Fallon Clinic Still Fights Brand Confusion
New ad campaign touts independence from FCHP
At a recent trade show, Linda Coccola, a senior marketing manager for Fallon Clinic, got a reminder about the confusion her organization's name causes for many Central Massachusetts residents.
"People come up to our table and say, 'Oh, I'm a member,'" she said.
In fact, Fallon Clinic is not something you can join. It's a multi-specialty group practice, a collection of 26 doctors' offices that employ 250 physicians all around Central Massachusetts. The visitors to Coccola's booth were confusing the clinic with the HMO Fallon Community Health Plan, which, fortunately, had its own table set up just down the hall.
Since the beginning of October, Fallon Clinic has been using billboards and print advertisements to let Central Massachusetts residents know that it accepts all major insurance plans. Coccola said it is not the first time the organization has made that kind of marketing effort, and it will probably not be the last.
Name Dropping
To separate themselves in the public's mind, the two Fallons must overcome habits of thought reinforced for nearly three decades. Fallon Clinic founded FCHP in 1977, and until 2002 the two groups functioned seamlessly: the clinic did not accept any other plans, and the plan did not include any other doctors.
Since then, the health plan has expanded its network to provide members with more choice. And between 2003 and 2005 the clinic gradually added all major insurance companies, both as a way to grow its business and to avoid forcing patients to drop their doctors when they switch plans.
"We can keep the patient, the patient can keep their doctor, kind of everybody wins," Coccola said.
Still, both Coccola and Christine Cassidy, the director of corporate communications at Fallon Comm-unity Health Plan, say the two organizations continue to work together closely.
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