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Insight Article, Internet Strategy, Social Networking, User Research
Improving the Health of the Healthcare Web July 12th, 2010
No Comments Healthcare organizations today face many challenges on both the mission and margin side of the house. While grappling with the implications of the new healthcare legislation, many healthcare providers are trying to understand “meaningful-use” directives regarding Electronic Health Records (EHR) while simultaneously seeking systems that will streamline hospital-physician interactions and promote physician alignment and loyalty. Of course, ever-present are the demands for increasing customer acquisition and revenue generation, along with driving reductions in operating expenses, while providing enhanced levels of service to patients, families, and all levels of caregivers.
While many of the early visions of a fully digital healthcare economy are still to be realized, some health organizations are finding success in pursuing a small set of focused, tactical objectives rather than attempting more comprehensive and ambitious strategies sometimes characterized as “boil the ocean” approaches. The best results seem to follow when new Web-based applications / functionality are deployed carefully and incrementally in phases that are closely tied to the individual organization’s ability to metabolize such change. This approach will certainly leave some important aspirations pushed out till much later on the timeline. However, it does streamline the crucial process of internal socialization necessary for adequate funding and broad-based institutional acceptance.
There are three Web tactics we see driving significant ROI for healthcare organizations. The first is focusing on demand-generation, or using the Web platform as a customer acquisition tool. The second tactic is focusing on patient retention through access to quality information and self-service convenience tools. And the third tactic focuses on using the Web as a platform to promote physician alignment and loyalty. If the appetite and urgency is sufficiently high, some healthcare organizations will move forward simultaneously with aspects of all three tactics.
Demand-generation is perhaps the most obvious role for the healthcare Web, but it also the most frequently misunderstood. The most crucial step in any online marketing initiative is to understand the metrics by which success will be measured. In demand-generation, the key measurement should not be hits or page views, but rather the rate at which site visitors are driven through a lead-generation flow and converted to contacts or prospects. Another crucial indicator of user engagement and a precondition for conversion is the frequency of times that the visitor returns to the provider site or shares it with others through email, social networks, etc. The conversion is not compete till that visitor has provided contact information, registered to receive outbound communications, or made an appointment for service. The more compelling and efficient the lead-generation flow, the higher the percentage of visitors who convert to prospective patients. So the obvious question is what will drive users most efficiently and effectively through the healthcare lead funnel?
In our research around patient behavior online, we see a significant majority of prospective patients for healthcare services begin their search, not by looking for a provider such as a hospital or a clinic; rather they begin with condition-based research. This fact has prompted many healthcare providers to offer original or syndicated content organized by condition or disease. It has also prompted many of the leading providers to rethink the way they structure their site, converting more to a user-centric model and away from the organizational-centric model. Only after prospective patients are comfortable with the provider’s qualifications in regard to a condition/disease will they initiate contact with the provider. The implications for hospitals and other providers to now create and managing vast repositories of frequently-changing content are significant from both the technology and staffing perspective and must be incorporated in overall governance planning.
Patient retention frequently has more to do with physician relationships and treatment outcomes than the Web, per se, but increasingly research shows that online self-services can be an important competitive differentiator among alternative service providers. The Web can be an important vehicle for improving patient service through convenient access to patient education information and the self-service tools that cement patient loyalty. Many times the needs of patients are simple, obvious, and frequently overlooked (or buried) on the Web site. Patients ask for help in getting directions, finding parking, making or confirming an appointment, continuing their education, connecting with a support group, etc. Structuring Web platforms to prioritize access to such information not only increases the perceived level of control that patients want, it also reduces the need for expensive call-center support. A second tier of patient support includes making available through the Web various business applications for more sophisticated customer relationship management including, access to electronic health records, direct access to physicians and other clinical staff, business account, pharmacy, etc.
Physicians remain the keystone of the healthcare system and providers are increasingly focused on physician relationship management to increase physician loyalty and the patient volumes they drive. To date, approaches to physician alignment initiatives have focused on two discrete areas. The first is comprised of a series of applications that streamline physician-hospital interactions such as access clinical systems for lab, pharmacy, radiology, etc. The second is a set of tools that focus on practice management. In many cases, the physicians are reluctant to embrace Web-based tools either from a general discomfort with interactive technologies, or because they fear such tools will not immediately deliver the promised improvements in productivity or time-savings. A crucial part of winning the physician audience depends on first enabling the practice’s office manager and administrative staff with the training to provide proactive physician support. In the physician sphere, slow, thoughtful, change supported by robust training and administrative support can gradually improve the efficiency and profitability of small or large practices, gradually turning protestors into promoters.
For more information, check out our SlideShare presentation:
At NavigationArts, we have had the privilege to work with a diverse set of healthcare clients. Please contact us if you would like further information about our specialized healthcare sector service offerings.
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