New ACOEM Website that Responds to Needs of Diverse Membership

New ACOEM Website that Responds to Needs of Diverse Membership

The American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine is the nation's largest medical society dedicated to promoting the health of workers through preventive medicine, clinical care, research and education. It represents more than 4,500 physicians and other health care professionals specializing in the field of occupational and environmental medicine.

In early 2010, the College determined that its website was no longer meeting the needs of those members and needed a major redesign.

"We heard from our members that it was cluttered and the information was not well organized. The challenge for ACOEM was to offer all members a website that provided them with quick and easy access to the latest organizational and clinical practice information as well as the best tools and resources to enhance their OEM practices, " says Bud J. Romano, ACOEM Director, Information Management and Technology.

In addition, Romano says, the site needed to expand the capabilities and collaboration tools of its members-only section as well as develop a public face to educate people about the field of occupational and environmental medicine and what its members do.

ACOEM had done business with .orgSource before on its previous website refresh, so Romano knew it would be the best firm to work with to implement everything the new site required.  In particular, he felt Sherry Budziak, founder and president of .orgSource, had exceptional experience working with medical associations and understanding their unique needs. Her objective evaluation of the site helped him convince the ACOEM board that the new website was a critical need for the College.

"It really behooved me to seek her experience and expertise," Romano says. "We knew we would have a better product if we sought outside help."

The .orgSource team evaluated the site, met with staff, and solicited feedback from ACOEM's diverse membership, which includes physicians in private practice, academia and corporate environments. In addition, Sherry helped negotiate contracts with vendors in order to stay within ACOEM's budget constraints.

The resulting website, www.acoem.org, launched in March 2011 with a new look, new navigation, a robust MyACOEM and a knowledge center section that organizes practice guidelines and other important information and documents that ACOEM's target audiences might need.

Romano says working with .orgSource was critical to the success of the site.

"Sherry was critical to this project," he says. "We wouldn't have been able to do it without her. She was the linchpin in helping us achieve our goals and objectives.  Her depth of experience is hard to come by, and I think those years of experience really benefitted us in analyzing what we needed and helping us accomplish that."