eHealthcare Leadership Awards for 2007

Strategic Health Care Communications -- Web Awards Winners (20071115)

As the subject of the post states, these awards, what some consider the Oscars of e-Health, have been published.

In the interest of creating the best person/user/patient/consumer experiences, the awardees listed provide a nice reference point for those looking to talk with organizations who serve their customers well online.

Three of the partners of the PCHIT Initiative, Group Health Cooperative, Kaiser Permanente, and California Healthcare Foundation were distinguished with Platinum and Gold Awards in several categories.

I know that both organizations spend a considerable amount of effort in involving their members in the usability of their web sites, and caring that they are usable. Maureena Moran is the Executive Director of Web Services and Enterprise Information Management at Group Health Cooperative, and she allowed me to share the kudos she gave teams at Group Health:

Kudos to the entire web team, including Web Services and ISD’s Web Development and Systems Integration Groups, in particular, for their undying commitment to defining, designing, and developing the best online services for Group Health’s customers!

We also won the top design award — Best Site Design — for a Medical Practice/Clinic. Kudos to Judy Hucka and her team, including our lead web designer Stacy McCauslin, and the entire User Experience team for their commitment to using the best internet design standards for ease-of-use and simple navigation.

I think having a web services team of any size is one of the most potent drivers of patient-centered care processes across all aspects of a practice. The skill and talent they bring to understanding what patients want when they are physically present as well as when they are not is priceless.

2 Comments

We should continue to encourage and reward great design in healthcare.

An increasingly web savvy membership is demanding easy to use and intuitive ways of accessing care. The days are gone when it is OK not to email a physician, refill a prescription or make an appointment on line. I hope web designers will soon turn their attention to cost and quality indicators – these are coming whether providers and payers like it or not. Patients will demand this information in the same way they expect to 'find a physician' today.

Thank you, Christopher, for the endorsement of a great user experience in health care, and support for the idea that access should not be dependent a specific modality (in person, the telephone).

It's so interesting to see what happens when a Web design team works to integrate with health care operations – they do a great job of asking, "why are things set up this way?"

Ted Eytan, MD