Winners of 2013 eHealthcare Leadership Awards Recognized at Healthcare Internet Conference in New Orleans

    CHICAGO, IL, November 18, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Some 260 healthcare organizations, representing a broad industry spectrum, received recognition for their outstanding websites and digital communications at a special presentation in New Orleans on November 6 during the Seventeenth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference. Winners of the 2013 eHealthcare Leadership Awards were selected from more than 1,100 entries. A total of 121 individuals familiar with healthcare and the Internet judged the entries.

HospitalPortal.net is delighted that two of their clients were recognized with awards this year, both in the Intranet category: Jefferson Center for Mental Health with a Gold award and Olmsted Medical Center, a second time winner, with a Silver award. Other winners in the intranet category included Sutter Health, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medicine, HealthGrid, myMERITER, Carolinas Healthcare System, HealthNet, New York Presbyterian, Kaiser Permanente, Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, University of Arizona Health Network, Piedmont Healthcare, and UCLA.

Julie Sloan, Web Developer for Jefferson Center for Mental Health commented on this recognition, their second national award for their intranet, "We are honored to receive this award! We listened to our employees when they told us what features would be most useful to them, so this achievement was a collaborative effort. Employee feedback on our intranet has been very positive. It has greatly improved overall communication in our organization."

Angie Jensen, Technical Communications Specialist and Intranet Administrator for Olmsted Medical Center, who recently presented a workshop session on OMConnect's automated policy management at a national internal communications conference, reflected on this recognition, "Over the past year, we've worked very closely with HospitalPortal.net and a core team of OMC employees to further optimize our intranet, 'OMConnect,' as an organizational communication hub. That work is just starting to pay off in reduced e-mail volume and a much lower chance of message misinterpretation by OMC staff. And we're really excited to see how employees put OMConnect's new social-media-like features to work!"

"In preparation for key provisions of the Affordable Care Act and an increasingly competitive landscape, organizations accelerated their investment in digital communications," says Mark Gothberg, eHealthcare Leadership Awards chairman. "Organizations made major improvements in their websites, increased their involvement in social media, more fully integrated newer media outlets with traditional marketing vehicles, and expanded mobile efforts to better serve current and future customers."

Gothberg notes that improvements in websites were largely focused on enhancing visual interest, perfecting navigation, and showcasing key service lines. Videos, audios, virtual tours, social media tie-ins, and calls-to-action now populate many key service sections.

"A significant number of organizations are also seeing the benefits of integrating digital and traditional media communications," Gothberg adds. "Digital receives the greatest focus."

Winners of platinum, gold, silver, and distinction awards represented 17 industry classifications, from hospitals and health systems to pharmaceutical firms and online health companies. Awards were given in 14 different categories: Best Mobile Communications, Best Patient Access and Convenience, Best Site Design, Best Health/Healthcare Content, Best Interactive, Best Care/Disease Management, Best Employee Recruitment, Best Doctor Directory, Best Social Networking, Best Rich Media, Best Marketing Campaign, Best Overall Internet Site, Best Intranet, and eHealth Organizational Commitment.

Judges looked at how websites and other digital communications compared with others in their organization's classification. They also reviewed entries based on a proprietary multi-point standard of Internet excellence. The best overall Internet site category, for example, had to pass muster on more than 40 factors.

The eHealthcare Leadership Awards program was developed and first presented 14 years ago by eHealthcare Strategy & Trends, a leading industry resource published by Health Care Communications, Rye, NY. The Seventeenth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference was sponsored by Greystone.Net, an Atlanta-based strategy firm.

Major supporters of the Awards were Blausen Medical, a Houston-based supplier of medical animations and illustrations; Atlanta-based Connect Healthcare, a PhotoBooks company that provides physician directories and custom websites; Geonetric, a Cedar Rapids, IA-based supplier of comprehensive online services, including content management; Medseek, an enterprise e-health solutions company based in Birmingham, AL; Monigle Associates, a Denver-based brand and identity consultancy; and Private Health News, a Cincinnati-based supplier of e-health newsletters and CRM programs. Other supporters were CareTech Solutions, Creative Change, Element Solutions, eVariant, Health Grades, Krames StayWell, and Primacy. AVID Design and Professional Research Consultants lent assistance.

HospitalPortal.net , Rolling Meadows, IL, specializes in hospital and healthcare specific web portal solutions, custom software development and system integration services, which include built-in regulatory-compliant document management systems for healthcare facilities. The company provides self-service tools, document management and publishing tools for ease of access to both clinical and non-clinical staff members. For more information call (866) 580-7700.

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