Branding Strategy Straw Plan

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Systemic Harmonization and Interoperability Enhancement for Laboratory Data (SHIELD) is a public-private partnership that was assembled with a singular focus on improving the interoperability and utility of in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) test data through the harmonized implementation of semantic data standards that have been appropriately qualified by a sole authoritative source. The following document lays out SHIELD’s branding strategy and initial communications plan.

Target Audiences

Primary

·       Funders

o   Government funders

o   Policymakers (i.e., funding through appropriations such as harmonization CDC funding)

o   Corporate donors

o   Foundations (i.e., Gates, Rockefeller, Clinton)

·       Hospital C Suite

·       Lab Directors/LIS System Execs

·       Physicians

Secondary

·       Media

·       Payers

SHIELD Brand Promise

Describe the same test the same way, every time.

Key Messages

·       SHIELD is a public-private partnership that is solely focused on improving the interoperability of test data – ensuring that the data contained in those tests fits a standard and is described the same way, every time.

·       One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the existence of a ‘tragic data gap” which undermined the U.S. response to the emergency. The challenges of establishing an adequate COVID-19 diagnostic test surveillance system in 2020 have made clear the importance of lab test result data interoperability as a condition of pandemic preparedness.

·       Under the current system, laboratory data are difficult to interpret and aggregate because of differences in the way laboratories and healthcare systems code tests. This can lead to unnecessary spending and suboptimal patient outcomes because patients’ lab results can be different depending on where their tests were performed and what diagnostic methods were used. Harmonizing test results is crucial to ensuring that patient lab results can be compared over time and used to accurately monitor changes in health even if, for instance, the patient switches providers or the provider’s lab changes instruments. Ensuring uniform test results also reduces healthcare costs. The foremost example of this is CDC’s Lipids Standardization Program, which harmonizes cholesterol test results and has generated savings ranging from $338 million to $7.6 billion per year since its inception in the 1980s.

·       HROs messaging[MP1] 

·       SHIELD stands for Systemic Harmonization and Interoperability Enhancement for Laboratory Data and includes membership from the FDA, CDC, and HHS, as well as representatives of major diagnostic companies and hospital systems, and related diagnostic and laboratory associations.
[MP3] 

·       More specific messages for each target audience TK once more details are worked out.

Timeline

September 1               SHIELD Strategic Plan is completed and approved.

Fall 2021                     Press release to announce SHIELD – targeted outreach to reporters with messaging

                                    Buy lists for audiences listed above. Work on specific appeals for each target audience.[MP5] 

                                    Begin outreach to target audiences via email, phone calls[MP6] 

Winter 2022                Create education sessions based on pilot project outcomes/case studies. Send in

Spring 2022                Create webinars to lay out lessons learned from pandemic/results of pilot project

Summer 2022             AACC meeting/see if SHIELD can talk at the exhibitor’s meeting about this project.

Fall 2022                     Assess success of outreach/determine next steps