Utilizing Mixed Digital Platforms to Communicate Cdc's HIV Screening Recommendations: Primary Care Provider (PCP) Outreach

Background:  In 2010, CDC launched the social marketing campaign, HIV Screening. Standard Care. ^TM(HSSC) that helps primary care providers   (PCPs) shift from risk-based testing to implement CDC’s HIV screening recommendations, screening as the routine for all patients (opt-out).  HSSC campaign resources are promoted through multiple channels to reach PCPs, with emphasis on peer-to-peer continuing medical education programs (CME) , medical conference exhibits, and paid advertising in peer-reviewed medical journals.  With the growth of the internet and digital technologies to reach PCP networks, outreach for HSSC has expanded to include digital media. The purpose of this abstract is to discuss the outcomes and lessons learned from digital promotion to PCPs.

Program background:  Market research shows that providers frequently use web and digital media for medical information and education. Thus, the HSSC campaign team developed a more robust media presence using digital platforms such as Google Paid Search (text ads generated from search terms), Reach MD Sirius XM radio (public service announcement [PSA]), podcasts (PSA), Twitter (tweets with campaign link), and Medscape (digital medical education) to promote campaign messages and resources.

Evaluation Methods and Results:  Over a 2-month period, the HSSC Medscape CME trained 1,200 providers. The online CME yielded a 10% CME completion rate with approximately 12,000 providers logging on to view the program. For similar CMEs, Medscape typically generates 17,000 views in a 12-month period. As a result of a CDC partnership, campaign messages were promoted through ReachMD on Sirius XM Radio, generating 5.4 million impressions over a three-month period, as well as a CDC Medscape Expert Commentary online video, generating 5,380 views in one month. The campaign also optimized online search results through Google text ads, creating an estimated 1.6 million impressions. Between October and November 2012, 14 tweets about the campaign generated over 52,000 impressions. During November and December 2012, the podcast, “Changes in US HIV Treatment Guidelines” generated 432 transcript and audio downloads.

Conclusions:  There were lessons learned: 1) incorporating a mix of digital media can supplement distribution of print materials; 2) clearly promoting the campaign brand in messaging is critical to demonstrating the success of digital outreach; 3) in providing training, online CMEs have a broad national reach and can generate thousands of CME completions in a short time period; and 4) transcripts support some media (such as podcasts). PCPs may be too busy to listen, but are more likely to download and read over the transcript.

Implications for research and/or practice:  Recommendations include: 1) leverage existing partnerships’ digital media channels to increase exposure and  earned media; 2) conduct research to determine appropriate digital media platforms to reach the target; and 3) have an understanding of the digital medium’s message format to ensure messages are tailored to fit specifications (e.g. word/character limit) but still promote the campaign.