Social marketing strategies such as videos, websites and community events promote change within an identified patient population. My employer profiles the patient population based on demographics, chronic conditions and current catchment area. We have created a patient registry to stratify and manage clinical information. Reports are generated and performance improvement opportunities are identified. The reports also identify marketing opportunities to provide a new service or engage existing patients. The mobile mammogram program is an example. The community is notified when the mobile van will be in their community in multiple ways via newspaper advertisement, reminder mailings or phone calls. The patient contacts their rural clinic and schedules an appointment. This has been a positive strategy to increase the number of women over 50 who have had a mammogram within a 2 year period. The van is also available for community Breast Cancer awareness events. Another marketing strategy which ties into enhancing patient and provider communication and promotes self-management of chronic conditions is the offering the patient or designated caregiver the ability to access patient health information from their home. The program MyHealth Connections offers secure online access to select patient health information on their computer and mobile phone. The patient is able to view medication details and request renewals online. View upcoming appointments and request non-urgent appointments online. Receive test results and send non-urgent messages to their provider. The site also links the patient to educational material. Healthcare organizations have created clinical information exchanges and product alliances. Other organizations integrate health care networks absorbing smaller organizations or creating new centers of care specific to meet the patient population within the community. For example, the geographic region of central New York is rural, farm country. The topography is hilly with steep winding roads. Winter is cold with heavy snowfall. Access to emergent or urgent care could mean a fifty mile drive. The Healthcare network offers 9 health centers covering a 1000 mile radius. The health center offers physicians and advanced care providers, family nurse practitioners’ or physicians assistants. The clinics operate 5-6 days per week with varying hours to accommodate the community. In 2008 the rural health centers were accredited as a Patient Centered Medical Home. Today, the primary care model of patient centered medical home includes behavioral health. Our patient profiling of chronic conditions has identified the diagnosis of depression in the top ten percentile. As a new strategy to service this population depression screening is conducted annually and an individualized treatment plan is created to manage the condition. The patient and family are consulted in orchestrating the treatment plan. Referral management processes are implemented to identify appropriate resources and provide community counseling or medication management. However, today as part of a HRSA grant my organization has added social workers and psychotherapists to the internal team at 5 health centers.

Current marketing techniques such as TV commercials detailing new services or products do influence where a patient seeks care. At the same time negative word of mouth describing a bad experience from a patient or family will also influence those seeking care. I think that the new concept of the care navigator is an ideal marketing strategy. The navigator coordinates activities related to the patients course of treatment; the navigator provides health coaching, identifies