Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Medical messaging


Amidst all the “concern from the CEO” emails I’ve been receiving around the novel coronavirus, I got one from the surgical practice that performed an operation on me a couple of years ago. This one pissed me off.


Because they made me log in to their portal to get the message that they (like airlines, retail operations, insurance companies and everyone else) are doing everything possible to avoid infecting their customers:


By “logging in” I mean I had to reset my password because it’s been so long. So they made me do all that work to receive a message that involves no HIPAA considerations.

But wait--my current orthopaedic practice goes a bridge too far. They make me log in to their portal (which is singularly craptastic as far as user expedience is concerned)...to link me to their public website for their covid19 statement.

What is wrong with these people? First rule of communications, GW Medical Faculty Associates and OrthoVirginia: don’t make your audience work to get the message.




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