Healthcare is constantly changing – and you need a team with the expertise to adapt swiftly and speak to players across verticals.
We are a dedicated healthcare group at Matter with expertise, deep understanding, and meaningful relationships within the industry. We bring vast experience across many sectors, audiences, and verticals to bring our clients a broader perspective.
Our Healthcare Acumen
HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCE
CASE STUDIES
Click the (+) to expand each client success story.
Situation: In 2013, Modernizing Medicine partnered with Matter Health, looking to transition from a humble start-up to a market leading powerhouse in the highly competitive healthcare IT industry. Matter was charged with leveraging the small, but mighty bench of executive spokespeople to build a thought leadership platform that rivaled much larger industry players like Athena. .
Strategy: Staying proactive in our outreach, Matter followed trends like ICD-10, MACRA/MIPS and artificial intelligence vigilantly and built a robust thought leadership platform for founder and CEO, Daniel Cane. After establishing Dan and the brand in the market, Matter transitioned to build out a broader bench of spokespeople, including the companies chief medical officer and growing bench of on-staff physician coders. Most recently our work has centered around a reoccurring healthcare column in Forbes for Modernizing Medicine’s president, and the newest addition to its senior leadership team, Joe Harpaz. In addition to securing the column, Matter also pens all of Joe’s content for Forbes.
Results: National brand recognition achieved through the elevated profiles of key executives significantly influenced sales, transforming Modernizing Medicine into a top 10, billion dollar EHR company. Matter has shepherded the company through more than $300M in funding, three successful acquisitions and 20x employee growth. To put it in layman’s terms, many trade and national business publications considered as “reach” goals during the onset of the partnership, now reach out to Matter regularly for expert reaction and commentary from Modernizing Medicine.
CORINDUS
Integrating PR, Social + Video to Make Robotic Surgery a Reality
83 Pieces of Coverage | 6B+ Media Impressions | 1060% Increase in Social Interactions
Situation: Corindus required a high-touch PR program in 2019, which was highlighted by health technology giant Siemens Healthineers acquiring Corindus for $1.1 billion. The company made a series of major announcements in 2019, including groundbreaking studies and novel procedures that would further solidify its influence in robotic-assisted procedures. Matter set out to tell the story of Corindus, the power of medical robotics, and its tremendous impact on both patients and the physician using it, targeting medical, tech, business and consumer audiences.
Strategy: To embrace a steady stream of company announcements, Matter launched a comprehensive PR program with the incorporation of an organic social program. The PR team curated and deployed numerous media outreach strategies, crafted strategic social calendars and introduced Corindus to the capabilities of Matter’s video team. With a visually enticing product, the video team strategized to capture content at Corindus’ HQ and off-site events. The team aimed to introduce the realities of robotic-assisted procedures to a wider audience including internationally through editorial, social and video content.
Results: From a media relations perspective, Matter secured 83 pieces of coverage including numerous top tier outlets such as Bloomberg, WIRED, Digital Trends, ZDNet and The Boston Globe, resulting in over 6 billion impressions. On social, the team increased LinkedIn followers and interactions by 75.17%, and 839.09% respectively, and Twitter followers and interactions by 9.97% and 679.59%. On the video side, the team produced three extremely well-received video projects to be utilized by Corindus at trade shows, for perspective customers and for potential broadcast opportunities.
Creating Widespread Awareness for a New Healthcare Category with On-Message Coverage
148 Pieces of Earned Coverage | 7B+ Unique Visitors per Month | 58 Interviews
Situation: Level Ex approached Matter in March of 2019 to help build a new level of buzz surrounding its medical video games as well as the launch of their cardiology-specific game, Cardio Ex, at the GDC conference. Level Ex’s previous PR agency did not meet their standards of consistent coverage and/or caliber of publications, therefore Matter was put to the test, working with a very demanding executive team including the CEO and CMO. With high stakes and high standards, Matter worked to generate interest and ultimately help create a new tech category for healthcare – medical video games.
Strategy: Matter developed a comprehensive media plan including outreach to a wide mix of specialty-specific trade publications, business press, local Chicago media, gaming press, and healthcare tech and healthcare trade press. With multiple storylines, Matter first focused on generating general awareness about Level Ex, its CEO and the video game technology. The team quickly pivoted to support the launch of Cardio Ex at a major gaming conference. Following the show, the team continued to identify new angles and opportunities to support Level Ex’s fast-paced growth.
Results: While it was a relatively slow adoption rate regarding media interest, once Matter made introductions to the CEO and CMO, Level Ex and their work in the medical video game/training space, Matter saw fast results. The team initially secured 8 interviews surrounding the Cardio Ex launch, including three in-person media attendees at the company’s GDC event. To date, Matter has secured more than 93 pieces of coverage, including 40 interviews in a mix of health, tech and business press. Most notably, Matter secured a multi-platform article in USA Today, including a video component, generating 12 pieces of syndicated coverage. In addition, the team secured coverage in CNBC, Forbes, Mashable, MedCity News, DOTMed, ZDNet, Houston Chronicle, MobiHealthNews, Fierce Pharma, VentureBeat, and more.
Expanding awareness of digital behavioral health services through media relations
182 Pieces of Coverage | 1.7B Impressions | 57% SOV
Situation: Dublin-based SilverCloud Health was seeking to leverage PR to gain brand awareness as it expanded its business to the U.S. Despite offering an innovative digital therapeutics platform to help people with mental health disorders, the company had little media presence in the U.S., giving us the opportunity to build a PR program from scratch starting with a funding announcement. With the digital mental health field crowed with consumer-grade apps and SilverCloud’s top competitor already having a head-start with consistent media traction, Matter’s charge was to differentiate SilverCloud by leveraging its clinical-grade platform. SilverCloud had aggressive plans to expand its service offerings with new content to support customers’ mental health and well-being in more tailored and customized ways, and needed media exposure to drive interest and greater acceptance of digital behavioral health services. The COVID-19 pandemic created a massive mental health crisis which required us to be smart and nimble, and position SilverCloud as a leader in the space both during and after the pandemic.
Strategy: Our campaign strategy needed to break through the massive news clutter around COVID-19 and existing, non-evidenced-based virtual mental health tools available. Matter counseled SilverCloud to anchor its story around two ideas. First, there is a huge supply-demand problem in mental health care that existed even before COVID-19 and has only grown. There aren’t enough therapists to address the surge in mental health disorders, and SilverCloud’s clinical-grade therapeutics can scale to meet the demand. Second, we encouraged the client to make the story transcend COVID-19. While mental health symptoms are currently heightened, the mental health crisis both pre-dated the pandemic and will undoubtably outlast it. We developed thought leadership content, including bylines, news-jacking and rapid response pitches, award submissions and an employee-oriented survey designed around up-leveling these messages into the national mental health conversation, in addition to overseeing 15 press releases that focused on the many angles of SilverCloud relating to partnerships, research studies, and momentum news. The strategy paid off as our outreach has resonated with national, business, and trade press.
Results: Since our engagement started in April 2020, Matter has generated 182 pieces of coverage with nearly 1.7 billion impressions. Highlights from the year include Reuters, Fortune, Business Insider, Parade, MobiHealth News, Healthline, Behavioral Health Business, Psycom, Healthcare IT News, Becker’s Hospital Review, TechTarget, Tech Republic and more. We surpassed the 2020 KPIs of 100 articles and 16 percent Share of Voice, which increased to 57 percent. The program’s momentum helped convince the client to sign on for a $14K design and writing project highlighting the findings from an employee-based survey of 1,288 people. Additionally, SilverCloud more than doubled its revenues in 2020 compared to 2019.
SPECTRUM HEALTH SYSTEMS
108 Article Placements | 218M+ Impressions
Situation: Spectrum Health Systems, a New England-based addiction treatment provider, partnered with Matter in the midst of the nation’s opioid epidemic to raise its profile as a thought leader in local, industry and national press. The key goal was to raise both awareness and acceptance of evidence-based treatment – what it entailed, and how and why it worked.
Strategy: Matter conducted extensive storymining sessions with various thought leaders throughout the organization to identify the most common myths surrounding addiction treatment – such as the confusion over methadone and other Medication-Assisted Treatments – and help dispel them through thoughtful and targeted media outreach.
Results: A steady drumbeat of coverage speaking to complicated issues surrounding addiction have appeared in a variety of impactful publications since the beginning of our partnership in 2016. Outlets include U.S. News & World Report, WebMD, Addiction Professional, Practical Pain Management, Psycom, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly, Managed Healthcare Executive and Business Insider.
Hits with headlines like “After Opioid Addiction: What It’s Like to Go Through Medication-Assisted Treatment” have positioned Spectrum as a leading expert in the field, and educated many people on the complexities of the disease.
EXPERITY
77 Articles | 12 Broadcast Segments | 14 Thought Leadership Pieces | 34 Articles on "On-Demand" Care
Situation: Experity (formerly DocuTAP and Practice Velocity) had long-term goals of securing recognition as the leader and top player in the on-demand care industry, Further, Experity was looking to establish a widely-shared identity as the vessel that is powering the patient-centered healthcare revolution. Experity’s identity needed to be crafted and established as a trusted, customer-centric business partner for on-demand businesses versus a large, one-dimensional software provider. It sought to influence and reshape the way people think and discuss the urgent care industry by replacing “urgent care” with new, farther-reaching terminology: On-Demand Care.
Strategy: Matter conducted targeted, on-message outreach to key media in the space, telling stories that reinforce the inevitable and rapid shift to on-demand everything, including care. Matter also worked to formalize Experity’s customer program through a constant pipeline of introductory calls and content creation that reinforced Experity’s target messaging by telling the story through the eyes of the urgent care health providers they server. All of which, showcased the ways Experity serves as much more than a vendor, across the full urgent care business. Through the customer program, Matter made intro calls with key media targets, built relationships and worked directly with customers to create successful case studies to pitch to media.
Results: The consistent creation of compelling customer content and constant presence in target media increased prospect pull-through and solidified Experity as an expert and thought leader while driving the company’s recognition as a pioneer in on-demand care in the industry and among competitors. Matter also used Experity’s highly detailed industry reports — based on proprietary data called “Urgent Care Quarterly” — to showcase Experity as a valuable source for industry analysis and best practices.
BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF RHODE ISLAND
Improving Mental Health + The Perception of Rhode Island’s Largest Health Insurer
10 Proactive Initiatives | 4M+ Media Impressions | 28 Pieces of Coverage
Situation: The Blue Cross Blue Shield Association issued a report stating that Rhode Islanders have higher than average rates of depression. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has always been active in developing programs and policies to alleviate the state’s mental health problem, but were not proactive in communicating their efforts. The Association report was a necessary push—and, strategically, helped them get ahead of negative press surrounding their upcoming rate increase and a critical report from the Office of the Health Insurance CoHipXpertssioner (OHIC) related to mental health.
Strategy: To combat the impending negative news, BCBSRI issued a series of news releases, podcasts, thought leadership and social media content all about how BCBSRI is working to alleviate the growing behavioral health problem in Rhode Island. The strategy was to issue a flurry of good news and activities around one time, targeting Rhode Island media, to create impact quickly and combat any potential negative press. In addition to announcing collaborative programs with stakeholders, BCBSRI also announced investments and policy changes to demonstrate their dedication to fixing the problem.
Results: By issuing a series of news releases, podcasts, thought leadership and social media content focused on combatting the ongoing behavioral health issues in Rhode Island, BCBSRI successfully improved perceptions of the company’s efforts ahead of the OHIC’s report on mental health. The coverage included a list of initiatives involving collaborations with elected officials and providers such as the Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program, the Mindful Teen Program and dedicated investments and policy changes to improve access to behavioral healthcare. The initiatives landed in a variety of local and statewide publications, making BCBSRI’s impact on behavioral health issues known across all Rhode Island communities proactively ahead of negative press.
KITCHECK
Launching AI to Impact the Opioid Epidemic and Establish a National Brand
30+ Featured Articles Secured | 300M+ Media Impressions | 20 Media Briefings
Situation: Across the country, hospitals are plagued with the theft of pharmaceuticals by hospital staff for both black market sales and recreational use. Kit Check developed an AI software aimed at detecting illicit losses of controlled substances. Dubbed Individual Risk Identification Score solution — or IRIS — Kit Check needed a firm to help them raise awareness among hospital execs, pharmacists and other key stakeholders.
Strategy: A huge development in the ongoing fight against hospital employees stealing controlled substances, Kit Check needed to emphasize not only their technology but also highlight the issue IRIS was designed to solve. Matter developed a comprehensive media list across relevant publications and conducted embargoed outreach ahead of the announcement. Additionally, Matter used the opioid abuse issue to frame the importance of this technology.
Results: With a solid story to tell and a successful outreach program executed. Matter was able to secure eight feature articles around the topic of opioid diversion in hospitals, including six briefings with the CEO.
DEBIOPHARM
Integrated, dual pronged approach
to news and trend-oriented thoughts leadership
25 unique coverage of Merck news | 4 trend oriented contributed articles | 1.3M ad impressions | 1,400+ clicks to landing page
Situation: In March 2021, Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer, Debiopharm, announced a major
licensing deal with global pharma leader Merck for its ground breaking cancer therapy. The most significant advancement in head and neck cancer in more than 25 years, the company wanted to leverage the news to kickstart its PR and marketing efforts in North America and increase awareness of its unique R&D and licensing model, specifically among the top 10 global pharmaceutical manufacturers. Ultimately, it was important to raise awareness of their drug pipeline and potential for licensing to larger pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Strategy: The Matter Health team worked with Debiopharm to formulate a dual pronged approach
to an integrated campaign that would feature earned coverage of the announcement itself, trend oriented coverage that speaks to Debiopharm’s unique model and a highly targeted digital advertising campaign.
With minimal awareness in the U.S., we wanted to leverage Merck’s brand equity and the size of the deal to help break through to the media and cut through the increased noise around COVID. It was also important to get beyond the deal itself to help educate the market on Debiopharm’s unique model of in-licensing and out-licensing to dramatically increase the speed with which they are able to bring breakthrough therapeutics to market. Matter set forth to tell the more in depth story through a series of contributed bylines and op eds in strategic pharma trade publications.
Finally, in an effort to further extend the reach and bolster the impact of the campaign, Matter executed highly targeted digital advertising sprint that ran for six weeks in parallel with the aggressive media relations efforts. The objective was to reach specific titles related to R&D/licensing/oncolytics within the top 10 global pharma manufacturers.
Results: As a result of proactive pitching around the actual Merck deal, the Matter team successfully secured 25 pieces of unique editorial coverage with key publications like Reuters and Fierce Biotech. Additionally, over the course of six weeks, Matter secured, penned and placed 4 contributed bylines with key trade publications like Drug Topics and Pharmaceutical Executive, highlighting key differentiators and value props associated with Debiopharm’s unique business and development model.
In addition to securing nearly 30 earned pieces of coverage over the course of six weeks, Matter also drove 1.3M impressions via digital ads that specifically targeted large pharma manufacturers like Pfizer, Novartis and Lilly. The ads also generated more than 1,400 clicks to a highly tailored landing page.
TESTIMONIALS
After interviewing seven agencies, we decided to go with Matter and we could not be happier. Our extensive team at Matter is incredibly responsive and act as an extension of our staff. They have all immersed themselves in our business and take initiative to improve the way we communicate before we ask. Many marketing agencies brag about how they can do it all, but this is rarely the case — Matter is an exception. From creativity to SEO to video production to PR, Matter has gone above and beyond our expectations and we are thrilled to be working with them.”
- Joanne Forster, Vice President of Communications at CureDuchenne
An important step in the process is preparation; taking the time to understand the topic and role each interviewee has in the story (patient or provider) and then looking for the places where our key messages intersect with that information. I’ve always appreciated the fact that Matter took the time to do this because it helped craft a strategic, yet conversational, interview. It gives you the ability to anticipate potential follow-up questions and lead interviewees beyond the script that they may have mentally prepared prior to the interview, and that’s where authenticity shines through.”
- Johanna Webb, Marketing and Communications Manager, UMass Memorial
We’re uniquely qualified within our space to impact healthcare’s future – since many of our partners are practicing clinicians, we are a truly patient-focused investor/VC -- by finding, nurturing, and developing healthcare technologies. And, in turn, we found a partner in Matter Health that is uniquely qualified to tell our story and advance our brand, due to their unmatched knowledge and understanding of the healthcare media landscape.”
- Louis Cannon, MD, Founder and Senior Managing Partner, BioStar Capital
The Matter team is exceptional – they combine their PR expertise with their passion for impactful storytelling to drive market awareness and thought leadership. They are true partners who understand the healthcare space and are always willing to go above and beyond to help us achieve our goals.”
- Patty Kelliker, Vice President of Marketing, Panalgo (formerly BHE)
Having worked with Matter’s healthcare team at my previous company, I knew that they’d bring not only knowledge and relationships to the table, but the tenacity and creativity we need to help us reach our goals and affect real change.”
