Social marketing to support adoption, evaluation, and continuous improvement of health information technologies in clinical care

Health information technologies (HITs) have considerable potential to enhance patient-centered health care and support health care delivery research, but this potential is often unmet in clinical settings. We discuss ways in which HITs can be made more patient-centered, improve healthcare, and support ongoing programs of health care delivery research through the techniques of social marketing. We describe the social marketing model and suggest its applicability in embedding use of HIT in clinical settings and health care systems through an iterative, research-driven process. We conclude by summarizing research priorities following from the stages of the social marketing process.