Artificial intelligence. Whether you’re having an internal marketing discussion, attending a conference, or simply reading the news, AI is an inescapable topic.

We frequently discuss artificial intelligence with our clients as they ask how it can fit into their marketing efforts — if it even can, legally. In such a highly regulated industry as healthcare, is it possible to use AI without violating HIPAA guidelines or jeopardizing patient trust?

Let’s set the record straight: we’re big fans of these tools and how they can help streamline SEO and content marketing workflows. But since this technology is still in its early stages, we’re cautious about how we use AI tools, and ensure there are internal policies in place about what information we can provide to get the responses we’re looking for.

That being said, there are plenty of ways you can use AI at your organization to help boost your SEO efforts and take some of the more tedious content tasks off of your plate. Let’s take a look at how AI tools can play a role in your day-to-day content marketing and SEO tactics.

Topical & SEO research

One of our top pieces of advice for healthcare organizations looking to incorporate AI into their SEO and content activities is to treat AI like a research assistant or editorial sidekick as opposed to a tool to produce finished work such as a colleague or other trusted employee.

AI is fantastic for generating ideas or lists for things like campaign ideas, key phrases, ways to format certain pieces of content, or topics important to your target audiences. You can also use AI to identify common patient or audience questions, providing multiple perspectives on the messages you’re trying to send and the best ways to address them. For example, if you want to build a frequently asked question section about a particular service line, utilize AI to brainstorm a list of questions a patient may have vs. the questions a caregiver or family member would ask. 

SEO support

While we’re on the topic of SEO research, it’s important to note that the information your AI tool returns may not reflect real-time searches. While the keyphrases you get back from a brainstorming prompt may not be the right ones for your organization, AI is still a valuable tool for getting the ball rolling and thinking about the terms people are searching for related to your niche. 

Content ideas & outlines

Once you’ve built out your list of ideas and chosen the topic you want to write about, AI can also help you create an outline to guide you through the writing process.

If you’re drafting something like a location page or provider profiles, you can ask what information should be on each of the pages. By prompting the AI tool to think like a website visitor, you can determine what people are looking for when they visit a specific page or what kind of consumers are looking at the kind of content you’re writing. 

The resulting outline should give you a good idea of the content types you’ll want to include on each of these pages to make them as effective as possible for both search engines and human visitors.

Repackaging & restyling 

Let’s say you have a piece of content that was originally written with one audience in mind but now needs a bit of sprucing up in the voice and tone departments. Perhaps you’ve updated your editorial voice as part of a brand refresh, or you need a new version of the content that’s geared toward family members instead of the patient.

By inputting your content into your AI tool and asking it to rewrite it to your specifications, you can get a head start on drafting content that’s updated to match the style you’re looking for. Of course, we always suggest checking your AI tool’s work — this technology isn’t perfect, but it’s a time-effective way to get started.

AI is also handy for repackaging existing content for new channels. Have a longer article you need summed up in an Instagram caption? How about a blog post you want summarized for a more professional audience on LinkedIn? With AI, you can spend more time thinking up new content and less time optimizing what you already have for cross-channel promotion.

Proofreading & editing

If you’ve hit a bit of writer’s block or have some pre-written content that needs punching up, AI can assist there as well. Just input your content into the tool, and it can help you refine your word choices, tweak it to be more engaging, find spelling or grammar errors, suggest revisions so it’s more in line with your brand, and even identify issues with the overall flow. 

Visual suggestions

One of our favorite ways to use AI is to help produce ideas to visually represent complex or abstract topics. 

For example, if you explain the content you need an image for, AI can come up with an art direction for your stock photos, or suggestions on how to visualize the data in the form of an infographic. 

Analyzing data

Speaking of data, this is another arena where AI truly shines. If you have a boatload of data that needs sifting through (notes from 20 hours of user testing, thousands of patient survey responses, etc.), AI can help you identify patterns or pull out information like quotes that can be useful in your marketing program.

Your data would have to be anonymized to stay HIPAA compliant (more on that in a bit), but even without personally identifiable information, AI can help you make sense of your data in record time.    

Writing formulaic content

AI is also beneficial when it comes to writing the formulaic, essential content that your site needs to function and rank on search engines — especially if it’s repetitive content you don’t necessarily feel like writing over and over.

You can use AI to write or outline things like meta descriptions, provider bios, instructions or tool tips, page headlines, and other low-stakes copy that serves as signposts guiding visitors through the site vs. marketing-driven content. 

Proceed with caution 

As we’ve mentioned, this technology isn’t quite perfect. There are a few things to keep in mind as you begin incorporating it into your SEO and content workflows.

Identifiable data

If you don’t know the right kind of data to use in your prompts, your use of AI tools may end up being a liability for your organization instead of a benefit. 

One essential part of the “art” of using AI is understanding how to get the answers you’re looking for without using private information in your prompt. 

You can avoid this by anonymizing the data and information you’re feeding to your AI tools and taking extra precautions like removing your brand name and being wary of giving it too much information that can identify your organization, employees, or patients.

Standing apart from low-quality AI content

With the explosion of AI tools in content marketing, there’s suddenly a sea of bland, SEO-optimized, AI-generated healthcare content that makes it difficult for providers to break through the noise and impact their SEO ratings. 

The good news is that quality AI-generated content is achievable by creating original content tailored to a specific audience and following basic SEO principles. 

Remember, AI shouldn’t be creating your full drafts or long-form content — that’s what other organizations are doing to crank out piles of uninspiring, generic content. Use AI for the brainstorming, outlining, and proofreading steps of your content workflow, but keep the majority of the writing and editing tasks with you and your team.

Keep it human & authentic

That sea of bland, boring, and obviously AI-generated content that’s formed over the last few years solely exists for one thing: to get eyeballs on advertising content.  We frequently hear concerns from clients worried about how easy and fast it is for people to create content with AI, it doesn’t feel worth prioritizing content that stands out from the crowd.

Thankfully, Google still values useful, helpful, and authentic content designed by humans for humans — not search engines. While Google does not automatically detect and rank AI content lower than human-created content, its existing spam filters can detect when a website is simply churning out a stream of AI content automatically in an attempt to influence search engine rankings.

Keep this in mind if thoughts ever start to creep up that using AI for your SEO content is somehow “cheating.” If you were plugging in a generic prompt for an SEO blog post, copying what your AI tool gave you, and publishing it straight to your site, sure. But by taking precautions to make sure AI is just used as a tool to boost your content efforts and replace a human writer, you can keep your authentic brand voice front and center as you create SEO content to help reach your goals. 

What’s next?

For more guidance on how you can use artificial intelliengence in creating SEO website content, check out our blog post on the do’s and don’ts for AI in healthcare.

If you’re interested in incorporating artificial intelliengence into your SEO efforts but aren’t sure where to start, contact our team today to learn how we’re using AI to create engaging, effective, and authentic healthcare content. 

Our Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends Survey, now in its 12th edition since 2005, provides a snapshot of how healthcare organizations across the United States manage their marketing programs in the face of new technology, updated regulations, and changing consumer desires. 

As with any trend, our survey recognizes there are some organizations that find it challenging, for various reasons, to adopt the latest and greatest in marketing tactics. 

On the other hand, some respondents adapt to new trends and technology quickly, investing in them early on and using them to their advantage as soon as possible. 

We funnel these early adopters and self-identified marketing trend-setters into our Leaders category, the organizations paving the way for what will become commonplace in healthcare marketing in the coming years. 

Aside from their self-reported scores, what sets Leader organizations apart from their Average and Laggard counterparts? And, perhaps more importantly, how can you leverage their prowess to find marketing success at your organization? 

In this article, we dive into the strategies that take the teams in our Leaders category to the next level, and how you can put them to work to reach your own goals.  

What’s holding healthcare organizations back? 

Before we dig into the trends and tips demonstrated by our Leader organizations, let’s recognize the hurdles that often hold the Average and Laggard groups back. These include: 

• Shrinking or shifting budgets 
• Ongoing staffing challenges 
• Digital platform capabilities 
• Other organizational barriers 

If your marketing efforts are hampered by one or more of these factors, don’t worry —Leader organizations didn’t get where they are overnight. It takes time to build a robust marketing strategy that delivers the results you’re looking for.  

Even if you can start putting one or two of these tips into practice, you’re taking the first steps on your journey to healthcare marketing success. Here are a few of the things Leader organizations prioritize, and how you can start implenting them at your organization: 

1. Invest in digital media

As you probably could guess, our Leader organizations invest a great deal more in their digital marketing efforts than organizations in the Average or Laggard category — Leaders invested $1.8 million in digital media, per our survey results. 

But it isn’t just a matter of having more money in your marketing budget. Leader organizations allocate a larger portion of their budget to digital marketing initiatives. Organizations in our Laggard category spent just one-third of their budget on digital media initiatives, compared to Leader organizations, which put nearly half of their budget toward digital media. 

What does this mean for you? Regardless of your organization’s size (or your marketing budget), investing in digital over traditional media is the right choice. Our Leaders reported spending 37% more on digital initiatives today than they did in 2021, so if you’ve been waiting for a sign to start focusing more of your marketing budget on digital, this is it.  

By our next survey, your organization may be one of our Leaders enjoying the benefits of digital media, such as: 

• Adapting and adjusting your marketing program quickly 
•  Reaching a wider audience 
• Targeting your audience by demographic 
• Increasing patient, employee, and job candidate engagement 
• Reducing conversion costs 
• Generating easily measurable results 

By emphasizing digital media, you can reach your audience where they’re most often looking for information: online. 

2. Establish a multichannel presence

More than 90% of our Leader organizations reported that they’re at least somewhat satisfied with their ability to create and manage content across multiple channels, including web, social media and email.  

Across all three categories, at least 20% of organizations we surveyed feel very satisfied with their multichannel results, which is a positive sign that putting the time and effort into a multichannel presence is worth it no matter where your organization is on its marketing journey. 

By creating and distributing content through a variety of digital channels, you can reach new audiences of prospective patients and employees you may not have been able to connect with before.  

If you’re looking for a low-stakes place to start, our Leaders responded that they especially feel good about their social media programs. Posting more regularly on social media or being more strategic with the type of content you post will give you an easy and low-cost way to communicate updates about your organization, answer patients’ questions, and tell your story through images, infographics and video. 

Which brings us to another area where our Leaders report feeling confident… 

3. Tell your story through video

Our survey results showed that video production is gaining momentum in the healthcare industry — and our Leader organizations are at the forefront of this cinematic surge. 

Video is an engaging, dynamic way to provide information to people visiting your site and tell your story visually instead of just relying on content. Whether you’re sharing patient stories, employee spotlights, a welcome message, a facility tour, or other video content, investing in some video production is a fantastic way to take your content marketing to the next level.  

4. Connect through social media

Our Leader organizations also reported feeling positive about their social media programs’ performance.  

If you’re not regularly updating your social media pages, you’re missing out on a key opportunity to foster communication between your organization and patients, visitors, and prospective employees. Not only does social media offer you a direct channel to interact with your consumers, but it also provides another platform where you can share blog posts, company news, videos and more. 

5. Keep your website current and fresh

A robust content marketing program isn’t worth much without a visually engaging, easy-to-navigate website to go along with it. 

This year’s installment of our survey saw overall interest in website redesigns on the rise after a few years of web efforts stalling out while healthcare organizations grappled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Organizations in our Leader category, as you might expect, feel less pressure to redesign their sites now since they either recently completed a redesign (23.1%) or are content with their website performance for the time being (48.7%).  

When it comes to the platform their website is built on, Leaders were also most likely to have recently re-platformed (17.9%), compared to just 5.1% of Laggards..  

If you’re one of the organizations that put web design and platform updates on hold due to cost or staffing restraints caused by the pandemic, it’s possible you’re still not quite at the point where you can launch a full website redesign and platform update.  

If that’s the case, there are some initiatives you can pursue (depending on the capabilities of your platform) to help make your website more engaging and accessible without the cost of a full redesign and re-platforming: 

• Mobile apps: Our Leaders are either creating mobile apps in-house or outsourcing the creation of apps that provide another way to guide patients and visitors to the information they’re looking for. While custom apps aren’t typically high on our non-Leaders’ list of marketing priorities, those organizations that can afford them see tremendous value for consumers. 
• Health content: Take a page from our Leaders’ playbook and make your website’s blog or content section a go-to source for wellness information and brand journalism catering to current and prospective patients alike. 
• CRM: One way our Leaders are making the most of their marketing dollars while addressing recent HIPAA constraints is by optimizing their customer relationship management (CRM) software and automation to focus on strengthening relationships with existing customers. 
• Communication features: Having an online chat, call center integration, and online care navigation to help visitors find what they’re looking for are website features we saw gain a ton of momentum in this year’s survey results. 
• Single Sign-On: SSO is another “nice-to-have” feature that requires ongoing maintenance and investment but can go a long way in creating secure digital experiences for patients. 

By introducing these features to your website, you can ensure it stays a valuable tool for your audience without diving into a full redesign. 

6. Create personalized experiences

Thirty-seven percent of our Leader organizations have implemented a web personalization program to create custom experiences for consumers. That’s compared to just 10% of Average organizations, and 0% of Laggard organizations. 

If your organization hasn’t pursued any sort of personalization program before, now is the time. Personalizing your visitors’ web experiences can provide an incredible return on investment, helping patients make more informed health decisions, strengthening your brand loyalty, and improving consumer satisfaction. 

7. Be strategic with your staffing

Staffing is another area hit hard by the pandemic, especially for smaller organizations where the resources to employ a full marketing staff just aren’t there. 

Our survey results found that Leader organizations employ twice as many digital marketing professionals as their Average counterparts and two and a half as many as Laggard organizations. 

If you don’t have the resources for full-time employees, outsourcing is another option that can help you stretch your marketing dollars a bit further. Our Leader respondents outsource 10% more than Laggards and use that outsourced labor to help fill in the gaps for projects like developing mobile apps, web hosting, and search engine optimization.  

8. Measure your results

No matter where you are on your digital marketing journey, perhaps the most crucial piece of advice we can give is to track analytics to help you demonstrate the success of our efforts. 

Our results found that Leaders are typically better at showing the outcomes of their efforts across the goals tracked in the survey compared to their Average and Laggard counterparts.  

For more information, check out our post on the role digital analytics plays in healthcare marketing. 

Want to see what else our Leader organizations are doing to set themselves apart?

Check out our full 2024 Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends Survey eBook for more Leader insights and full results from this year’s survey. 

Need an expert partner on your healthcare marketing journey?

If you’re ready to begin your journey to become a healthcare marketing Leader but need help figuring out where to start, Geonetric is here to help. Our team has 25 years of experience helping healthcare organizations like yours innovate and evolve their marketing programs to respond to changes in regulations, technology, and consumer preferences. 

Geonetric has helped healthcare organizations across the country launch more than 500 websites and intranets and transform their content marketing programs to generate more conversions and strengthen patient connections. Contact us today to get started! 

Real-life narratives help your health system build relationships with prospective patients, job candidates, donors and other members of your community.

Let’s explore the differences between the two types of communication and see where storytelling can supplement your marketing efforts. 

Marketing: The Science of Influence

Marketing is overtly promotional.
It pushes out messages your organization creates or approves to persuade audiences to:

• Schedule an appointment
• Apply for a job
• Make a donation
• Become a hospice volunteer
• Do other tasks that benefit your health system

 
Audiences’ openness to marketing varies depending on their current needs, mood and familiarity with your brand.

Storytelling: The Art of Empathy

Compared to marketing, storytelling is less overtly promotional. Its primary goal isn’t to drive conversions, but to inspire, inform, or entertain audiences. Everyone, from children to senior citizens, loves a good story. The movie, TV and book-publishing industries exist because this ancient art form touches something fundamental in human nature. Stories come from your target audiences’ neighbors, coworkers, friends and loved ones and satisfy our innate curiosity about other people. Authentic, well-told stories foster an emotional connection to your brand.

How to Use Stories

So, where do stories fit into your communications strategy? Consider these examples.

Strengthen Ties to Your Community

Patient stories help build relationships at a time when confidence in healthcare organizations is spotty. Americans’ trust in healthcare companies ranges from just 50% to 70%, depending on their race and political affiliation, according to a 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer report [PDF]. But think of the times you and your loved ones have asked each other to recommend a provider, clinic or treatment option. You trust that people in your position (fellow patients) have your best interests at heart. As a communications professional, you can put this principle of social proof to work by highlighting healthcare consumers’ positive encounters with your organization.

Bronson Healthcare did so by using VitalSite functionality to create a content hub called Bronson Positivity. It features thousands of submissions that came directly from patients and families. By publishing full names and leaving these stories in the writers’ own words, Bronson Healthcare gives the stories a high level of credibility. They’ve received tens of thousands of views in the past year, thanks to the health system’s strategic promotion of the hub and strong community interest.

In addition to building trust and boosting site traffic, stories have a powerful role to play in patient education. Research shows they can help increase kidney donations, reduce fears about childbirth and help women retain information about breastfeeding. Informed, empowered patients are exactly who your health system wants.

Recruit Job Candidates

Maybe your health system’s careers webpages already feature employee testimonials that give a quick sales pitch about your workplace. These positive employee reviews are crucial for recruitment. However, you can enrich your content by supplementing quotes and soundbites with stories that give tangible examples of how your organization helped team members overcome challenges.

Could nurses on a certain unit describe how your hospital gave them the resources and freedom to innovate in ways that improved patient care or staff satisfaction? Perhaps a department came together to support a colleague in need after an accident. Or maybe you can find a junior team member who achieved professional success thanks to an exceptional mentor or role model.  

Employee stories accounted for more than half the traffic to Cape Cod Healthcare’s careers content in 2023. The organization has published dozens of “Meet Our Team” webpages, each with a video that features several minutes of commentary from a team member. Viewers get to learn about key moments in these clinicians’ professional and personal lives. The engaging profiles give a face to Cape Cod Healthcare, humanizing its brand and making it relatable to a wide range of job seekers.

Encourage Donations

Studies have shown donors give more when thinking of a specific, identifiable recipient rather than anonymous, statistical groups. You can take advantage of this phenomenon. Share the stories of community members whose lives improved thanks to the generosity of your health system’s benefactors.

Avera Foundation did this by publishing the inspiring story of a baby who’s enjoying good health after receiving neonatal intensive care at Avera Health. The #GivingTuesday Facebook post was shared 509 times, creating valuable free publicity for the organization.

Key Features of Every Good Narrative

Regardless of the topic or target audience, you can craft a compelling story by including these elements:

• Characterization – Relatable people are at the heart of any good story. Tell us a little about the personal lives and motivations of the patient, caregiver, team member or other “main character.” Readers or viewers should be able to sympathize with them and see them evolve throughout the narrative.
• Conflict – The people in your story must face and overcome a challenge. Maybe they’re seeking a diagnosis for mysterious symptoms, trying to find specialized care or searching for a meaningful career.
• Plot – The series of events should have a clear structure. A strong plot keeps your audience invested and eager to know what happens next.

Story Formats

Depending on your resources and the availability of the people in your story, you may choose to write a profile, make a video or record a podcast. Each format has advantages.

Written Narratives

Text content is accessible to a wide range of audiences, including people who have slow internet connections or use screen readers to navigate the web. Written copy is keyword-rich and easily searchable, making it likely to turn up in organic search results.

Podcasts

Podcasts provide another layer of authenticity and connection to your organization by allowing an audience to hear a storyteller’s voice. They’re an excellent option for conversations and interviews. Audio-only formats also offer a convenient choice for multitaskers because people can listen while commuting, exercising or doing other activities.

Videos

Videos combine visual and auditory elements, making them highly engaging. They’re perhaps the best option for humanizing your brand and introducing audiences to the people of your health system. Just be sure to use a video player that provides or allows captions for accessibility.

Want Help Getting Started?

Adding stories to your site doesn’t have to involve extensive design, development time or flashy new tools. The task could be as simple as creating a few webpages. But if you’re dreaming bigger, contact Geonetric for creative solutions for leveraging VitalSite, a healthcare content management system that offers a dynamic content hub designed for storytelling and other types of content marketing.

Regardless of your software, Geonetric’s content strategists, writers, SEO specialists and other digital marketing experts are ready to help you engage your audiences. Reach out today to start telling your story!

The world of healthcare marketing is constantly changing, with new technologies, regulations, and patient expectations developing on what feels like a daily basis. So, how are healthcare organizations weathering the storm?

In the 12th edition of our Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends Survey, we pulled back the curtain to look at how more than 200 healthcare organizations and vendors across the United States feel their marketing efforts are going. 

From the Leader organizations rolling with the punches and seeing tremendous results from their digital media investments to the Laggards still waiting for their marketing budgets to return to pre-pandemic levels, our survey captures a valuable snapshot of the state of healthcare marketing. 

Download our eBook to see how your efforts compare with other healthcare providers, and what tactics you should consider prioritizing to help your organization reach its marketing goals. Who knows — with this valuable information, you may end up as one of our marketing Leaders in a future edition of the survey!

In digital healthcare marketing, maintaining both safety and compliance for your website isn’t just important — it’s essential. At the heart of this lies the often-overlooked aspect: script management. This article is crafted to guide healthcare marketing mavens through the tools and techniques required to evaluate scripts on their website and ensure they align with industry safety standards.

Essential Tools for Script Management

Monitoring and managing scripts on your website can be more efficient with the right tools.

We recommend:

• Google Tag Manager (GTM): A pivotal tool, GTM provides a consolidated platform to deploy, oversee, and modify tracking scripts. It allows an organization to manage most scripts in a single unified space, helping eliminate scattered scripts embedded across multiple webpages or within content systems.
• Microsoft Excel: Automation is your friend. Using Excel or its alternatives can help in organizing, filtering, and understanding the script data, particularly when integrated with tools.

Identifying Scripts

Once you have the right tools in place, it’s time to identify the scripts on your website. Many organizations are amazed by the volume of scripts running on their site when we provide script assessments, but a few adjustments to your internal governance can go a long way to preventing compliance issues and script bloat in the future.

Identifying the scripts on your site requires a systematic approach:

• Leverage Browser Developer Tools: For a more granular look, tap into your browser’s built-in developer tools. The ‘Network’ tab offers a real-time view of all scripts triggering upon site load.
• Inspect Google Tag Manager: Periodic checks in GTM, or similar platforms, are crucial to ensure scripts stay updated and the redundant ones are discarded.

Managing Scripts for Compliance

Once scripts are identified, the next step involves vetting them for safety and compliance:

• Scrutinize Privacy Policies: Evaluate third-party script privacy policies. Reputable vendors will transparently outline their data handling and privacy practices. Understand the distinction between ‘user’ (your organization) and ‘end-user’ (site visitor) to grasp data collection nuances.
• Probe Data Collection Mechanisms: Determine the nature of data harvested by each script, emphasizing alignment with HIPAA and other regulations.
• Secure Business Associate Agreements (BAAs): Any script processing protected health information (PHI) necessitates a BAA, detailing the vendor’s PHI protection responsibilities.
  Consistently Refresh and Eliminate Scripts: An ongoing regimen of script updating ensures a site stays both lean and compliant.

Now that we have a better understanding of the role scripts play in your overall site health, functionality, and compliance, let’s look at a few common issues and how to address them.

Common Scripting Hurdles (And How to Overcome Them)

We get it; while diving into the scripting world, there are often some bumps along the road. These obstacles can sometimes feel like they’re playing a game of hide-and-seek.

We’ve highlighted a few common pain points and solutions to help you overcome them:

1. Understanding User Privacy Concerns
   With the new HHS guidance making waves, it can feel like you’re navigating a maze when it comes to user privacy concerns. The Fix? Stay informed. Regularly check in with the HHS updates, and perhaps even consider setting up alerts or subscribing to newsletters. Knowledge is power.
2. Educating Stakeholders on Scripts
   It’s not just about understanding scripts yourself; it’s also about ensuring everyone else in the room is on the same page. The Fix? Host regular training sessions or workshops. Break down the complexities, use relatable examples, and create a shared space where questions are welcomed. When everyone’s clued in, decision-making becomes a breeze.
3. Reducing Tech Debt & Boosting Site Health
   Over time, outdated scripts can accumulate, causing tech debt and affecting the health of your site. The Fix? Set aside dedicated “clean-up” days. Regularly review and prune unnecessary scripts, keeping your site lean, mean, and in pristine condition.
4. Taking Ownership of Site Governance
   Managing scripts isn’t a one-time affair; it’s an ongoing commitment. The Fix? Create a governance playbook. Outline responsibilities, set review timelines, and ensure there’s a clear protocol in place for adding or removing scripts.

While these hurdles might seem daunting at first glance, with the right strategies in your toolkit, they’re entirely manageable. Remember, every challenge is just an opportunity in disguise. Embrace it, and watch your site thrive!

The Bottom Line

It’s undeniable— script management is important for any healthcare website, ensuring it’s not only compliant but also trustworthy. Our suite of services, from script assessments to the Geonetric Privacy Filter, ensure you’re never alone in navigating this complex landscape. We’re here to transform potential challenges into formidable strengths.

The Invaluable Role of the DXP in Healthcare

Once upon a time, legacy management software was the go-to for medical environments. And while they served their purpose, today’s rapidly advancing tech scene makes them look, well, a bit outdated.

Fixing issues on these older systems often feels like putting a temporary patch on a tire. It works for now, but it’s not a long-term solution.

Technology is nudging healthcare towards a digital revolution, one that emphasizes flexibility and responsiveness for everyone involved. In this article, we’ll journey through the perks of swapping out the old with the new, and how it can make a world of difference for both patients and healthcare professionals.

But first, before we venture too far into the weeds, let’s discuss the DXP basics.

What is a DXP?

A Digital Experience Platform, commonly referred to as a DXP, is a sophisticated digital management tool that maintains interactions across various digital channels, including content management, online shopping, and user personalization.

This platform has evolved from the more traditional web content systems, seamlessly addressing every stage of the digital customer journey — from content inception to its deployment and subsequent refinements. The advantage? It allows marketers to efficiently handle data and improve user experiences, letting them focus more on customer engagement and less on the nitty-gritty of digital management.

In essence, a DXP offers a consolidated platform to shape, oversee and refine digital pathways. As our world becomes more digitized, it’s increasingly essential for businesses to ensure coherent and high-quality digital interactions for their audience.

How Does a DXP Work in Healthcare?

In healthcare, digital experience platforms are not just about hosting content or managing transactions; they’re about creating holistic, unified digital experiences for patients, providers and staff.

To truly grasp a DXP’s potential in the healthcare space, let’s take a look at a few key features:

• APIs & Integrations: Recognizing that healthcare demands specialized tools, top-tier DXPs are equipped with open architectures and flexible APIs. This facilitates easy integrations with specialized medical software and ensures comprehensive patient care.
• Asset Management: Beyond patient records, DXPs simplify the handling of digital assets like medical images, videos and audio files. Thanks to cloud technology, they adapt swiftly to the diverse needs of healthcare professionals.
• Commerce Capabilities: For healthcare providers who offer online services, DXPs streamline the process of setting up digital storefronts for consultations, managing payments and tracking appointments.
• Content Management: Patient education is crucial in healthcare. Through DXPs, medical content can be managed and delivered consistently across various channels, from informational blogs to health apps or patient portals.
• Customer Relationship Building: In healthcare, this translates to patient relationship management. With the capability to track patient data, DXPs aim to cultivate lasting, trust-based relationships, tailoring experiences for every individual.
• Deep Insights & Analytics: Healthcare decisions need to be evidence-based. DXPs employ big data analysis, offering real-time insights into patient behaviors and needs, ensuring proactive care and intervention.
• Experimentation: Innovations in healthcare must be approached with caution. DXPs empower medical professionals to test new content or tools, refining patient experiences based on real-world feedback and evidence
• Personalization & Automation: Personalized patient care is the essence of modern healthcare. By analyzing patient data and preferences, DXPs can curate individualized healthcare experiences. The best part? Much of this can be automated, leading to consistent, tailored patient care.

As the healthcare sector continues to embrace technology, DXPs will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in crafting more personalized, efficient and impactful patient journeys.

Benefits of a DXP for Healthcare

DXPs can help healthcare organizations increase patient engagement and maximize patient retention by streamlining operations. Rather than using several platforms to perform a bevy of multifaceted tasks and workflows, a DXP can boil a lot of this overhead into one centralized hub.

To illustrate, let’s dig into the tangible benefits of integrating these platforms:

• Adapting to Current Innovations: DXPs allow healthcare institutions to stay agile, adapting to the ever-evolving technological landscape. These platforms harness the latest digital tools, ensuring that healthcare services remain innovative and ahead of the curve.
• Enhanced Patient Experience: At the heart of any healthcare service is the patient. DXPs offer an enriched, user-centric experience, making healthcare journeys intuitive, transparent and patient-focused. They transform complex processes into simplified digital interactions.
• Efficient Processes and Protocols: Administrative tasks, from patient check-ins to medical history updates, become remarkably streamlined with DXPs. This efficiency translates to patients spending less time on paperwork and more time focusing on their health.
• Empowering the Medical Staff: With DXPs, healthcare professionals can manage their tasks more efficiently, ensuring patients experience reduced wait times and receive more attentive care. The platform’s intuitive features allow for quicker access to vital patient information and more effective communication among staff.
• Integration of Electronic Health Records (EHR): A central feature of many DXPs, EHRs ensure that patient data is both secure and readily accessible. These digital databases empower medical professionals to make timely, informed decisions, enhancing patient care quality.
• Streamlined Medical Billing Systems: Financial operations, particularly billing, can be intricate in the healthcare sector. DXPs simplify and expedite these processes, promoting transparency and ensuring that institutions maintain a steady revenue flow.

Incorporating a healthcare DXP is not just about digitization; it’s about optimizing the entire spectrum of healthcare interactions. Through the confluence of technology and patient care, DXPs promise a healthcare future marked by efficiency, adaptability and a heightened patient-provider relationship.

Embracing Modern Digital Healthcare Services: The Legacy Software Hurdle

But, if DXPs are so beneficial, why haven’t more healthcare orgs climbed aboard? The answer is simple: their data is tied up in legacy systems.

From an era defined by stacks of paper forms, laborious data input, and unhurried information transfers, healthcare technology has burgeoned into a modern spectacle featuring telehealth innovations, advanced wearable health monitors, expansive cloud-based data repositories, and cutting-edge cybersecurity protocols.

Legacy systems just can’t keep up. Outdated platforms struggle with interoperability, lack seamless data exchange capabilities, and often demand patches merely to remain operational. It’s common for different hospital departments to maintain distinct IT systems and databases, obstructing integration and patient data sharing.

To break this down for more clarity, overreliance on legacy systems in the post-COVID landscape can lead to:

• Data Silos in Healthcare: While legacy systems might demonstrate a degree of resilience, they woefully underperform in areas of modern functionality and interconnectedness. These platforms typically function within isolated data “silos,” constricting the free flow of information and hindering collaboration between healthcare professionals. Such data compartmentalization reduces cost efficiency, hampers care quality, and frequently leads to redundant services. While some might advocate for middleware solutions to bridge these silos, such makeshift approaches are ill-equipped to manage the surge of real-time data intrinsic to today’s digital health ecosystems.
• The Waning Support Dilemma: Another challenge is the dwindling support for these systems. Legacy platforms can be notoriously tricky to maintain and evolve, primarily since the original experts might have moved on, retired or simply forgotten the nuances. Newer staff, unfamiliar with these older systems, are left grappling with their intricacies.
• Mounting Maintenance Costs: Re-educating developers about these legacy platforms only inflates operational expenses. Some might argue for rewriting the legacy codebase. While this sounds promising, it’s fraught with challenges, from diverting critical resources to the potential pitfalls of missing undocumented, niche functionalities, leading to flawed code outputs.
• Mismatch with Contemporary Digital Tools: As healthcare institutions strive to stay abreast of technological advancements, they often discover that their legacy backbones are ill-equipped for modern integrations. Consider the rising popularity of chatbots, AI-driven assistants revolutionizing patient interactions. Market Research Future highlights that 52% of patients now access health information via these chatbots. However, many dated systems lack the architecture to incorporate such innovations, leaving institutions at a competitive disadvantage.
• The Daunting Cybersecurity Landscape: The healthcare domain, rich with sensitive data, becomes an enticing target for cyber malefactors. Legacy systems exacerbate this vulnerability. Their outdated security protocols often resist modern patches, leaving them susceptible to a myriad of cyber threats.

To truly harness the potential of digital healthcare and meet patient expectations, institutions must acknowledge and address the challenges posed by legacy software. It’s not merely about keeping pace; it’s about shaping a secure, efficient and patient-centric future.

The Differences Between a CMS, WEM and a DXP

Before we get into what you should look for in a DXP, it’s very important to understand the distinction between DXPs and other content management systems. For instance, many organizations depend on a Content Management System (CMS) primarily to organize and manage their website content, handling tasks from editorial oversight to user administration. It’s a foundational tool that supports a solid digital presence.

Web Experience Management (WEM), on the other hand, takes this concept a step further. While it retains the core functionalities of a CMS, its emphasis is on delivering a more personalized web experience to users. For healthcare organizations, this might mean tailoring portal content based on patient data and preferences.

Then there’s the DXP. This system is a comprehensive tool designed to offer tailored experiences across various digital touchpoints, considering multiple languages and geographies.

Although there’s some overlap in what these platforms offer, their unique capabilities can often complement one another. So, it’s common for organizations to adopt a combination of one or more of these systems. As the digital landscape becomes more intricate, understanding the nuances between platforms like CMS, WEM and DXP is valuable. It ensures that organizations make informed decisions that align with their goals.

Ultimately, the transition from relying mainly on a CMS to integrating a DXP signifies a shift from focusing solely on content to prioritizing user-centric experiences across multiple channels.

Why You Should Consider a DXP for Healthcare

Organizations that focus on digital experiences gain a competitive edge in their respective markets, for one very important reason: the market is changing.

A revealing report by PYMNTS pointed out that about 68% of millennials and younger generations prefer accessing their medical histories online. With another 60% of patients beginning their healthcare journey online, the average patient nowadays anticipates a smooth digital experience akin to what they get from other online platforms.

For healthcare entities venturing into the digital space, it’s important to remember that a comprehensive transformation isn’t mandatory from the outset. Initiatives like enhancing the homepage or offering an intuitive service directory can be beneficial starting points.

However, for organizations aiming to provide a cohesive digital experience, considering advanced tools like a DXP might be the next logical step.

What to Consider When Choosing a Healthcare DXP

Navigating the digital health landscape requires a keen understanding of the tools and platforms that best serve an organization’s unique needs. Just as patient care is individualized, so should be the approach to selecting the right digital solutions for healthcare providers.

Here’s a guide to help healthcare organizations make informed decisions in this crucial area:

• Align Your Requirements with Your Goals
  Every institution has distinct challenges and objectives. It might be tempting to adopt the latest technologies, but it’s crucial to discern which features align with your specific goals. For instance, do you need immediate telehealth integration, or is it a feature to consider in the future? Prioritize based on current necessities and potential future expansions.
• Consult with Industry Analysts
  Healthcare, being a specialized field, benefits immensely from domain-specific insights. Analyst firms such as Gartner and Forrester provide rankings tailored to healthcare digital solutions. These can be instrumental in guiding your research and ensuring your choices are backed by expert opinions.
• Dive Deep into References
  Healthcare is diverse, and a solution perfect for a general hospital might not suit a specialized clinic. When seeking references, ask for case studies that reflect your type of healthcare institution. Vendors who provide success stories relevant to your specific healthcare niche can more likely cater to your needs.
• Evaluate Vendor Ecosystems in Healthcare
  Software platforms should integrate seamlessly, ensuring patient data flows smoothly and securely between systems. Explore the software’s compatibility with other healthcare platforms, its user community, and its available documentation. Certain platforms may even offer integrations tailored for healthcare applications.
• Stand Firm in Your Choices
  Whether it’s patient data security, telehealth quality or support for specialized services, it’s essential to select a vendor that meets all your criteria. If you feel you’re being pushed to sacrifice a critical aspect, consider revisiting your options.

Arming yourself with the right information and prioritizing based on genuine needs ensures that the chosen digital solution serves both the healthcare provider and its patients efficiently.

Leveraging Expertise for a Seamless DXP Migration

While understanding the principles of choosing the right technology is crucial, the execution of migrating data and systems to a DXP can be a daunting task, especially for major healthcare organizations that handle vast amounts of sensitive patient data.
Here’s where a specialized software solution or service provider becomes indispensable:

• Deep Domain Knowledge: A specialized provider brings a deep understanding of healthcare nuances, ensuring the DXP solution is tailored to specific needs, from patient confidentiality to regulatory compliance.
• Experience in Data Migration: Data integrity is paramount in healthcare. With the seasoned expertise of a provider, there’s assurance in the safe and accurate transfer of patient records, clinical data and other vital information without loss or breaches.
• Scalability and Futureproofing: As healthcare continues to evolve, a DXP solution should too. A professional service provider ensures not just a smooth migration but also sets the stage for future expansions and integrations.
• Reduced Operational Downtime: Transition periods can often disrupt regular operations. However, with the expertise of a dedicated provider, healthcare organizations can expect minimal interruptions, ensuring continuous patient care.
• Post-Migration Support: The journey doesn’t end after migration. There’s a need for continuous support, troubleshooting and updates, which a specialized provider is equipped to offer.

Given the intricacies involved, partnering with a seasoned player in the space becomes a strategic move. Geonetric, the driving force behind more than 500 hospital websites and intranets, stands as a beacon in this domain. With a track record of excellence and a commitment to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, Geonetric is eager to assist your organization in realizing its maximum potential in today’s digital healthcare landscape. Contact us today!

In the fast-paced world of healthcare marketing, making connections that count is like piecing together a puzzle. Imagine having the ability to send messages that truly hit home, guiding patients toward the care they need, exactly when they need it.

This is where patient personas can be a valuable tool. In this article, we’re unwrapping the concept of patient personas to show you how they can transform your healthcare marketing game.

Cracking the Persona Code

Ever wondered why some messages resonate deeply while others fall flat? Or how to explain medical jargon in a way that clicks with your patients? These questions can be the difference between a marketing hit or miss.

The concept of developing personas isn’t anything new. Industries like eCommerce and fintech have long curated personalized online journeys for their clients and customers. The reason is simple — effective marketing is all about timing. The ability to reach a customer at just the right moment, right when they need or are looking for your services, is an incredibly powerful incentive to choose your services over the competition.

Now, let’s dive into how this concept translates within the realm of healthcare.

Why Are Patient Personas So Essential for Healthcare?

Patient personas enable you to aim your marketing efforts directly at the heart of your intended audience. By understanding the distinct needs, preferences and behaviors of different patient types, you can tailor your messages to resonate deeply.

Beyond this, patient personas can:

• Build Meaningful Connections Healthcare isn’t just about treatments; it’s about building relationships. Patient personas help you forge connections by crafting messages that feel personal. When patients sense that you understand their unique needs, it fosters trust.
• Improve Efficiency in Resource Allocation Patient personas empower you to allocate your resources more effectively. Instead of casting a wide net and hoping for the best, you can concentrate your efforts where they matter most. This not only saves time and money but also enhances your results.
• Boost Patient Engagement In today’s cluttered digital landscape, attention spans are limited. Patient personas guide you in delivering relevant content that grabs attention and keeps patients engaged. When your message resonates, patients are more likely to take action.
• Drive Conversions and Growth When patients feel a strong resonance with your messaging, they are more inclined to take the next step— whether it’s scheduling an appointment, seeking a consultation, or sharing your content with others.

Crafting Your Persona Story: Step by Step

Building a patient persona is like charting a roadmap that guides you directly to patients’ needs and preferences. It ensures your services align seamlessly with their expectations, fostering meaningful connections and successful engagements.

Let’s break down the process:

1. Assemble Your Audience Think about the patients you’d like to connect with through your marketing campaigns – the ones who benefit the most from what you offer. Take note of what they have in common: age, job, health concerns, what worries them, and what lights them up.
2. Breathe Life into Characters Consider giving each patient a name and a mini bio. It’s like creating characters in a story, each with their own quirks and needs.
3. See Things from Their Perspective Put yourself in their shoes. Understand what drives them, what keeps them awake at night, and what they value most when it comes to healthcare. This perspective offers invaluable insights.
4. Crafting Your Persona Blueprint Now, let’s weave together the traits of all your personas. These common threads are the foundation for creating messages that truly resonate with your patients.

Armed with personas, you’re like a tailor crafting custom suits. Your messages go beyond generic communication; they speak personally, spark conversations and motivate patients to act.

Geonetric Can Help

If you’re curious about boosting your online presence and making the most of your digital strategy, we’ve got your back! Geonetric is the digital engine behind 500+ healthcare websites and intranets.

We can help you create patient personas that not only drive conversions but also foster meaningful patient connections. Contact us today!

Staying updated on content trends is an easy way to maximize your content’s performance. From the coming AI backlash to the rise of voice search, make sure you’re prepared for changes in the industry.

There never seems to be a dull moment when it comes to new trends in the digital and content marketing landscape. Staying updated on content trends is an easy way to maximize your content’s performance. From the coming AI backlash to the rise of voice search, make sure you’re prepared for changes in the industry.

You’ll want to keep these tips in mind while designing new content or optimizing previously published content to keep it relevant and fresh.

1. It’s Still All About AI:
   AI-generated content and content tools have been top-of-mind across many industries, and healthcare is no exception.

   Recent polling shows 76% of marketers use generative AI for basic content creation, and that number is likely to grow. That same wave of new AI content is slated to continue throughout the next year.

   Whether you’re using Jasper, ChatGPT, or something else, make sure you understand how to use these powerful content tools to their full potential for the best results. Learning to use your AI tool effectively while preserving an authentic brand voice is key when it comes to making your content work for you.

2. Humanize Your Content:
   For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. And there sure has been some AI action lately! Some experts predict that the shine of AI will start to wear off. The overuse of AI-generated content has led to a saturated industry that may cause backlash from audiences.

   What does that mean for you? It means you have an excellent opportunity to capitalize on the growing number of people who crave online authenticity. Sources a reader can trust may be few and far between in a sea of AI-written copy and attaching a real face to your piece can do a lot to increase engagement and trust.

   A lot of industries use influencers to achieve authenticity but that’s not recommended for healthcare. In lieu of working with an influencer, consider centering the human aspect of your organization’s offerings. Featuring patient stories and centering the voices of actual individuals can help readers connect with your content.

   Patient success stories, provider features, and video content highlighting staff are just a few excellent ways to add a human touch to your digital presence. In a sea of machine-generated content, let people connect with the human side of your organization.

3. The Rise of Voice Search
   Voice search is one of the fastest-growing search trends of recent years and is expected to continue growing in popularity. More and more users search for content by asking Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Google Voice, or other search functions for what they need. Voice search keywords differ from traditional keywords, which means traditional SEO optimization may not be enough. You need to optimize your content specifically for voice search, mimicking the casual way people speak when using search.
4. Overcoming Keyword Competition:
   Another side effect of the AI content deluge is increased keyword search volume and competition. Niche content offers a simple way to reach your audience without competing with the growing number of similar results. It may feel counterintuitive, but choosing less popular keywords can net you a higher search ranking.

   Now is an excellent time to add location-specific keywords to your content. Not only will you attract more local conversions but location-optimized content creates a built-in niche that gives you a SERP advantage.

5. Cluster Your Content
   Want to keep your readers on-page longer, increase your click-through rates, and maximize conversion opportunities? Content clusters, or a group of related content topics, are an organic way to keep readers on your site throughout their search journey. When writing content, put yourself in your readers’ shoes. What are they most likely to ask after reading your blog, article, or service-line page?

   If a user is looking up information about lung cancer, chances are they’ll want information on treatments soon after. If someone is searching for content about the causes of dry skin, they’ll probably appreciate an easy-to-find article on eczema. A patient seeking content on drug trial work has a high chance of looking for trial opportunities near them.

   By spoon-feeding readers the answers to their next query using crosslinks or suggested content, you offer a better user experience and enjoy better KPIs. The end goal is to make it as easy as possible for users to find all the answers in one place. Anticipating your readers’ needs and questions your readers will have benefits you and your audience.

Need Help Incorporating These Trends into Your Marketing Program?

Wondering how to stay on top of these trends and include them as a valuable part of your content marketing toolbelt this year and beyond? When you work with Geonetric, our team of content professionals and digital marketers do the heavy lifting for you with content marketing know-how and the latest industry insights. Connect with us today to supercharge your content marketing efforts!

Crafting a personalized healthcare marketing strategy while following Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules needs careful planning. It’s crucial to respect the privacy of the information users provide. Effective personalized experiences can also consider where users come from, what time they visit, if they come back, and where they’re located.

Follow these 10 tips to get you started.

1. Get Permission: Before delving into any patient’s health details for marketing, informed consent is essential. Offer a comprehensive explanation of why you’re collecting their data and how you will use it. This ensures patients are comfortable with what they’re agreeing to.
2. Limit the Data You Record: Uphold the ‘Minimum Necessary’ principle set by HIPAA. This principle advocates collecting only the essential data required for your marketing purposes. You ensure compliance and minimize potential vulnerabilities by narrowing down the data collection scope.
3. Secure Incoming Data: Handle all user-provided information as if it were gold, meaning you must protect it. Use robust encryption and stringent security measures to safeguard against data breaches and maintain its integrity throughout its lifecycle.
4. Be Transparent: Build and foster trust by articulating how you will use user information. This should encompass the type of communications they can expect, how often they’ll hear from you, and via which channels.
5. Provide Easy Opt-Outs: No one likes feeling trapped. Give patients a clear, hassle-free mechanism to withdraw their consent from personalized marketing campaigns. And when they do, honor their decision without delay.
6. Prioritize Regular Training: As healthcare regulations and technologies evolve, keeping your team updated is crucial. Host regular training sessions to delve into HIPAA’s intricacies and how to ethically incorporate personalization into marketing endeavors.
7. Perform Routine Audits: It’s prudent to consistently evaluate your marketing practices to ensure they align with regulatory and evolving standards. And if you collaborate with third-party entities, establish they uphold these rigorous compliance norms, too.
8. Avoid Over Personalization: There’s a fine line between being relevant and appearing invasive. While personal touches can enhance communication, going overboard can alienate patients. Always aim for a balance with a data-driven and goal-oriented approach.
9. De-Identify Data: When you can, use data that doesn’t directly identify an individual; this tactic provides a buffer, ensuring you don’t inadvertently reveal patient details while still allowing you to convey your core message.
10. Feedback Mechanisms: Create channels for open conversations with patients. By gathering their input on your marketing tactics, you can refine your strategy and make sure it remains effective and respectful.

Ultimately, the art of healthcare marketing lies in intertwining touchpoints with steadfast compliance adherence. This balancing act is not just about meeting legal requirements; it’s about cherishing and nurturing the profound trust patients instill in their healthcare providers.

How Geonetric & Optimizely Can Help Your Team

Navigating the digital healthcare world is complex, but the personalization path becomes clearer with Geonetric by your side. Optimizely delivers rich digital experience optimization, testing capabilities, smooth integration and innovation records that other CMS’ and digital experience platforms lack.

As the digital engine behind over 500 healthcare websites and intranets, Geonetric understands the balance between personalized patient experiences and the complexity of other products. Marketers prefer Optimizely for its ease of use in traditional and headless deployments without heavy reliance on developers. And it’s more affordable than its competitors.

Beyond technical solutions, Geonetric brings a human touch to digital engagements. If you’re ready to elevate your personalized healthcare marketing, discover the Geonetric difference today!

We’ve covered a variety of topics related to this guidance including, a general overview of the guidance, impacts to the MarTech stack, the use of Pixels for Tracking purposes, and web & digital analytics platforms. On March 18, 2024, updated guidance was released in an attempt to further clarify the intended message from HHS.

Does it clarify much? Not really. In fact, it may raise even more questions, unfortunately.

For those of you hoping for an official policy document or an exhaustive list of Q&As that provides clearer direction, you’ll be sorely disappointed. From our review, the updated guidance appears to be a modest editorial pass with some minor adjustments and other complete reversals of language. Still, it’s another in a series of tea leaves that we need to read as we attempt to interpret their regulatory intent.

There are a few updates that seem to be related to the lawsuit from AHA, Texas Hospital Association and others from 2023. And the new guidance removes some of the more problematic internal contradictions from the original guidance and tones down some of the less believable statements.

To incorporate some recognition of reality, for example, the following statement has been changed

from:

• “… when a regulated entity collects the individual’s IIHI through its website or mobile app…it is indicative that the individual has received or will receive health care services or benefits from the covered entity… and thus relates to the individual’s past, present, or future health or health care or payment for care.”

to:

• “But the mere fact that an online tracking technology connects the IP address of a user’s device (or other identifying information) with a visit to a webpage addressing specific health conditions or listing health care providers is not a sufficient combination of information to constitute IIHI if the visit to the webpage is not related to an individual’s past, present, or future health, health care, or payment for health care.”

You’re undoubtedly just as confused by this adjustment in language as you were by the original guidance release. The above changes amount to a complete reversal of viewpoint.

The updated HHS guidance continues by using “students doing research” as an example of what isn’t IIHI/PHI while other examples identify “health consumers engaging with content” as an example of what is IIHI/PHI.

We used to believe that if we didn’t know the reason a consumer was visiting a page, the fact that they were there did not constitute PHI. However, the change in December 2022 dictated that we must assume every website visitor was there in relation to current or future personal health needs, making that consumer’s information PHI. Now, the updated guidance acknowledges that consumers visit healthcare web pages for a variety of reasons, many not relating to healthcare needs current or future. Yet the guidance still fails to tell us how we translate that information into acceptable and unacceptable (or compliant and non-compliant) actions.

HHS also seems to realize that people became overly focused on IP address as an identifying attribute. IP Address has always been “on the list” but isn’t a very strong identifying attribute, thus very few digital marketers were treating it as PHI. The original guidance came as a shock to many of us as a result. The updated guidance refuses to back down on that position but has added stronger reminders that there are multiple identifiers, including “…an individual’s medical record number, home or email address, or dates of appointments, as well as an individual’s IP address or geographic location, device IDs, or any unique identifying code.”

The updated guidance seems to give more attention to the information an app or a page has vs. what information is sent to a third party through tracking technologies. This intersects with a statement added to the end of the updated guidance stating they’re prioritizing the HIPAA security rule for enforcement actions. The point? You need to first determine what information exists and its classification – is it IIHI or PHI? Then make sure that data is secured properly and not shared inappropriately. For example, a mobile app might have biometric data which then needs to be secured and not sent to Facebook.

An addition we were excited to see is a validation that it is acceptable to “…de-identify online tracking information that includes PHI and then subsequently disclose only de-identified information to tracking technology vendors that are unwilling to enter into a BAA with a regulated entity.” This is the strategy we’ve already employed with Geonetric Privacy Filter for GA4.

In the end, this updated guidance changes very little in terms of the guidance or the clarity required to implement it. We hope to see additional information throughout this year which may help HIPAA regulated entities implement mitigation strategies with greater confidence than is possible today.