National Jewish Health
Educating GPs about Diseases that Mask Themselves as Asthma.
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Educating GPs about Diseases that Mask Themselves as Asthma.
National Jewish Health is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to groundbreaking medical research and treatment of patients with respiratory, cardiac, immune, and related disorders.
Over several years, the pulmonologists at the hospital were seeing a large percentage of patients entering the hospital who had been misdiagnosed with asthma through their Internal Medicine physicians. These patients’ diseases ranged from sinusitis, myocardial ischemia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and bronchiectasis, among others. Most of these patients had been treated with Albuterol instead of the occupational therapy and pharmacological treatment that was critical to their health.
Avocet worked with the pulmonologists at the hospital on a program to educate physicians about diseases that mask themselves as asthma, to drive referrals to the hospital thus mitigating misdiagnosis and creating better quality of life for patients.
Avocet started from Day One by being curious and asking questions. Was there a common misdiagnosis? Was there a demographic that was misdiagnosed more often? Was there a type of physician that misdiagnosed more often? Our questions meant that we also had to listen.
Through our meetings with the specialists, a deep dive into the hospital key patient datapoints, and additional research we obtained through the CDC, we determined that:
Avocet’s research and analytics team took this baseline data and mapped out geographies that included income, levels of air quality, public transportation, ethnic diversity, and general practitioners within the top 25 U.S. markets fitting the criteria.
Based on this primary and secondary research, Avocet started the strategic development process. Our goals were to:
We needed to appeal to physicians and stroke their egos. We needed to educate, not dictate. We needed to motivate, and we knew that a softer approach would be more compelling. We also uncovered that these physicians love art. We played to that personal emotion with the overall look and feel of the piece.
Avocet’s creative theme ideated and developed “Grand Rounds” as the theme. Grand Rounds are formal meetings at which physicians discuss the clinical case of one or more patients and are an integral component of medical education.
Grand Rounds brought forth in-depth patient stories (abiding by all HIPAA regulations) outlining the patient history, examination details, diagnosis, and care details.
The primary delivery mechanism was a magazine-type direct mail program that was sent monthly and backed up with email, database acquisition, thought leadership, and supporting collateral components.
The strategic storytelling Avocet deployed was scientific and compelling. It brought forth how seemingly asthma would be a natural diagnosis, and how obtaining a correct diagnosis was difficult. Pulmonologists speaking at key industry trade shows brought forth Grand Rounds stories through expert positioning.
Graphically, Avocet utilized medical illustrators to create beautiful, yet technical illustrations that were used on each cover and later turned into a poster series.
Overall referrals increased after the first direct mail piece by 3% and ultimately grew to 22%. The pulmonologists at National Jewish brought Grand Rounds to the speaker circuit attending several trade shows. Mutual respect was also achieved, a key point to on-going referrals.
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