The Permanente Federation wins Modern Healthcare 2021 Healthcare Marketing Impact Award

#JustTheVaxx live chat and broad social media campaign in support of COVID-19 vaccination efforts receives bronze award

The Permanente Federation, which represents the national interests of more than 23,000 physicians of the 8 Permanente Medical Groups of Kaiser Permanente, was named a 2021 Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards winner by Modern Healthcare, for its #JustTheVaxx (Just the Vaxx) live chat and broader social media campaign encouraging COVID-19 vaccination.

The Modern Healthcare awards recognize health care’s best advertising, marketing, promotion and communication campaigns on and across all media platforms. In the category of social media, the Federation received a 2021 bronze medal for its digital campaign using physician voices to build confidence and combat widespread misinformation about vaccination.

“This honor acknowledges the importance of physician leadership and voices in leveraging technology to deliver critical information to the public during the coronavirus pandemic,” said Stephen Parodi, MD, executive vice president of The Permanente Federation, associate executive director of The Permanente Medical Group in Northern California, and national infectious disease leader for Kaiser Permanente. “This award also highlights our commitment to medical excellence by delivering rapidly developing scientific information to our audiences at the right time and via the right channels.”

The innovative digital campaign had 2 distinct parts. The first part included social media quotes and videos from physicians who shared why they recommend the vaccine to their patients. Quotes from physicians across the 8 geographical areas served by Kaiser Permanente were shared via social media from April to June on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. A related effort included recordings of 30-second clips of Permanente physicians sharing why they got the vaccine, which were submitted for a California Department of Public Health campaign to build vaccine confidence.

The second part of the social media campaign began in May when The Permanente Federation launched its #JustTheVaxx (Just the Vaxx) live chat on Instagram. Alex McDonald, MD, sports medicine physician with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group, hosted the live chats, which featured interviews with physicians practicing Permanente Medicine around the country from a variety of specialties discussing their experiences with vaccine safety, strategies to help patients overcome hesitancy, and first-hand experiences with being vaccinated. Eye-catching original graphics accompanied the campaign on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

The Modern Healthcare awards program identifies and recognizes outstanding health care marketing campaigns that impact the industry, address ever-changing health care challenges, and reinvent how audiences receive and retain health care information.

“It is critical, now more than ever, that physicians are present and serve as an authentic voice for patients and health care professionals, to counter misinformation,” Dr. McDonald said. “Physicians must expand their voices beyond the four walls of the clinic or hospital, share trusted health information and build relationships through the revolutionary power of social media.”

One of the first guests on Dr. McDonald’s #JustTheVaxx social media chat was La Tanya Hines, MD, obstetrician-gynecologist with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. Dr. Hines underscored the important role that physicians can play in providing the public with critical information that affects their health.

“Physicians offer authentic medical voices for quality care in this fast-paced world,” she said. “Using social media is an excellent tool for reaching patients and influencing quality outcomes.”

COVID-19 remained a top target for marketers in 2021 as the delta variant drove new surges across the country and vaccine and mask mandates divided communities, said Modern Healthcare editor Aurora Aguila.

“Advertising and social media campaigns crafted to inform, educate and build trust are among the winners in this year’s Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards,” Aguila said. “Congratulations to all of the winners.”

The complete list of Modern Healthcare award winners has been published online at ImpactWinners and appears in the November 1 issue of Modern Healthcare magazine.

About the Permanente Medical Groups

The Permanente Medical Groups are self-governed, physician-led, prepaid, multispecialty medical groups composed of more than 23,000 physicians. We are dedicated to the mission of improving the health of our patients and communities. Together with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, we are Kaiser Permanente — an award-winning health care system that delivers Permanente Medicine to more than 12.5 million Kaiser Permanente members. We work collaboratively, enabled by state-of-the-art facilities and technology, to provide preventive and world-class complex care in eight states — from Hawaii to Maryland — and the District of Columbia.

About The Permanente Federation

The Permanente Federation LLC is the national leadership and consulting organization for the eight Permanente Medical Groups (PMGs), which, together with the Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, comprise Kaiser Permanente. The Federation works on behalf of the PMGs to optimize care delivery and spread Permanente Medicine — medicine that is person- and family-centered, compassionate, evidence-based, technology-enabled, culturally responsive, team-delivered and physician-led. The Federation, based in Oakland, California, fosters an open learning environment and accelerates research, innovation and performance improvements across the PMGs to expand the reach of Kaiser Permanente’s integrated care delivery model and to lead the nation in transforming health care.