63-person niche market

The new advertising campaign undertaken by northern Nevada hospitals delivers its message on television and Web sites, in print and across billboards mass media, one and all.

But ultimately the campaign targets an audience the 63 members of the Nevada Legislature that's one of the smallest niches imaginable.

The campaign, "Your Hospitals, Your Community," runs through July. It's a joint effort of every major hospital in northern Nevada except for Saint Mary's, which wasn't convinced the cost of the advertising was justified.

The economic importance of hospitals, the good that they provide through care of indigent patients and their efforts to recruit nurses and medical professionals are among the key themes of the campaign developed by The Bauserman Group, a Reno ad agency.

While its name isn't on the campaign, the Nevada Hospital Association spearheaded its creation.

Bill Welch, president and chief executive officer of the Reno-based association, said the group wants to ensure that lawmakers feel positively about the hospital industry during this year's legislative session.

That's important, he said, as hospitals pursue key legislative initiatives that include higher and faster reimbursements when hospitals treat Medicaid patients. (Funded by state governments, Medicaid finances healthcare for low-income, elderly and disabled patients.)

The association also wants the Legislature to boost funding for training of nurses and physicians to meet nasty shortages statewide.

"We want to be fresh in their minds when we testify," Welch said.

The willingness of often-competitive hospitals to join together in the campaign also is important, the hospital association executive said.

"It helps demonstrate that we are a cohesive industry," he said.

While lawmakers are the most important audience for the advertising campaign, organizers hope to influence the general public as well.

"People take hospitals for granted," said Jim Bauserman, head of the ad agency that created the campaign. "This is a feel-good campaign for hospitals."

Susan Hill, director of marketing at Northern Nevada Medical Center in Sparks, said organizers are hopeful that a secondary effect of the campaign will be to encourage young people to consider careers in the health-care industry.

And Don Butterfield, a spokesman for Renown Health in Reno, said executives of that hospital think it's important to periodically remind the public that hospitals are among the region's biggest employers and bring significant economic benefits.

Saint Mary's spokesman Josh Charlebois said Saint Mary's executives doubt the need to spend money on advertising to boost the industry's image among the general public, a doubt that's fueled by their own research.

"People don't necessarily have a bad opinion of hospital care," he said.