Given the chance to question a Washington correspondent for a major broadcast news organization recently, long-term care leaders didn’t drill down on budget reconciliations, Medicare coverage or healthcare reform.

Instead, they wanted to know what Major Garrett, keynote speaker at AHCA’s Congressional fly-in, thought of the rise of social media and “content.” Garrett willingly indulged, delivering his (mostly negative) views on content, many of which this journalist holds, too.

His distaste for superficial content, i.e. clickbait, also held lessons for long-term care providers and their line of work.

The fact is, the media will gladly take your content. They’ll go crazy over activities that show dear old seniors playing silly games that might go viral. Sure, those videos have their place in emphasizing the quality of life your residents deserve and the lengths your staff will go to to deliver a little fun.

But it’s often the deeper coverage of nursing homes that’s missing in mainstream media.

It’s up to you to move beyond content in favor of the “X” factor. It’s context that makes for a real story, drives public sentiment and, eventually, if you’re really good and there are enough of you, policy.

Content and context. So close but so far apart.

While healthcare workers won sympathy early after COVID-19 hit nursing homes, consumer advocates have won the storytelling battle later in the pandemic. Because many nursing homes were too busy putting out pandemic-related fires, they didn’t have the bandwidth to battle back against wrong or unfair allegations.

AHCA’s Clif Porter acknowledged as much, noting that consumer advocates had also won over Congress and the Biden administration — making the battle to come a tough one.

The social media and “news” feeds of those who think they know how nursing homes work will continue to deliver stories that reinforce their beliefs. Stories that run counter have a hard time breaking through.

That’s why AHCA stressed the importance of sharing  details with lawmakers; sometimes the latest ones are the most salient, the ones that will resonate with someone in the position to shape policy.

The ability of a multifaceted story to affect emotion and real change is, to me, why context — not content — will always be king.

From the July/August 2022 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News