Vision for the Future: The National Eye Institute Health Information Clearinghouse

Background: The National Eye Institute (NEI) is charged with protecting and prolonging the vision of the American people. Over the past four decades, NEI research has resulted in sight-saving treatments, reductions in visual impairment and blindness, and improvements the quality of life for people of all ages. As part of its mission, NEI develops and disseminates information about vision research and eye health and eye disease and conditions through its health information clearinghouse. 

Program background: NEI health information specialists respond to inquiries and develop science-based content for print and online publications. In 2011, the NEI clearinghouse responded to more than 16,000 inquiries and distributed more than 500,000 publications. During the same period, the NEI website had more than 4 million visits and almost 3 million unique visitors.  Over the past 4 years, the number of inquiries received through traditional channels (telephone, fax, and email) has decreased by almost 20% and the number of publications mailed has decreased by about 25%, while visits and unique visitors to the NEI website have increased by almost 25%.  To respond to changes in health information-seeking behavior and manage resources effectively, NEI uses a robust customer relationship management (CRM) system to track and respond to inquiries from stakeholders, monitor digital conversations about eye health and disease, and make science-based content available through a self-learning online knowledge base. NEI uses data from the CRM and from web analytics to determine the need for new information products and guide enhancements to the website. In addition, NEI is seeking to engage with stakeholders in new ways through Twitter and partnerships with organizations such as WebMD.

Evaluation Methods and Results: NEI evaluates dissemination activities through data provided by the CRM system supporting the clearinghouse and through data provided by WebTrends and Google Analytics.

Conclusions: Investments in new strategies for disseminating health information will not only enable NEI to better reach those seeking information, but will also provide more data on the effectiveness of dissemination activities so they can be continually enhanced.

Implications for research and/or practice: New strategies for disseminating evidence-based health information are critical to NEI's efforts to fulfill its mandate of translating research results into actionable health information for a variety of target audiences. The use of a robust CRM system, optimization of the NEI public website, and possible use of social media and innovative partnerships will enable the Institute and other government agencies to comply with the digital government strategy by providing information to the public anytime, anywhere, and on any platform.