HIStalk Practice 2010 Reader Survey Results

In the interest of transparency, I like to share what readers have told me. Here are some tidbits from the 2010 survey.

• The most common age range for readers is 41-50, followed by 51-60. Those groups summed up to 64% of readers.
• HIStalk Practice’s readership has a lot of industry experience, with 44% having at 20 or more years and 72% having at least 10.
• Provider employees with IT purchasing influence make up 48% of readers.
• Readers are on the site often, with 49% saying they read whenever the e-mail comes, 26% daily or more often, and 99% more often than weekly. 93% say the frequency of new posts is about right.
• While 74% of respondents get the e-mail blast when I write something new, 26% don’t. I’m a little surprised that folks read without getting the blast since that’s a sure way to be the first to know.
• For the question of the degree to which HIStalk Practice influences reader perception of companies and products, 78% said some and 17% said a lot. Five percent said none at all.
• The most valued HIStalk Practice features are (in order) news, rumors, and humor. Also popular were our Vendor Exec Questions and editorial opinions.
• I asked whether readers have a higher interest in companies mentioned in HIStalk Practice. A whopping 77% said yes.
• When asked whether readers were more interested in companies that sponsor HIStalk Practice, 37% said yes.
• I asked about HIStalk Practice’s influence on the industry. 10% said not much, 61% said some, 22% said a good bit, and 6% said a lot. If I were a vendor, I’d spin this to say that an amazing 99% of readers say HIStalk Practice influences the industry.
• Here’s a humbling statistic. To the question of whether HIStalk Practice helps you perform your job better, 85% of readers said yes.

I asked what topics I should be covering more of. Some of the themes:

• Implementation stories and case studies of practices that have implemented EMRs and other healthcare technology
• HIT beyond EMR, including business intelligence tools, revenue cycle billing, and personal health records
• ARRA, P4P, and other government incentive programs

I asked what one thing I should change. Some comments that represent major themes:

• Less opinion, more HIT information, and be more opinionated. Ah, hard to find the perfect balance of opinion versus news. Personally I think I need to express my opinion more.
• More practice IT & vendor success stories. Agreed. We are always looking for practices willing and able to share their story. Send over recommendations any time.
• Less interviews with blowhard and/or finely polished EMR company execs. From here on out we will only interview unpolished execs (satire alert). If you read an interview and believe it’s full of marketing-speak without substance, I encourage you to post a comment to let exec know. And, again, we are always looking for good candidates to interview.
• Love the vendor interview concept, but could use some more consistency. Some of them sound like ads, some only push what they want, some sounds more honest. Use your charm/skills/wiles to make them REALLY answer the questions instead of give marketing babble-talk. Maybe make them answer yes/no type of questions. You give my charm skills too much credit. Again, share those comments with the folks we interview and that situation will correct itself.
• Nothing. Ah. I need to marry this person.
• Cut down on the Flash ads. Sponsors take note.
• Redesign the Web site. A few readers mentioned this, as well as improved search capabilities. The new search engine has been installed on the site. It will scour HIStalk, HIStalk Practice, and HIStalk Mobile. At some point Mr. H and I will chat about updating the Web sites, though that sounds like a mighty big task requiring energies that we part-timers might better use on the content and not the presentation.
• None- good insights.
• Drop the rumors. The people who report them are desperate for attention and the information has little value (other than gossip) until confirmed. Clearly readers do not agree with this sentiment given that rumors are the second most popular feature of HIStalk Practice.
• I would like to put a face with the name (Inga). You might be disappointed.
• Explore complimentary vendors to EHR (Nuance, Welch Allen…) that optimize use. Great suggestion.
  Provide more discussion on who (if) practices will achieve MU $$$. I think in the next few months this will become a hotter topic.
• Nothing, Keep up the GREAT work!
• Combine HIStalk and HIStalk Practice. I think your intent was good, but I think it’s too much to keep up both and there is a lot of overlap. When we first started HIStalk Practice, we worried about the overlap issue. In reality, there are rarely more than one or two news bites each post that run on both sites, so the “informed” reader needs to peruse both sites. The advantage of splitting the information between both sites is many hospital providers have little interest in the ambulatory world and visa versus. The reader stats bear that out – HIStalk Practice has more practice-based readers, while HIStalk has more from hospitals.
• Post applicants and positions and put events on the home page. I’ll ask Mr. H if we can link to our new HIStalk Sponsor job site, as well as the events calendar.
• Shorter. OK to pack in lots of info, and I know how hard it is to be concise, but it takes too long to read some days.
• I’m a relatively new reader (have subscribed for about one year now) and sense an editorial slant toward the same HIT vendors. While your witticism and snarky comments are part of what make this blog worth reading, it would be nice to see it applied universally. If it were applied universally, then we wouldn’t be adding much value. Selective snark based on vendor performance is that we strive for.
• A little less news and a little more focus on a large issue once a week
• Love it the way it is, no changes
• You’re doing great! Don’t change a thing. Thanks for all the nice comments. It helps me get past my massive insecurities.

I then opened it up for any general comments. Here are a few representative ones:

• Kick ass, I appreciate all your effort. I write a blog and know what a PITA it is. Keep it up.
• Keep up the good healthcare reporting efforts.
• Great resource, enjoy regular updates
• Quit your day jobs. You are both really good at this.
• Stay cutting edge. Print the rumors. Give time to the naysayers as well as the PR mongers. Stay focused on patient care, employee respect, and straight forward, no BS mgmt !
• My lunch reading. I alternate between you and Mr. HIStalk. Excellent product – thank you for doing it.
• You do a great job and I appreciate your updates. They’re well-written and help me stay abreast of the industry.
• I have shared information with my team that I’ve read on HIStalk Practice and appreciate the timeliness of the information. I many times wonder how you can fit it all in with a full-time gig and have a (hopefully meaningful) relationship and balance of life.
• Uncover more about ambulatory HIT vendor revenue reporting practices.
• Thanks for your work. I truly enjoy reading your information and feel like I am better informed each day. I often send out your information to my departments to keep them informed.
• I don’t routinely read any other healthcare IT blog.
• I really like the rumors and your opinions and humor!
• I would love more detail on trends you see in the market in software and healthcare reform (not just meaningful use but outside of the normal stuff).
• Nothing more — keep up the good work.
• Nice tool for those in the industry and market, I believe it misses the MGMA-type audience that should keep tabs on much of this. I’d recommend reaching-out to them and maybe offer a weekly digest edition that they syndicate to their members.
• More firsthand accounts from private practice EHR users.
• I just absolutely adore Inga.
• Talk about men’s shoes once in a while 🙂

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.