Consumer Awareness Campaign:  Research, Development and Multi-Media Advertising Campaign-  InformationSTAT Goal:

To manage public opinion research and to create a multi-media communications campaign designed to be used in support of the growth of community health information exchange initiatives. Target audiences: physicians, consumers, employers.

 

Approach: The initial challenge was significant.  Electronic health information exchange holds the promise of greatly enhancing quality of care while reducing costs.  Yet many consumers are unaware of the meaning of e-health records or assume that they already exist; there is also significant anxiety about the security of personal health information in electronic records.

 

Health2 Resources developed a multi-pronged, multi-media advertising and awareness campaign to positively communicate the benefits of secure electronic health information exchange.  As part of this process, H2R managed:

·         Primary research to determine consumer opinions, physician and employer attitudes about health information exchange;

·         Development and testing of key messages; and

·         Development and launch of a Web-based tool kit to disseminate the InformationSTAT campaign.

 

Results: InformationSTAT utilizes the results of consumer attitude and opinion research, gathered across five states via focus groups and telephone surveys.  The research identified barriers and found that the most compelling need for secure health information exchange was for health care providers in times of emergency. 

 

Using key messages arising from the research, H2R developed tool kit materials to assist communities as they implement the adoption of secure health information exchange across their regions. The public education and communications tool kit was developed for the eHealth Initiative with support from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The tool kit includes media outreach, marketing and communication tools to support partnership development with physicians, employers and health plans. Materials are available free of charge via a Website created by Health2 Resources. Campaign materials were designed to be personalized by sponsoring organizations.  Click here  to view the camera-ready print ads, billboard advertisements and radio scripts made available for use by communities.

 

To be successful, communities must nurture and manage the relationships essential to the development of health information exchange and show value to each stakeholder--consumers, employers and physicians. To aid in these educational efforts, the InformationSTAT campaign also includes partnership outreach guides and tools for use at speaking engagements, one-to-one discussions and partnership meetings.