HIT advertising section in Friday’s Washington Post

There’s a special advertising pull-out section on healthcare IT running in Friday’s print edition of the Washington Post. How do I know this? Because I wrote the majority of it. I also helped with the questions posed to the “panel of experts.”

Normally I would not get involved in marketing communications, but I had pretty good editorial control over the message. I was instructed to interview representatives of the advertisers, whose quotes were to appear on the same page as their ads—normally a red flag for me—but I could add any additional information or interviews that I saw necessary. Furthermore, the advertisers did not have authority to review the copy prior to publication, so I was satisfied with the arrangements. I only had to answer to the publisher, Mediaplanet, a Swedish marketing firm with U.S. headquarters in New York. So overall, I was comfortable with the arrangements. Plus, it gets me in the Washington Post, even if it was through the back door.

For what it’s worth, you’ll note that the EMR story features a company that does not have CCHIT certification for its product. I’ll also admit that I didn’t address the security issues related to health IT.

Click here for a PDF of the section (1.2 MB). I understand it will not be available at WashingtonPost.com.