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I know the pain of losing a loved one to opioid addiction. My family continues to grieve the loss of an incredible young man who, after an awful car accident, began a decade-long battle against addiction to his prescribed painkillers. Three years ago, he lost that battle.
Countless other families have experienced similar losses due to our nationwide opioid crisis. According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), more than 130 people die from opioid overdoses every day. It’s a devastating epidemic that impacts people of any age and from all walks of life.
To help combat opioid addiction, PatientPoint® collaborated with Shatterproof – a nonprofit organization focused on ending the stigma of addiction and improving addiction treatment – to create a powerful opioid education program at the point of care. It launched nationwide in October 2017 across the digital PatientPoint engagement platform, reaching an estimated 15 million patients and caregivers each month in waiting rooms, exam rooms, and in the physician back office. The content is designed to increase the awareness of opioid addiction and encourage doctor-patient discussions about other treatment options.
And the best news is, it is working and we are making a difference. An independent analysis by Symphony Health revealed that each of the 20,793 physicians who had the education program in their practices distributed 142 fewer opioid prescriptions over the eight-month study period than closely matched, non-participating physicians. That adds up to nearly 3 million fewer pills prescribed. If that doesn’t prove the effectiveness of messaging to physicians and patients at the point of care, I don’t know what will.
I often talk about the power of messaging at the point of care, but the results of PatientPoint-Shatterproof campaign really drive it home. I encourage you to read the case study for more details about this fantastic campaign and its impact on the fight against opioid addiction. You can find here.
The Tylt is the fastest growing social polling and opinion 
For healthcare campaigns, the process begins with locating the right patient and encouraging them to share their opinion on a personally meaningful health topic. Patient advocacy becomes democratized when declared sentiments, informed by supporting evidence, are shared socially. By bringing structure to health conversations as they trend across social, patient insights can be identified and addressed in the next wave of interactive content, positioning the brand as a partner in the journey to better health.
In “The Ups and Downs Campaign,” upon entering the elevator and pressing the button to her floor, all of the button lights begin to flicker rapidly. The elevator plummets down, with the doors then opening to show her crying on the edge of her bed, before surging back up high, where the doors open on a scene of her arguing with a man. The elevator screen then shows the arrows pointing in both directions, as the doors open to reveal her clothes shopping in a panicked state. After taking VRAYLAR, the elevator ride steadies before stopping in her current life moment where she cleans up the mess in her bedroom, and then takes a smooth elevator ride to meet her date in the lobby.
Three new member companies have joined the Point of Care Communication Council (PoC3), as announced this month: CoverWrap Communications, Rx EDGE Media Network, and Targeted Media Health (a division of Meredith Corporation). In addition to “[helping] influence and amplify the future of POC marketing. In the near term, they plan to immerse into the PoC3 Verification & Validation Guidance effort and the establishment of measurement best practices.”
The custom campaign, In These Rooms, launched this month to help transform the point of care space to a more empathetic “moments of care” image. Created by Outcome Health, a 
To provide a well-rounded representation of potential patient and caregiver experiences with their healthcare professionals, the creative includes: “a waiting room, a pediatrician visit for an asthma check-up, an OB-GYN ultrasound room to hear a baby’s first heartbeat, a standard exam room for a long-overdue physical, and a doctor’s office to learn about treatment results.”