“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Dickens penned those immortal words a century and a half ago, comparing the cities of London and Paris. These days, things are seldom that cut and dry – especially when it comes to Web Analytics. It is very difficult to compare two Web sites and get a clear picture. Take the following example:
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One of the things that we have blogged about consistently on this site is the need to set up a version of your Web site for visitors using mobile devices. Since this is such a hot topic in the industry right now, we decided to do a little research. Ultimately, we found that only 1 in 5 hospital / health system Web sites currently have a mobile-friendly version of their Web site. The most popular reasons cited for not creating such a site are “not enough of a priority” (55%) and “shortage of time and/or FTEs” (45%).
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For those of you not familiar with Greystone.Net Benchmarking, this is a service I manage that allows customers to anonymously compare performance with other hospitals on key Web areas such as Web utilization and number of FTEs. Recently, I surveyed existing Greystone.Net Benchmarking customers about how we could improve the product. In their responses, two conclusions stood out: First, make it easier to see key conclusions and results. Second, reduce the amount of time it takes for users to enter data and review reports.
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In case you missed the big news last week, Facebook announced that it has added its 200 millionth member. That’s right – Facebook Nation is now the fifth largest country in the world. If your temptation is to discredit the impact of this amazing growth on healthcare by assuming that these new members come from the ranks of teenagers and college students, you would be making a big mistake. A majority of Facebook users are now over 35, and the fastest growing segment of Facebook users is actually women over 55. According to CNN, “There are now about 1.5 million female users older than 55 on the site — roughly a 550 percent increase over six months ago.” As a 33-yr old who has recently received friend requests from my mother and several of her friends, I can personally attest that the AARP-ization of Facebook is for real.
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Basketball fans know Charlie Villanueva, a Milwaukee Bucks forward, as a solid but not spectacular NBA player who helped UConn win the 2004 NCAA National Championship. He is also known by some for his work as a spokesman for the NAAF (National Alopecia Areata Foundation), which supports research into the autoimmune skin disease from which he suffers.
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I recently helped my 3-yr old daughter prepare her wish list for Santa. What I thought would be a simple task proved to be a significant challenge, as she wanted virtually every single toy in the catalogue! I tried my best to explain to her that even though she has been very good this year, it is Santa’s job to pick out a few toys that she would like best.
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The concept of transparency is not a new one for healthcare. Over the last decade, we have all witnessed healthcare organizations embracing new technologies that create new levels of openness between providers, payors, and patients. Evidence continues to show that more information empowers consumers to make better choices about their healthcare, and results in lower costs. Even the federal government has gotten in on the act: this summer, they spent nearly $2 million on newspaper ads around the country that disclose hospital satisfaction rates. While there is still much work to be done, the future of healthcare transparency looks bright. Simply Google “healthcare transparency” to see countless examples of how technology companies and healthcare organizations are coming together to knock down traditional barriers to the flow of information.
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I would like to introduce myself as one of the newest members of the Greystone.Net team. My name is Andrew Roberts, and I will have responsibility for the Benchmarking product. My background is in research and marketing, and my primary interest is helping healthcare providers use data and other information to make better strategic marketing decisions. Previously, I worked for McKesson and was responsible for tracking customer satisfaction and loyalty among our hospital and physician customers. It is my experience that an organization can truly distinguish itself from its peers through its ability to translate complex information into actionable findings. This is particularly important in healthcare, where competition is increasingly fierce and marketing dollars hard to come by.
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