What’s your trusted source for health information on the Internet?
Cleveland Clinic hopes the answer more and more people come up with to that question is “Health Hub.”
The renowned hospital launched the Health Hub site at the end of March “with little fanfare,” but still drew 16,000 visits in April without promotion. The Clinic hopes the new site’s monthly visits reach 100,000 by the end of the year, Ragan’s Healthcare Communications News reported.
Health Hub features lots of articles, some written by Clinic experts, and videos on topics like personalized medicine, migraine headaches and tips for lowering cholesterol.
“We want to help you, the patient, separate fact from fiction and sort good science from suspect advice,” the Clinic said in a post announcing Health Hub. “We want to help you make the best decisions about your healthcare.”
Sites like Health Hub are part of a recent trend in communications in the healthcare industry, in which hospitals use news-like content as a means of brand building and connecting with patients, and hopefully filling hospital beds. Mayo Clinic offers a similar site.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“This is about furthering or enhancing the Cleveland Clinic brand,” Scott Linabarger, the Clinic’s director of digital marketing, told Ragan’s. “All of our metrics are related to that goal. We want this content to be seen or interacted with and engaged with and liked by as many people as possible.”
