American College of Rheumatology

In medicine, time is of the essence. And so is proper treatment. But when patients experience rheumatic symptoms, they often turn to primary care physicians who don’t recognize the symptoms for what they are. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) began to recognize that the challenge of connecting trained rheumatologists and the patients who need them was, in part, a PR problem with serious medical consequences.

Porter Novelli partnered with ACR to develop a multi-phased, multi-faceted campaign focused on advocacy, education and driving physician engagement. We developed new channels of communication to boost dialog and cooperation between health professionals. Likewise, fostering key discussions and key messages, in multiple media, was vital to both education and raising awareness—from scientifically robust, evidence-based white papers to videos showing the impact of rheumatic diseases. Conferences also provided opportunities to equip professional audiences with facts and resources about the signs and symptoms of rheumatic disease. Lastly, we mobilized coalitions of like-minded health advocacy groups, as well as rheumatologists and patient advocates.