Web Stats, A Bigger and Better Website, and the Future of Pediatric and Primary Care EMRs

Short Link: http://j.mp/6CYRaS

Our new website for the High-Usability EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System is just a bit more than a month old and we are pleased.

Some Recent Web Statistics

Before we published our new content I checked our search engine result position on Google and we did not appear on any of the first 10 search engine result pages (that’s 10 pages times 10 links per page). Four weeks later, for the Google search terms “pediatric” + “emr”, EncounterPRO.com moved from heavens knows where to the first page returned by Google (as of the date of this post; nothing except my crossed fingers guarantees we’ll stay there).

http://www.google.com/search?q=pediatric+emr

By the way, at this very moment we’re also on the first result page returned by Bing

http://www.bing.com/search?q=pediatric+emr

and Yahoo.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=pediatric+emr

Again, given the perverse logic of the Web, where for every action there is an opposite and unintended consequence, who knows what the effect of me even writing about this topic  here will do, or undo.

Compared to the same four weeks in 2008 our traffic is up more than threefold (not counting this blog), and our leads are up almost fivefold. During what is usually a slow month (Pediatric EMR leads and sales are cyclic), we’ve had more leads during the last four weeks (28 days) than any previous month.

A Bigger and Better Website

In 1993 I storyboarded a future EMR workflow system. I borrowed some screenshots from an existing workflow management system and replaced icons and text labels with medical content. I painted a picture of a future work environment in which non-programmers familiar with office workflow create and customize their own their own high-usability EMRs. Later I chanced upon the EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System, based on the EncounterPRO EHR Workflow Management System. Here was the EMR workflow system that I storyboarded years ago.

There are advantages and disadvantages to being so far ahead of the curve. One disadvantage is that while many people know what to expect from an EMR, they don’t know what to expect from an EMR workflow system. In fact, folks often ignore or discount “workflow system” and categorize EncounterPRO as a mere EMR. This is why I continually stress differences between traditional hunt-and-peck EMRs and anticipatory EMR workflow systems.

The basic problem is this: how to compress EncounterPRO’s unique selling proposition to a sound bite that gets past preconceived market notions and traditional EMR stereotypes. Marketing types have asked me to express in ten words or less what makes EncounterPRO different and better. I’ve replied that, unfortunately, it would take a textbook on human factors and workflow automation to first educate and then make that case.

The new 33,000 word product website (and this 60,000 word blog) *is* that textbook. However, it is a textbook that has been chopped up, illustrated, and cross-linked so as to create two mutually supporting websites. One, this blog, educates (but occasionally promotes); the other, the product site, promotes (and occasionally educates, but relies on this blog for in-depth educational exposition).

In effect, since Google (and Bing and Yahoo and other search engines) like words so much, I’ve turned a disadvantage into a disadvantage:

• Disadvantage–the inherently necessary “wordiness” of our unique selling proposition.
• Advantage–lots of useful, information-rich, pages that clearly and accurately describe our unique selling proposition (as Google’s own advise).

The Future of Pediatric and Primary Care EMRs

OK. An improved website generates improved Web stats and leads. What about the “Future of Pediatric and Primary Care EMRs” in this post’s title? To what do I refer? To EHR Workflow Management Systems, of course.

P.S. Here are our website pages in high to low order of popularity:

1. The High-Usability EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
2. Contact: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
3. Screenshots: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
4. Management: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
5. Pediatric-Specific Features of The High-Usability EncounterPRO EMR Workflow System
6. Chart Quickly: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
7. EncounterPRO Pediatric Practice Management System
8. Workflow and BPM: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
9. E-Prescribing Through Surescripts: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
10. National Awards: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
11. Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology: EncounterPRO EMR Workflow System
12. Health Information Exchange: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
13. Rollout & Go-Live SYSTEM: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
14. High-Usability: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System
15. Blog: EncounterPRO Pediatric EMR Workflow System

Thank you for your interest!