A newly launched ad campaign hopes to offset calls for funding cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care are backing the ads, which have already run in eight states.
The spots will be shown in additional settings during the fall, according to Greg Crist, an AHCA spokesman.
Crist said the first phase of the informational campaign will focus predominantly on television ads, as well as social media. Later this fall, the list of states will grow as the Alliance and AHCA distribute paid print pieces and multimedia.
“This is part of a larger effort we started when the skilled-nursing facility prospective payment system changes were announced,” Crist told McKnight’s. “We are doing some grassroots activities, offering facility/site visits, tours, town halls, and drawing attention. This is very much an information campaign.”
“[Congress] can’t forget the providers and care they give to patients and residents,” he added.
The ad buy also will reinforce nursing homes’ role as a job generator in the healthcare sector. Job growth is expected to be a top issue in the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.
From the October 01, 2011 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
