Seven strategies for building effective online relationships

Health Progress, Jul/Aug 2002 by Lawry, Thomas C

NET GAINS

Many hospitals and physicians today face serious financial challenges because of managed care and reimbursement shortfalls from programs such as Medicare. They respond to these challenges by cutting costs. But such efforts have a negative impact on staffing levels, inevitably reducing the time caregivers can spend with patients.

As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their lack of access to physicians and other caregivers. Many, seeking information about medical conditions they or their loved ones face, turn to the Web. Smart health care organizations are following these consumers online. By using their own websites to provide information and publicize services, such organizations can establish (or reinforce) relationships that eventually lead consumers to use the services themselves.

Today the total online population is growing by two million new users every month.' Seventythree million Americans-62 percent of Internet users-have gone on line in search of health information.2 About six million Americans go online for medical advice on a typical day-more on any given day, according to the American Medical Association, than visit health professionals.3

Not only are health consumers turning to the Web; the information they find there is influencing their interactions with physicians and hospitals. Two-thirds of the older people who have gone online for health information report that they later talked over what they found there with their physicians. Half of the older people who seek online health information say they are more satisfied with their treatment as a result of their searches.4

SEVEN STRATEGIES

The wonderful thing about the Web is that it can be used to create one-on-one relationships with thousands of people at a time. It's an efficient means of delivering "moment of need" information and services that, moreover, can be personalized to fit the needs of the particular individual involved.

Although most hospitals today possess a website, few have sites designed to, first, provide consumers with an online experience that meets their information needs, and, second, lead to a relationship that support the hospital's mission and objectives.

What follow are seven strategies for creating effective online relationships.

Provide Information that Consumers Consider Relevant and Valuable This sounds simple, but most hospital websites today miss the mark. They provide a lot of information-but not much that consumers themselves judge to be valuable.

The information that consumers consider valuable is any concerning health issues or an actual medical condition that they or a loved one face at that time. Hospitals commonly make the mistake of providing on their sites a wide variety of health topics, but little depth about any given medical condition. Although most Internet users have at some time gone online to seek health information, three out of four do so only when they have specific questions about a medical conditions Hospitals that develop or license health content that is (as the saying goes) "a mile wide and an inch deep" fail to address the real needs of the online health care consumer.

Consumers also find value in information and services that make interacting with health providers more convenient, less time consuming, and less expensive. They consider a site valuable if it makes them feel better informed and more capable of making good decisions.

Focus on Supporting Key Services Health care websites that attempt to be "all things to all people" tend to be irrelevant to health care consumers. An effective Web strategy starts by providing comprehensive information (and an online experience the consumer will find useful) about three to five of the key services the hospital provides.

Of course, most hospitals have limited resources to spend on their websites. They will spend their money more effectively if, rather than trying to publicize all their services, they concentrate on doing a good job of explaining and promoting their top services.

When selecting those top services, the site designers should consider the hospital's strategic plan, the hospital services that produce the highest margins, the facility's competitive position in the marketplace, and existing service line growth targets.

Don't Just Talk about Services Online-Provide Them Unlike print media and television, sites on the Web can actually provide services.

The website for PeaceHealth (www.peacehealth.org), a five-hospital system in Bellevue, WA, enables users to interact with their physicians, get prescriptions refilled, schedule appointments, and review information in their medical records.

The site for Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, NJ (www.holyname.org), makes it possible for women to sign up for mammography reminders and schedule mammograms.

By catering to the consumer's convenience, such sites create an online relationship that can eventually lead him or her to seek the hospital's services. When designers consider the possible services they will publicize on their hospital's site, they should choose those that the site can make more convenient for the consumer while, at the same time, reducing process steps, response time, or costs to the organization.