Award-winning Healthcare IT PR agency and the leader in on-demand physical therapy delivery partner to amplify client successes and industry best practices

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Aug. 10, 2021 – Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and technology public relations and marketing firm, announced that Luna, the leader in on-demand physical therapy, has selected the firm to support brand amplification and recognition among key players in the healthcare industry.

Luna is the nation’s fastest growing on-demand physical therapy service bringing rehabilitation services directly to patients’ homes. Their mobile-first approach expands access for patients and increases adherence to post-operative therapy, lowering costs for providers and creating a new mode of employment for expert physical therapists.

“Legacy physical therapy models built solely on brick-and-mortar clinics are not working for patients,” said Luna Co-founder and Chief Clinical Officer Palak Shah. “The best evidence of this is the fact that 70 percent of patients never complete their treatment plan, and 63 percent expressing a preference for at-home physical therapy. Luna’s on-demand, in-home approach not only helps patients get healthy, but provides new levels of flexibility, independence, and income potential for therapists, and helps hospitals and clinics retain patients. We’re teaming with Amendola to get the word out about this pivotal development in healthcare. Amendola’s deep industry knowledge and media connections, virtually assures the visibility we need to continue our rapid growth and momentum.”

Amendola is implementing a full-service communication strategy for Luna that will amplify the company’s ongoing brand, growth, service updates, expertise and successes. Recently Luna officially introduced their turnkey solution, Rehab at Home™ and announced their expansion in the Greater Seattle and Dallas regions through key local provider partnerships.

“The physical therapy market was hungry for a better way to support patient rehabilitation, and Luna provides a high-quality, low-cost solution for them,” said agency CEO Jodi Amendola. “Introducing this model to the wider rehabilitation space is an important step forward in continuing to meet growing value-based care requirements and offering more consumer-centric programs. We’re excited to partner with Luna on this endeavor.”

To learn more about how Luna is a new era of technology-enabled physical therapy, visit getluna.com.

About Luna

Luna is the leader in on-demand physical therapy, delivering outpatient physical therapy beyond the four walls of a clinic. For patients, Luna has reimagined the physical therapy experience, matching them with a therapist for in-person care at the time and location of their choosing and ongoing coaching through an easy-to-use app. For physical therapists, Luna enables them to manage their careers with flexibility and autonomy, using a platform that makes scheduling efficient, documentation easy, and billing automatic.

For leading health systems and orthopedic groups, Luna improves revenue for rehabilitation services by dramatically expanding access and reach, improving adherence, reducing costs, and standardizing quality. Luna is the fastest growing physical therapy provider, with more than 1,000 exceptional therapists providing services in 19 states across the country. For more information, please visit www.getluna.com.

About Amendola Communications

Amendola is an award-winning, insights-driven public relations and marketing firm that integrates media relations, social media, content and lead gen programs to move healthcare, life sciences/pharma and healthcare IT decision-makers to action. The agency represents some of the industry’s best-known brands as well as groundbreaking startups that are disrupting the status quo. Nearly 90% of its client base represents multi-year clients and/or repeat client executives. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros understand the ongoing complexities of the healthcare ecosystem and provide strategic guidance and creative direction to drive positive ROI, boost reputation and increase market share. Making an impact since 2003, Amendola combines traditional and digital media to fuel meaningful and measurable growth. For more information about the industry’s “A-Team,” visit www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact: Marcia Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Amplification, education & patient-centric storytelling helps Air Methods’ No Membership Required program take off

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.—July 15, 2021 – Amendola Communications (Amendola) today announced it has been named a finalist in two different categories for PR Daily’s 2021 Digital Marketing & Social Media Awards, including the Grand Prize for Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year and the Healthcare Marketing Campaign category. The agency’s campaign, “Amendola Helps Air Methods’ No Membership Required Program Take Off,” included amplification, education and patient-centric storytelling to help fuel pending legislation and resolve an ongoing, industry challenge.

“To overcome the widely misunderstood reimbursement for air medical care, we implemented an integrated, hard-hitting education, amplification and patient-centric story-telling campaign,” explained Jodi Amendola, CEO of Amendola. “We brought together a range of approaches across owned and paid media to make sure the message resonated. It required an extraordinary amount of planning, creativity, energy and execution. I am proud of the quality of work and dedication of the A-team, as well as the high level of engagement and collaboration with Air Methods.”

THE INDUSTRY CHALLENGE

Health plans typically don’t cover emergency air transport services, leaving already traumatized families to face exorbitant bills. The industry’s solution was to sell “memberships.” But nearly every region is covered by only one organization, which led people to pay into a membership for years and still were billed as if they were transported by another company. As a result, the medical emergency transport industry – including Air Methods, a leading provider of air medical emergency services – received negative media publicity.

A CUSTOMIZED, INTEGRATED PROGRAM:  NO MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED (NMR)

Amendola launched the Air Methods campaign with four strategic goals:

• Change public perception that emergency air transport companies take advantage of patients in times of distress through predatory billing practices
• Shift public and media sentiment toward Air Methods specifically from negative to positive/neutral
• Establish Air Methods as a leader in reforming the industry to serve patient needs in a fair and caring manner
• Demonstrate Air Methods’ thought leadership with byline articles and media interviews focused on billing reform, industry best practices, clinical innovation, and more

Air Methods created an advocacy program to work with patients who were unable to pay their outstanding balances, ceased selling memberships (and refunded membership fees previously paid by Medicare patients) and began working with health plans to get their services covered.

Amendola launched a digital campaign called No Membership Required (NMR) to raise awareness at the national and community levels of Air Methods’ decision to stop selling memberships as well as its efforts to become in-network providers for the nation’s top health insurance companies. Amendola and Air Methods launched the NMR campaign in November 2019 with a series of digital ads, some of which included videos with testimonials from actual patients about the patient advocacy program. The patient stories helped take Air Methods from being perceived as a faceless corporate entity to a caring provider of necessary, lifesaving services.

This program included press releases on topics such as Air Methods refunding membership fees to Medicare patients and announcements of the company securing in-network agreements with various health plans. In addition, an ongoing stream of social media posts delivered positive, consistent and constructive messaging, helping promote the NMR program and its underlying principles.

IMPRESSIVE CAMPAIGN RESULTS

The NMR digital campaign earned more than 21 million video plays, nearly 25 million impressions, and more than 21 million post engagements. Most important, however, was the effect the campaign had on consumer sentiment toward Air Methods. Throughout 2019, Air Methods averaged 26.5 negative media articles/mentions per quarter. In Q1 of 2020, that number dropped to just 5, a reduction of roughly 80%. Additionally, Air Methods has established itself as a clear leader and visionary organization within its industry.

The “Ragan and PR Daily Award programs celebrate the most successful campaigns, initiatives and teams in the communication, public relations and marketing industries.” The winners of this year’s awards are expected to be announced in late July.

About Amendola   
Amendola is an award-winning, national public relations, marketing communications, digital and content marketing firm. Named one of the best information technology (IT) PR firms in the nation four times by PRSourceCode, Amendola represents some of the best-known brands and groundbreaking startups in the healthcare and HIT industries. Amendola’s seasoned team of PR and marketing pros delivers strategic guidance and effective solutions to help organizations boost their reputation and drive market share. For more information about the PR industry’s “A Team,” visit https://www.acmarketingpr.com, and follow Amendola on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

Media Contact:    
Marcia G. Rhodes, Amendola Communications, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com