Carousel Digital Signage Elevates Healthcare Communications Strategy For ARcare

A growing US primary care provider serving rural communities in four states has amplified its 'health for all' message through the power of digital signage.

Fuelled by Carousel Cloud software, ARcare has extended its patient outreach strategy into the lobbies of 87 of its more than 100 healthcare facilities across Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, with the rest to roll out over the coming months. The vast reach of the Carousel Cloud network makes digital signage the pulse of its healthcare communications strategy, which brings pertinent information directly to patients in largely rural communities.

That strategy is enriched through the professional branding and design work of Think Idea Studio, which creates the marketing content that Carousel Cloud pushes to each location. That content includes a dynamic mix of long and short-form video, graphics and text that plays out over 14 Carousel channels – one for each geographical region where ARcare has a healthcare presence. The network utilises Apple TV devices as media players at all 88 endpoints.

"There are a number of healthcare directives that can dramatically impact the quality of patient care, and Carousel Cloud provides an effective way to visually communicate need-to-know information," said Justin Johnson, Principal for Think Idea Studio and ARcare’s lead marketing strategist. "This is made more critical given ARcare's status as a federally qualified health center (FQHC), which requires that we follow very strict guidelines for federally funded initiatives. Digital signage helps us clearly follow those guidelines and communicate the initiatives to our patients, and Carousel Cloud’s ease of use brings it all together."

ARcare's FQHC status is critical for quality healthcare across America's rural communities by assuring that all residents can receive the care they need with or without insurance. FQHC status means that Johnson and his team are creating content for grant-funded initiatives such as cancer awareness, as well as content specific to ARcare services. That includes medical services inside the facility as well as external services, such as retail pharmacies, transportation to appointments, and a home-delivery pharmacy that ships medication directly to patients' homes.

Jamie Mobley, Chief Experience Officer for ARcare, said that Carousel Cloud's scalability made it simple to extend their messaging across their entire healthcare network within months. "We started small by testing Carousel Cloud on two screens in our administrative building, and then we scaled it out from there. It really accelerated over the past six months, and they went live in most of our locations as of this summer," said Mobley, who adds that additional facilities will open in Arkansas and Mississippi by the end of the year.

Mobley adds that ARcare previously used digital signage in select facilities through an agreement with a nonprofit organisation, but were limited in how they could use the system. The shift to Carousel Cloud has removed those limitations, which includes the use of Apple TV devices as media players at all network endpoints. "We chose Apple TV players based on value and ease of use, and the integration of a special Carousel app that works with the native operating system," said Johnson.

"What we really like about Carousel Cloud is that we can now create and control all of our own content on our Carousel network," Mobley said. "It gives us a far more effective way to provide healthcare information and educate our patients on both our services and the basics of quality healthcare. We can also bring very engaging content to our patients now, which includes interviews with different providers that dive deep into topics such as diabetes. Moving forward, we hope to bring in local content from public schools and other organizations that serve our rural communities alongside ARcare."

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