center more competitive.

Less than 18 months ago, RCRMC had a projected budget deficit of $86 million. But according to testimony last fall, the hospital’s red ink is rapidly disappearing, and it could end the 2014-15 fiscal year with a balanced budget.

The Johnson Gray agreement stipulates that the marketing agency will research the regional market to ascertain what health-care consumers want, develop a re-branding campaign and create a new health system website that’s friendly to both prospective clients and county employees.

— Image via TTG Engineering Firm