Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, IA uses Social Media to Invite Users to Watch the City’s First Implosion

By Angie Brunow, Senior Project Manager

Geonetric’s client Mercy Medical Center, in our very own Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is making history this weekend. In order to expedite the demolition of their Family Practice Center, and reduce the noise for their patients, they are planning the city’s first recorded implosion on February 28, 2009 at 7:30am CST. And because this is a first for Cedar Rapids, the Discovery channel will be on site to film the event for possible use on their reality-based series “The Detonators.”

Mercy is taking full advantage of all the media tools available to them for this historic event. The event details have been broadcast on local radio and television channels. You can sign up for a raffle to be the lucky one to push the button and set things off. Or maybe you just want to stop by and watch the event, which is okay too. 

For those of you who are interested in seeing the implosion, but are too far away, don’t fret. They thought of that also. There will be a live Webcast available from Mercy’s Web site or you can follow them on Twitter or Facebook. Social media networking has been a terrific way for Mercy Medical Center to reach out to people throughout their community and beyond!

Congress validates executive fears that spending money on marketing qualifies as “Idiotic Abuse”

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

And you thought your marketing department had an image problem!

Too often, businesses view marketing as a cost center and an easy target for financial cuts.  A “nice to have” capability rather than the critical business function that it truly is.  When the financial situation at an organization gets tight, most marketers are forced to justify their existence by clearly demonstrating the value they deliver.  And many of us are successfully arguing that in a downturn, continuing to market effectively can both help you weather the economic turmoil and leave you ahead of the game when things improve.

And then congress attacks Northern Trust Company for continuing its marketing!  Northern Trust, for its part, seems to get it.  The decision to continue to work to keep clients happy and attempt to attract new business was clearly evaluated and the bank is unrepentant.

And kudos to the marketing staff over there for building that kind of support from executive management.  It’s a goal for all of us to strive for.

My eHealth – Hot Health Trends for 2009

By Anne Ohrt, HR & Event Coordinator

Redbook has been magically appearing in my home mailbox over the past year.  I don’t usually have much time to read non-work related material but on a recent flight home from Las Vegas, where I had the opportunity to attend the Customer Based Marketing for Healthcare Strategists conference, I was afforded some quality magazine time. 

In the January 09 issue, Redbook identified the Hottest Health Trends for 09. Number seven on their hot list was Putting Your Health Info Out There. “Out There” meaning on the Internet and the ability for individuals to have personalized online access to medical records, flag personalized drug interactions, set up appointments, and also have online communications with preferred medical professionals. 

HIMSS President and CEO, Steve Leiber Shares Thoughts on HIT in ARRA

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

We have an economic stimulus package now and we’re all trying to figure out what’s in there and what it means. You can debate the pros and cons of the new legislation as it relates to job creation, but it’s certainly a lot of money and it’s certainly going to have a dramatic impact on healthcare IT (HIT) for the next several years.

Steve Leiber, President and CEO of HIMSS presented what we know thus far about HIT funding in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) at the Iowa HIMSS Annual Advocacy Day on Monday.

SEM vs. SEO – Two Views on the World of Search

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

The Geonetric educational Webinars are in the middle of a three month series on search.  This month, we’re focusing on Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Pay Per Click (PPC) tactics for growing targeted site traffic.  I’ve been taking some ribbing from a few coworkers as we prepare to present on SEM.

During our Webinar on organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in January, I presented some statistics from various surveys on the perception of paid search results compared to organic results.  Those statistics indicated that, on the whole, consumers find organic results more relevant and credible than paid results, were often annoyed by paid results and, for the most part, never click on paid search items.

Ouch!  Ok, I was a little harsh, but this is certainly the SEO view of the world.

“Spare” a moment for the kids.

By Anne Ohrt, Human Resources & Event Coordinator

It is a fact and a blessing that we were not all gifted with the same skills.  While I am a fairly accomplished singer, I am perhaps the world’s worst bowler.  In fact my high school friends used to take me bowling just to see the amazing feat of me throwing the ball behind myself.  I am needless to say a bit scared, but eager, to pick up the bowling ball again in order to support a cause that is near and dear to my heart.

PHR Webinar Hosted By The HIMSS eHealth SIG

By Ben Dillon, Vice President & eHealth Evangelist

I recently had the pleasure of seeing a demonstration of Google Health at a meeting that I was attending. Aside from some issues with the demonstration of connecting the account to a PHR at Beth Israel Deaconess (live demos are dangerous!), I was impressed at the progress that Google has made with their platform.

Research Uncovers User Trends

By Eric Engelmann, President & CEO

It seems our industry talks a lot about developing products with the end user in mind at all times, but that isn’t always the case.  In fact, some functionality that was intended to be user-friendly is anything but.  It’s important to us at Geonetric that the user experience is always at the forefront of our development process, and we’ve taken steps to ensure that’s the case. As we release the next generation of our VitalSite software we’re in a perfect situation to perform user experience research and have uncovered some really interesting information. 

Most recently, we focused on the Physician Directory. Too often we find that hospitals deploy physician directory applications designed primarily for internal use. For example, the data is often a simple export of credentialing data without detail to help visitors make decisions about providers, the bios lack photos, and the search criteria are complex and require familiarity with medical terminology.

In contrast, our approach is to build a module that focuses entirely on the user experience.

Crashing the Super Bowl Party

By Devendra Shrikhande, Senior Project Manager

An extremely unscientific and informal poll around the Geonetric kitchen affirms that overall, the Super Bowl commercials this year were as underwhelming as last year. However, spare a thought for the “poor” Super Bowl commercials. When you are part of a pregame hype that seems to last longer than a presidential primary, and then are inserted into the flow of some of the best Super Bowls, you will likely be reduced to the level of your lowly siblings that interrupt regular television programming.

Geonetric Lunch and Learn Session Teaches Us to Keep Investing

By Laura McClure, Controller

When it comes to money, humans are less rational than rats.  Rats presented with two levers which randomly deliver either electric shocks or food soon learn to always pick the lever that is set to deliver the most food relative to the number of shocks.  People don’t-they try to game the system.  Think slot machines (I’ll go over there because that one hasn’t paid out in awhile and it’s bound to soon).  Most of all think of the current stock market conditions.