Conference papers

Partnerships/strategies

Partnering in creating On Line Health Information

Dr Jeffrey Langdon

Manager, Better Health Channel Department of Human Services, Victoria

The Better Health Channel is the Victorian government's health and health service channel for providing accurate and current information on line. The model adopted in developing this information has been to partner with peak health bodies drawn largely from the community sector. There are benefits and drawbacks in this approach but in the longer term the developmental model will provide the Channel with a greater sustainability. This paper outlines the approach taken and lessons learnt.

The Better Health Channel

The Better Health Channel is part of the Victorian Government's on line strategy to present government information on line through consumer-centric 'channels' as an alternative to organisation-centric Departmental websites. People can find government information by visiting channels based around consumer needs. To date there have been channels created for business, land, health, education, legal issues and tourism.

The Better Health Channel is managed by the Victorian Department of Human Services.

The Better Health Channel was developed in early 1999 and was launched in May that year. The content on the channel falls into five distinct categories:

• Health information
• Local services directory
• Calendar of health events
• Health advice from a special guest
• Health news

There are also a number of special features such as electronic postcards, health dictionary, etc.

Guiding principles

The three guiding principles for the BHC are:

• Accessibility
• Quality assurance
• Local relevance

The accessibility principle has lead to the Better Health Channel having multi-lingual capacity with navigation and some content being available in eight community languages.

The site is also designed to allow for maximum accessibility for people who use screen readers or those who want to modify font and colour choices.

Quality assurance is guaranteed by having all content that is published on the site approved by reputable health organisations and signed off by the department's Public Health Division. The immediate-past chief health officer is editor in chief and signs off all new content.

A key attribute of the Better Health Channel is its approach to content creation by developing partnerships with health sector organisations - over 100 in all. These organisations, health representation and advocacy bodies in the main, are asked to 'own' the content and review it regularly.

Partnerships

By bringing together a wide diversity of health information from many organisations the BHC acts as a portal of sorts. The information is rewritten and presented in a consistent style. In this way the user can find information from one reputable source and is able to search using the site's own search engine, returning only relevant information (unlike most search engines).

Process

When an organisation is identified as having suitable information for publication on for Better Health Channel, it is approached to become a Better Health Channel content partner. In agreeing to partner with the Better Health Channel, the content partner signs an agreement that gives the Better Health Channel a licence to utilise the information and to reformat it to suit the channel's style. A content kit given to the content partner at the beginning of the relationship explains this process.

The Better Health Channel employs an editorial manager who is responsible for all aspects of the relationship with content partners including re-formatting the information to Better Health Channel needs. In some cases this requires the employment of specialised writers or editors.

The reformatted material is presented to the content partner for approval. The editor-in-chief also then signs off the material.

When the information is published on the Better Health Channel, reference is made to the fact that the content partner has been involved in the production of and approved of the content. They also undertake to regularly review the content for currency and accuracy.

At the bottom of each article a hyperlink provides the user the opportunity to move on to the content partner's web site to 'delve deeper' into that particular subject. This is the 'portal' component of the site.

The partnering relationship is mutually advantageous. The Better Health Channel devolves the authority and breadth of its content to the peak bodies across the whole gamut of health and well being. In return the Content Provider gains access to a website/portal that will increasingly become seen as the first point of call in Victoria for authoritative health information. They get click-through traffic to their site thus assisting them in their objective of bringing their health message to their target group.

Relationship management

Despite the obvious mutual benefits mentioned above, most health sector organisations see their involvement with the Better Health Channel as a supplementary activity - secondary to their primary business objectives. This is perfectly reasonable. In encouraging such organisations to partner with the Better Health Channel, we make every effort to make the relationship fruitful for them.

As mentioned, we will reformat and in many cases create articles, and quality assure their information as part of the publication process. We do this at no cost to the organisation.

We have recently employed another staff member whose job, inter alia, is to work with Better Health Channel content partners in looking for ways to add value to the relationship. There might be opportunities arising out of the partnership for joint promotion of activities, for use of the content in third party applications, etc.

One example of this is our intention to work with the Education Department in Victoria to look at ways of incorporating Better Health Channel information into appropriate curricula at primary and secondary level.

We have tried to get Content Partners to value the relationship. For instance, each Better Health Channel content partner has been sent a certificate of appreciation and a Better Health Channel partner logo they can use on their website. These have been well received.

The Better Health Channel/content partner relationship is progressively building a stylistically consistent body of consumer health information that will be of value not just through the Better Health Channel but in other ways, some yet to be thought of.

Public access terminals

During the past year the Better Health Channel has pioneered the introduction of public access Internet terminals to health centres, hospitals and other health related locations. This pilot program has put 130 of these units out into the public domain giving clients of these centres access to health information on line. The terminals are placed in locations that are likely to have clients which don't otherwise have ready access to on line services. For instance, more than half the terminals are in rural and regional Victoria.

This public access terminal pilot program is another example of partnering at the Better Health Channel. These location partners are given a facility that adds value to the service they provide their clients.