“I absolutely love working with Maryellen Lazzaro. She is extremely creative and understands intuitively what needs to be done visually to make a great ad or brochure. There are times when I’m not 100% sure what I want from a design point of view and Maryellen is willing to brainstorm ideas with me. Best thing about Maryellen is that she really over-delivers in terms of client service and responsiveness. She is also very personable and it is a pleasure to work with her.”
—Patricia Philippe
Independent Marketing Consultant and Writing Workshop Facilitator and former Assistant Director, Marketing, Mount Sinai Health System
The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorized the federal government to spend billions of dollars to incentivize the widespread adoption of the electronic health record (EHR). Funds are available to healthcare providers who meet certain “Meaningful Use” objectives.
“Meaningful Use” is a list of specific objectives that have been rolled out over the years that allow a provider to prove that they are using the EHR to improve quality, safety and efficiency, and reduce health disparities; to engage patients and family; and to improve care coordination, and population and public health. Without going into more detail than space allows here, it is fair to say that healthcare providers are increasingly finding that many of these objectives are nearly impossible to achieve without a patient portal.
A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient 24-hour access to personal health information (for instance, recent doctor visits, allergies, immunizations, lab results), sometimes along with other access (such as the ability to email providers, request prescription refills or schedule appointments, or fill out forms ahead of visits). With patient portal implementation, a healthcare organization or practice can enhance patient-provider communication, empower patients, support care between visits and improve outcomes.
But a patient portal is only as good as the number of patients who sign up for it and use it (and Meaningful Use criteria looks at the enrollment percentages). We are now helping clients market their patient portals in carefully considered ways by highlighting the benefits to patients through promotional materials, posters, direct mail campaigns, infographics and stories in newsletters (the latter two, shown here), among other marketing efforts.
> If you need help marketing your patient portal, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.
“Lazzaro Designs were our marketing consultants at The Silvercrest Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation. When I was there, they helped us create Aster Award-winning newsletters and patient education brochure campaigns (we won three Gold Aster Awards for Hospital Marketing). They also developed print ads that really set us apart from other healthcare organizations. Maryellen is both very creative and results-oriented. Additionally, she worked collaboratively with our staff in a very respectful way. I highly recommend her to anyone who would like a fresh spin on their marketing/branding efforts and want to work with a forward-thinking inclusive team.”
–Lloyd Torres
Director, Ambulatory HIM at North Shore-LIJ Health System
Nonprofit communicators are often designing and writing for an audience about tricky subjects. Whether the topic is homelessness, mental illness, or death and dying, the task remains the same as with all communication pieces: Engage the reader, be respectful, convey the important messages.
Lazzaro Designs created a brochure outlining the broad array of cancer supportive services the Continuum Cancer Centers provided patients and their families. Using soft colors and sensitive stock photography and illustrations, the design is beautiful, warm and soothing without being maudlin. The writing is crafted as a dialogue between a patient and the third-person expert—similar to a Q&A, but more conversational. Giving voice to typical patient concerns (“Cancer has upset the way I see myself in the world. Can my faith be restored?” or “I hate to complain, but I feel awful! How can I find relief?”), the brochure provides answers, strategies and services to a reader under incredible duress. The brochure also featured a pocket that contained an insert listing various contact information for specific services. The insert was able to be easily updated without redoing the entire brochure.
The client was thrilled. He reported that, “This brochure will be well received and is an important piece of communication, produced in a way that is respectful and useful.”
> If you need to speak to a special audience, give Lazzaro Designs a call or shoot us an email.
