1. Introduction

1.1 Importance of structured content in healthcare organizations

In our digital age, healthcare organizations face the challenge of managing an ever-growing volume of information. As web editors and content directors, you play a crucial role in ensuring that your organization’s clinical content is accurate, accessible, and easy to find. In the highly regulated and constantly evolving healthcare industry, this can be a daunting task.

Structured content is a powerful approach to managing information, as it allows organizations to create, store, share, and last, but not least, reuse content in a consistent and organized manner. Implementing a structured content model enables healthcare organizations to improve efficiency, enhance the user experience, and maintain regulatory compliance, all while reducing the risk of errors or inconsistencies.

1.2 Objectives of the guide

This guide, “Healthcare Content Modeling 101,” aims to provide web editors and content directors with a comprehensive overview of the best practices for setting up a structured content model in their healthcare organization. The guide will cover:

• The basics of content modeling and its benefits in a healthcare setting
• Identifying required content types and defining input fields for each type
• Building synergetic content models that promote content reuse and relationships
• Implementing content models in a content management system (CMS)
• Optimizing content for search engine optimization (SEO) and accessibility
• Measuring the success of your content model and making improvements

1.3 Scope and limitations (non-sensitive data)

This guide will focus on clinical data and content commonly found on healthcare websites and apps—such as clinical guidelines, recommendations, research summaries, hearings, drug information, subsidies, news articles, event listings, and staff profiles.

We will not address sensitive information, such as patient records, personal health information (PHI), or other confidential data. For those use cases we recommend looking into established and standardized information models like HL7 FHIR.

As you follow this guide, keep in mind that every organization is unique, and your specific needs may vary. Use the principles and practices outlined in this guide as a starting point, but always consider your organization’s unique requirements, goals, and constraints when implementing a content model.