Maryland Hospital Association

The Challenge

Maryland Hospital Association (MHA) is an advocating body for Maryland hospitals, health systems, and their patients before legislative and regulatory groups. Its membership is comprised of community and teaching hospitals, health systems, specialty hospitals, veteran’s hospitals, and long-term care facilities. MHA was concerned that their two separate websites were preventing users from finding information they needed in a timely manner and that the information contained in both sites was disorganized. In order to increase utilization, MHA required a solution that would unify both websites into one seamless presence, offer them better ability to manage their site and content, and deliver an efficient yet engaging site visitor experience.

The Objectives

Serving information to one audience through two websites was an overwhelming source of business pain for MHA. An overarching goal for MHA is to be the one-stop informational resource for people in a time of crisis. The inefficiency of two separate websites was a hindrance and the main driver prompting the revamp of their web presence. Their main goals were:

• Consolidate MHAonline.org and MDHospitals.org into a single website that has one voice with multiple expressions;
• Implement a consistent organizational structure for all information throughout the site, making it easy for visitors to locate information quickly;
• Create a dynamic Media Center housing the latest advisories and press releases, and assuring the press and media that MHA delivers up-to-the-minute information;
• Implement a solution that limits the need for IT staff to be involved with ongoing site and content adjustments.

The Solution

MHA chose Bridgeline, not only for our extensive experience developing proven web solutions for leading healthcare organizations, but also for our ability to provide a deeply integrated web application that delivers the toolset and features necessary to successfully revamp the positioning of their web presence.

The Bridgeline team began with the implementation of iAPPS Content Manager. This powerful, end-to-end web content management solution unified MHA’s two disparate websites into one, seamless site. Bridgeline was also tasked with taking the information contained in both sites and optimizing its reorganization in such a way as to be both intuitively presented and easy to locate for site visitors.

To optimize the performance of the new website and better understand site visitor behavior, MHA opted for iAPPS Analytics. Fully-integrated with Content Manager, iAPPS Analytics enables MHA to deliver engaging and relevant content at all times with real-time reporting on actual site user behavior.

The Results

Bridgeline now provides the ongoing managed services for the newly revamped and consolidated MHA website in its state-of-the-art SaaS hosting environment. Through the deep integration of iAPPS Content Manager and iAPPS Analytics, the new website consistently delivers the most persuasive and engaging content.

One of the many advantages MHA has experienced over their previous web content management platform is the significant reduction of time and effort required by their staff to support the site. Content contributors now benefit from an easy-to-use interface that empowers them to create and manage content more efficiently than ever before.

Thanks to the implementation of a seamless navigational layout and efficient taxonomy structure, MHA site visitors are able to quickly and easily discover the information they are looking for. MHA target audiences also benefit from a more streamlined and improved member signup and login process.

The deeply-integrated solution from Bridgeline has provided MHA with a vehicle for communicating with their members more effectively and efficiently – and a web presence that will drive users to visit again and again.