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BUSINESS OF
MEDICINE
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tion that appears on their feeds, advising, “Share content your target of time [to research us],” Dr. de Moor said. “But we’re hoping that
audience will find valuable in its own right far more frequently than people get to know us a little bit better than they would a typical
the ‘hey, look at me’ posts.” ER doctor. We do have people that come in and say, ‘Oh, I’ve seen
you.’ They actually get to know the person who’s treating them and
Website Essentials learn a little bit more about us.”
Dr. de Moor, chief executive officer of The ER at Craig Ranch in
Mr. Rach says staff pages on medical practice websites should
McKinney, says physicians don’t have to shell out huge amounts of strike a balance between the personal and the professional.
money to meet expectations for what a medical practice website
should look like. “You definitely want credentials, such as education information,
but there also needs to be a little bit of [the] personal,” he said. “Pa-
“It doesn’t have to be a million-dollar website,” she said. “It just tients need to feel like they’re getting to know the doctor a little bit.
needs to be a little bit more functional [so it’s] something that doesn’t It makes it easier for them to see you as something more than a list
look like it came out of 1992. It needs to look clean, professional, of degrees that they don’t fully understand.”
have some information that you think patients are going to want to
know.” Patient portals on a practice website can offer online bill pay and
other features, such as access to test results. Mr. Rach says not all
In September, TMA’s Council on Practice Management Services practices have to have patient portals on their websites. Practices
voted to approve a new endorsed vendor, Officite, to assist physi- with an older, less technologically savvy patient base may not need
cians with website design, social networking, and more. (See “Mar- one, for instance. Physicians who are participating in the Centers
keting Help Is Here.”) for Medicare & Medicaid Services meaningful use program must
have a patient portal as part of their patient-engagement measures.
Kevin Rach, Officite’s marketing communications manager, says For questions about patient portals and other information related
the company stresses four basic must-have ingredients for every to health information technology (HIT), contact TMA’s HIT
medical practice’s website: Helpline at (800) 880-5720 or by email.
• It should showcase the most basic information about the practice,
Building an effective website hinges on identifying the target audi-
such as the names of the physicians, the practice’s address and ence, says Don McKenzie, Officite’s director of business development.
phone number, and ways in which someone can schedule an ap-
pointment. Officite, a new
• It should work on any device. A report by Internet research com- TMA endorsed
pany comScore showed between February 2013 and May 2014, vendor, offers
users spent 60 percent of their digital media time on smartphones
and tablets. website and
• It should be customized — for example, it should display photos Internet mar-
of the actual practice setting and staff, rather than placeholder keting services
images. “People can smell stock photos from a mile away, and for medical
they don’t like them,” Mr. Rach said. “They want to see you, they practices. Of-
want to see the care that they will be getting.” ficite helps physi-
• It should look attractive. “You don’t need to be a website fashion- cians build their web
ista by any stretch of the imagination,” Mr. Rach said. But, make presence and connect with patients.
sure your site ditches the primitive staples of the early years of the Services include website design, search
Internet, such as scrolling marquees and website hit counters. engine optimization, social networking, and
management of patients’ online practice re-
“If you look outdated on the website, then that suspicion tends views. For more information, or to learn more
to creep in about the rest of the practice,” Mr. Rach said. “That as- about discounted TMA member pricing and
sumption isn’t usually true, but it’s the kind of connection that con- packages, visit www.officite.com or call
sumers often make.” (888) 817-4010.
The ER at Craig Ranch website features physician photos, de-
tailed biographies, and a link for patient payments.
“We’re in emergency medicine, so people don’t have a whole lot
20 San Antonio Medicine • December 2016
