The challenge
ELSO is an international professional society that runs the world’s largest registry of ECMO (extracorporeal life support) cases. In 2012 they came to IGD for a website redesign. Around the same time, a new registry built by volunteer physicians and ECMO practitioners was struggling to launch. Behind the scenes, a staff of two was handling reports, membership joins, renewals, and invoicing by hand.
What IGD did
We redesigned elso.org, then stepped in to troubleshoot the registry and got it launched. From there, we took on one project at a time, each scoped and approved on its own:
- Website redesign (2012)
- Registry launch: troubleshooting and launching the volunteer-built registry
- Data quality: data checks and usability improvements right after launch
- Single sign-on and reports: one login, with centers pulling their own registry reports instead of waiting on staff
- Membership online: joining, renewals, and invoicing moved online, replacing a manual, error-prone process
Today the system also handles real-time registry reports, XML data imports, opt-in cohort comparisons between centers, risk-adjusted mortality data visualization, an LMS connected through single sign-on, committee applications, the Award of Excellence program, Center Certification applications, a publications store, and event registration. We work with ELSO’s virtual CISO on security so members can trust how their data is handled.
The results
- Nearly 290,000 ECMO cases in the registry, from member centers in 50+ countries
- Reports, joins, and invoices once done by hand now run on their own
- ELSO grew from 2 to 6 staff while membership grew significantly
- A dedicated IGD team of 3 full-time people plus project management supports ELSO every day