1. Let’s start with the simple questions. How long has JFK Communications been in business, and what prompted you to start it? Where are you located? Who are your clients? What does healthcare public relations encompass? Is it a relatively new branch of PR?

I (John) started JFK Communications in 2004. I had been in healthcare public relations for more than 15 years, much of it on the corporate side, and was looking for a change. I wanted to start something on my own. David and I had our first meeting in fall, 2004, when he came on board as a consultant. We formalized our partnership in the summer of 2006.

JFK Communications is located in Princeton, New Jersey, and our clients range from pharmaceutical companies to non-profits, such as organizations that help physicians better understand diseases or those that help government. We focus exclusively on healthcare communications – biotech, medical, diagnostics – and help to raise awareness of diseases, such as providing emerging data on investigational drugs and care. We also help to prepare our clients, doctors and other spokespeople to talk with the media.

One thing of special note – we work in a highly regulated industry, where our clients must comply with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations, and so we have to understand the boundaries of what is appropriate to communicate in order to ensure that our clients are compliant. The FDA also regulates marketing activities. We know the people at the FDA, so it’s not as if the agency is nameless and faceless, which is a great help.

Healthcare public relations has been around for a long time – as a part of the discipline of public relations – however, the discipline experienced extensive growth in the 1980’s and continues to grow as we expand our understanding of disease origins.

2. Together, the two of you have how many years of experience in this kind of PR? Have you worked in other kinds of public relations?

We have a combined total of 30 years, about 15 years each. David started out in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and John began in a hospital and never looked back.

3. You have an impressive client list. Are there differences in approach between doing public relations for Novartis Oncology and, say, Microsoft, or are the efforts more similar than not?

As mentioned earlier, the pharmaceutical industry or any other regulated industry has special requirements. That means we need to have an understanding of the regulations and policies that govern the industry. A consumer product doesn’t have the same strictures that a drug or medical device has in terms of how you can communicate about that product. We work within stringent parameters to comply with FDA regulations on marketing, advertising and communications, while at the same time focusing on our client’s need to effectively communicate about their products or services.  In this instance, JFK Communications is distinguished from other agencies because of the relationships we have developed with some of the FDA staff who are responsible for monitoring drug marketing, advertising and communications.

Also, we sometimes have to feel comfortable saying no to clients as part of our good counsel to them. One of the the worst thing that can happen for our clients is to receive a warning letter from the FDA, telling them to cease and desist PR activities.  It’s part of our job to make sure that this never happens.

4. A related question - is there a set of guidelines you specifically follow for healthcare public relations, such as more stringent ethical considerations?

Legal and ethical considerations are very important. We go also the extra mile to make sure our clients can pass the “red face” test. Even if something is legal, it can still be questionable from an ethical standpoint. In our opinion, it is always better to take the high road. Truth is always the best counsel, no matter what kind of PR you practice.

5. One of the services you offer is disease awareness. What do you mean by disease awareness and how do you accomplish it?

It’s becoming more and more important as baby boomers age to get information out about diseases, and thus, education becomes more critical. We help to educate people about particular diseases and possible treatments. We do a lot of work with patient advocacy groups, raising awareness about a specific disease for those who need information about it. Pharmaceutical companies provide a lot of useful information to patients and doctors that is not actually product-related, and we help them with that. At the end of the day, we feel especially good about this work.

6. In healthcare public relations, what and with whom do you communicate at the grassroots level?

Grassroots is another way to reach people in a community. We work with patient advocacy groups to get information out – essentially feet on the street. With some things, such as policy issues, we use direct mail.  And we have delivered client messaging at malls, state fairs and other places and events where a lot of people can be reached. For instance, the Texas state fair goes on for three weeks and has 10 million visitors. That’s a lot of target audiences in one place.  Also, local print and broadcast media remains the most important place where we obtain news.

7. Do you find yourselves doing much in the way of crisis communications for your clients? How about issues management?

With issues management, we can help a client communicate their position on a particular issue - a thorny issue - but not necessarily a crisis.  We also offer risk communications, which helps a client prepare for crises that can occur. It’s best to be proactive, and clients need to be open to what possible outcomes could be in a given circumstance.  If a crisis does occur – say, patients die in a drug trial – that’s a major PR challenge to address in an ethical way, so it’s best to know ahead of time how you would address a very serious situation like this through scenario planning and preparing.

8. At the end of the day, what do you enjoy most about this kind of public relations? What is the most challenging?

The most challenging aspect is balancing time and maintaining a high level of quality while multi-tasking.

9. For the budding PR professional who may wish to have a career in healthcare public relations, how do you recommend he/she prepare?

Number 1, they must deliberately want to do this kind of PR.  They must learn about the drug development process, and how companies bring a medicine to market. It’s a great idea to join PRSSA and to expose oneself to the PRSA Health Academy.  There are case studies about best practices in the industry. Visit the FDA website and see what’s there. Believe it or not, the FDA is not a nameless, faceless bureaucracy. The people there are interested in a dialogue with those who work in the pharmaceutical industry, and want to cooperate to ensure that safe, effective products, marketed in an ethical way, are available to patients. Essentially, learn about the environment and challenges of healthcare, biotech and pharmaceuticals. And get into Healthcare PR from the start.

10. What do you see in the future for healthcare public relations?

The only direction is up. There’s a great need for easy to understand information about medications and healthcare, and healthcare companies really appreciate the value of public relations.

With the demographic trend to an older population, there is a great need for readily available information. Doctors are using information more efficiently, and that’s where Public Relations helps.  PR can do things that advertising cannot.

There is definitely an exploding need for good people in Healthcare PR at the entry level and senior levels. JFK is healthy and growing and we’re looking for good people. We doubled in size from 2004 – 2005 and from 2005 – 2006 we tripled in size. The future in Healthcare PR – and JFK Communications - is very bright.