Our Take

Patients and families often need guidance to make informed and confident decisions about their health and health care. Check out Sharon’s article in O’Dwyer’s October issue to learn how communications professionals play a critical role in encouraging and influencing conversations and in promoting shared decision-making. Some of the key takeaways include: Make it a priority […]

On Friday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the much-anticipated final rule on the Quality Payment Program (QPP), which is part of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 – better known as MACRA. This rule is 2,200 pages (a length that surprises no one familiar with CMS rules) and […]

Clients hire PR firms to tell their stories.  Accurately. Interestingly. Powerfully. It’s not easy work, so that’s why they pay someone else to do it. To be successful, PR professionals can’t just go through the motions. With each project, we must tell stories in a compelling enough way to attract the attention of key audiences, […]

Sharon Reis, principal of The Reis Group, has been named a finalist in Washington Women in Public Relations’ (WWPR) 27th annual Women of the Year award. The award celebrates the accomplishments of women who are raising the bar in public relations. “We’re thrilled to honor Sharon Reis as a Woman of the Year finalist in […]

As summer winds down, the days become shorter, kids head back to school, and the morning rush hour traffic picks up. By now, many of us are wistfully reflecting on those precious days this summer that weren’t crammed with meetings or deadlines, but instead were filled with hours on the beach holding delicious fruity drinks […]

Recently, our firm had the privilege of working with some high-profile scientific clients to film two ambitious documentaries and a substantial evening broadcast feature story. Doing so reminded me just how much preparation goes into these earned media story formats and how much time the client needs to allocate before the film crew, producers and […]

Content is everywhere. It’s printed, uploaded, and broadcast through a vast array of media on a daily if not hourly basis.  So how are you ensuring that your media monitoring program is getting through the noise and capturing everything? Follow these five tips for maintaining a methodical approach to news and social media monitoring. Tip […]

As a Republican attending my first Democratic National Convention, my experience being in the hall was very much different than watching it on TV. The ambiance of the entire week culminated in one single moment. The pageantry, participation and execution were brilliant, and we know that was the result of hard work by teams of […]

Whether you are a political junky live-streaming convention coverage all day or just a casual observer catching up via morning-digest emails, it’s worth the effort for PR pros and business leaders to study what makes a political speech effective. Political figures have the advantages of teams of writers, voice coaches, teleprompters, and hours of practice, […]

An important element to an impactful news story is the human element which is why more and more reporters are incorporating the experiences of a spokesperson to enhance their story. While a subject matter expert voice is important and helps to provide important information and create credibility, a consumer spokesperson’s first-hand experience can help a story […]