2021 Medigy HITMC Awards

The HITMC Awards celebrate outstanding achievement in healthcare marketing, PR and communications. It is a chance for the Healthcare and IT Marketing Community (HITMC) to acknowledge the marketing work of individuals, health IT companies, healthcare providers, agencies, non-profits and associations over the past year.

This year 50 Awards were handed out in an online ceremony.

For each Award, a panel of judges reviewed the nominations and selected the winner. Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination. The quality of work continues to ratchet up every year. It was once again very difficult for the judges to make a decision.

The 2020 Awards are sponsored again by our friends at Medigy. Visit their website to learn more about their new free content aggregation capabilities designed specifically for healthcare marketers.

Congratulations to the 2021 Medigy HITMC Award Winners:

Agency Awards

Association/Non-profit Awards

Health IT Awards

Individual Awards

Provider Awards

ABM Campaign of the Year
This award recognizes the best Account Based Marketing (ABM) campaign by a Health IT company this past year based on results achieved, creativity, resourcefulness and innovation.

Winner: Proofpoint (Health IT)
Proofpoint targeted 90 accounts with their ABM campaign which included a multi-pronged outreach and advertising approach. The results were phenomenal: 92% engagement rate, 26 meetings booked and 12 stage 3+ opportunities.

Ad of the Year
This award is given to the most creative, eye-catching, informative Health IT or Healthcare ad of 2020 (printed or digital). TV Commercials and other video-ads are not eligible for this award. Nominations should include ad results (ie: clicks, impressions or other KPIs). Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, and agencies.

Winner: Matter (Agency)
A simple graphic, with a clear CTA, leading to a great landing page for a webinar about pivoting during COVID-19. Matter’s ad stood out during a time when EVERYONE was pushing webinars.

Winner: Virginia Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (Association/Non-profit)
VAFCC launched an awareness campaign to reach out to their communities, the public, and local businesses to drive greater understanding of their services and to encourage additional financial support for their free clinics. Their ad was super effective and even helped with fundraising efforts.

Winner: Documo (Health IT)
Documo’s simple ad motivated over 90 people to click it and get the report. The graphic was eye-catching with a person “bursting through”. The use of a single color also helped the ad to stand out.

Winner: Northern Arizona Healthcare (Provider)
NAH ran ads that were targeted at the local indigenous community that was being hit hard by the pandemic. The photography and messaging was tailored specifically for the intended audience and was well received.

Honorable Mentions: Galen Health Solutions

Agency of the Year
This award honors outstanding achievement by Marketing, PR and/or Communication agencies that has demonstrated industry leadership, produced outstanding results for clients, grown their business/portfolio and contributed back to the healthcare marketing community in the past year. Separate awards for agencies with a health IT focus and those with a healthcare provider focus.

Winner: StudioNorth (Health IT Focus)
Studio North sprang into action to help their clients pivot after the sudden cancellation of in-person conferences in 2020. They also helped their clients come up with creative ways to engage audiences digitally in meaningful ways. Here is how clients described them: “They really listen and incorporate feedback.”, “They are genuinely a pleasure to work with”, and “So creative and resourceful!”

Winner: True North Custom (Provider Focus)
True North Custom helped their clients pivot, rebound and drive revenue through the pandemic. They also managed to launch a very successful new podcast series. Here is how their clients describe them: “A true partner in every sense of the word” and “Creative and responsive – they think about our needs proactively”.

Best COVID Awareness Campaign
This special award is for the best COVID-related public awareness or educational campaign based on reach, results achieved, creativity, quality of content, and visual/audio appeal. Campaigns related to COVID services or solutions are not eligible for this award. Only campaigns meant to educate/raise awareness with the public or internal staff are eligible.

Winner: Hip Hop Public Health (Association/Non-profit)
They say music is the universal language and this public health campaign used it to full effect. Hip Hop Public Health delivered important handwashing and social distancing education to minority communities in a fun video that resonated with the audience. They were authentic in their campaign and have generated 360 million earned media impressions. Their work has made significant inroads with both African American and Latino communities.

Winner: Ochsner Lafayette General Medical Center (Provider)
This large non-profit regional health system is committed to delivering care to the community they serve. When people became eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, Ochsner Lafayette General launched a multi-pronged awareness campaign through social and traditional channels to ensure people knew about the vaccine as well as where and how to access it. The campaign was straightforward, consistent, constant and moved the needle in terms of vaccinations and care access.

Honorable Mentions: St. Joseph Healthcare, Northwell, Northern Arizona Healthcare, Society of Critical Care Medicine

Best COVID Pivot
This special award recognizes outstanding achievement by an organization that had to pivot their business, operations and/or marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic. To be considered for this award, the impact of the pivot should be any of the following: improved business, business continuation, better service to the community, or improved employee engagement. Examples: Shifting completely to telehealth appointments, focusing exclusively on a COVID software solution or device, moving to a digital-only marketing strategy. Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, and agencies.

Winner: Bright.md (Health IT)
Within two weeks of the first confirmed U.S. domestic case of coronavirus, Bright.md built a COVID-19 screener that could be implemented in 2 days and was offered for free in Canada and the US.

Winner: Yale New Haven (Provider)
The small marketing team at Yale New Haven Health transformed their website, created over 40 pieces of new content and managed live, virtual events on their social media platforms to give patients and the general public accurate, up to date information on COVID-19.

Honorable Mentions: TigerConnect, Remote Medical International, Kno2, Cloudbreak Health, MobileSmith

Best Use of Media Relations
The Best Use of Media Relations Award recognizes the effective and creative use of media relations to execute or support a public relations campaign. Nominations should include a detailed outline of the media aspects of the PR campaign as well as relevant assets sent to media outlets, earned media stories that resulted, and relevant success metrics.

Winner: The Bizzell Group (Health IT)
The small marketing team at Yale New Haven Health transformed their website, created over 40 pieces of new content and managed live, virtual events on their social media platforms to give patients and the general public accurate, up to date information on COVID-19.

Winner: Renown Health (Provider)
Renown proactively reached out to local media to ensure that their community was educated on how to book their COVID-19 vaccine. They even spent time walking reporters through the steps needed to sign up and use their MyChart portal – to demonstrate how easy and straightforward it really was. Read the full story.

Best Use of Social Media
This award recognizes the organizations that produced great content and engaged audiences on social media platforms (like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and yes, even TikTok) in the past year. Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, and agencies.

Winner: KNB Communications (Agency)
KNB gets everyone involved with social media by allowing different members if their team take the reigns of the corporate social accounts. They post frequently and have a human quality to their interactions.

Winner: HIMSS (Association/Non-profit)
HIMSS has continued with its influencer program and continues to make great use of Twitter and other social platforms at its events.

Winner: Redox (Health IT)
Redox launched it’s podcast via social media and continues to strike the right mix of fun, education and thought-leadership in their social posts.

Winner: New York Presbyterian (Provider)
New York Presbyterian rocked social media in 2020 – keeping New Yorkers informed and pointing them to trusted, verified information about the pandemic. Plus they hosted a few of their own Twitter chats.

Blog of the Year
This award is given to the best blog of the past year based on quality of content, frequency of updates and overall presentation. Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, agencies, and individuals/consultants.

Winner: Clarity Quest Marketing (Agency)
Clarity Quest’s blog is chock full of useful and practical marketing tips. It’s updated regularly and written using a very human tone.

Winner: ONC / HHS (Association/Non-profit)
ONC’s Health IT Buzz Blog keeps us all up to date with the latest policies and the amazing work they do in the Healthcare and Health IT community. It is said that if you want to get an idea of where ONC may be heading with policies and guidelines – reading the blog can give you a ton of clues.

Winner: WebPT (Health IT)
WebPT’s blog has content that helps practices with their technology and business challenges. Their advice spans areas that are not related to their software and audiences love it.

Winner: Alan Shoebridge (Individual)
Alan shares his opinions and insights on his thoughtful personal blog. His writing gives audiences an “insider’s view” of healthcare.

Winner: Ochsner Health (Provider)
Ochsner Health’s “To Your Health” blog, created in 2014, reached new heights in 2020. Fueled by public interest in COVID-19, the blog surpassed 1 million users for the first time in its history (1.176 million), an increase of 301.2% year over year.

Honorable Mentions: CIRCO, Mass General, MEDITECH, Allscripts

Employee Engagement/Internal Communication Campaign of the Year – NEW
This award recognizes the best employee engagement campaign this past year based on results achieved, creativity, innovation and visual/audio appeal. Separate awards for health IT companies and healthcare providers.

Winner: CorroHealth (Health IT)
CorroHealth kept their new brand a secret and then rallied 3,500 employees using a well-thought out internal communication plan that included education and assets that could be used with clients, prospects and social media.

Honorable Mentions: Harmony Healthcare IT, AdvancedMD

Health IT Podcast of the Year
This award is given to the best Health IT focused podcast or internet radio show from the past year based on quality of content, audience engagement, regularity of episodes, and overall production.

Winner: HIT Like a Girl
This phenomenal podcast is recorded for and by women in Health IT. It features fun and engaging conversations with women thought-leaders. The Podcast has a down-to-earth quality with practical advice for listeners.

Healthcare Podcast of the Year
This award is given to the best Health or Healthcare focused podcast or internet radio show from the past year based on quality of content, audience engagement, regularity of episodes, and overall production.

Winner: Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt’s DNA podcast connects listeners to big thinkers who are creating the next generation of health and science. In 2020 they attracted listeners from 96 countries and had over 31,000 downloads.

Honorable Mention: Northwell

Health IT Trailblazer of the Year
This award recognizes an individual for their leadership, mentorship and innovative contributions to the field of Healthcare and Health IT. Whether they are recognized or not, these individuals are considered “disruptors” or even “disturbers”. They are the pioneers forging a path for the healthcare industry to follow.

Winner: Dr. John Halamka
After years as the CIO leader at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, and important work on health IT policy. This trailblazer joined Mayo Clinic as their new President of the Mayo Clinic Platform. In this role, he leads a portfolio of new digital platform business that are focused on transforming health using AI, IoT, and an ecosystem of partners. This person is literally blazing new path for health IT at Mayo Clinic.

Landing Page of the Year
This award recognizes the best designed and most effective landing page of 2020. Nominations will be judged on overall layout, ease of navigation, clarity of message, clarity of the call-to-action and results achieved. Separate awards for health IT companies and healthcare providers.

Winner: Control Bionics (Health IT)
Control Bionics created a page for known prospects and instead of asking for contact info, they gave immediate access to valuable resources and asked 2 questions in a pop-up that helped to segment them better. 21% completion rate.

Winner: Beaufort Memorial (Provider)
Beaufort Memorial offers telehealth via their BMH Care Anywhere platform. In March and April, BMH Care Anywhere increased registrants by 1,500% with a simple effective landing page.

Marketing Campaign of the Year
This award recognizes the best marketing or PR campaign by a Health IT company this past year based on results achieved, creativity, innovation and visual/audio appeal.

Winner: The Encompass Group (Health IT)
The campaign used PR, organic and paid social media tactics and content marketing to generate awareness about the launch of COVAIRE. The COVAIRE landing page was very effective at turning visitors into leads.

Winner: Solutionreach (Health IT)
The four-week program offered webinars, checklists, templates, posters, a comprehensive guide, videos, and product articles to help Physician Practices come back from COVID. The initial program had a goal of 2,000 engagements, but achieved over ten times that. And it was all created in just a few weeks.

Winner: American Health Imaging (Provider)
To rebound from mandatory shutdowns due to COVID-19, this organization pivoted its digital marketing strategy to reach, engage patients. The campaign had an 18.27% conversion rate which translated to over 2,000 total conversions during the height of the pandemic at only $22.47 per lead.

Honorable Mentions: Optimum Healthcare IT, Zotec Partners, Virginia Association of Free & Charitable Clinics

Marketing Person of the Year
This award recognizes the outstanding work and achievement of a marketing, PR or communications professional in the past year. This person has demonstrated outstanding leadership, resourcefulness, creativity and teamwork over the past year. Separate awards for individuals at health IT companies, healthcare providers and agencies.

Winner: Goel Jasper, FINN Partners (Agency)
Goel doubled revenue, tripled staff and added multiple new clients for FINN Partner’s Israeli satellite office. He made the agency the go-to in the local market. Despite being super-busy he found ways to elevate staff.

Winner: Dave Zaro, Fortinet (Health IT)
David took over marketing at Fortinet right in the middle of the pandemic. He managed to execute on 30 field marketing events, 3 ABM campaigns, and a new go-to-market plan for Fortinet’s new pharma/life sciences vertical. Throughout the year, he worked closely with the partnerships and sales teams.

Winner: Jared Johnson (Individual)
“No one has done more to generate helpful content for healthcare marketing professionals than Jared Johnson in 2020.” Jared is a prolific content creator – writing, filming, podcasting and speaking. He is funny, multi-talented (just listen to his healthcare rap!), and not afraid to try new things.

Winner: Pamela Landis, Hackensack Meridian Health(Provider)
Pamela helped staff transition from being 100% office-based to working from home during the pandemic. She led an initiative to virtualize all of Hackensack’s call centers. She is 100% driven to increase and improve access to care. Pamela not only believes in patients-at-the-center-of-care, but she practices what she preaches and gets patients directly involved at her organization.

Marketing Team of the Year
This award recognizes the Marketing Team that has achieved outstanding results, worked cohesively together, collaborated well with other departments and produced stand-out content, campaigns and programs over the past year. Separate awards given to teams at health IT companies and healthcare providers.

Winner: CorroHealth (Health IT)
The small team of six people on the CorroHealth marketing team achieved incredible results in 2020. They combined 3 separate marketing team from 4 different organizations. They launched a new brand and deprecated 4 prior brands. They created an internal engagement and communication plan that rallied 3,500 staff around the new brand.

Winner: Northwell (Provider)
During the pandemic, the Northwell marketing team filmed and told the stories of frontline staff and patients. They created hundreds of content pieces including: videos, blogs, and social posts. Marketing leaders worked hard to keep the team focused and together throughout the pandemic. Despite it being a tough year, the Northwell team never lost sight of the need for professional development.

Patient Advocate of the Year
This award recognizes the tireless efforts of an individual who is working to improve healthcare for patients. It is awarded to an individual that has raised awareness about the rights of patients, helped to make healthcare more patient-centered, brought the patient perspective to the design of IT solutions/healthcare workflows, or has directly improved the healthcare journey of a patient at the local, regional or national level.

Winner: Jen Horonjeff, Savvy Coop
Jen managed to secure VC funding in 2020 – becoming one of the first cooperatives to ever do so. She helped to scale Savvy Coop which had a fantastic year with many “patient gigs” being posted to the community. Along the way, she worked tirelessly to amplify the voices of thousands of patients.

Rising Star 2021
This award recognizes the outstanding work and achievement of a marketing, PR or communications professional who has been in healthcare for less than three years. This person has demonstrated outstanding resourcefulness, creativity, personal growth and willingness to learn the complexities of the healthcare market. Separate awards for individuals at health IT companies, healthcare providers and agencies.

Winner: Jemma Roche, KNB Communications (Agency)
Here is what people said about Jemma: “Proactively acknowledges team members”, “Humble”, “Kept the team close during the pandemic”, and “An advocate for staff mental health”.

Winner: Matt DiVenere, NaviHealth (Health IT)
Here is what people said about Matt: “Learns quickly”, “Is not afraid to ask question in order to learn”, “Conscientious and always looking to help teammates”, “Keeps it real – even in his tweets”.

Video of the Year
This award is given to the best promotional/marketing video this past year based on creativity, visual appeal, clarity of message and production quality. Separate awards for health IT companies and healthcare providers. Foundation videos are eligible.

Winner: Jennings (Agency)
Jennings created a video that was very raw & emotional. They challenged the healthcare industry to step up, and address health disparities and racial injustice in a meaningful way.

Winner: International Pain Foundation (Association/Non-profit)
To help people realize that masks are important and to honor Dr. Li Wenliang a hero for raising awareness of COVID-19, the International Pain Foundation created a video “Go For Wuhan Style” with an original song.

Winner: Citeline Connect (Health IT)
Citeline Connect created a super-short animated video that explains the concept behind, an innovative approach to patient recruitment.

Winner: Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System (Provider)
Salinas Valley created a video that showed the human side of the care they provide. It also showcased how they connect patients with loved ones during COVID-19.

Virtual Event of the Year
This award goes to the organization that held the best virtual event in 2020. Nominations are judged on the complexity of event, feedback/comments from attendees, session variety (panels vs lecture vs other formats), creativity and innovation. User conferences are eligible. Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, and associations

Winner: AHIMA (Association/Non-profit)
AHIMA’s virtual annual conference combined great keynotes and educational breakouts with a solid virtual conference technology to offer attendees a low glitch experience. Even the virtual exhibit hall was well put together.

Winner: Kyruus (Health IT)
The Kyruus ATLAS virtual event had a diverse, gender-balanced roster of hospital and health system CEOs and executives. It featured an incredible keynote from a retired U.S. Navy Four-Star admiral. The panels and sessions were informative and engaging. To help reduce stress, they also gave attendees a behind-the-scenes view of feeding time at the penguin exhibit at the Boston Aquarium.

Winner: Cleveland Clinic – Ideas for Tomorrow (Provider)
Cleveland Clinic pulled out all the stops to land an incredible lineup of speakers including Judy Faulkner, Katie Couric, Brian Grazer, David Fineburg of Google Health, Dan Schulman of PayPal and the Governor of the State. These speakers helped to engage the community in new ideas and perspectives.

Honorable Mentions: Lenovo, Allscripts, Interlace Health, MGMA

Website of the Year
This award is given to the best website based on ease of navigation, visual appeal, mobile experience and quality of content. Separate awards for health IT companies, healthcare providers, and agencies.

Winner: DirectTrust (Association/Non-profit)
DirectTrust’s original website didn’t convey the organization’s desired image or brand. They embarked on a year-long brand and website refresh. The new site is informative and makes it clear what they offer.

Winner: MRO Corp. (Health IT)
MRO completed a website overhaul, overcoming the challenge of multiple leadership and strategic changes – oh and a pandemic.

Winner: Banner Health (Provider)
Banner Health recently improved it’s online appointment booking and scheduling capabilities on it’s website – making it easier for patients to get care at home during the pandemic.

Honorable Mentions: BookZurman, Trinda Health, Previon

CONGRATULATIONS to all Award Winners and Honorable Mentions. Special thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination.

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About Swaay.Health

Swaay.Health helps build a brighter healthcare future by inspiring those who want to create it.  Through the power of stories and positivity, we bring together a community of healthcare marketing, PR, and communication professionals.  Swaay.Health covers the news, trends, innovators, technologies, and success stories that the healthcare marketing community needs to know.