Why Communications Is Not a “Nice to Have” for FQHCs

Описание: With the number of priorities facing FQHC leaders, communications can sometimes feel like an afterthought.

Care comes first.

Operations come first.

Patients come first.

And yet, the way an organization communicates shapes what patients experience long before they arrive.

In this conversation, Brittany Zachary, Marketing and Communications Officer at Jordan Valley Health, talks about what it took to help a clinically led organization see communications differently. Not as a brand exercise, but as an operational responsibility tied directly to access, trust, and patient behavior.

She shares how small decisions around language, design, and first impressions either remove barriers or quietly create them.

How misalignment inside the organization shows up outside of it.

And why accessibility, consistency, and follow-through are not cosmetic details, but signals patients respond to.

This is not a conversation about rebranding for the sake of looking better.

It is about using communications to make it easier for people to understand what care is available and to feel confident seeking it. And to return.

For FQHC leaders navigating change, funding uncertainty, and growing demand, this conversation reframes communications as part of care delivery rather than something separate from it.