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Raintree Systems Engages Amendola for Strategic PR and Marketing Services

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Award-winning healthcare PR agency to collaborate with physical therapy technology leader to amplify thought leadership and company milestones

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 2, 2023 – Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare technology and life sciences public relations and marketing firm, announced today that Raintree, a leading provider of electronic health records (EHR) including patient engagement, scheduling, billing, and practice management, in addition to revenue cycle management (RCM) software solutions for the therapy and rehab industry, has selected the firm to amplify client successes, thought leadership, and industry best practices.

Amendola is implementing comprehensive PR and marketing plans to demonstrate Raintree’s industry-leading technology and services, new offerings, accomplishments, customer wins, and industry partnerships.

“The physical therapy and rehab industry has reached a moment where improved efficiency and efficacy are priorities to advance their medical practices,” said Allison Jones, vice president of marketing for Raintree. “Our partnership with Amendola will enable us to educate the industry by showcasing our ability to help clients deliver better outcomes through technology and the power of analytics.”

“Raintree is dedicated to empowering healthcare organizations with the tools, processes, and services they need to operate the best medical practice possible,” said agency CEO Jodi Amendola. “We are excited to collaborate with Raintree to amplify its accomplishments in enabling therapy and rehab organizations to provide the best services possible for every patient they treat.”

Raintree’s solution is a fully integrated and interoperable EMR platform that powers a practice’s entire business cycle from a single source. From clinical documentation to patient engagement, to RCM and billing, Raintree helps automate manual processes, improve efficiencies, maximize revenue, and deliver business intelligence allowing clinicians to focus on delivering quality care and growing a successful practice.

About Amendola

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.

About Raintree Systems

Raintree is the preeminent platform for enterprise and mid-sized therapy provider organizations. They have a proven track record of success and client satisfaction providing solutions in patient engagement and communications, clinical documentation, revenue cycle management (RCM), and business intelligence/analytics for physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, audiology, and ABA across all treatment settings. From pediatrics to geriatrics, Raintree has more than 2,500 implementations and more than 25,000 users daily. Its commitment to “Software-as-a-Relationship” uniquely distinguishes it from other providers in the market. To learn more about Raintree, visit https://www.raintreeinc.com/.

Media Contact:

Marcia Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

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Hitting The Mark With News Releases

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“The first draft is the best, and it’s all downhill from there.”

These snarky yet valid words came from a longtime friend, colleague, and mentor. They semi-jokingly referred to much of the writing we produced as the content marketing arm of a Fortune 500 healthcare IT provider. But it was most often muttered when talking about news releases.  

Working in such a large, diverse organization, we never lacked fodder for any form of content, and news releases were among the most requested form of PR. As former trade journalists with decades of agency and in-house marketing experience, we’d both been the recipients and issuers of thousands of releases and had instincts––and opinions––about what made them good or bad.

Although we applied these principles with varying degrees of success, a few core tenets proved universal. So here are a few considerations.

Should This Be a Release?

Note that I say a news release, and not a press release. Whatever you are announcing should have news value, and its primary target should be the media––whether they report for trade, consumer, financial, or other outlets. But plenty of folks default to a news release when they should pursue other communications.

If the goal is lead generation, then a news release is not your best tool. If your target audience is prospects, customers, or potential partners, then communicate directly with them. Speak their language. Be persuasive. But don’t issue a news release. There are far better direct channels to use. Be creative and go direct.

Other times, a news release is a good choice, provides a solid proof point, but is not a news generator. Most partnership releases will not be covered, but you still need an asset to point to that documents the relationship, kind of like an old-school wedding announcement. Public companies have disclosure requirements and are obligated to issue such releases (among many others). Pending trade show participation or speaking engagements are other types that simply won’t get ink. But your partners, prospects, and customers may see them. Similarly, ‘point’ upgrades to existing solutions won’t garner reportage, but you’d be remiss in not announcing them.

Once you’ve settled on a news release as the vehicle, determine what level of distribution and muscle to put behind it. Should it be an asset posted to your website newsroom only? Issued on the wire? Issued on the wire with multimedia attachments and pitched directly to target media?

The Draft

When writing a release, avoid the formulaic approach employed by most companies. Leading with, “ACME Widgets, the acclaimed global leader in innovative platforms to end the scourge of hunger and promote world peace, today announced blah blah blah …” will immediately lose readers. Keep the company descriptor minimal and factual, because anyone who doesn’t know who you are can read the boilerplate at the end.

Avoid ‘inside baseball’ jargon. Succinctly describe what you are announcing, who it impacts, and what it means to them. No need to dumb it down to the point of ‘explaining it to your grandmother in Peoria.’ Just be mindful of the audience and their level of understanding. Provide context––frame up the problem that your solution addresses, and how you help solve it. Omit needless words.

Ask journalists about quotes in releases, and many will say they don’t read them because they’re typically superfluous, self-aggrandizing garbage. They needlessly inflate word counts and are rarely reprinted. But this doesn’t need to be the case. Ditch the back-slapping adjectives and “We’re proud/thrilled/honored to…” language and opt for editorial comments that add color and emphasize your value proposition. Statistics that underscore problem statements are gold. Be bold and declarative without bragging. And avoid multiple quotes when possible. Remember, you’re paying by the word.  

Ride the Stallion, Not the Camel

It’s been said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Well, release reviews are not only a source of delays that can torpedo the timeliness of your news, but can morph a fine Arabian stallion into a flea-infested camel. Establishing ‘need-to-see’ approval chains for each release helps, as does defining each reviewer’s role. For example, marketing reviews for adherence to corporate messaging, the product lead makes sure that features are correct, the legal reviewer checks compliance, and so on. If you have 15 individuals reviewing a single release, rethink your approach.

Implement a linear, serial review process––one reviewer at a time, with edits and comments returned to the document owner and resolved before moving to the next reviewer. Start with the most basic review, such as product, then on through the food chain and finish with legal. This way, you avoid “forked” reviews with conflicting edits that are difficult to resolve and only prolong the process.

Distribution: How Much is a Cab Ride?

When it comes to distribution, you get what you pay for, and the many ‘free’ services will get you about as far as a free cab ride. You’re nearly always better off with a trusted leader like PR Newswire (Cision), which provides tailored distribution to target audiences and a host of add-on features and feeds to refine and extend your reach. But that’s a topic that can devour another post.

One glaring distribution mistake that occurs far too often is when a company painstakingly crafts a release, then spends untold agency and in-house hours on reviews and revisions, only to squabble and balk at paying an extra $600 on features that will exponentially increase engagement.

One time-tested way to boost engagement is to bundle at least two pieces of related content with each release. These can be photos, data sheets, case studies, videos, archived webinars, podcasts––you name it. It costs a few more bucks but is very effective. Video has been proven time and again to turbo-charge engagement. The bottom line is to not rely solely on the release to tell your story. Link to related reports, eBooks, white papers … even cartoons.

And if you’re still reluctant to spend on bundled content, a link to a related content repository is another way to add more to the story without attaching individual items.

The justification, development, and distribution of news releases is a topic we could discuss for days. But keeping a few of these considerations in mind can help ensure that your next news release hits the mark rather than the proverbial circular bin.

MDClone Engages Amendola for Strategic PR and Marketing Services

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Award-winning healthcare PR agency to collaborate with healthcare data leader to amplify thought leadership and company milestones

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 13, 2022 – Amendola, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare technology and life sciences public relations and marketing firm, announced today that MDClone, a digital health company and leader in synthetic data, has selected the firm to amplify client successes, thought leadership, and industry best practices.

Amendola is implementing comprehensive PR and media plans to demonstrate MDClone’s industry-leading technology and services, new offerings, accomplishments, customer wins, and industry partnerships.

“Healthcare organizations have a strong need for real-world data to inform research initiatives, but often struggle to access it due to restrictive privacy laws and fragmented, incomplete patient records,” said Erin Giegling, vice president of marketing, MDClone. “Our partnership with Amendola will enable us to educate the industry on the value of accessing healthcare data by showcasing our ability to help clients deliver better outcomes through privacy-enabled shared data sets.”

“MDClone is dedicated to empowering healthcare organizations with the tools, processes, and services they need to translate data into better outcomes,” said Amendola CEO Jodi Amendola. “We are excited to collaborate with MDClone to amplify its accomplishments in enabling health systems and life sciences companies to maximize data utility while maintaining patient privacy.”

MDClone was founded in Israel in 2016. The MDClone ADAMS Platform includes innovative data publishing capabilities that further enhance the protection of patient privacy. MDClone’s unique technology enables any user of a healthcare organization to organize, access, and protect the privacy of patient data, empowering healthcare workers to rapidly transform ideas into actionable insights and take action.

Recently, MDClone was awarded Best Healthcare Big Data Platform by the MedTech Breakthrough Awards in 2021 and 2022. MDClone was also selected as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2021 for the powerful MDClone ADAMS Platform.

MDClone is backed by some of the most prominent investors in the U.S. and Israel, including: aMoon, Lightspeed, OrbiMed, Warburg Pincus, and Viola Growth.

About Amendola

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.

About MDClone

MDClone offers an innovative, self-service data analytics environment powering exploration, discovery, and collaboration throughout healthcare ecosystems cross-institutionally and globally. The powerful underlying infrastructure of the MDClone ADAMS Platform allows users to overcome common barriers in healthcare in order to organize, access, and protect the privacy of patient data while accelerating research, improving operations and quality, and driving innovation to deliver better patient outcomes. Founded in Israel in 2016, MDClone serves major health systems, payers, and life science customers in the United States, Canada, and Israel. Visit mdclone.com for more information.   

Media Contact:

Marcia Rhodes, mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

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Adaptability Is Key To Surviving In The Changing Media Landscape

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Blink and the media landscape changes: a magazine goes out of business, one company acquires another, a podcast launches.

Blink again and something else has changed.

In the nearly 20 years since I founded Amendola Communications, the media landscape for healthcare and healthcare technology has changed dramatically. Publications that I assumed would last forever are long gone while others have sprouted in their place. The dominant medium has shifted from print to digital and the lead time for news has shrunk from days and weeks to, well, almost nothing.  

The number of journalists covering healthcare is also greatly reduced. The big publications once had mastheads with multiple editors and reporters; now, most have only a few and they’re juggling podcasting and social media duties along with reporting and writing.

I hate to see any media outlet vanish. That’s partly for selfish reasons; fewer outlets means fewer places we can pitch. But it’s also because I love journalism and I love helping clients get their news out.

But nostalgia is an indulgence, not a business model.

That’s why, amidst all the change, Amendola Communications remains focused on the constants: the need for companies to spread the word about their products and services and the interest in them among the industry. While there might be fewer media outlets now, there is more healthcare news and content than ever before and it’s just as important to get it seen.

So we’ve adapted our approach. Rather than primarily pitching media interviews, we now do a lot more content development where we conceive a story idea, pitch it to a media outlet, and then have one of our writers create a draft that is vendor-neutral and publishable.

Another example of adaptability is how we’ve had to change our approach to media interviews at key trade shows, such as HIMSS, HLTH and others. Instead of only relying on in-person interviews at the shows, we have been super-aggressive in securing more podcast and video interview opportunities for our clients as well as focusing on pre-and-post show news coverage.

We also now operate in a world where clients are less dependent on third-party outlets. Companies have acquired the ability to speak directly to customers through their own blogs, emails, websites, social media, webinars, podcasts and, in some cases, publications. Indeed, consumers now expect a more direct link with and greater insight into the companies they work with and those businesses can no longer depend on third-party media to provide that.

This good news is that this allows businesses to be more creative, comprehensive and in control of how their images are presented and how their stories are told. A big part of what we do now at Amendola is creating content for our customers and advising them on the best format for that information.

In an ever-changing environment, the greatest necessity for ourselves and our clients is adaptability in how we craft and deliver our messages.

Putting Your Communication On A Diet

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On the cusp of a new year, many of us start thinking about exercise regimens. But the founders of Politico and Axios recommend we put our “prose on a diet.” In their book, “Smart Brevity,” they spell out effective ways to communicate in a world of 24×7 news cycles and social media.

Theirs isn’t the first book to detail better ways to write. But they do build off the seminal “The Elements of Style” to account for our 21st century digital age.

Citing various research studies, they suggest that we’re “overindulging in words” and that we need to pay attention to how “people consume content,” and to “communicate to save people time.” The key is to get people focused “on what matters most.” That’s what they’ve done with their Axios newsletters, i.e., structured them in a way to inform, but also linking to the details if readers want to go deeper. Go “short, not shallow,” “with simplicity and brevity,” is their mantra.

In order to get people to understand what we’re saying, PR professionals also need to package content so it answers two questions:

  • What’s new? (i.e., tell me something I don’t know.)
  • Why does it matter?

It’s particularly important to be memorable in the subject line, be it in business communications or a story pitch to a reporter. The authors recommend no more than six words, grabbing the reader’s attention.

In the body of a communication, they also recommend bold-facing key points and using bullets to “impose rhythm.”  The first sentence is important because it may be the only opportunity to “tell someone what they need to know.”

Here are other key takeaways, many already known, but still good reminders for anyone in the business of writing and communicating:

  • Single out the person you want to reach
  • Be simple and direct
  • Use the right words
    • As Mark Twain once said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
  • Sharpen thoughts and ideas
  • “Deliver depth, detail and nuance more quickly”
  • Less is more
  • Use active verbs always
  • Write direct, declarative sentences
  • Use one-syllable words in lieu of two- and three-syllable ones
  • “Tell me a story; don’t tell me about a story”

One thing I found interesting was their recommendation to use emojis in e-mail subject lines, as a means to stand out.

The book also includes chapters with best practices for writing e-mails and presentations, running meetings, writing speeches, building visuals, doing social media, and running companies.

The ultimate goal is to “win the war for attention,” and this book provides a worthy playbook for doing so.

Amendola Communications Wins Three MarCom Awards

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Boutique Healthcare & Health Tech PR Firm Wins Two Golds and an Honorable Mention for Campaigns for ABOUT, Verana Health and 4medica.   

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Nov. 1, 2022 – Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized healthcare and technology public relations and marketing firm, has won three MarCom Awards for work on behalf of clients.

Amendola won Gold for campaigns for ABOUT and Verana Health and an Honorable Mention for work for 4medica. The annual international awards sponsored by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals honor excellence in marketing and communications.  

“We’re thrilled to win the MarCom Awards,” said agency Chief Executive Officer Jodi Amendola. “While we measure our success in the results we produce for clients, recognition from your peers is gratifying because they, better than anyone, know how much work and creativity goes into a winning campaign.”

Amendola won Gold for helping ABOUT (formerly Central Logic) raise awareness of the importance of care orchestration. Amendola created a 120-day plan that shaped the narrative with key stakeholders and established ABOUT’s reputation as a thought leader in care access and orchestration. Tactics included press releases, byline articles, executive interviews, blog posts, and social media.

Amendola’s second Gold was for its work promoting the launch of Verana Health’s VeraQ™ population health data engine and curated, disease- and therapeutic-specific Qdata™ modules in three therapeutic areas. Amendola helped to position VeraQ and Qdata as a source for quality insights, specifically targeting trade press within three medical specialties. Tactics included: press releases, blog posts authored by clinical experts, targeted media outreach and interviews, social media promotion, and analyst meetings through which Amendola positioned Verana Health as a key innovator.

The Honorable Mention was for helping 4medica raise awareness among healthcare providers of patient safety problems caused by duplicate records and how 4medica can solve them. Amendola created and executed a comprehensive plan to put the problem squarely on the radar of the target audience and position 4medica as a solution. Tactics included: press releases, bylined articles in relevant media outlets, interviews, blog posts, social media and email campaigns.

Amendola also won two Golds and an Honorable Mention in the 2019 MarCom Awards.

Amendola has built a loyal customer base among the healthcare, health IT and life sciences industries by delivering significant, measurable results for healthcare, healthcare tech and pharma-focused organizations, many of whose leaders have hired us at successive companies. To see other awards Amendola has won and to learn more about the agency, click here.  

About MarCom Awards

MarCom Awards honors excellence in marketing and communication while recognizing the creativity, hard work, and generosity of industry professionals. Since its inception in 2004, MarCom has evolved into one of the largest, most-respected creative competitions in the world. Each year about 6,500 print and digital entries are submitted from dozens of countries. MarCom is administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP). The international organization, founded in 1995, consists of several thousand marketing, communication, advertising, public relations, digital, and web professionals. AMCP administers recognition programs, provides judges, and rewards outstanding achievement and service to the community. Entrants are not charged entry fees for work they create pro bono for nonprofits. In the past few years alone, AMCP has contributed more than $250,000 to charitable causes.

About Amendola

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

Amendola Communications

mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Whether In PR Or Elite Sports, We Need Cultures That Support Mental Health

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Let’s face it— sports are hard in terms of physical and mental health. Exerting your body over-and-over again through training and competition; preparing for years just to have an opportunity to perform at one event; facing defeat; facing injury; facing expectations; facing regiments served at the expense of family and friends; facing doubt in your abilities; facing identity crises.

Most elite athletes bear the burden of this reality. Furthermore, many have to deal with it behind closed doors. It isn’t surprising, then, that peering past the lens of ‘glitz and glamor’ reveals biologic mechanisms dealing with stress and emotion.

The sport of alpine skiing was foundational for my childhood. Growing up in Utah, the Rocky Mountains catalyzed my ski racing identity and shaped me into the man I am today. During my time at Amendola, I’ve witnessed how a a healthy team culture creates a healthy organization; and it’s planted at a humanistic level.

Confidence in your own identity is your most authentic self, and the most successful. Similarly, a PR/Marketing company that is authentic in its ethos is going to engage in successful business practices. The exposure I’ve had with a company that holds these values true has paralleled aspects of my experience as a professional athlete. Specifically, the importance of team culture; and most poignantly, culture in an industry that can tangibly improve the lives of athletes struggling with mental illness.

Since retiring from ski racing following the 2020/21 season, I’ve had the opportunity to reflect on what this narrative has meant to me. In doing so, I wish to share my perspective on a subject that has only recently been absolved of its taboo undertone.

Mental illness plaguing sport isn’t a new phenomenon. Whether it’s been Naomi Osaka’s efforts in destigmatizing mental illness, or the vulnerability illustrated by Olympians in The Weight of Gold, society has begun to unpack the ways in which archetypes of hubris and machismo have negatively impacted the world of sports. Sure enough, studies show that athlete populations are saturated with mental illness, and they are inept at seeking support. 

For me, a silver lining from Covid-19 was being able to take a break from studying and competition at Dartmouth College to compete professionally in Europe. I was disillusioned by paying tuition for education via Zoom, so I took advantage of the opportunity to double-down on athletics once again.

Fast-forward to February 2021, and I’m in Bulgaria peering out of the start gate at my first FIS World Cup event. I was in the midst of the best athletic season of my career—witnessing the fruition of my hard work. Grit materialized into accomplishing a dream I had been working towards since I was a few years old. It’s a surreal feeling to experience something you’ve romanticized your whole life. Some things seemed better, some things seemed worse, and other things you couldn’t possibly imagine.

However, in this outpouring of love and recognition for what I’d done, one emotion stuck with me: pain. 

It baffled me how unperturbed I was in the wake of my athletic success. I wasn’t proud of myself; I was only disappointed that I didn’t do better. As the season came to an end, I returned to the U.S. feeling tired and confused. How could I make it to the World’s highest stage in ski racing, just to feel average? Unbeknownst to me at the time, the ‘best season of my life’ had turned out to be the mental health equivalent of the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

As I put the pieces together, I realized how fractured I’d become. I thought of the countless times I’d looked in the mirror only to see a version of myself that I didn’t love; it was the body that I was told I was supposed to have in order to be successful at my sport, but it wasn’t a body that made me happy.

I recounted the years that my metric of self-worth was tied to how fast I had skied that day. I remembered working out twice, maybe three times a day, and still feeling as if it wasn’t enough. I pictured my coaches in the midst of my best results, reiterating for me to keep pushing, keep improving. I remembered toxic locker rooms, where if you didn’t epitomize masculinity, you were considered weird.

Regardless, it was in this darkness that I’d found commonality with other athletes who’d struggled with mental illness; I wasn’t alone. (You, reader, YOU are not alone). 

So here I am, retired from a sport that seemed to be my only life-source. In the midst of this “identity crisis,” I’ve been on a journey towards self-discovery. Albeit I did not wish to lament. I look back on ski racing with a heartfelt nostalgia; I have been fortunate enough to travel the world doing something I’ve loved, and I’m equally grateful for the triumphs, as well as the tribulations, that have contributed to my journey. As fractured as I was, it created the man I am today, and I’m proud of that person.

Fortunately, there are more avenues than ever for mental health outreach. De-stigmatization of mental illness in conjunction with other aspects of social progress paints a future of athletics in which it’s ok to be vulnerable, and it’s okay to not be okay. Within the scope of healthcare, mental health services have a high ceiling for innovation and growth. We’ve already seen a surge of digitalized mental health care/outreach in response to a pandemic-fueled mental health crisis.

The need for mental health solutions is only going to increase, because internal and external stressors are more prevalent now than ever before. Corporate environments that champion diversity, equity, and inclusion reap benefits through improving the lives of stakeholders. Toxic culture—whether it’s in sports, PR or other business—is antithetical to growth. Now more than ever, we are seeking help, and it’s only going to make the world a better place.

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Began Leading A Company

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I’ve always felt like I was born to be an entrepreneur; leading a company is in my blood because both of my parents started their own businesses.

I was always a “go-getter.” When I was 18, I took a commission-only summer job selling Cutco knives, and within a month I broke all the sales records and was a top producer. At the age of 20, I started my first business, which was a storage company that targeted college students in Boston who needed a place to store their personal items for the summer. About 500 students signed up, and in a few months, we turned a profit of more than $8,000.

After the requisite tour of duty in Corporate America doing public relations, I took a leap of faith and co-founded Amendola Communications with my husband Ted. Within six weeks, I had five retainer clients.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, it hasn’t always been easy. From a shifting media landscape to evolving client expectations to a crippling pandemic, numerous challenges have popped up over the years. To surmount these obstacles, we’ve always been nimble and able to pivot when we need to. Instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole, we’ve gotten good at shaving the edges off the peg. 

Here are five important lessons I’ve learned along the way about leadership and leading a company:

1. Hire where the talent is: When I started Amendola, I wanted to build a workforce in Scottsdale. Well, I did it, but I quickly discovered that when you don’t hire seasoned people in your market niche, it shows. The ramp-up time is too long and the quality of the work is sub-par, which means we couldn’t move up to the next level of clients. As I shared in this post, once I took location out of the equation things got much better.

2. Don’t try to do it all yourself: I was raised as a PR person, and loved doing pitching, managing accounts, and all the other hands-on pieces of the business. But it didn’t take long to figure out that while I was working on today’s clients, no one was out finding tomorrow’s. That’s a quick way to succeed yourself out of business.  So I hired some good people and gave up doing the day-to-day work to focus on business development, which is my superpower. We instantly became more profitable, and I found myself having a lot more fun.

3. Know what your company is good at and stick with it: You can’t possibly be all things to all people, nor should you try. Instead of taking on work that doesn’t suit your organization, whether it’s the wrong type of work, or the wrong market, or the wrong size of client, figure out where your niche is and focus your efforts there. If you do get asked to do something that you are not good at, refer the person who asked to someone who can do what they need. It’s a small world, and the odds are the good you do today will come back to you later. 

4. Hire people you like, that share the same philosophy, and fit in well with your work culture: It’s easy to fall in love with someone’s talent, but if they’re not a good personality fit, it can destroy the culture. And all it takes is one bad apple to turn a great place to work into a bad one. Hire the people who fit what you want your organization to be. Every couple of years we do an all-company retreat to a non-work area. Those are some of the best times because we have such a great staff of people and enjoy working together as well as mingling and socializing with each other. We care about each other and that comes from the top down.

5. Try before you buy:  If writing is important to your business, as it is in mine, don’t take people’s word for it that they are good writers. I think 80% of the country thinks they can write, but only maybe 20% can, at least to the level we need. Test every potential writer with a writing test, even if you love their samples. You never know if what you’re reading is their work or whether what they did was propped up by a great editor. It’s like the old saw says: trust but verify.

Leading a company will always have its challenges, but I have found that following these valuable lessons has helped pave the road to long-term success.    

Bulldog PR Awards 2022 Honors Amendola for HSBlox Value-Based Care Campaign

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. July 7, 2022 – Amendola announced today that it has won a 2022 Bulldog PR Award in the Best Thought Leadership category for its HSBlox campaign, solidifying the company’s reputation as a top public relations (PR) and marketing communications agency for healthcare and health IT. The Bulldog PR Awards, which celebrate the best and brightest corporate communications and PR efforts, honored Amendola with a Bronze award for a campaign it developed to increase awareness of HSBlox in the value-based care (VBC) space.

The overarching goal of the campaign was to communicate the challenges of VBC models and the ways in which HSBlox uses contract modeling, network build-out, contract administration, permissioned data exchange and payment technologies to integrate traditional medical networks with non-medical ones (i.e., social services agencies, community-based organizations) to bring VBC administration to fruition. Amendola set on a course of creating third-party references by engaging industry analysts and media outlets. The firm researched top healthcare industry analysts, reporters and publications covering VBC, social determinants of health (SDOH), and health equity. Amendola then built a weekly cadence of media campaigns, alternating among proactive, issues-based pitching; HSBlox news; and thought leadership. 

Amendola drafted pitches and contributed content that added new elements to the media and analyst coverage over the last few years.  For example, while most coverage focused on the need to address SDOH in VBC program models, fewer articles discussed the challenges of incorporating digitized unstructured data in a way that made it part of a patient’s entire medical record for whole-person health. Lastly, Amendola pitched briefings with top analyst firms covering VBC and the payer markets. 

The campaign secured 17 briefings with eight different analyst firms over a 10-month period. Those briefings resulted in four analyst reports or blog posts, 19 pieces of vendor-neutral contributed content, and five podcast appearances. 

“We are proud to be recognized for the hard work that our team put into executing this brand awareness campaign,” said agency CEO, Jodi Amendola. “Our PR initiatives enabled HSBlox sales leaders to leverage the earned content created by the campaign to escort prospects through the sales funnel and underscore the importance of the digital infrastructure needed to successfully achieve VBC models.”

About Amendola

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.

About HSBlox

HSBlox is an Atlanta-based technology company empowering healthcare organizations with the tools and support to deliver value-based care (VBC) successfully and sustainably.  HSBlox’s CureAlign® platform enables healthcare organizations to administer value-based programs, including contract modeling, network build-out, contract administration, permissioned data exchange and payment. Recently, the company released CureAlign 3.5, combining its Contract Builder and modeling capabilities with its Contract Library for seamless deployment of value-based programs. Along with CureAlign’s one-of-a-kind hierarchical approach to VBC participant onboarding, alternative payment models can combine global reimbursement programs with episode-specific arrangements to deliver unparalleled transparency in pursuit of the Quintuple Aim for healthcare improvement.

Follow HSBlox on LinkedIn to see the latest about value-based program administration or visit www.hsblox.com to read more about scaling of value-based programs.

Media contact:

Marcia Rhodes

Amendola Communications

mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com

Iris Telehealth Engages Amendola for Strategic PR and Media Relations Services

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Award-winning health tech PR agency to elevate the profile of telepsychiatry service provider

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 26, 2022 – Amendola Communications, a nationally recognized, award-winning healthcare and technology marketing and public relations firm, announced that Iris Telehealth, a leading provider of telepsychiatry services for community mental health centers, community health centers, hospitals, and health systems across the U.S., has selected the firm to manage PR, media relations, and thought leadership. Iris conducted an extensive agency search and selected Amendola for its successful track record, industry acumen, and bench strength.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the importance of addressing mental health as a part of overall public health,” said agency CEO Jodi Amendola. “Providing easy and convenient access to accredited psychiatric services from quality behavioral health professionals is essential to this effort. Iris Telehealth’s use of telemedicine to expand clinically sound psychiatric services to patients and healthcare organizations is making a tangible impact in this regard, and we’re enthused to help execute their vision of enabling a better world through healthy minds.”

Amendola is implementing a comprehensive public relations, thought leadership, communications, and media plan for Iris Telehealth that will showcase its value proposition, services, accomplishments, customer wins, and industry partnerships. The agency successfully kicked off the relationship by supporting the Austin, Texas-based company’s recent Series B funding. Amendola garnered significant media coverage for this major milestone, including an audience reach of more than 61 million via placements in high-profile healthcare trade and business media such as MobiHealthNews, MedCity News, Digital Health Business and Technology, Axios, Fortune, and STAT as well as local Austin media.

“There’s a nationwide need to provide timely, quality behavioral healthcare, and our track record shows we can help health systems and community organizations sustainably improve care for their communities,” said Dan Ferris, Chief Marketing Officer of Iris Telehealth. “We’re teaming up with Amendola Communications to drive awareness of our unique value to the healthcare market and our mission of supporting the mental wellbeing of patient populations that need it most. Our Series B announcement was our first effort to gain more market awareness and we know that with Amendola’s help, this is just the beginning.” 

Iris Telehealth has grown exponentially over the last 18 months as healthcare organizations seek to provide timely, quality care to their patients. Iris’s combination of high-quality providers, best-in-class support, expertise to optimize care models, and technology has enabled customers to reimagine how behavioral health services are provided across the continuum of care.

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.

About Iris Telehealth 

Iris Telehealth helps healthcare organizations consistently increase access to quality mental healthcare for their patients by providing the clinicians, staff support, and knowledge to build a sustainable telepsychiatry department. With clinical grounding and emphasis on human relationships, Iris Telehealth identifies best-fit providers for each unique organization and ensures long-term commitment to meeting their partner’s needs, allowing them to provide the highest quality care to their patients and community. For more information, please visit iristelehealth.com. 

Media Contact:

Marcia Rhodes

Amendola Communications

mrhodes@acmarketingpr.com