By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evalgelist

My buddy Craig died last week.

I spend a lot of time looking at the healthcare system at a macro-level. Statistics about how the system is a mess. How we’re failing to do right by our patients. Zooming out to this level allows one to be dispassionate about the situation. The unacceptability of what’s wrong with healthcare today. I’m reminded today that every statistic represents a real person dealing with the mess we’ve created.

Craig’s passing was a surprise and then again it wasn’t. He had a lot of years of hard living behind him and his body was paying the price.

Ten weeks ago he told us that he was dying. The doctors found a large tumor in his groin and he didn’t want to go through with what they were suggesting as a course of treatment. The upside wasn’t good enough to be worth the pain.

But a second opinion backed by a slew of additional tests was more positive. The doctors told him they could add years to his life. So he went ahead.

The surgery went well. They got out more than they’d expected and his prognosis was good.

Don’t get me wrong – the surgery was invasive. Skin grafts were problematic and painful. The chemo was all that chemo can be. And weakened as he was from all of this, the lung cancer killed him in just a few short weeks.

Lung cancer?

They were so focused on the tumor that, no one noticed the spots on his lungs which were visible on some of his x-rays.

I’m not angry that Craig died. It was clearly his time.

I am angry about the way he died. The pain and the cost and additional stress that he and his family were put through as a result of all of this. I can’t start picking at the motives at work here. It’s more systemic than that. The system failed him. Failed to listen to his wishes. Failed to look at the whole person. Failed to ask if this thing should be done, only if it could be done.

It’s a reminder why this needs to change.  And a reminder that we need to do better.

Farewell, Craig. I’m gonna miss you, man.

By Casey Hansen, Front-end Developer

It is no secret that Web sites such as Facebook and Twitter are changing the way we communicate online. Rather than relying on email, we now spend time finding friends on Facebook and typing message we can squeeze into 140 characters on Twitter. Communications are changing, which opens up a new set of avenues for you to reach your visitors.

Integrating social media into your Web site’s design is an integral part of making the delicate dance of site visitor relations work. If you want people to respect your Facebook page, for example, it needs to fit with your overall Web presence. There are several ways you can help people  get involved with your social media efforts and many of them are related to your Web site design. Let’s take a look…

• Widgets and badges – Both Facebook and Twitter (and a host of other social media sites) offer the ability to put a miniature version of your profile on your Web site. These profiles are branded and give authenticity and immediate recognition to the fact that you are an active member of a popular social media site.
• Location – Location of the information about your social media involvement can make a huge difference in how visitors respond. Center your design around your social media efforts, instead of making it an afterthought in the footer.
• Use social media to your advantage – Some people hardly use email. Many young users utilize Facebook or Twitter messages as their primary means of communication. This should underscore the ability of your social media presence to become a real line of communication directly to the visitors of your site. Consider connecting your content updates on the Web site with the power of Facebook and Twitter to communicate the latest and greatest on your site.
• Keep it relevant – In addition to design and content on your site, consider the quality of the messages you are distributing through social media. Don’t bombard followers with self-serving messages. Become a recognized expert in your industry within the social media community.

It would seem like enough to just throw a new badge or icon on your page and call it good. Placement is definitely key – it’s how visitors first find your social media efforts, and then participate if they feel it’s worth their time. Consideration should be given to how Twitter and Facebook can enhance your current Web site from a design standpoint so that everything marches in harmony.

Remember: social media is great, and that’s why most of the world uses it. It’s how your entire social media strategy – design included – will make your Web site stand out and allow you to reap the benefits!

By Ben Dillon, Vice President, & eHealth Evangelist

By now, you’ve likely heard of Twitter.  Although most online-connected people have heard of it, I find the majority don’t really know what Twitter is or frankly don’t understand the attraction.

This doesn’t surprise me.  I was one of them.

I’ve known about Twitter and had toyed with it a few times.  Several friends and coworkers are avid Tweeters and I could quickly find out how their day was going or the incredible challenge they faced as they picked a dinner entrée.  They tweeted about the trivial aspects of daily life, and while these people are important to me, I admit I had a hard time getting up the energy to care.

When Twitter created the concept of microblogging, this was essentially what they had in mind.  It was a platform that allowed you to share the details of your day with those you care about … and do it conveniently and on the go through 140 character text messages that can be sent by cell if not in front of a computer.

Personally, I don’t think my life is exciting enough to burden others with such details.

But somewhere along the way, Twitter made a turn.  It became more than a platform for connecting with a few friends.  Instead, it started to become one big, messy, multi-million person conversation with the ability to build networks.  Big networks.  Fast.

And in that process, Twitter exploded.  More than 70% of Twitter users joined the site in the first half of 2009 .  The number of applications running against the underlying Twitter platform seems to be growing nearly as fast, building added capabilities for searching, managing the flow of Tweets, managing people you follow, posting, auto-responding, and finding people of interest.

And it was within this timeframe that I entered the Twitter fray.  I began by listening and occasionally retweeting (taking others’ tweets and forwarding them to my network with acknowledgement given to the original source).  I found a few people to follow and by listening to what they had to say, I found others who were interesting.  And as I retweeted them, other people found me.

And here’s where I made my critical error in Twitter network management.  I read everything I could find on Twitter etiquette and the consensus is that you should follow those who follow you.  This is, of course, the opinion of the many active tweeters who are trying to build their networks – and bigger networks are always better.  The easiest way to build a network is to follow anyone you can find in the hopes that they follow you.  In fact, there are dozens of tools that do little more than follow tweeters who follow you, and un-follow those you follow who do not reciprocate. 

So, after following nearly 1700 people and being followed by 1400, my twitter management was out of control.  Even with the help of sophisticated tools like Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Mixero (which aid in watching Tweets and sorting them into groups), I couldn’t keep up with the interesting information due to the general level of noise.    

In other words, I missed the basic concept of embracing quality over quantity.

So I’ve begun to look carefully at the people I’m following.  Many are organizations and individuals in which I’m truly interested: hospitals, eHealth thought leaders, entrepreneurs, business people whom I respect, people who tweet in their role as a patient or patient advocate, and, of course, I also follow a few people that I know in real life.  Unfortunately, however, many of the people I’ve been following don’t care what I have to say and are people I likely won’t talk with.

So now I’m sorting through the list of those I follow.  As with most aspects of my Twitter usage, Twitter.com’s tools are nearly useless for the task.  Instead, I am using woefully immature tools, such as TweetSum.com and Tweepler.com, which are designed for the task.  I’ve also set up Twimailer.com to help me manage new followers by providing information that allows me to make better decisions about them from the onset.

It will take me weeks to get the list where I want it, but already, I’m better able to manage the task before me.  Newsworthy items are thrown in front of me 24×7 and I’m much better prepared to find those of interest.

And I’ll periodically post about how my twitter use has evolved and show good examples that I’ve seen, particularly amongst healthcare organizations.

And if you have great examples that you’d like to share, post it on this blog or follow me on Twitter.com/benatgeo and tell me all about them!

By Eric Engelmann, President & CEO

Nine years ago, Genesis Health System in Davenport, Iowa, took a chance and hired Geonetric to implement a newfangled “Content Management System” with a series of applications designed specifically for hospitals.

Since then, Genesis and Geonetric have done some amazing work together. Here are some highlights:

• Launched two complete redesigns,
• Created one of the nation’s first bariatric patient blogs,
• Put urgent care wait times on the Web site,
• Constructed an advanced policy and procedures system, and
• Developed a comprehensive intranet.

The goal has been to keep Genesis ahead of its competitors, and the long standing relationship between Geonetric and Genesis has made this possible.

Yesterday,  however, the results of our relationship became even clearer: Genesis went live with the first release of our VitalSite Patient Portal Edition that features our most advanced Web-based pre-registration process, secure messaging, and eNewsletter integration. This foundation will be leveraged for significant new capabilities in the future.

Geonetric is built upon strong relationships with our clients – in fact, we’ve never lost a client. These relationships give our clients important advantages:

• Our clients are pushing the envelope: Working together, we challenge our clients to try new things – and they push us to explore new ideas. While many hospitals today are evaluating “Web site redesigns” and “Content Management Systems,” Geonetric and our clients are leading the way into the next stage of eHealth.
• Our clients never stagnate: We’re constantly implementing new technologies and new strategies with our clients – they’re never relegated to “Help Desk” status, as many of our competitors seem to do.
• Our clients share ideas: The clients that are attracted to Geonetric bring a desire to innovate, and together they share ideas and learn what works and what doesn’t.

Geonetric is a 10-year old company, and for the next 10 years, we’ll continue to advance. The Patient Portal release with Genesis is but the first salvo in an aggressive push to revolutionize eHealth by connecting providers and patients in new and valuable ways .

By Angie Brunow, Senior Project Manager

Yesterday was an exciting day at Geonetric. After months of work from our product team, client service team, and really all employees at Geonetric, we launched a new Web site for Genesis Health System with the newest version of our VitalSite Patient Portal. It’s the first site we’ve launched with our advanced portal and we’re thrilled to introduce it.

The new Genesis Web site focuses on the user experience. To reinforce this, they named their portal My Genesis. It allows visitors to:

• Log in securely to the portal from any page on the Web site.
• Create a personal profile.
• Pre-register for upcoming visits for themselves or a relative (for example, spouse, child parent) and save the information. Site visitors can pre-fill new forms with their profile information to save time. And they can save Web site forms and return later to complete them.
• Securely email Genesis Health System with questions.
• Subscribe to an eNewsletter that sends them information on topics of their choice. At any time, they can modify their eNewsletter profile.

Improvements to Genesis’s Web site also included specific patient stories, and a lot of health information and interactive tools. This is the just the first phase of Genesis’ new site. There are many more feature coming in the near future so make sure to visit often. You can also connect with Genesis on Facebook , Twitter or the YouTube channel.

We couldn’t be happier with the go-live process yesterday. It was a very smooth go-live, with no issues related to the portal. It takes a lot of work from a lot of people to be have a successful launch and it was truly a company-wide effort. Thank you!

Please check out Genesis’s new Web site and create a portal account. We’d love to hear what you think.

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

The Internet has fundamentally changed the way we do things.  Take buying a car, for example.  You can get loads of information about a given car model: service histories, user ratings, and what other people are actually paying for the car.  This information empowers consumers .  In negotiations, information disparity is the greatest tool available.  Taking that advantage away from the dealer fundamentally changes their bargaining position.

Much of the talk about the potential of bringing pricing transparency together with consumerism in healthcare is directed precisely at this goal.  How do we put consumers in a position to make more economical healthcare choices?  Arm them with information about costs!

A service called the Healthcare Blue Book aims to do just that (with thanks to Chris Bevolo for making me aware of this).  The auto analogy is clearly visible in their name, and the concept is there.  Find a procedure, provide your zip code and tada!, you get a price.

There are two twists here that make this interesting.  First, this isn’t the price that any individual doctor or hospital charges – it’s a derived “…payment amount that many high-quality providers accept as payment in full.”  And unlike other pricing tools, it provides A VALUE, not a range of possibilities.  In other words, it is truly intended to be used as a blue book price for negotiation purposes.

The second twist is that they take this one small step further with a printable detailed pricing agreement for the purpose of facilitating a negotiation discussion and providing a way to get a committment from your provider proactively.

I find the concept fascinating and yet I see some flaws as well:

• Can consumers correctly translate amongst the many variations on a procedure or treatment to be armed with the correct information?
• Medicine is not a commodity because people are not commodities.  Your body may impact the complexity of a procedure. How do you factor that in?
• Are all providers really the same?  Clearly not (although I must admit that higher costs often bear little connection to better care).
• What happens when a procedure changes mid-stream?

It’s not perfect.  It is, however, an interesting addition to the growing pool of experiments to make health consumerism meaningful.

What do you think?  Is this a sign of the future?  If so, is your organization prepared to handle your end of the negotiation?

By Eric George, eBusiness Strategist

Geonetric recently organized a co-ed softball team – GeoSluggers – and the start of our season wasn’t pretty.  The rust build-up on everyone was quite heavy.  You could call it a comedy of errors during our first and only practice: bad throws, dropped balls, scrapes, bruises, etc., plagued everyone as we tried to get our softball legs under us.  It looked like it was going to be a very long season for the softball team.  Our fearless leader, Kevin Reiter, was doing all he could to rally the troops and get us all on the same page while remaining patient with many of us who hadn’t thrown a ball, for some, in years.

The next day many of the Sluggers were complaining of pulled muscles, sore feet, you name it.  Personally, I had not used my 35 year-old body in that manner for quite some time.  My legs were killing me and my feet had blisters from wearing soccer shoes that I used during my college football days back in the mid 1990’s.  In the time between my football days up to now, those shoes had been rented out to spiders.  It was time to splurge and buy a pair of acceptable shoes that my feet would not sue me for later on.

Unfortunately, the pain continued both on and off the field as a result of our first game.  We were beaten pretty badly, but it was certainly not due to a lack of effort.  I ended up pulling my hamstring, as did Blayne Fielder, and Linda Barnes came away with a nasty arm bruise from fielding a hard grounder.  It was fun playing again and we all had a good time, even in a losing effort.  My wife had a great time afterwards ribbing me for pulling a muscle.  She has reminded me since the day we were married that I am not 16 anymore and can’t do the things I used to.  No man likes to hear that and I’m always out to prove her wrong, though I always end up paying for it.  I think next time I won’t tell her when (and I stress when) I get hurt.  I’ll just grit my teeth and bare it.  If I end up in a cast, I’ll just claim it was a cruel practical joke.

My, how things can change in just a week or two.  The next week we came out and found ourselves down early in our game.  However, after a big rally, things fell into place and we won.  I forgot how much fun winning is and it certainly helps any physical pain not seem as bad.  Between our hitting and fielding everyone played great.  For only the briefest of moments we even felt like professionals.  I began looking around for the pro scouts and agents in the sea of humanity that was watching our game (about seven) but none were to be found.  I thought for sure ESPN would be there, but to no avail.

The next week, we were short-handed and had only nine players in the field as opposed to 10, which the rules allow.  Again we found ourselves down early, but no one gave up and we rallied for a 12-8 victory.  It was awesome to watch the teamwork and see the encouragement that went on.  No matter what the result was of a particular play, everyone was there to pick each other up.

It’s very exciting to work at a company where physical activity is encouraged and you get to share it with your co-workers.  It’s amazing how much you can learn about someone when they step into the batter’s box.  I would encourage everyone nearby to come cheer on the GeoSluggers and see what great softball is all about.  Heck, we need extra folks from time to time so grab a bat and take a few cuts.  Yes, there’s a chance you may end up sore later on, but it is well worth it.

By Carol Doser, Senior Project Manager

We just unveiled the new Southern Regional Health System Web site. Why has this redesign been so exciting?

• This redesign, from the onset, was viewed as a strategic partnership to change the overall brand/perception of Southern Regional and was truly a collaborative effort between the Southern Regional and Geonetric teams.  Both parties were fully engaged and brought to the table creativity, enthusiasm, cooperation and a let’s-get-it-done attitude.  The end result is a rich, contemporary color palette and a very user-friendly design interface. In addition, multi-media players present technological advances made at Southern Regional.

• The new site truly embraces sophistication, technology and innovation.  It’s great when you have one of the above … but to have all of the above makes this extra special.
• The site showcases clear and concise content—need I say more?  The content that Southern Regional provided was presented with a patient story focus to personalize the Web experience.
• The navigation is easy to use—each landing page was designed with the end user in mind.  From the  terminology to the layout of the content, users can easily navigate the site to learn more about Southern Regional, send an electronic cheer card, view baby photos, learn about bariatric surgery, or search for a job.
• We incorporated Healthbreak videos into the redesign, which were produced by Southern Regional to provide extensive health information.  The videos focus on specific service areas and provide detailed descriptions of procedures along with physician interviews. 

Going live today is viewed more like the kickoff by Southern Regional … sure we have a great start, but from here we are tasked with and will continue to make the site even better.  I can’t wait to get started!

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

Every now and then, I have one of those days and frustration is at the center of it.  Often, that frustration is due to the pace of change in the communications industry.

“But wait,” you say, “the Internet is moving so fast that we can barely keep up!  For goodness sakes, we’re on Web X.0 now!”

Somewhere, someone has moved on to that.  Amongst mainstream organizations (and particularly in healthcare), however, we’re still nibbling at the edges of the Web, social media, etc.  We’re using some of the tools, but few have really embraced the changes that underlie this.

I am usually unable to express my frustrations with this coherently.  I can’t get across why this driving me up the wall … why this matters so much.

Brian Solis has put out the best execution of the rant that I’ve always wanted to pull together in his post The State of PR, Marketing, and Communications: You are the Future.  It’s a true rant and painfully long as a blog post, but it’s well worth reading.  The focus is slanted a tad toward the PR side of the house, but the lessons here are good ones for us to take to heart.

By Deb Rolfes, Market Development Strategist at Geonetric

Sticking with its tradition of supporting our community, Geonetric assembled a team of dedicated members to a cause that means so much to me. I lost my mom to cancer and  I miss her.   As a way to stay close to her and honor her memory, I started volunteering on the steering committee of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Linn County. This year when asked to be a co-chair of the event, I said, “yes.” I knew the only way I could do it is with the support of Geonetric’s team! We had 15 members that showed up in the rain to do their part in the fight against cancer. I would like to recognize some of Team Geonetric that went above and beyond the call when asked.

First, our Team Captain, Kristen Everett set an aggressive goal of $2,500. If we could raise $2,500 our team would be recognized as a “Bronze” level team. Geonetric had not attempted this before. But she set out a plan that would help us achieve our goal. We had fundraisers, like “Fighting cancer one bag at a time,” by selling better-than-movie-theater popcorn, spaghetti lunches, May baskets, donuts on National Donut Day, and vending machines treats in the break rooms. Our team raised over $3,000 – and the bronze placard is currently displayed proudly on Geonetric’s front lawn!

Matt Hacker volunteered to sing during the Luminaria Ceremony. Luminaria Ceremony is a truly moving experience as the event pauses to Remember all those that have lost their battle with cancer. Typically the lighting of the Luminaria bags is the most moving aspect of this ceremony. This year,  Matt’s powerful rendition of Josh Grobin’s “You Raise Me Up” was the part that was so special.

Our Anne Ohrt also stepped up! Anne leads the LaSalle Middle School Show Choir. They, along with the jazz band, agreed to perform Saturday morning leading up to the Survivor celebration. When asked (just a week prior to the event) to sing at the Survivor Celebration for the survivor’s Victory Lap she said “YES!” Anne quickly selected songs to play on the piano and sing. Her performance of “Wind Beneath Our Wings” touched our survivors and many shed tears of joy to Celebrate another year of survivorship!

The rain started falling an hour before the event was to start but that didn’t stop Team Geonetric! Our team was armed with rain coats, umbrellas – even extra pairs of socks and shoes – whatever it took to make sure someone was on the track at all times representing our Relay team. Even in the middle of the night, Eric Engelmann walked with his umbrella in the rain and Andrea Lehew ran in the rain.  Dawn Cooper and her husband, Dan, hung in there when we thought the rain would end any minute. Matt Youngblut won the iron man award for logging over 20 miles with three pairs of shoes and was an inspiration for the entire event! Linda, Andrea, Gordie, Sandra, Debbie and Kristen Marion and Kristen Everett … WE DID IT!

Lastly I would like to thank Nicole Simon who was not only on Team Geonetric but was also chair of the Entertainment Committee. Her planning over the past numerous months paid off, and even as the rain came, the bands kept spirits high and participants had a funky beat to walk to. Thank you for your constant support during event preparations! I am lucky to know such an amazing person!

Geonetric along with 100 other teams raised $284,000 by stepping up and doing their part to make Relay the great success it is! Together this past weekend, we took time to Celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer. We witnessed the strength of survivors who inspire us to continue to fight.  We Remember loved ones lost to this disease, and learn how each of us can Fight Back against cancer.

Thank you Team Geonetric.