PatientPoint uses point-of-care network to raise money for causes

MELBOURNE: Point-of-care marketing platform PatientPoint is taking up supporting various worthy causes.

The company created a short PSA to raise money for Australia wildfire relief. The PSA is currently running on the firm’s network of waiting room screens in doctor’s offices. It urges viewers to donate to the Red Cross and wildlife rescue organization WIRES.

“What we do at PatientPoint, from a content strategy perspective, is create positive patient experiences,” said Kate Merz, EVP of content and creative at PatientPoint. “In the case of events like this, it’s a chance to educate people on what could be news about a devastating event and provide the opportunity for patients to do something. If they act on it, and do good, they feel good, which ladders up to that positive patient experience.”

The Australia PSA is running in waiting rooms across all of PatientPoint’s eight specialties, which includes about 10,000 doctor’s offices and could reach up to 250 million patients, Merz said.

PatientPoint typically takes a cue for its PSAs from the Red Cross, she explained, and most often chooses U.S. events. But the Australian fires had such a global impact that the team “felt we couldn’t ignore it,” Merz said.

The bushfires in Australia have burned more than 24 million acres of land, endangered more than a billion animals and killed about 30 people. The fires began burning in December after months of record heat and severe drought.

PatientPoint is also working on a spot to encourage donations to Puerto Rico after the earthquake earlier this month, the company said. In recent years, PatientPoint has also run PSAs for other natural disasters like Hurricanes Harvey and Florence and the 2018 California wildfires.

“We’re not in the business of doing what the Red Cross does, but this is the little piece we can do to contribute,” Merz said.