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Public Affairs & Advocacy

Driving results with a political campaign approach

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Navigating the literal and people politics of healthcare to achieve your goals

Healthcare has always been political. What’s changed is how powerfully local, state and federal policy now shapes healthcare organizations and the decisions their leaders make.

Leaders today are navigating critically important policy and issue priorities against a backdrop of declining trust. Decisions about affordability, access, workforce, consolidation, AI, payer relationships and other business priorities increasingly play out in public and policy venues.

Yet healthcare organizations hold an important advantage: The public continues to trust doctors, nurses and local hospitals more than many other voices speaking on healthcare issues.

The challenge is turning that trust into influence.

Trust is built locally – one patient and one community at a time – but the decisions that matter are often made at a much larger scale. Too often, healthcare organizations enter those debates with fragmented messages and disconnected efforts.

Business strategy, public opinion and public policy can no longer be separated. Provider organizations must manage them together.

Jarrard puts you on offense with a proactive campaign approach.

The Politics of Healthcare: Insights & Perspectives

Healthcare has always been political. And the forces shaping it are constantly changing.

Get Jarrard’s perspective on the intersection of healthcare, politics and public opinion, drawing on our national research, policy developments and emerging issues to explore what they mean for healthcare leaders.

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Our Approach

Research. Strategy. Communications. Activation.

Public affairs works when every part of the campaign works together.

Jarrard combines healthcare-industry research, political strategy, strategic communications, digital and creative capabilities to help leaders understand the environment, anticipate political risk and influence key audiences.

We start by connecting three questions:

What do people think?
Research and audience insights reveal what stakeholders think, what concerns them, and where opinions can shift.

What’s happening in the policy environment?
Federal, state and local intelligence identifies the policy decisions, political dynamics and stakeholders that can affect your goals.

What should you do about it?
We turn those insights into an integrated strategy, then develop the messages, stakeholder engagement and campaign infrastructure to put it into action.

Public Affairs Team Leads

Isaac Squyres

Isaac Squyres

Senior Partner

Headshot of a grinning man with blonde hair dressed in a blazer in front of a blurred background

Michael Hildebrand

Senior Vice President

Tim Stewart

Senior Partner

Zack Rearick

Zack Rearick

Vice President

Byron Johnson

Senior Vice President

David Shifrin

David Shifrin

Associate Vice President, Market Research & Insights

How We Help

Anticipate Political Risk

Understand how changing federal, state and local policy environments could affect your organization, strategy and reputation, and prepare to engage before impactful decisions are made.

Advance Policy Priorities

Build an integrated campaign around a specific legislative, regulatory or policy goal, connecting research, strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications.

Build Stakeholder Support

Understand stakeholder attitudes and develop research-backed messages and engagement strategies that build trust, credibility and support for organizational priorities.

Mobilize Trusted Voices

Identify, equip and activate clinicians, employees, community leaders, advocates, coalition partners and other trusted voices through grassroots, grasstops and digital advocacy.

Our Capabilities

Localized Research and Insights

Provide research and data to understand the landscape, identify where public opinion is movable and inform strategy and message development.

Campaign Messaging

Craft and test a research-backed message platform as a consistent foundation for campaign efforts across audiences and channels.

Policy Intelligence and Interpretation

Understand the federal, state and local policy environment, identify the political and regulatory forces affecting your goals and anticipate emerging risks and opportunities.

Coalition and Stakeholder Mobilization

Build and activate coalitions and trusted voices at the grassroots and grasstops levels to support policy and organizational priorities.

Stakeholder Analysis and Mapping

Identify the stakeholders who can influence or be affected by an issue to ensure the right message reaches the right person, at the right time, through the right messenger.

Executive and Board Counsel

Help leaders understand political and stakeholder dynamics, prepare for high-stakes engagement and align public affairs strategy with organizational priorities.

Campaign Strategy and Execution

Serve in a campaign manager role to integrate strategy, messaging and execution across:

  • Digital advocacy, social media, constituent activation and email
  • Coalition development and grassroots and grasstops activation
  • Paid media, creative development and placement
  • Media relations, thought leadership and digital listening

Frequently Asked Questions

Healthcare public affairs and advocacy is the strategic effort to influence public policy, shape stakeholder perceptions and advance organizational priorities among policymakers, regulators, community leaders, media and other key audiences. Effective advocacy helps healthcare organizations navigate complex political and regulatory environments while building trust and credibility.

Government relations and lobbying focus primarily on direct engagement with policymakers, regulators and government officials. Public affairs takes a broader approach, integrating policy strategy with research, stakeholder engagement, communications and advocacy. Jarrard is public affairs-led with selective government relations capabilities and works with lobbying partners when specialized or day-to-day lobbying is required.

Healthcare organizations can influence policy decisions by engaging stakeholders early, building coalitions, developing research-backed messaging and communicating consistently with policymakers, regulators and community leaders. Successful advocacy efforts combine data, relationships and strategic communications to drive action.

Public opinion research helps healthcare organizations understand what stakeholders believe, where opinion is movable and which messages and messengers are most likely to resonate. Those insights allow advocacy strategies to be grounded in evidence rather than assumptions.

Organizations should consider launching an advocacy campaign when facing significant policy changes, legislative threats, regulatory challenges, reimbursement issues, market disruptions or other initiatives that could affect patients, operations or long-term organizational goals. Early engagement often provides the greatest opportunity to shape outcomes.

Building support requires identifying key stakeholders, understanding audience priorities and delivering clear, compelling messages through trusted messengers. Organizations often strengthen advocacy efforts through coalition building, grassroots and grasstops engagement, public education campaigns and targeted communications.

Stakeholder mapping is the process of identifying the individuals and groups who can influence or be affected by a policy issue or organizational priority. Understanding stakeholder interests, influence and relationships helps organizations deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

Organizations can strengthen trust by communicating transparently, engaging stakeholders proactively and clearly demonstrating how decisions support patients, employees and communities. Research, message testing and ongoing stakeholder engagement can help leaders understand concerns and respond effectively.

People often place greater trust in clinicians, local healthcare organizations and other voices close to care than in many institutions involved in healthcare policy. Effective advocacy identifies those trusted voices and equips them with clear, research-backed messages to help build understanding and support.

Organizations can measure advocacy success through changes in stakeholder awareness, engagement, public sentiment, policy outcomes, coalition growth, media coverage and digital campaign performance. Ongoing measurement helps leaders refine strategies and demonstrate the impact of advocacy efforts.

Jarrard works alongside healthcare leaders to develop integrated, research-driven public affairs and advocacy campaigns that connect public opinion, policy strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications to support policy priorities and organizational objectives. Contact us today to set up a discovery call.

Case Studies

Insights

Resources

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