Cultivating a Digital Culture for Effective Patient Engagement offers a strategic framework for healthcare provider websites in order to support patient engagement and connected health initiatives. Referred to as the Health Empowerment Web Strategy Index (HEWSi), the proposed framework is complemented by a detailed check list of health empowerment items organizations should incorporate into their website design.
A healthcare provider's website should be an effective resource for empowering the health of patients no matter where patients are in their digital culture evolution. The challenge for many organizations is that patient engagement/connected health initiatives are frequently developed and managed separately from the organization's digital marketing efforts. This book recognizes this disconnect and advocates for a reimaging of healthcare provider websites based on the four domains of the HEWSi strategic framework: (1) orienting; (2) enlightening; (3) aligning; and (4) personalizing. As a framework and toolkit, HEWSi helps breakdown patient engagement silos within healthcare organizations by allowing varied functional teams (marketing; web developers; patient experience staff; clinical leaders; HIM/HIS personnel; etc.) to congregate around a shared pathway for conversing, strategizing, planning, and developing an effective patient empowerment website.
About the Author: Lorren Pettit, MS, MBA has been a healthcare executive for more than thirty years, with experience in healthcare operations, corporate planning, and organizational development. Lorren began his hospital career leading the Geriatric Behavioral Health program for All Saints Health System (now operating as Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center - Fort Worth). Having then worked for some of the most renown healthcare organizations in the US, to include VHA, Inc. (now operating as Vizient, Inc.), Press Ganey Associates, and HIMSS (Health Information Management and Systems Society), Mr. Pettit is currently the CEO and Principal of GeroTrend Research, a specialized healthcare market intelligence/consulting firm focused on servicing the clinical competitive positioning performance interests of senior care providers and investors.
Lorren completed his undergraduate work at the University of Winnipeg (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada), and achieved a Master of Science in Gerontology from Baylor University (Waco, TX) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Dallas, Texas. Mr. Pettit served for a number of years as an Adjunct Faculty member at Indiana University teaching Medical Sociology, Social Marketing, and Gerontology. Mr. Pettit is co-author of two books, An Introduction to Health Information Technology in LTPAC Settings (2018) and Assessing the Value of Digital Health (2018).
