athenista Spotlight: Meet Our Corporate Communications Team
They pour over industry news, keep pace with demand for national media attention, create all kinds of written material and advocate for process change in the industry. All that and they keep Jonathan Bush (athenahealth’s CEO) supplied with Batman costumes. Meet John Hallock and Jennifer Bale, this month’s featured athenistas.
athenaPulse: Tell us about the corporate communications department at athenahealth.
John Hallock: We handle all external communications for the company. That includes everything from public relations – like placing stories with trade publications and national media – to thought leadership programs, internal communication programs, analyst communications, and advocacy initiatives likes PayerView and Medicaid reform.
Jennifer Bale: We also track information about the health care IT industry and bring issues to the attention of our business leaders as they formulate our corporate strategy.
John Hallock: The advocacy piece is unusual. Traditional health care IT companies simply sell their software and market around that. But athenahealth has emerged as a true advocate for our physician clients and medical providers as a whole. For example, with PayerView [the first-ever ranking of payers based on how well they work with us and our physicians], we now work with medical societies, the media, industry researchers, and our clients to shed light on the various breakdowns that exist between payers and physicians. Our goal is to drive the industry to adopt supply chain process improvements that benefit medical practices across the nation. And when payers make broad changes, like they are doing as a result of PayerView, it benefits the industry as a whole.
aP: What do you do in a typical day at work?
JH: They can be very busy and are usually different day to day. When I first came to athenahealth 1 1/2; years ago, I was amazed at the metabolic rate of this company. I read 5-6 newspapers a day, as well as trade publications. I’m constantly updated with news stories on competitors and industry issues from Google on my Blackberry. I’m constantly outreaching to the media and analysts in an effort to communicate athenahealth’s unique role and impact in health care. But the vast majority of my time is spent writing – press releases, speeches, internal communication protocols, case studies.
JB: I support John’s work, and do a lot of monitoring of industry news. I help make sure we’re aware of what’s going on in health care IT every day. I also do a lot of writing – case studies and press releases mostly. A few times a week I’ll reach out to our media contacts or to industry conferences looking for new opportunities to promote and communicate about athenahealth and our offerings. There’s a lot of variety which is great.
aP: What are some of the highlights of athenahealth in the media?
JH: We’ve always been top-of-mind for trade publications in the industry given our results-oriented model and software-as-a-service approach. Now we’re getting to be top-of-mind in the national media as well. Our first big national stories came in 2005. Fast Company ran a feature story of athenahealth founders Jonathan Bush and Todd Park and BusinessWeek ran a cover story entitled “The Digital Hospital” that had a sidebar Q&A with Jonathan on IT adoption among private physicians. This was the world’s first broad based exposure to athenaNation.
JB: Seeing Jonathan Bush pose in a Batman costume for the cover of the August issue of Inc. Magazine was a highlight for me!
aP: Tell us about the process of developing client success stories.
JH: We develop client case studies and bylines to help the sales team talk about how athenahealth’s services help real clients and reinforce our approach via third party media. We enjoy such good relationships with our clients that it’s not a matter of who we write about, but how we write about them. All our practices have a story to tell about how their life has changed since becoming an athenahealth client. And each one is unique.
aP: What was your first job?
JH: I was a caddy for 9 years in Worcester, MA. I had a much better tan then, and my hair was much blonder.
JB: Similar to John, I had a great tan from being a lifeguard at a residential lake for six years. I had a lot of fun coaching the swim team and teaching swim lessons.
aP: Your favorite “athenahealth moment?”
JB: I’ve only been at athenahealth for a few months, so attending my first corporate meeting was one of the high points for me. I loved seeing Jonathan Bush speak. He’s incredibly dynamic and the meeting was very open and interactive.
JH: My first child was due at the time of the PayerView launch in 2006. PayerView is the biggest marketing campaign we’ve ever done. The night before the launch my wife went into labor, I was on the phone with The New York Times and BusinessWeek doing fact checking for stories set to run the next day. The next morning at the hospital, I had to turn on the TV to see Jonathan Bush on CNBC to make sure he got all his messages on target. Then my incredibly understanding wife made me turn the TV off and Jonathan and Todd soon had my Blackberry turned off, and I was banned for a week from the company!
aP: Best tips for working as a team?
JB: Communication is key. Of course I would say that, since we’re the corporate communications department. But we do make a point of meeting and speaking on a regular basis about projects we’re working on.
JH: Transparency is also important. We use that word a lot here. What I mean is that everyone shares common goals and helps the team work towards those goals. We’re not an autocratic company – siloed ideas fail in my experience. We encourage people to ask questions, ask how we can do this better, is there something else we should consider. In the PR world, things move fast and there are many things you can’t control. We create an environment so that people can be flexible, respond quickly, and be creative – this allows us to control the variables we can – allowing us to control the message and the story.
aP: Favorite way to unwind after work?
JH: I go to the gym if I can or at least walk by it to feel like I tried to go in. I catch up on reading and bore my wife with news stories about health care IT. But mostly I enjoy playing with my 14-month-old daughter Ayla.
JB: I’ve been in the Boston area for about 3 years, so I’m still exploring the city. I enjoy grabbing dinner and drinks with friends in different areas of town trying out new places. Also, a great way to help me unwind is simply reading a great book.
