Communications Campaign Summary

Promoting Women’s Heart Health

Prepared by Melissa Cordial

Fallon Health (Fallon) is a not-for-profit health care services organization in Worcester, MA that
offers innovative health insurance solutions. Fallon’s mission is “Making our communities
healthy.” One important way that Fallon can execute upon its mission is to address heart health
issues for women. As a health insurance company whose customer base is over 50 percent
female, a strategic communication campaign focused on heart health can have a positive impact
for half of its membership.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), heart disease is the leading cause of death
for women in the United States with 1 out of 4 deaths attributed to heart disease.1 Here in
Massachusetts, cardiovascular disease is the second leading cause of death after cancer. The
CDC also reports that almost two-thirds of women who die suddenly of coronary heart disease
have no previous symptoms.2 A frightening statistic for women!

The American Heart Association reports that 90 percent of women have one or more risk factors
for developing heart disease.3 And, demographically, about 5.8% of all white women, 7.6% of
black women, and 5.6% of Mexican American women are living with coronary heart disease.4
Heart disease is undoubtably a prevalent health concern for women in our country.

While many of the risk factors are the same for women and men–smoking, diabetes, high blood
pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity, Healthwise Knowledgebase reports that women have
certain other factors that can raise their risk. These include pregnancy-related problems as well
as medicines they may be taking, such as birth control pills or hormone therapy.5

The 2017 Massachusetts State Health Assessment reports that high blood pressure is a critical
risk factor for adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular outcomes including stroke, heart
attacks, and congestive heart failure. In 2014, hypertension contributed to $19 million in total
hospitalization costs in Massachusetts.6

A strategic communication campaign can help Fallon both achieve its mission and lower its cost
of care for women who may wait too long to address heart troubles and end up in the emergency
room. The objective of this proposed communication campaign is to twofold–first is to educate
and second is to drive action.

Target Audiences:
1. Fallon Health members who are women aged 40-59.

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 This age group has a lower incidence of heart disease according to the American Heart
Association National Health and Nutrition Examination study.7 Once women get into their
sixties the prevalence of heart disease increases. Between the ages of 40 to 59 women may be
more receptive to health information as the aging process is taking place.

Education: Communications to this group would educate about the risk factors and
symptoms specific to women. Targeting this age group will build awareness of heart issues
and preventive behaviors before a serious incident is more likely to occur.

Driving Action: Communications would encourage the development of healthy behaviors in

everyday life. Messages would motivate women to make simple changes that can have a big
impact on their heart health. For example, getting 5 hours of exercise a week may seem
overwhelming to a busy mom or career woman. A campaign can show easy ways to break
those five hours down throughout the week.

2. Human Resources (HR) professionals whose employer offers Fallon Health insurance
For an average size employer with 10,000 employees, medical cost and loss of productivity
costs can be almost 2 million dollars per year caused by employees with heart disease.8 HR
professionals can play an important role in distributing information and providing wellness
resources for employees. Doing so can lead to healthier, more productive and present
employees. It can also contribute to cost savings in health insurance claims and premiums.

Education: Create communications to help employers understand the costs of care related to
women’s heart health issues. Provide facts and data about their organization to show
opportunities for interventions that can drive savings or improved health outcomes.

Driving Action: Provide a tool kit with information on how to offer heart health learning
sessions to their employees. The kit would include educational flyers or emails that can be
sent to employees. It would also give ideas on how to encourage healthy behaviors for their
employees.

3. Fallon Health’s women employees

Eighty percent of Fallon’s 1,200 employees are women. This group can serve as a pilot to
test messaging and tactics prior to investing resources for external distribution. In this case,
Fallon would benefit from healthier employees like the HR target audience. Also, it would
show its employees how it lives its mission.

Education: As a health care company, Fallon staff are knowledgeable about many health
conditions and topics. Internal communications about awareness of women’s heart health
issues would need to stand out and raise attention with a special company-wide campaign. As

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 employees work with members each day, they can help reinforce and discuss heart health
information.

Driving Action: Find a trusted employee or a group of employees to champion the issue.
Create learning sessions and activities and encourage participation. The local chapter of the
American Heart Association could give a presentation to kick off the campaign. From there,
topics for health sessions can include fitness, healthy eating, and identifying symptoms of
heart disease. Other creative ideas can include offering access to healthy foods through local
farms and having a walking contest.

Fallon is an organization who should use its resources to improve the health of its members as its
mission states. A communications campaign about heart disease, the leading killer of women in
the country, can make a difference to Fallon’s members, employer customers and its own
employees. It can also help Fallon save costs in preventable emergency room visits. Upon
approval of this proposal, next steps include identification of specific communication tactics and
presentation of an estimated budget for approval.

References:

1
Facts on Women and Heart Disease - Xu, JQ, Murphy, SL., Kochanek, KD, Bastian, BA. Deaths: Final data for
2013 Cdc-pdf. National Vital Statistics Report. 2016:64(2). Retrieved from:
https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_women_heart.htm

2,4
Roger VL, Go AS, Lloyd-Jones DM, Benjamin EJ, Berry JD, Borden WB, et al. Heart disease and stroke
statistics—2012 update: a report from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2012;125(1):e2–220. Retrieved
from: https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_women_heart.htm

3
Causes and Prevention of Heart Disease. Retrieved from: https://www.goredforwomen.org/en/about-heart-disease-
in-women/facts/causes-and-prevention-of-heart-disease
5
Healthwise staff. July 22, 2018. Retrieved from:
https://www.healthwise.net/fchp/Content/StdDocument.aspx?DOCHWID=te7817spec
6
Massachusetts State Health Assessment. Retrieved from:
https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2017/11/03/2017%20MA%20SHA%20final%20compressed.pdf
7
Mozaffarian D et al. Circulation. 2015;131:e29-e322. Retrieved from: https://www.heart.org/idc/groups/heart-
public/@wcm/@sop/@smd/documents/downloadable/ucm_449846.pdf
8
Mitchell, R. J., & Bates, P. (2011). Measuring health-related productivity loss. Population health management,
14(2), 93-8.