[Sigia-l] integrated catalogues?

[Ockler, Sarah]

Alexander Johannesen:

> Because there is a thin line between catering to the specialist and 
> catering to everyone, and if you want to do the former, than the 
> semantics of the two databases must match pretty good for it not to be

> an issue.

>From a front end standpoint, Amazon does it.  I used to just search for
Kerouac in books, but when I searched the entire catalogue, I learned
that he had an audio recording out as well.  Amazon may not be the best
example to compare to a library, but there are some similarities. The
results display works for some folks. Others find it cluttered and
confusing.

On our provider search, plan members can look for a doctor, dentist,
hospital or other facility (such as a lab).  It used to be all on one
interface, but users were confused and overwhelmed with choices. Now
they have to select first which provider type they want, then the
interface is designed for each one.  Same look, but different categories
(e.g. you can't select gender or language for a hospital).  It means
that if you need an oncologist and a cancer center, you have to search
twice, but for our majority, it's much simpler.

Ultimately I think it depends on the task. Like Ziya says, there are
good solutions and bad solutions. ;-)


_______________________________________________
Sarah L. Ockler 
Web Content Producer
Great-West Healthcare
8505 East Orchard Road
Englewood, CO  80111
v: 303.737.1308 :: f: 303.737.0008  
www.greatwesthealthcare.com