Don’t limit videos to patient education. They can introduce your practice and its philosophy, announce the opening of a satellite office, or allow satisfied patients to tell their stories. Milford (Mass.) Regional Medical Center (www.milfordregional.org), for example, began posting videos of patient testimonials on its Web site in 2008. They were a big reason why Web site traffic rose 65 percent that year, says John Owen, whose design firm, Clearpoint Communications, created the portal.

Whatever videos you post, consider uploading them to YouTube as well. Patients who come across your mini-movie there may take the next step and visit your Web site or your actual office. Or, you can first upload a video to YouTube and then post a link to it on your Web site, as Copperman does. However, you run the risk that patients who follow the link will stay at YouTube and begin playing, say, music videos.

Two years ago, a physician Web site and connectivity company called Medem addressed the problem of Internet wandering by making it possible for its physician clients to embed YouTube videos on their practice sites. That way, patients watching the videos stay put on the physician’s Web turf. Medem’s e-communication business was acquired earlier this year by a rival named Medfusion, which says it will continue to embed YouTube videos on its physician Web sites if clients request it.

Designing the Successful Web Site In the quest for practical practice Web sites, form often takes a backseat to function. Good design, however, amounts to more than window dressing. It’s more like salad dressing, making the site more consumable. Aim for ease of navigation. The Web master’s rule of thumb is that it shouldn’t take more than two or three mouse clicks to get from any one page of the site to another. Accordingly, every page of a good site should feature navigation bars with hyperlink buttons or text for the main sections, such as “Our physicians,” “Office location,” and “Contact us.” Make sure, though, that those sections are labeled in a clear, patient-friendly manner, advises Mary Pat Whaley, a practice administrator who operates a Web site called ManageMyPractice.com. “If a patient sees a button labeled ‘Resources,’ he may not realize that it stands for ‘Patient education.’” Avoid cookie-cutter designs. Many practice Web sites created with off-the-shelf templates have the interchangeable look of big-box retailers: one navigation bar running down the left hand side, and another running across the top, with the name of the practice running above it. Such tired layouts don’t do much for your brand identity. The Web site for a Massachusetts practice called Eye Health Services (http://eyehealthservices.com), however, stands out from the crowd. Navigation links and patient photos on the home page are arranged in a colorful checkerboard pattern. On subpages, navigation links shift to two quiet rows at the bottom of the screen so you never get lost. Use jazzy features when needed. Excessive animation, scrolling text, and photo slideshows can make your Web site look like a carnival, but these tools, used sparingly and intelligently, have their place. Because a Web site’s home page is valuable real estate, you naturally want to pack in as much information as possible without making it too cluttered. Slide shows made possible by Adobe Flash technology and scrolling text put more announcements and news on the screen, especially for large practices where different departments are vying for the cyber limelight, says Web designer John Owen, president of Clearpoint Communications in Brockton, Mass. Animation, he adds, comes in handy for teaching patients things like accessing their personal health record via the Web site. Don’t be afraid to go “below the fold.” Web designers used to preach the importance of putting your key information in the section of the Web site that’s initially visible on the screen and not forcing visitors to scroll “below the fold” — that is, below the bottom of the screen — to explore the Web site. It’s still important to exploit the space above the fold for all it’s worth, but Owen and other designers are now willing to place more content below the fold, given the advent of blogs and online media outlets like The New York Times. “People have gotten into the habit of scrolling down on these Web sites to find information,” says Owen.

Overlooking these communication tools?

Physician-patient communication is a standard fixture for physician Web sites, whether it’s done through a connectivity service such as Medfusion and RelayHealth, or the patient portal of an EHR program. By giving patients the ability to view a lab result, request a prescription renewal, pay a bill, or ask a medical question, physicians and staff spend less time talking on the telephone and shuffling paper.

Now it’s a just a matter of exploiting the full range of communication tools available. One you might have overlooked is the ability to conduct patient-satisfaction surveys online. With the right questions, you can perform a head-to-toe physical of your practice. Are phone calls answered promptly? Are waiting times in the reception area too long? Is the front desk staff friendly, or rude? Is the parking adequate?

The simplest way to incorporate such a survey in your site is posting it as a PDF file that patients can print out, complete, and bring to the office. For less muss and fuss, ask the company that created your Web site to build in an online questionnaire that can be electronically transmitted. Or post a link to an online survey company such as PollDaddy (www.polldaddy.com) or SurveyMonkey.com, which can query patients for you. Both companies offer free surveys, but limit the number of responses you can collect gratis to 100 per month. However, for $200 a year, you can survey up to 1,000 people per month with PollDaddy and an unlimited number with SurveyMonkey.com.

Think beyond the physician-patient relationship — your Web site can also streamline communication with other physicians, especially if you’re a specialist who depends on referrals. Both RelayHealth and Medfusion offer referral-management tools that replace the phone calls, faxes, and paper traditionally used in patient hand-offs.

Huron Gastro (www.hurongastro.com), a 15-doctor gastroenterology group in Ypsilanti, Mich., is beginning to reap efficiencies from a referral-management portal that it introduced on its Web site from Medfusion. After logging in, referring physicians complete a form detailing the reasons for the referral. If they wish, they can upload supporting documentation. The same portal allows Huron Gastro physicians to ask referring physicians for additional information and keep them apprised of the patient’s status.