Ranked among the nation’s most integrated healthcare systems, Community Health Network is Central Indiana’s leader in providing convenient access to exceptional healthcare services, where and when patients need them — in hospitals, health pavilions and doctor’s offices, as well as workplaces, schools homes and via online access. As a non-profit health system with over 200 sites of care and affiliates throughout Central Indiana, Community’s full continuum of care integrates hundreds of physicians, specialty and acute care hospitals, surgery centers, home care services, MedChecks, behavioral health and employer health services.
In early 2000, Community Health Network leadership embraced leading Web strategies by establishing what was, at that time, an uncommon group called the eBusiness team. This rapid cycle digital group brought together the skills of Web design, digital video, Web content, digital marketing and Web application development together. Specifically this eBusiness team was created to leap frog the local competition in the Internet space. Community Health Network has 10+ year history of using Internet capabilities to differentiate it as an engaging physical and virtual healthcare system, provide unique customer service and create convenient transactional services in hospital and physician office settings.
Community and the eBusiness team’s has achieved an impressive list of many “firsts” in using Internet technologies for innovative user experiences, including:
- In 2001, launching the first live online registered nurse chat that provides health information and assist consumers in triaging non acute care management in the U.S.
- In 2002, developing the first hospital system in the U.S. to internally develop and implement an ecommerce online hosptial gift shop.
- In 2003, the eBusiness team was called upon to ramp-up the organization’s nursing recruitment initiatives. The eBusiness team collaborated with nursing and the human resources department to develop and implement a first of its kind 24 x 7 chat with a nurse recruiter.
- Long before disparate system integration using Web technologies was the norm, Community was one of the first healthcare systems to custom develop an online bill payment system for inpatient stays and physician offices and online appointment scheduling via a secure portal.
- Over an eight year period the eBusiness team at Community developed the myCommunity consumer portal that provides access to members personal health record and bidirectional permission based exchange of data between the portal and the physician office EMR
- Seizing the mobile trend, Community’s eBusiness team developed the first of its kind Pillbox iPhone app in 2009. This free app was created to support patient’s tracking of their personal medication list and compliance.
- In 2010, the eBusiness team created immediate access for consumers to electronically share their medication and allergy lists with any hospital emergency department, EMS personnel or physician office anywhere in the world by using any Internet connected device, including smartphones and the patient’s myCommunity membership card.
- In 2010, anticipating the rapid growth of healthcare consumers’ desire to use mobile devices to conveniently access services, Community Health Network created the first of its kind smartphone, real time appointment scheduling for its MedCheck walk in urgent care clinics.
- In 2011, seeking to provide a more seamless continuum of care, Community developed and launched a first of its kind online HomeHealthMedical.com ecommerce store and has established one of the largest selections of DME, medical supplies, and fitness and health promotion products on the Web.
- Now in 2012, Community has a very strong social media presence for customer acquisition, brand management and service recovery. One example is the Community You Tube video channel, one of the largest of any healthcare system in the U.S.
Community Health Network has demonstrated, over a decade, commitment to the use of Internet technologies and the virtual domain to meet and exceed healthcare consumer expectations. It has been able to do so by orchestrating exceptional skills within its eBusiness team, the use of “fail fast” innovative execution of ideas and preemptively anticipating the ways that the Internet can serve both providers and consumers of healthcare.
