February 15, 2010 – Encinitas, CA – Several enhancements have been recently installed on the online version of ODG to improve ease-of-use and to help ODG users become more efficient and effective in accessing these evidence-based medical guidelines. The ODG subscriber websites now have an Intelligent Search Function and a series of Intuitive Hotlinks.

The Intelligent Search Function brings users directly to the most important section of ODG. The ODG Website has a wealth of information available to subscribers, including summaries and discussions of all the relevant high quality studies, as well as copies of other guidelines. A normal search would result in many hits that may not be of interest to a user who just wants to know the final guidelines recommendations from ODG. Using keyword and location targeting software, the ODG Intelligent Search is able to bring the user directly to the most relevant sections in ODG, and still offer access to the details behind these recommendations as needed. So for example, if you search on CRPS, it will list the relevant sections both by diagnosis and by treatment option, where you can locate the summary ODG guidelines on this topic, before providing the many other less relevant hits (e.g., appearances within a study or abstract where it is discussed, but which do not represent the final ODG recommendation).

Malcolm Gladwell, best selling author of Blink and Outliers, speaking at a recent information publishing conference, summed up the problem with most search engines, saying "Until search engines can filter as well as they can find, they only add to confusion." http://www.businessinsider.com/malcolm-gladwell-and-the-perils-of-search-2010-2 The ODG Intelligent Search Function filters as well as finding information, thus allowing ODG users to access the correct guidelines and get them quickly. And, like the Google search function, the ODG Search is also word-based, and not character-based. For example, the search engine on another guidelines website would bring up Hodgkin’s disease as the main hit if you type in ODG, because it is a character-based search.

Another ODG enhancement involves providing Intuitive Hotlinks on all the main pages for the most common ODG user inquiries. For the 15^th annual edition of ODG, ODG now lists the Top 15 Diagnoses on the left and Top 15 Procedures on the right. The diagnosis links go to the appropriate ICD9 location in the RTW guidelines, and the procedure links go to the appropriate entry in the treatment guideline Procedure Summaries. Based on usage statistics, these top-15 lists represent a substantial portion of ODG usage overall, and even higher for first-time users. ODG is unique in providing the most widely used workers’ compensation medical treatment guidelines integrated with the most widely used return-to-work guidelines, and these new Hotlinks provide quick access to both sides of this combined content, on the left and on the right of each introductory page.

In addition, there are quick links to the most used State Guidelines. ODG was the first publisher to include access to all state medical treatment guidelines, beginning about 5 years ago, as ODG was designed to be a "one-stop source." There are a number of state-specific guidelines that may be required in certain jurisdictions, and having these on ODG can help reviewers when operating in those states, both in utilizing the states own guidelines, as well as using ODG to support evidence-based medicine (EBM) interventions that may not be concordant with state guidelines, which are often based on local political considerations, as opposed to scientific evidence. The main pages now have a link to all states and what guidelines they require, as well as a direct link to the Colorado and New York guidelines, since there has been interest in these outside of those states.

Plus, at the top of all common pages there is now a link to ODG: Good to Go! - the complimentary online user-paced ODG self-training tool. ODG stands apart from other publishers in providing comprehensive guidelines training such as this at no cost to users.