Over the last month, URAC’s Marketing Department has been engaged in a campaign to alter the narrative around Telehealth Accreditation. To date, there are no outside forces, no health plans, no regulations, no scary monsters under the bed, that would require or mandate URAC’s Telehealth Accreditation.

So where does that leave us? After making more than 500 phone calls during our Telehealth sales campaign in June, we knew we needed a fresh approach. Behold, the power of messaging. On September 4 the Marketing team kicked off a paid advertising campaign with the news outlet POLITICO.

POLITICO, a news organization that covers U.S. policy and politics, has a strong federal employee readership, including institutions such as CMS, HHS, FDA, CDC, etc. In other words, the folks who read POLITICO and ultimately see URAC’s messages, are a prime target for influencing the discourse about telehealth regulation and oversight. We want these individuals to understand and appreciate the value of URAC’s Telehealth Accreditation.

As part of our advertising buy, URAC’s messaging has been featured daily in POLITICO’s Morning eHealth digital newsletter, as well as on the Politico website with links to a unique landing page we created for the campaign.

Here’s what we said in our shorter message:

** A message from URAC: Telemedicine is growing. How do patients and regulators know that the services are safe? Or that patient information is protected? Leading healthcare accreditor URAC developed Telehealth Accreditation standards that advance healthcare quality and protect consumers, while reducing regulatory burden. In an evolving telehealth industry, national standards are critical. Learn more. **

And here’s what we said in our longer message:

** A message from URAC: Telehealth is exploding - permeating nearly every healthcare setting, with different telehealth models and new partnerships forming every day. When it comes to quality care and patient protection, it's like the Wild West. As a leading healthcare accreditor, URAC understands how accreditation ensures that national standards for quality, accountability, consumer protection and more, are met.

URAC's telehealth accreditation - the first and only independent, third-party national program - was developed in consultation with leading experts in the telehealth industry, including representatives from healthcare providers, technology firms, consumer organizations, insurers, and academics. Industry best practices were identified in areas such as quality and coordination of care, access, safety, systems integrity and reliability, consumer protection and empowerment, and more.

Increased regulation can stifle innovation and create barriers to entry. Accreditation defines the standards of excellence, while allowing an evolving industry to innovate, ensuring patient safety and quality care. Learn more. **

These paid efforts have been coupled with earned media outreach to The New York Times and mHealthIntelligence, a respected trade publication that covers trends in mobile and digital health. Both the Times and mHealthIntelligence have responded to our pitches (thank you to Deborah Smith for lending her expertise).