Health Industry Communication

Health Industry Communication: New Media, New Methods, New Message, Second Edition, is a one-of-a-kind text that fills a critical gap in the literature for communications students as well as students of health administration and public health.

With contributions from leading practitioners in every industry sector, this text is a robust look at the full spectrum of healthcare communications. The chapters offer a 360-degree view of the world of health communication from a business and marketing outlook as well as a look at special topics that impact health communicators. Four sections cover over 20 topics--contributed by authors from both private and public health organizations--in institutional communication and marketing; consumer communication and social marketing; communication to achieve policy change; and media and measurement. Some of the unique topics include brand development in pediatric healthcare, contributed by an author from a well-known children's hospital; using paid and shared media in communication campaigns; and a look at efforts to achieve federal policy change through advocacy and communication. The second edition provides six new chapters in the following topics:

-Ethics in health communications, including an overview of ethical principles and guidelines as well as recent case examples;

-Health literacy and risk communications, including components of health literacy, recent efforts to advance health literature, principles of risk communications, and recent case examples;

-Using paid and shared media in health communications, including practical counsel on how to optimize reach and engagement with target audiences;

-Creating a national healthcare brand for Ascension, a healthcare system comprised of 131 local hospitals and more than 1,900 sites of care, including hundreds of physician practices.

-Developing a national bone health campaign to sustain healthy behaviors among girls, including audience-centered research, strategic partnerships, and process and outcomes measures.

-Developing a campaign to implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which describes a case example of an enrollment campaign to ensure the success of the new health insurance exchange in Washington, DC.