2009 Best In Class Awards Case Studies

We have been using our Health Content throughout our marketing efforts, on our web site as “sticky” info to keep visitors more engaged for longer times, and, in our eNewsletters and social media sites, to promote services and drive traffic. For the period of 2009-1q 2010, we had almost 70,000 Unique Visitors to our Staywell content, with Average Time on Site of 2:08. We receive feedback through our eNews sign-up with many notes of thanks like the following: “Thank you for offering this. It is really a nice thing for you to do.”

In 2009, we needed some new content for our Heart blog. Publishing news from sources all over the world was good to have, but we wanted an expert's take on heart health questions everyone has. Enter Dr. Maciej Malinski. He is on staff at Sherman Hospital, and for the past year he has faithfully answered readers' questions about working toward and maintaining a healthy heart. The blog series, entitled Ask the Cardiologist, has covered topics from diet and exercise to more complicated subjects such as periodontal disease, atheroma, and patent foramen ovale (PFO). The first two links are blog posts we published with Dr. Malinski's advice. The final link details an eblast sent in late October of 2009 that contained some Ask the Cardiologist articles. Readers are encouraged in the articles to submit questions that they need answered. Whenever they do, Dr. Malinski is ready to respond!

Providing visitors with health content relevant to their needs was a goal of the information library system developed at The Nebraska Medical Center. This system allows staff to categorize all health content so when a visitor visits a page, relevant content from other areas of the site appears. This ensures that a visitor gains access to the depth of information available on the site - without distracting them with content that is not relevant to their situation. The related content now available includes:

• Clinic services and programs
• YouTube videos
• Greystone/StayWell Health Library articles
• Press release information
• Health News
• 3D Atlas videos

The information library is also designed to expand as new content areas are developed. This allows staff to explore new content channels and ensure visitors gain access to relevant content from these channels, regardless of where they enter the site.

The online Heart Risk Assessment campaign ran during February (Heart Month) 2010. It utilized search advertising and social media as well as supplementary promotions to encourage prospective patients to take a short assessment to determine their potential risk of heart disease. The overall goal of this campaign was to direct volume to the Heart Risk Assessment tool located on UAB’s Heart Answers Web site, collect e-mail addresses of prospects, and encourage them to opt in for continued communication from UAB. The campaign successfully drove a qualified audience to the assessment which was evidenced by both the participant results and the rate of conversions. 20% of participants scored high risk on the assessment and 79% scored moderate risk. There was a 13% completion rate and 6.5% sign-up (opt in) rate on the Heart Answers website. This campaign should be chosen as Best in Class for this award because it utilized a variety of promotional tools, which ultimately allowed the campaign to exceed Greystone’s benchmark for online campaign sign-up rate of 5%. Results from this inexpensive, targeted campaign also surpassed those of last year’s more expensive Heart Answers campaign.

All of our new Service Line pages have been revamped so that the clinical care components that a patient might be searching for are available on a single page. This includes an overview of the service, the associated physicians, clinical trials related to the service, and any available health content from our StayWell library. Now, rather than having to visit separate sections of our Web site to obtain these different types of content, visitors can browse in one location keeping them focused on the service area they are interested in. Giving patients easier access to the information they are looking for improves our customer service and has begun to result in more appointment conversions related to our Web site. Our site should be chosen because we are truly integrating our content rather than just adding more and more with little to show for it. Using our health content to drive the connectivity is giving our visitors a much improved experience.

The 2010 “A Taste of Pinellas” had an “A” list of musical artists scheduled to perform at our festival. We used Twitter and Facebook to release this information, engage our target audience, and drive people to our festival website. Using ads on Facebook, we targeted specific music lovers within our geographic area to let them know when each band would perform. This proved to be effective not only for the festival, but also for growing our Facebook fan base. We ran a “Guess the Artist” trivia contest on both Facebook and Twitter, where the first person to guess the artist won a pair of tickets to that show. We also ran a “Meet the Artist” contest where users entered to meet the artists backstage, and more than doubled our entries from 329 last year to 750 this year. This year we saw an increase of 29% Unique Views and a 27% increase in over-all Pageviews on our website, compared to last year. For any one contest, it was not unusual to have over 50 people interacting with us via Facebook. This year’s Taste of Pinellas raised over $300,000 for All Children’s Hospital.

In January 2010, Sharp HealthCare launched its patient portal, mySharp, to all patients in the Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group. In preparation for the launch, the team worked with design firm GS Design to create a short video tour and landing page (www.sharp.com/mysharp). To drive traffic to the page, a prominent section of Sharp.com’s home page was dedicated to promoting mySharp and included a promo among the rotating promos at the bottom of the home page. Additionally, the marketing team mailed letters to patients encouraging them to visit mySharp. Cardboard displays were created to place in medical clinics, and included promotional cards describing the benefits of mySharp and the landing page URL. MySharp was also promoted through social media networks Facebook and Twitter, and in email newsletters sent to subscribers. In February, there were 20,000 visits to the mySharp video landing page. Approximately 25 percent of the visits converted to visits to the sign-up page. Following the launch of mySharp, visits to the video landing page leveled out as expected. Overall, between February and July, the page has drawn an average of 17,000 visitors per month with an average of 11 percent of visits converting to visits to the sign-up page.

Sherman Health used a campaign that stretched across numerous media vehicles in order to drive traffic to the Sherman Health mobile Web site. The campaign used a combination of print, outdoor, bus advertising, e-mail marketing, online advertising, and social media to drive traffic to the site. From 8/01/09 - 4/25/10 the mobile visits were just above 6,200. Since April 26th, 2010 (the mobile site's launch day) it has received over 6,500 visitors. So in less than 4 months the mobile site has witnessed more traffic than the previous 9 months. This huge increase in traffic can be attributed to the extensive campaign surrounding the launch of the mobile site. *Note: The Sherman Health mobile Web site can only be reached through a mobile device. Typing “m.shermanhealth.com” into a computer’s browser will redirect you to the main Sherman Health Web site.

UAB Health System launched a new Women & Infants micro-site in Fall 2009 bringing together information about its women’s services and new Women & Infants Center that opened in February 2010. A campaign titled “What Makes a Woman Click” was launched internally to UAB employees prior to the public launch in order to inform, create a sense excitement, gather useful information, and build the data base. Media used was a post card, posters and other communication avenues. Employees were asked to go on line, browse around the site and take a short survey to let us know if it really captures “what makes a woman click.” A T-shirt was offered as a premium to the first 100 who went online and completed the survey. A total of 1,244 people took the survey, of which 97% were female and 92% were employees, the target audience. In one day alone, the day most of the postcards were delivered, there were 817 visits to the site, 3,315 page views and 4.06 pages/visit. A different external launch campaign occurred about 15 days after the internal launch; during the 30-day period following the internal launch there were 4,530 visits, 15,982 page views and 3.53 pages/visit.

Over the last year, Emory Healthcare's intranet has been completely overhauled with both aesthetic and organizational changes. Previously, information was difficult to find, laid out in a unintuitive fashion, and the site completely lacked any search functionality. Now, the presentation of information has been streamlined via an intuitive top navigation menu and clear organization of content by department, division and type. If an employee cannot immediately navigate to desired content from the homepage, there now is robust search functionality in place. Additionally, where previously the intranet lacked a good way to present newsworthy items & calls to action, the new design now allows employees to be easily updated via prominent call-outs. Previously siloed information now also incorporates a strong internal linking strategy to guide employees to any/all information they may need. In order to ensure continued development & improvement of the intranet as an employee resource, organization wide goals have been established that include the implementation of analytics to ensure continual updates are being made based off of user data and feedback. As a result, the Emory Healthcare intranet has become a very useful tool & resource for all items used by employees on a daily basis (testimonials available).

The biggest complaint from employees was “Where is the information?” Our strategy for redesigning was to create easy paths for employees to find job-specific information and key communications (i.e, EHR and move to a new hospital building). We created a dashboard for the home page with four main sections:

1. News separated by type;
2. A rotating promotional banner to highlight key initiatives/upcoming events;
3. A calendar;
4. Links to local traffic, weather and news.

We created two e-newsletters to attract employees back to the intranet: a weekly recap of headlines by type and a biweekly e-newsletter with talking points divided into three urgency categories to help staff understand key communication messages. We started "Who Am I" pages with particular staff in mind: managers, physicians, nurses, clinical, ancillary and business support. Each user page has a different dashboard menu with shortcuts based the most visited links, pages or departments by those groups. Also we created two menu items on the main navigation accessible from every subpage “Clinical Applications” and “Business Applications” with links to the popular applications and software. This has successfully reduced the number of clicks for users to find their key applications.

The new Silver Cross Hospital intranet design was based on feedback we received from the Employee Engagement Committee. Our design now reflects the high-quality look and feel of our new Silver Cross Hospital branding initiative which features our refreshed Silver Cross logo, new colors and fonts. The newly redesigned intranet includes an enhanced navigation system on the home page featuring the following:

• Enlarged buttons and labels for better readability
• Reorganized drop down sections
• Updated content, including forms and maps
• New “Tabs” section that includes Newsroom, Events and Message of the Week
• New Donate Kids’ Books and Community Service sections
• New “Got a Suggestion?” e-mail box for ways to improve our intranet, its user friendliness and functionality
• Updated Cafeteria Menu design
• Updated Staff Directory design
• More images depicting our culture including updated photos of employees, physicians and volunteers, as well as, the new replacement hospital
• New rotating home page banners that are more vibrant and have eye-catching images that function as buttons linking directly to upcoming hospital and staff events.

In 2009, Banner Health transformed our home page to showcase the depth and breadth of our services. Our goal was to create an elegant and streamlined page for multiple audiences: patients and visitors, donors, job seekers, employees and physicians. We have surpassed our goal with a design that provides all users with easy-to-use top navigation, clear content and a simpler and more successful experience. Our new drop-down navigation allows our users to find what they need faster -- including one-click access to hospitals, services, health information and news. Our strategically placed user centers, located in the middle of the page, help visitors with easier access to our most popular pages. Each informative center provides an interactive call to action allowing further engagement with Banner Health including registration and bill pay. We’re pleased with our design, but even happier with our user response. During pre-launch testing the following received above average scores:

• 90 percent found the design clean and easy to use
• 81 percent found the centers more efficient

Our new home page provides a better experience for our many Web audiences with better navigation, clearly defined user centers and a look and feel that supports our non-profit mission.

The redesigned hendricks.org is award-worthy because it is user-focused with emphasis on persuasive architecture, search engine optimization, social and emerging new media. Hendricks Regional Health found inspiration for its Web site makeover by looking outside the healthcare industry. The team discovered fresh ways to engage today’s healthcare consumer by taking cues from mommy blogs, travel sites and others. The site also is a tangible Web representation of the organization’s strategic objectives set forth by its executive management. In contrast to the “before” design, the site reflects “spider-friendly” strategies that have already proved to increase traffic from search engines. The new design also provides an improved, flexible navigation that incorporates the hospital’s current social media strategy with the ease of expanding it in the future. The new design also brought video to the site for the first time, and has already become a key way to provide richer content.

The Lexington Medical Center site has taken a quantum leap forward. It began as an ill conceived, badly structured, poorly designed, cluttered, unorganized mass of online content. It has been redesigned clearly and coherently with real people in mind. Created from the ground up to appeal to the perspective of the visitor/patient, the site speaks plainly and offers action-oriented content. The site also gives people what they want in a hospital site: a wide variety of convenient tools (Doctor finder, physician practice finder, news, Bill Pay, calendar, etc.). The design builds upon Lexington Medical Center’s core brand identity and employs a welcoming, non-threatening posture toward its audience. Real people are intimidated by health care and hospitals. LexMed understands this and wants to be different. Of course, the site now offers fully integrated health content as well, all without feeling overwhelming or crowded. StayWell Health's content was integrated to match lexmed.com seamlessly. This includes sophisticated drop-down menus and pixel-perfect integration. Site visitors should not find their experience interrupted in any way. Lexington Medical Center’s redesign should be considered a case study in the successful, excellent integration of health content into a regional (or even national) hospital site.

MediCorp Health System underwent a name change to Mary Washington Healthcare. Our branding transformation launched at the beginning of 2010 after months of planning. With these changes a re-creation of our Web site was initiated to establish a foundational platform upon which we could build a Web site to adequately meet the needs of our growing organization. What you see represents our current iteration in our process. We have added social media, blogging, video and online touch-points. We are now in the process of evolving into a stronger Web 2.0 site. Our Web presence is allowing us to compete in a demanding healthcare environment.

Nationwide Children's Hospital’s Web site has a primary focus to provide current and potential patients and families with information they need to make decisions about health care. From browsing a list of services and conditions to finding a physician and location, our audience has access to what they need before, during and after their visit. Launched in December 2009, our redesigned site has many new features. Highlights include embedded YouTube videos, RSS feeds, Google maps and Appointment Request functionality. Site analytics were instrumental in improving site architecture to create a better experience for all. We embrace the evolution of social media and offer opportunities for people to stay connected. Efforts were also made to improve the site’s content management system for search engine optimization. Capabilities include editing meta tags, page titles, header tags and link anchor text. We now have search-friendly URLs to allow for better page optimization in an effort to gain visibility in search engines. Referring physicians and health care professionals are additional audiences. We offer online versions of medical publications, CME and more. Research and donation interests make up another large section of the site offering clinical trial information as well as donating and volunteering options.

During the last year, Tanner’s marketing and IS staff graphically redesigned and reconstructed www.tanner.org from the ground up with a new content management system (CMS) as its “backbone.” This was quite an undertaking, and we believe the end result is worthy of a Best Redesigned Web Site nomination. The new CMS utilizes a hierarchical taxonomy for content, so related news, doctors, classes, articles and multimedia are now displayed on various pages throughout the site. A new menu system at the top of each page provides one-click access to the most popular actions taken by site visitors—i.e., Get Directions, Pay Your Bill and Research Your Health—and five new round buttons on every page neatly organize information about Tanner’s facilities, services, practices, physicians and policies. The site’s vastly improved Find a Doctor database is viewable alphabetically and is searchable by name, gender, specialty, insurance, language and services—or by ZIP code proximity. Tanner Jobs now has its own dedicated Web site and unique URL at www.tannerjobs.org to streamline HR and physician recruiting. Both sites complement Tanner’s social media efforts. We now embed videos from our YouTube channel and are able to link Facebook and Twitter to any site content.

Barnes-Jewish had four strategic goals for its Web site redesign:

1. Enhance the user experience
2. Increase visitor engagement
3. Improve the overall design and brand alignment
4. Convert more visitors to patients and employees

The new site features a more vibrant design and increased opportunities to reinforce brand messaging. Many areas were reorganized or renamed, and the navigation was updated based on user feedback. Structured search functionality was added to make it easier for visitors to find relevant content, and a fully-integrated physician directory was developed the further enhance the user experience. User testing and online surveys confirmed that the new physician search is more intuitive, and physicians have credited the addition of video profiles for a number of patient self referrals. To encourage visitor engagement, heavy emphasis was put on content development. More than 300 pages and 100 videos were added, and content integration was employed to present related pages, physicians, audio and video throughout the site. The addition of more accurate and compelling content in conjunction with stronger integration has led to a 34% increase in pageviews, a 32% increase in pages/visit, a 46% increase in average time on site, and 5% fewer bounces. The new design also features actionable links and phone numbers positioned more prominently on every page, which has led to a 30% increase in appointments attributed to the website. The newly redesigned careers microsite with integrated job search functionality now receives more than 39,000 online job applications per month and the hospital’s vacancy rate has dropped from 10% to 3%.

The new hospital Web site was designed and built to present information on how patients and caregivers need to read and understand information. Our previous Web site, like many other hospital Web sites, was built based on how the hospital was structured so the site was vertical by departments. Our new site was built to present information about any disease or condition or test or treatment within a complete context. For example, if you have prostate cancer, you can now find the disease and read about it and then directly on that page are the related tests and treatments, the related departments that might be involved in the treatment, videos on the subject, resources for patients, support group information. As healthcare delivery is so complex in this country, we believe our site helps to simplify the presentation of critical information that patients need to make a decision on treatment options, research, etc.

Over the last three years we have rebuilt our site from the ground up with the goal of integrating as much of our content as possible. This includes physician search, service line content, consumer health content, and clinical trial information. We have re-engineered our physician search tool to include key word search functionality. We now have the ability to submit and search for clinical trials related to our clinical care services. Our consumer health content is also integrated into our service pages. In addition to the areas mentioned above, we've completely redesigned the visual appearance of our site including our news features as well as adding a substantial amount of video content. One area we have also "redesigned" is our social media presence. We have very active Facebook and Twitter sites and integrate our Web content whenever possible.

This was quite simply a massive undertaking that in the end replaced an unwieldy, unfocused, inconsistent and often outdated Web presence with completely rebuilt site targeted specifically to patients (and their families) and healthcare consumers. Along the way, we had to change Web culture within the organization, implement a new content model, and switch to a new technology platform. The redesign was based on extensive research including online satisfaction surveys, focus groups and user testing, allowing the team to develop user personas that guided decisions throughout the process. This led us to simplify navigation, improve search, take a new approach to find a doctor (http://uvahealth.com/doctors), and develop a new clinic directory to help visitors quickly find a phone number or directions (http://uvahealth.com/directions-locations). We also developed extensive new content written specifically for a Web audience, and implemented a tighter integration of health content into the site. Health library content was integrated with information about services and special expertise at UVA, with related physicians highlighted directly on the page (http://uvahealth.com/services/heart/treatment/11940). In the end we successfully launched a completely rebuilt site that aligns with brand standards, contributes towards organizational goals, and is structured around meeting the needs of our patients and healthcare consumers.

Our Web site underwent a major overhaul. Not only were our colors and styles extremely dated, functionality was cumbersome at best. The most significant architectural change led us from an institutional perspective to an audience perspective (as referenced in the differently colored tabs for Patients & Visitors, Research, etc.). Patient-oriented content was then organized across clinical services for consistency. Additionally, Research and Academic content was moved to a section oriented to those audiences—reducing clutter on the page. Also, the amount of “real estate” devoted to imagery was broken up to increase visual appeal.

When most people refer to a redesigned Web site, they are referring solely to the aesthetic side of things. Emory Healthcare has taken its redesign to the next level. Because the breadth of content on Emory Healthcare's Web site is vast, making content and information easily accessible is key. For this reason, and because our ultimate goal is an improved patient experience, our recent redesign involved reorganizing content, rather than just redesigning it. For example, patients who may be confused about whether they need to see a cardiologist vs. cardiothoracic surgeon are now able to simply choose their condition/diagnosis from a dropdown and immediately find the right information. Furthermore, each area of the site has been moved into a new content model that organizes divisional content into actionable steps such as "become a patient" or "refer a patient" information. As an example, our cancer care involves treatment from a variety of different teams and patients were confused about where to go. We now have one overarching cancer area that breaks down each type of cancer by the departments that would provide treatment. This provides a seamless navigational experience to help get patients where they need to be.

MUSCkids.com launched in 1998 serving all MUSC Children’s Hospital audiences (academic and patient). In 2009, we launched a redesign to split MUSCkids.com into two sites: MUSCkids.com for patients/visitors/referring physicians, MUSC.edu/pediatrics for the academic audience. For months, a cross-functional team from the hospital, the department of pediatrics, and an outside consulting firm met weekly, reviewing every page to determine if the content was valid, and for what audience. Once this process was complete, our hospital team worked with Trio Solutions to rebuild MUSCKids.com from the ground up. We sent surveys to each content stakeholder, and developed and updated content based on their feedback. A new kid-friendly, audience-focused design was created, and the entire site structure was rebuilt. Applications that previously existed only as part of the main adult hospital web site, were transformed within the new template. The new site launched in June of 2010, after a year of work. Standard navigational elements and calls to action (request an appointment, find a doctor) are on every page to increase usability. While zero appointment requests originated from MUSCkids.com in July or August of 2009, there were a total of 30 in July and August of 2010 after the new site launched

This is the Web site for our hospital-owned physician group. It was totally rebuilt by one person with a new design that corresponds with the corporate colors. An online bill pay was added as well as an online survey for patients. A news module was added as well (previous one did not work). We also added the option for receiving the newsletter electronically. A rotating banner was added to highlight areas of interest with a link to get more information. Each physician group is listed by specialty and by name. A site map was added, which the old design did not have. A link to the job postings was also added, which goes to a third-party site.

The New-York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Center for Advanced Digestive Care (CADC) integrates renowned clinical expertise, pioneering research and advanced therapies for the treatment of digestive diseases with our successful collaborative, multidisciplinary approach to patient care. The Center represents one of the top-tier digestive programs in the U. S. to implement this patient-centric care model. The initial Web site, designed in a modular fashion, emphasized access to the program through a simple navigation system that provided information about the center and its services, the medical team and information for patients, including a news feature. About six months after its launch, the CADC team quickly recognized the Web site needed to be enhanced and redesigned to improve usability, interactivity, content, innovation and design. The new site dramatically improves both design and site navigation and additionally achieves an important goal of increasing access to our doctors by emphasizing the “find a doctor” and the newly developed “request an appointment” features on the home page. The Web site also significantly increases content by including physician video biographies, an animation library, podcasts, and two new navigation tabs: a professional section featuring access to CMEs and webcasts, and a section on research and innovation featuring clinical trials.

The new microsite for our Providence Heart & Vascular Institute creates a distinct look and feel for heart-related information, while keeping within the same brand family as the rest of our providencehospitals.com site. Heart-related information is integrated into the site’s infrastructure but also has a very distinct identity – a “brand within a brand,” optimizing SEO. The new site prominently displays the Heart & Vascular marketing tagline “We are South Carolina’s Heart Hospital,” connecting our Web site with existing marketing campaign materials. Our “calls to action” are also more visible for prospective patients so that resources are more easily identifiable, including immediate access to our licensed StayWell health library content. Beyond the service information contained within the Heart & Vascular microsite, we have extended the heart brand and identity to our “Find a Physician” directory. By clicking on the “Find a Physician” button inside of the Heart & Vascular site, patients are directed to a unique landing page and filtered search for only heart-related specialties and physicians. The individual profile pages for these physicians are also “skinned” to connect these doctors to Heart & Vascular services. A better design means better service for our patients, and that’s our ultimate goal!

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Web team transformed its aging institute Web site into a site that is patient friendly and easy to navigate, http://aging.uams.edu/. While the previous Web site was difficult to navigate and had not been updated since 2007, the new Web site is engaging and contemporary in design that has been very well received by UAMS employees and patients.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) launched its "Everything Possible" marketing campaign for its cardiovascular center, orthopedic and arthritis center, and its infertility and newborn medicine services. The new advertising campaign emphasizes BWH's commitment to saving lives through innovation, and adds an emphasis on patient and family-focused care.

Audiences: The primary target is women within the Boomer demographic who actively think and research information on where they, or their families, should go for health care. The secondary target focuses on patients who are intellectually curious; these patients try to learn as much as possible about their condition and treatment options. They use education to reclaim control of their lives and overcome feeling fragile, helpless, and vulnerable. They seek out the best quality of care, regardless of borders or distance, and value technology as much as bedside manner.

Strategy/Methodology: The campaign includes TV, online, print ads and a microsite, http://www.everythingpossible.com

• TV Ads – Local spot TV, videos also placed on YouTube.
• • Olympian Dara Torres – Cartilage Replacement
  • Brad and Mandra – Heart Transplantation
  • Gail and Terry – Congestive Heart Failure
  • Muriel and Courtney – Musculoskeletal Conditions
• Print Ads – Local issues of Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Architectural Digest and Conde Nast Traveler
• • Dara Torres Brad and Mandra Muriel and Courtney
• Banner Ads – Demo-targeted online banner ads on local sites and ad networks
• • Dara Torres Heather Krepelka
  • Brad and Mandra
  • Gail and Terry
  • Muriel and Courtney
• Brigham and Women's Hospital Web Site - The content from the microsite was also posted on our hospital site, as feature topics on our home page with links to content on our site.

Execution: When one family member is seriously ill, the whole family suffers. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we understand that a patient’s condition can take a real emotional toll on loved ones, so we acknowledge the family’s distress — and sincerely try to help them cope. The most important thing we can do for families, though, is make sure their loved ones are well-cared for. The better a loved one does, the better the family does.

Results The Everything Possible campaign has generated more than 20,000 page views on the everythingpossible.com microsite from October 2009 to July 2010, generating increased awareness of the service lines featured in the campaign.

There are six key numbers for heart health, and in early 2010 Covenant Health launched a cross-media campaign to encourage East Tennesseans to “Know Your Six.” The numbers include indicators for blood pressure, Body Mass Index, cholesterol levels, blood sugar level, and the amount of sleep and exercise an individual gets. To help people learn about the indicators, Covenant Health launched a “Know Your Six” micro-site with extensive cardiac health information in spring 2010. Visitors to the page were encouraged to either take an online health risk assessment (provided to Covenant Health by a third-party resource) or attend a Covenant Health Check screening site. Covenant Health hosted seven sites in Knoxville and surrounding counties during March and April. 139 people took the online health risk assessment. The Know Your Six campaign included broadcast news stories developed with Covenant Health’s media partner, WATE-TV 6; press releases to newspapers, news posts on Covenant Health websites, and newspaper advertising. In addition, several Covenant Health cardiologists worked with Covenant Health’s marketing staff to develop regular Twitter feeds related to cardiac health. The campaign lasted approximately three months, and 1,203 people visited Covenant Health Check to receive screenings and information related to Know Your Six.

The Women's Heart Initiative at Main Line Health was born out of our belief that as a leading Heart Center, we have a responsibility to educate and raise awareness among women of all ages about heart disease and how it affects them. To help distribute this message, we developed the Six Word Heart Story concept that encourages women to share their heart experience with us in just six words. A Web site and video were developed to launch the concept and an online community allowed women to post their stories and view the stories of others. Cross-media techniques included:

1. TV, Radio and print ads similar to the video on the Web site featured actual 6-word story submissions and invited women to share their story on our site.
2. We invited employees to submit their own 6-word stories and featured them on T-shirts worn by participants in the American Heart Association's Heart Walk.
3. We partnered with the AHA and their Go Red campaign to help get the word out about our Women's Heart Initiative and the 6-word stories.
4. SEO and SEM also supported the effort.

Stats: Almost 1,500 local women have signed up to receive more information on the WHI and almost 200 have provided 6-word heart stories on the Web site. We distribute bi-weekly messages to subscribers via the WHI blog, eNewsletter, Facebook and Twitter posts.

We created and launched Kid Care, the first app by a Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with Self Care Decisions, a vendor specializing in pediatric triage protocols. Kid Care’s 89 care guides help parents and caregivers make smart decisions on what level of care (if any) is needed and how to provide speedy symptom relief for minor illnesses or injuries one can manage on their own. We took a tiered approach to outreach, focusing initial promotion on our patients and staff through the campus newspaper. The next phase engaged our local community through traditional, digital and social channels. For example, we secured extensive traditional coverage on local broadcast and print media, digital exposure through mommy blogging communities and an e-blast to 5,000 blog subscribers, and social media momentum through extensive Facebook and Twitter interaction. We also produced a banner ad to include in our monthly health e-newsletter of more than 20,000 subscribers and promoted the app in our hospital on-hold messaging. Eventually, our campaign spread nationally, with several national blog and web features, including an unsolicited plug by Cnet.com as one of the “Five Must-Have iPhone Apps for Parents.” Our goal was to have at least 2,500 downloads within three months of the launch on January 20, 2010. We exceeded our goal by 300%, achieving 7,800 downloads by the end of April. Through mid-August, we have had almost 12,000 downloads of Kid Care. For those people without iPhones, we promoted the fact that the health information contained in the application was also on our website. While heavily promoting Kid Care in March, this section of our website saw an 800% increase in traffic over what it would see in a typical month. We have sustained a 400% increase in monthly site traffic to the section since March.

In addition to the use of traditional media such as TV, print, radio and outdoor advertising, social media is a vital part of our marketing media campaigns. The use of a Microsoft® tag in our print advertising allows us to integrate our traditional print media with the interactive experience of social media via mobile smartphones. We are placing the tag on our print media with instructions for getting the free mobile application. Once the application is downloaded on the smartphone, readers just scan the tag with their smartphones and are connected to one of our videos on YouTube that corresponds to the print ad. This allows an immediate response that provides for a richer experience and more information than can typically be easily provided in print. It also takes advantage of technology that is usually right at hand – a mobile smartphone. To date, the physician directed ad has resulted in 32 scans of the tag linking to our related video on YouTube; the Urogynecology ad as resulted in three scans. As more consumers become aware of these tags and how to use them, the number of scans should increase.

In March of 2010, Children's Hospital & Medical Center launched mobile content with a focused initiative of providing access to important information anytime, anywhere and on any mobile device. Four entities under the Children's brand have mobile content focusing on the hospital and medical center, pediatricians, specialists, and Foundation. Compatibility with the majority of mobile internet browsers has been of primary focus. This was done by utilizing html and not focusing on downloadable applications. This initiative affords everyone the same content experience. Consumers can now easily locate Emergency & Urgent Care information, Find a Doctor, review job openings, read news articles and Resources for Parenting that include multi-media, quizzes and more. A first in the pediatric healthcare market, Children's has launched an Online Health Library consisting of thousands of articles, videos, and other resources on topics such as Your Child’s Health, Health News, Health Tip of the Day and an extensive library. All of this is available via a mobile device. No additional Web site address is needed as the user will be redirected automatically to the mobile site to provide the best user experience.

In 2010, DMC launched an unprecedented campaign in its marketplace: Current ER wait times, published live on DMC.org. In support of this forward-thinking and customer-focused initiative, DMC developed a mobile strategy, incorporating both smartphone and text technology. Potential patients can now download a free application to their iPhone/iTouch that features DMC ER wait times, updated concurrently with those on DMC.org. The app, which can be found on iTunes by searching "DMC WAIT TIMES" also provides contact information, and uses a Google-based GPS system to provide instant directions to each ER. The wait times are conveniently stacked for each user by proximity with the closest ER at the top. Hundreds of users have already downloaded the application, and a Droid-compatible version is already in development. Standard mobile phone users can get a text version of the wait times for each hospital simply by texting "ER" to 42660. The success of the app is such that DMC will continue to develop free consumer apps for both iPhone and Droid platforms, starting with one focusing on stroke symptoms and warning signs in the fall of 2010.

Sherman Health's mobile strategy is far advanced in terms of healthcare marketing. We have built a fully functional mobile Web site. We used the most popular pages from our traditional website to develop the basis for the mobile site. Pages such as Locations, Physician Finder, Send an eCard, Contact Us, and Follow Us were all integral pieces to the development of the mobile site. Other pages such as the Hospital Floorplan and Around the Hospital were also added to the main navigation of the mobile site. We are one of the very few hospitals to completely embrace the surge towards mobile usage by making a mobile-friendly version of our Web site. As far as stats go, the Sherman Health mobile site is doing very well. Mobile visits continue to increase from month to month. In July 2010 alone, the mobile site received over 2,000 visitors.

*Note: The Sherman Health mobile site can only be viewed through a mobile device. Typing "m.shermanhealth.com" into a browser on a computer will direct you to the main Sherman Health Web site.

Of the visitors accessing the St. Louis Children’s Hospital Web page from a smart phone, the majority use an iPhone. This presented an ideal opportunity to create a mobile strategy to connect with our target audience with a familiar and comfortable mechanism. We chose to pursue a customized iPhone application as an on-the-go resource to interact with our community and provide general pediatric advice and information from a trusted source. We created and launched Kid Care, the first app by a Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with, Self Care Decisions, a vendor specializing in pediatric triage protocols. Kid Care’s 89 care guides help parents and caregivers make smart decisions on what level of care (if any) is needed and how to provide speedy symptom relief for minor illnesses or injuries one can manage on their own. We promoted Kid Care to the general population using traditional, digital and social media opportunities. Our outreach helped secure extensive local broadcast and print coverage, multiple high-profile online placements, and heavy viral communication via social media channels. Our goal was to have at least 2,500 downloads within three months of the launch on January 20, 2010. We exceeded our goal by 300%, achieving 7,800 downloads by the end of April. Through mid-August, we have had almost 12,000 downloads of Kid Care.

The primary goal in developing The Nebraska Medical Center’s mobile site was to provide a streamlined user experience that provided the minimum content required for mobile users. The content was determined by researching popular paths taken by mobile users. A design was developed - based on the W3C mobile standards - and content was re-purposed or developed to be appropriate for mobile devices. One example of content that was developed for mobile was creating a set of Google maps - based on GPS coordinates gathered on campus to help guide visitors to different hospital entrances. The mobile site was launched on June 30, 2010. Statistics from Google Analytics demonstrate that users were able to find what they needed in about half the time, while overall mobile traffic continued to increase steadily. The mobile site automatically detects mobile browsers and redirects them to the simplified site. If the user chooses to see the full site, they have the option to select that at the bottom of each page. If the visitor returns to the site, it will remember their choice and send them to the version of the site they previously choose.

Children's Hospital & Medical Center has successfully utilized multimedia to tell the story of its patients, families and caregivers. Several methods are used in an integrated effort to fully communicate these experiences. This initiative began January 8, 2009, with the redesign of the hospital’s consumer Web site. Our primary vehicle for multimedia is a dedicated YouTube channel. Children's applied for and received YouTube’s non-profit designation, affording it the opportunity to host an unlimited number of videos with an unlimited size and length. Individuals can easily access groups of videos, categorized by interest, such as Featured, Our Stories, Our Physicians, “Parenting U” Library, Healthcare Heroes and Pediatric Legends. These multimedia stories have been strategically incorporated throughout the Children's Web site to provide convenient access within related-service lines and programs. We have also integrated videos into our homepage header region to create dynamic visuals that engage consumers. We celebrate more than 60 years of service with a virtual showcase of historic images, early audio recordings and video content at OurHistory.ChildrensOmaha.org. Lastly, with the development of the new Children’s Specialty Pediatric Center opening September 1, a special video presentation captures project “Milestones.” A majority of our multimedia can be appreciated via our mobile site content.

Children’s Memorial Hospital has developed a multimedia strategy that offers an array of rich media content, including videos, podcasts, slideshows and animations. Our goals are to:

• Reinforce our standing as one of the nation’s top pediatric providers by highlighting specialists and services
• Foster a sense of community with content that reflects our kid-friendly culture, shares employee and consumer testimonials, promotes philanthropy and events, and wayfinding
• Promote our new hospital
• Give families a “sneak peak” of our facilities for wayfinding
• To become a nationwide resource for pediatric health information

Rich media is disseminated via multiple platforms, including the hospital Web site, social media sites and linked via e-newsletters. Currently, our multimedia library currently houses 114 videos and 13 podcasts, which are linked to appropriate pages throughout the Web site using metadata.

One success of the past year was a nine-part video series called, “Tube Feeding and Cystic Fibrosis”. The series, which gained official endorsement from the national CF Foundation, was promoted through national pediatric listservs, social media, and e-newsletters. It’s available on our website, and is also being distributed nationally on DVD – free of charge – through a partnership with CF Services.

The Detroit Medical Center (DMC) Emery King Video Library, launched in 2007, has grown to feature more than 50 videos highlighting the specialty services at DMC. It's a strategic tool with two goals: to serve as a content-rich driver for additional traffic to the DMC website, and as a consumer education tool on 14 different specialty areas, from Cardiovascular Disease to Women's Health. Utilizing the long-standing appeal of metro Detroit telejournalist Emery King, it offers an urban/suburban cross-market appeal. The videos themselves are designed to apply to an ever-expanding array of media, in addition to their prominence on DMC.org, they are also available on YouTube, Yahoo Video, ICYou.com, and VideoMD.com. DMC uses its Social Media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and the DMC blog to expand the reach and awareness each time a video is released, and also provides them to all area Comcast subscribers via Video-on-Demand. Collectively, the videos have view counts in the hundred-thousand range on DMC.org alone, and their evergreen content allows them to continually reach new users seeking information about conditions as they arise in the consumer's life. Every video on DMC.org features a link to the featured physician's profile and the opportunity to request an appointment.

With the convergence of social media, widely available broadband access, and YouTube, we adjusted our video strategy this year. We realized we can no longer expect our users to come MUSChealth.com’s video library, when thousands of searchable videos are available on YouTube. Our new strategy involved creating patient story videos that would be easily and often searched, and relevant to a large number of patients, allowing us to broaden our brand awareness. We produced several patient stories covering “hot topics”. We experimented with using different resource levels to film the videos. For example, we used a Flip camcorder to film several “My Story” videos, highlighting common patient procedures. We also invested more financially to film a few patient stories with a contract videographer. Our most successful video was filmed with a Flip camcorder and cost less than $500 in contractual resources. Entitled “My Colonoscopy, From Beginning to End” the video followed a patient as she prepared for and underwent a colonoscopy. The video has been viewed more than 14,000 times and has received over 20 comments, assuring us that our video was both supportive and informative. Our YouTube channel currently has 345 videos and 442,200 views.

Sharp HealthCare launched its patient portal, mySharp, in February 2010 to all patients in the Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group. In preparation for the launch, the portal team worked with the design firm GS Design to create a short video tour and landing page (www.sharp.com/mysharp) to promote mySharp. The one-and-a-half minute animated video features screenshots of mySharp and provides an overview of key features of the portal, including emailing your doctor, scheduling an appointment, and viewing lab results online. Below the prominently featured video, supplementary text describes all six major mySharp tools. Each tool is represented by a colorful icon (for example, “Refill Prescriptions” is represented by a pill bottle graphic). Two large yellow “Sign up today!” buttons are the primary calls-to-action on the page. In February, there were 20,000 visits to our mySharp video landing page. Twenty-five percent of the visits converted to visits to the sign up page. Following the initial excitement surrounding the launch of mySharp, visits to the video landing page leveled out as expected. Overall, between February and July, the page has drawn an average of 17,000 visitors per month with an average of 11 percent of visits converting to visits to the sign-up page.

We use a variety of multimedia avenues on uwhealth.org to communicate messages above and beyond the printed word. Our extensive “Find a Doctor” database includes more than 100 video profiles; an extensive library of patient stories and other videos are produced by our in-house professional videographers; and amateur “Flip” camera footage is shot by Web and Marketing staff to complement existing content about diseases and conditions, news releases, etc. In the past year, we’ve also begun using a new photo/audio slide show format to tell stories in a unique way. These new photo/audio slide shows consist of an array of photos that depict a “day in the life” of a patient or a UW Health staff member. The photos are accompanied by an audio track of that person’s voice, telling their own story or explaining the work they do. Carefully woven together, these photo/audio slide shows are a unique new way for us to convey a narrative beyond the printed word or a standard video story. When you play a photo/audio slide show on our site, the show launches with a “lightbox” effect that darkens the page in the background and draws greater visual attention to the show.

On January 9th, ACH moved 169 patients from our old hospital to a new facility just a few blocks north. The logistics for this move took years of planning, but the move itself had to be completed within hours. Patients were moved in-doors through tunnels and bridges connecting the two facilities. Because space was tight along the route, patients were allowed one family member, and both media and non-essential staff access was restricted. Our challenge was to communicate the progress of the move with staff, media and anxious family members who were not physically present. An eHealth staff member was positioned in the command center coordinating the move and another staff member was positioned along the route to gather photos. Real-time information and photos were then shared with the public and the media via Facebook, Flickr and Twitter. This real-time notification was crucial in notifying families and staff of any delays or issues. Families and friends from across the country posted comments on our Facebook Wall and some patients even posted photos of their new room! The real-time information was a crucial component to our internal and external communications, resulting in an extremely successful move day at All Children’s.

Broward Health (BH) utilizes social media in various ways to promote physicians, communicate with employees and spread news to the community. BH has an active Facebook page and Twitter feed, both which are updated daily with news, events, recipes, health tips, and more. BH used Facebook and Twitter in their recent Cardiac and Powerful Kid Care campaigns to engage community. During the Cardiac campaign, which coincided with National Heart Month, employees received a Valentine’s Day card inviting them to become a fan of BH to be entered into a drawing to receive Apple™ products. As a result, BH gained more than 700 Facebook fans. Utilizing Facebook custom applications, BH fans were able to “give” a heart-health gift to their friends. Additionally, BH promoted cardiologists and engaged fans by posting fun physician Flip-Video QAs which required participation from fans. BH garnered online entries to find the most “Powerful Kid” in Southern Florida, receiving more than 300 entries. BH medical experts also provided advice to the community from questions submitted via Facebook and Twitter. Stats:

• Twitter: BH: 635 CSMC: 480
• Facebook: CSMC: 272 CECH: 293 BH: 884
• YouTube: 24,431 Views
• Physician Blog: 1,445 hits
• Breastfeeding Blog: 537 hits

In Oct. 2009, to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Henry Ford Health System developed and launched a new application on Facebook called Pinky Swear. The application, the only one of its kind on Facebook, was created to allow users to send “Pinky Swear” requests to their FB friends, which asked: “Join me in my pledge to commit to annual mammogram screenings and promote breast cancer awareness.” The application was part of a greater multi-media campaign designed to increase the number of online mammogram screening appointments, which included radio, digital and event demonstrations. Henry Ford’s online mammography product is unique in that it offers real-time, online appointment scheduling. The Pinky Swear application and fan page offered direct links to the scheduling page on HenryFord.com, which received 150 visitors from Facebook during the campaign. The application was promoted through sponsored ads on Facebook, an extensive employee communication plan and press releases. The Pinky Swear campaign ran through Nov. 2009 during which time, 2,500 Facebook users downloaded the application and 250 users signed up as fans on the fan page. In Oct/Nov 2009, Henry Ford recorded a 137% increase in online mammogram appointments over the same time period the previous year.

The goal of our Web Strategic Plan was simple, “create and sustain an extraordinary experience via the web”. We believe we accomplished this by creating a new site, addressing the needs of all key constituents, which is engaging, social, transaction oriented, easy to use, and intuitive to users’ needs. In addition to a robust presence on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, a proud addition to the Web site was our “online communities”, a place where support and knowledge meld and where you can interact with people with similar healthcare needs. Our communities offer for the user:

• Online Support Groups, where users can find encouragement and companionship in your time of need.
• Pertinent health information provided by our knowledgeable doctors and staff from Lancaster General Health in our blogs section.
• Discussions on health related topics in our interactive forums section.
• LIVE question and answer sessions with doctors and experts from across the Lancaster General Health system.

In October 2009, our Web team began our launch into Social Media. The IS department did extensive research on what implications the social networking sites would have on our internal network and finally gave us the OK. We began by creating accounts in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Our YouTube account was created several years earlier. The social media sites became a great way to communicate directly and instantly with a completely new audience. We also created a blog for our MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center chairman (Bernie’s Blog). It is a platform that allows him to connect with faculty, employees and parents. He is truly, “a chairman who listens to kids,” and that is reflected within his blog. Bernie’s Blog was also started in October 2009 and receives positive comments and feedback. We often have “Facebook Friday Trivia” where a question is asked and the first to answer correctly is awarded a prize. We have a social media section on our web site that gives visitors direct links to all MCGHealth social media. The MCGHealth Strategic Support/Philanthropy division houses the Marketing department, which lead the social networking within the organization in conjunction with the Philanthropy department. Our pediatrics chairman maintains his blog.

Sharp HealthCare recently implemented a systemwide social media policy and has a vast presence on social media (www.sharp.com/news/sharps-social-media.cfm), including:

• Active Facebook page with 1,800+ fans; 500+ monthly active users who generate conversations with frequent comments, wall posts, and likes; and 2,700+ total interactions for FY2010 (through August). Sharp’s social media team posts at least three times daily (twice-weekly Spanish posts), interacts with fans, and responds to comments and questions.
• Strong Twitter presence with 2,750+ followers, on 120 lists, and 1,400+ total interactions for FY2010 (through August). The team tweets at least three times daily (twice-weekly in Spanish); tweets the twice-daily news RSS feed; responds to FourSquare check-ins, related tweets, retweets, and responds to questions and comments; and hosts contests.
• YouTube channel with 75 subscribers, 8,500+ channel views, and 62,800+ total upload views. The channel is monitored daily, and the team responds to comments and questions, and posts videos.
• Seven Wikipedia pages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_healthcare) routinely managed and updated.
• Sharp.com’s large podcast gallery (www.sharp.com/audio) highlights Sharp physicians and health experts.

Sharp will continue to grow its social media presence and, later this year, will implement Radian 6 to better examine its social media presence and reach more followers.

Lacking a reliable, centralized source for physician data and unable to handle the growing need to maintain continually expanding physician profiles, Cooper University Hospital's Web team designed and launched its Physician Data Warehouse (PDW) in February of 2010. Designed as a way to handle distributed management of physician data throughout the health system, the PDW has allowed us to collect additional information we could not have previously managed ourselves while giving the departments a greater stake in the Web site with the ability to directly edit their physician profiles. Promoting the benefits of the system and recruiting participants department by department, the Web team now has representatives in each of the hospital's service lines maintaining physician profiles, including expanded data such as recent publications, honors, professional memberships, grants and more. This data is stored in an open database structure an can be utilized for applications throughout the hospital, including feeding the organization's public physician search. Distributed management of the physician database has saved the Web team hours of maintenance each month while providing a steady flow of information that was previously not easily shared across departments.

In late 2009, DMC piloted a new Web service technology in its marketplace: Current ER wait times, published on DMC.org. This project drew resources and knowledge from across the system: Web technology, IT support, marketing, and the ER clinicians. After months of planning and development, a system that extracted patient check-in times in each of the DMC ERs, developed an hourly average and immediately conveyed that number to the live Web site was perfected and launched. Now, patients could quickly visit DMC.org's homepage to see their expected wait at any of the five DMC emergency departments. With an eye to the next wave of information technology usage, the program is supported by a mobile strategy employing a text-for-live-wait-time option (text ER to 42660) and a Smartphone application providing the same wait times. This initiative was supported via a multimedia marketing platform (radio, TV, outdoor, Web) and a social media strategy, utilizing Twitter and Facebook (including a Facebook widget, so friends and fans can display DMC's wait times on their personal profiles.) The results: DMC Web traffic has reached all-time highs since the launch, and DMC ER traffic has either grown or held steady in a market universally expected to decline.

Preventive maintenance helps us keep our car in tune. How do you remember when to get your oil changed? The little sticker on your windshield? Getting all your prevention screenings and disease management checkups can be overwhelming for our members. HAP recognized that sometimes a visual cue is needed to remind us. To help members know when it’s time for that checkup with their physician, HAP has now placed a date icon on our member’s homepage as a way for them to easily know when something is due. This icon is red when they are due for a visit and green when they are not. In 2010, an average of 600 members per month look to see if their sticker is red. The Member Health Reminder application’s logic determines when a screening or service is needed based on best practice rules. The reminder will only be shown to members (and their physician) when the logic validates that HAP hasn’t already received a claim for this screening or service. The application provides an easy way for a member to view all preventive screenings or procedures they are due for based on their gender and age. Members who also have chronic diseases like heart failure, asthma or diabetes also see disease specific reminders when a procedure is due.

Lunch Online is a series of health-related Webinars for the general public presented by Main Line Health. We feature one or two healthcare professionals who speak on a specific topic for about 10 minutes each and then we allow viewers to submit questions that are answered in real time. We use GotoWebinar to facilitate the Webinar and develop a custom landing page to introduce the speakers and to provide related resources. We promote Lunch Online through various online and traditional channels including social networks and PR efforts. We also tweet the event @LunchOnline. We've presented 2 LunchOnline events so far and have scheduled events every two months for the next year. Topics featured so far have been general women's health issues, how to pack a healthy lunch and summer safety.

The brand new Sherman Hospital has a unique feature; the entire building is precisely heated and cooled by an on-site geothermal lake. To teach visitors about this eco-friendly endeavor, we implemented an emerging piece of technology: QR Codes. QR codes are essentially a barcode for smart phones. The phone reads the information contained in the QR code and loads the embedded information (in our case, a landing page containing information on the geothermal lake). To see what the table talker looked like and the landing page users were taken to, see the included links!

In 2009-10, UW Health launched the Our UW Health Community sites (our.uwhealth.org, our.uwhealth.org/kids and our.uwhealth.org/cancer) to achieve several goals:

• To be more present in the lives of our patients, families and friends and facilitate connections
• For patients, families and caregivers to share stories of how our patient care and research affects people
• To motivate action and involvement (e.g., event participation, calls for action in Our UW Health e-mails, and personal fundraising/making donations) 

A major component of these online communities includes the ability to sign up to receive regular e-mail updates (avg. 3/month per community). We have more than 30,000 e-mail members and have raised more than $80,000 through Our UW Health online fundraising. 16 online groups were formed to help people connect with one another and manage conditions (examples: Recovering from Mental Illness, Living with Type 1 Diabetes). Using our community tools, a 13-year-old girl planned a walk benefiting breast cancer research that included more than 600 participants and raised $50,000. Through our community sites, 309 people have signed up to volunteer, and 28 patients have submitted their own stories (along with have dozens of additional print and video patient stories).

We began a project to see if we could use social marketing to encourage online appointments to doctors associated with Baptist Health. The Find a Physician Campaign has been a work in progress. We began by launching two new tabs in Facebook – Find a Physician and YouTube. To promote the new pages we have included a call to action in our regular direct mail pieces and enewsletters encouraging users “to like” our new tabs. In addition, we have been actively using our Twitter account to promote the new pages. The custom tracking allowing us to measure visitor sessions, page views and online appointments scheduled via the Web site for the Find a Physician pages was finalized last. Data is for June 2010. Over-all Results include:

• 884 visits to the Facebook Find a Physician Page since mid April
• Positive feedback on patient care
• More than 11,000 video views on YouTube
• A 79% Increase in Facebook fans
• An increase of 84% in Twitter followers
• $4,500 worth of Baptist-Health Services utilized from online appointments in first quarter
• 2,364 visits to the main page
• 13,929 visits to specific physicians
• 74 appointments

On March 1, 2010, FirstHealth of the Carolinas launched a totally redesigned Web site. The former site underwent an in depth analysis by Greystone.Net in winter 2009. After reviewing the recommendations from Greystone, a Web ‘team’ was assembled to develop and implement a total redesign of the FirstHealth Web site. With little to no budget – but a lot of enthusiasm, the Web team set out to develop a new site. The goal of the new site was to move away from the former brochure-ware Web site and develop a patient-centered website that was clean, crisp and easy to navigate. Using a concept of service line landing pages and an A to Z listing of services a graphic designer on staff designed the look of the site, including the home page, landing pages and page templates. Content was developed and written internally and an internal content management system was developed as well. Codes were written by the Web developer for interactive areas such as contact us, online event registration and refer a friend. Patient testimonials (both video and written) were added to most landing pages. Recent OR live sessions were integrated into the new site as were virtual tours of the construction of a new Heart Center. Links to the e-health library were embedded in Web copy and Google maps offered for all events and locations. The organization’s magazine was converted from a static product to an interactive periodical using page-turner software. The expense of the entire redesign was less than $3,000. In the five months since the go-live, the site has seen a 5 percent increase in traffic and a nine percent increase in repeat visitors.

Working with a small, practically non-existent budget with only a single full-time staff member who met with Marketing, PR, and IT leadership, Methodist Health System in North Texas redesigned and re-architected our entire site and health library site to align with our new branding campaign, focusing on vibrant, healthy, springy colors and images. Having benchmarked against local and national health system Web sites and reviewed Google Analytics, we selected menu options and layouts that best reflected what our site visitors are looking for and what actions and information we hope to lead them to, including a concerted promotion of complementary health library content from our service line pages. We’ve already seen success with a more than 35% increase in traffic to our site since we relaunched in April 2010.

Penn State Medicine magazine has been published bi-annually for College of Medicine alumni, donors and academic partners and peers. As a cost savings in 2009-10, magazine staff was asked to develop a digital version to replace one print edition each year. Our part-time staff of three had no budget, little online publishing experience, and no IT resources to host and develop a site in the time frame required. We used print edition content and multimedia “bonus” material to create a blog-style, online version to encourage greater interaction with our audiences and boost search engine optimization. We used a free Wordpress.com account with a standard theme we customized to match our organization and magazine branding. The only expenses were $30 for the no-ad display option and $15 for domain name and forwarding, and initial blog setup took only 12-15 hours of our Web manager’s time over several months, including training of the magazine publishing team. In its first week (July) http://pennstatemedicine.org generated two new patients for one of our clinical studies and has started to attract wider audiences for our research-related content. Through posted comments on the page, a dialogue began between a featured physician-scientist known nationally for discovering and studying a rare cancer and two patients living with the disease who likely would not have encountered the physician without the online version.

In 2010, Pennock Hospital has been able to launch a brand new Web site, a new brand, social marketing, revise all print materials and publications, and provide new marketing strategies, including 360 degree High Definition Virtual Tours, on a very limited budget, staff, and resources. With our web presence being our focal point, we did a completely new website with more than 100 pages from an old static 18 page layout. Our new site is now dynamic and interactive vs. informational. Our Web site now showcases all service lines and entities, a brand new eHealth Library, 360 HD Virtual Tours, a complete Social Media Suite, Engaging slideshows, and a complete suite of various applications and interactive components! All of these items were created on less than a shoestring budget (and we mean way less) with one full-time staff member and one part-time staff member. Even with our limited budget and resources, our end result was beyond our expectations and has yielded a brand new perception to our local community that we are not just a local small hospital, but one that can now compete with our larger area counterparts in a personal, professional, and progressive manner!

Wellmont Health System’s employee branding campaign began with a big idea. A big budget? Not so much. When the marketing communications staff was asked to define and promote the health system’s employee brand, the idea of storytelling immediately emerged. What better way to tell Wellmont’s story than through the individual stories of Wellmont’s employees? And what better way to share those stories than video on the Web? Wellmont.org/myStory was built entirely in house by the marketing communications department. The only money allocated to the project was a few hundred dollars for the purchase of Flip video cameras to shoot employee videos. The campaign, “Your story. Our mission.” launched during National Hospital Week in May 2009. For 365 days, the marcomm staff produced a new employee story every day. The stories – primarily video but a few written – live on an interactive calendar on wellmont.org. Since its launch, wellmont.org/myStory has received more than a quarter-million unique page views, becoming the second-most-popular section of wellmont.org (second only to the Careers section). The first phase of the campaign concluded during National Hospital Week 2010. The best of the video stories were then used (at no cost) to launch a revamped Careers section of wellmont.org.