May 29, 2020
Work with CSRxP to Defeat the Rebate Rule Takes Home PR Award for “Best in Associations”
WASHINGTON – PLUS Communications is honored to have won “Best in Associations” at the 2020 SABRE Awards for our work with the Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) to defeat the Rebate Rule and help lower prescription drug prices for American patients, seniors and taxpayers. Judged by a panel of industry peers, this award represents an outstanding achievement in the PR industry.
“We are proud to have been recognized by industry peers for a SABRE award for our hard-fought and successful campaign against the Rebate Rule,” said managing partner Danny Diaz. “Our team took on an opponent with unlimited resources in this fight and won with superior messaging and resourceful tenacity.”
“It was an honor to work with CSRxP to defeat this proposal,” said managing partner Rob Jesmer. “This award is a much-appreciated testament to the great work of our entire team that knows how to win the tough fights.”
Win: “Best in Associations” for CSRxP
The escalating price of prescription drugs has sparked a crisis of affordability for American patients. As pressure grew on Washington to act to lower drug prices, brand-name drugmakers ratcheted up a blame game campaign targeting others in the drug supply chain in an effort to deflect attention and scrutiny. At the end of January 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a proposed regulation called the Rebate Rule that represented the culmination of the pharmaceutical industry’s years-long strategy. The rule, considered a top priority for Secretary Alex Azar, took aim at little understood entities called pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that work to bring down health care costs by negotiating with drugmakers for lower prices through concessions called rebates. Part of the challenge in defeating the Rebate Rule was going up against the unlimited resources of the pharmaceutical industry and its extensive network of astroturf surrogate organizations. To successfully define the Rebate Rule as politically toxic, our campaign had to have a stronger, more incisive and more compelling message than the drug industry, had to win the battle to control the conversation around the proposed rule in the press and had to make our tactics count with highly targeted, effective deliverables.
To defeat the Rebate Rule, PLUS designed and executed a sustained, comprehensive campaign — research, grassroots advocacy, online engagement, and earned and paid media — that positioned CSRxP as the leading voice in opposition to the Rebate Rule. Our campaign sought to define the proposed rule as a win for Big Pharma paid for on the backs of seniors and taxpayers. PLUS quickly mobilized to conduct rigorous reporter education, create opportunities and capitalize on every opening to generate earned media in key targets’ home states, Washington, D.C. and in health care outlets. PLUS also worked to get lawmakers to question and oppose the rule — both in private conversations with conference leaders and the administration; and on-the-record in the public domain. To do this, CSRxP’s grassroots teams in 17 states targeted 23 members of Congress and focused on recruiting surrogates and third-party voices who would hold the most credibility with target members. PLUS also launched a national digital advertising campaign against the Rebate Rule, “declaring it would amount to a ‘Big Pharma Bailout’ and seizing ‘upon the Trump administration’s own admission that the proposal could raise Medicare premiums.’”
Less than six months after its introduction, the Trump administration withdrew the “Rebate Rule” — citing the key messages from our campaign in their decision. In less than five months, PLUS secured more than 10,000 earned media hits, target meetings, target intercepts and constituent-to-member contacts and also notched 32 million digital advertising impressions.
Learn more about the SABRE Awards HERE.
Learn more about how PLUS Communications can help your campaign succeed by contacting us HERE.
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