Dr. Arterbery's program is funded through foundation grants. It's also a different way to use public relations. You get patients from the effort. That's slowly changing as business practices get more competitive. The payoff is a prominent public image and publicity for a practice.
Patients perceive a physician who appears in the news as an expert.
For some, PR is a defensive tactic against a competing specialist who is getting a lot of press. Joel Wilentz, MD, never imagined he would hire a PR firm. We had to fight fire with fire. Dr. Wilentz hired Boardroom Communications of Fort Lauderdale, received media coverage, then noticed patients from a wider geographic area making appointments. Suddenly, there was a need to fill air time with health news.