What’s happening: This week, CHA launched a social media campaign highlighting the challenges rural hospitals – particularly critical access hospitals – face and urging lawmakers to act so that rural health care is preserved.
What else to know: The campaign is intended to cultivate support for Senate Bill (SB) 1423 (Dahle, R-Bieber), which would provide additional financial help for California’s critical access hospitals (a concurrent budget effort is underway). CHA-sponsored SB 1423 will be heard in the Senate Health Committee on April 24.
The campaign targets lawmakers and Capitol staff, calling attention to challenges rural hospitals face; at its heart are two videos that share the compelling story of why California must act to help preserve access to care in rural and underserved areas. Many thanks to those who participated in interviews to help make these videos a reality. The first two can be viewed here and here; two more videos will be rolled out over the course of the campaign, which is scheduled to run until June.
Early performance is encouraging, with the videos receiving more than 119,000 views as of this morning – only 3 days after the campaign began. Notably, 46% of those who see the video in their feeds watch at least half of it; given that the average rate is significantly lower, this performance indicates that CHA’s campaign is deeply resonating with the target audience. To follow along as the campaign progresses, follow CHA on Twitter/X (note that users must be logged in to view the recent feed).