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St. Alexius Wins in the e-Business Category Winners of the 2008 eHealthcare Leadership Awards were honored at the Healthcare Internet Conference in Orlando, Florida. Some 235 healthcare organizations, representing a broad industry spectrum, received recognition for their outstanding Web sites at a special presentation in Orlando on November 11 during the Twelfth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference. St. Alexius Medical Center proudly took home a silver award in the e-Business Category. Sites receiving the 2008 eHealthcare Leadership Awards were selected from more than 1,100 entries. A total of 114 individuals familiar with healthcare and the Internet judged the entries. “A growing number of healthcare organizations are clearly embracing the Web and emerging technologies,” says Mark Gothberg, eHealthcare Leadership Awards chairman. “The 2008 awards program attracted entries from a diverse range of organizations. Even after the bar for winning an award was raised, a record number of sites made the cut.” Gothberg notes that many organizations have invested in new sites or made significant improvements in their existing sites. “Such rich media forms as video, audio, blogs, and discussion groups are changing the landscape of Web sites,” he says. Investments in e-business functions continue to expand and deliver a significant, measurable value. “Two key functions are employee recruitment and physician referral,” says Gothberg. “But the really big payoff comes from the integration of service details with health content.” He adds that intranets draw considerable attention in the awards program. “The best intranets,” Gothberg reports, “have great usability, offer customization, and facilitate group collaboration.” 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 12 different categories:
Judges looked at how sites compared with others in their organization’s classification. They also reviewed sites based on a proprietary multi-point standard of Internet excellence. The best intranet site category, for example, had to pass muster on more than 60 factors. “Every year, competition is especially strong in the large hospital, healthcare system, and managed care classifications, and 2008 is no exception,” says Gothberg. Best Health/Healthcare Content, Best Site Design, and Best Overall Internet Site categories drew the most entries. There were also a large number of entries in the Best Intranet category. The eHealthcare Leadership Awards program was developed and first presented nine years ago by eHealthcare Strategy & Trends, a leading Internet resource published by Health Care Communications, Rye, NY. The Twelfth Annual Healthcare Internet Conference was sponsored by Greystone.Net, an Atlanta-based strategy firm, and StayWell Custom Communications, an Evanston, IL-based content supplier. Major sponsors of the eHealthcare Leadership Awards were Blausen Medical Communications, a Houston-based supplier of medical animation and graphics; CareTech Solutions, a Troy, MI-based supplier of turnkey products to reduce cost and improve efficiency; Coffey Communications, a Walla Walla, WA-based provider of print and online healthcare content; Element115.net, an information technology solutions company in Chicago; IGCN, an Easton, PA, firm that offers content management and interactive disease management products and services; Atlanta-based PhotoBooks, which provides physician directories and custom Web sites; Private Health News, a Cincinnati-based supplier of e-health newsletters and CRM tools; Professional Research Consultants, an Omaha, NE-based market and customer research firm; and StayWell Custom Communications, a print and Web site content supplier. Other supporters were Acsys Healthcare, Creative Change, Medseek, MedTouch, and Monigle Associates. |
