Health care access expands in underserved U.S. communities

Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico and 14,000 other health care sites across the U.S.

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration engaged FHI 360 experts from 2009 to 2011 to rebrand and promote its National Health Service Corps (NHSC), a federal program that places primary care clinicians in underserved U.S. urban and rural communities. The goal was to raise the profile of the NHSC and recruit additional members, thereby bringing health care to those who need it most. Using an evidence-based approach, we redesigned the website (http://nhsc.hrsa.gov), logo and all program materials, and more prominently featured NHSC members — doctors, nurses, dentists and physician assistants — and their reasons for participating in the program. We also conducted targeted outreach to prospective applicants through social media, paid search and online advertising. One month after the two-year project ended in October 2011, NHSC membership was reported to exceed 10,000, a 150 percent increase from when we began.