Healthcare Transformation: What’s good about U.S. Healthcare?
Telecommunication And the Transformation of Healthcare.
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Transcript of Telecommunication And the Transformation of Healthcare.
I remember when . . . An acoustic coupler was high tech Programs were stored and loaded on
cassette tapes A hot computer was a full-loaded Apple II,
with a 30 inch box fan blowing over it to keep it functioning
Two disk drives were mass storage
Transformation . . . . . . the act of changing form, appearance, or
structure Acoustic coupler has become a T1 or a T3 Apple II has become a multi-processor
workstation Kilobytes have become gigabytes
The Internet Was a text-based medium for military and
scientific communication Required technical skills to use Has become a multimedia vehicle for
information exchange Has become accessible to the general public
The Internet Opportunity How big?
Estimates vary from 5.8 million3 in the United States to 37 million4 in the US and Canada
Demographics5
21% have a sales, marketing, or promotion job function
15% have an engineering job function 11% have an MIS/data processing job function
3 & 5 http://www.ora.com/bus/ora/survey/index.html (O’Reilly)4 http://www.nielsenmedia.com/whatsnew/execsum2.htm (Commercenet/Nielsen)
Demographics
Demographics5
67% are male 50% have incomes over $50,000
High educational levels 40% are between the ages of 30 and 44 years
5 O’Reilly
April 1997
How big is it today? If the Internet is doubling in size every year,6
then there are 17.4 million users If the Internet is doubling in size every 6
months,7 then there are 26 million users Whatever the estimate, the Internet is reaching –
or has reached – critical mass in marketing terms, 10% market penetration
6 O’Reilly, October 1995.7 Health Care: The Battle on the Internet, Health Ink Communications
Health Care Was delivery based Became integrated Is in the process of “dis-integration” Is being more driven by financing Profit vs. not-for-profit Mergers, acquisitions, and closures Will continue to change rapidly and
dramatically
The Perfect Marriage Dynamic environments
Rapid changes in both industries Both industries are competitive Information intensive
Healthcare: the need for information Technology: the provision of information
Dynamic and Volatile Dynamic
A new site is created every 50 seconds8
The Internet is growing rapidly The Virtual Hospital at the University of Iowa receives
more than a quarter million requests for information per week9
8 Health Ink Communications9 Journal of Health Care Marketing, Spring 1997
Dynamic and Volatile Volatile
Technology giants Microsoft, IBM, and AT&T scrapped their plans to build stand-alone consumer health information sites10
10 Health Ink Communications
A Case Study: www.hmhp.comHarris Methodist Health Plan
Development began in the Fall of 1995 In January of 1996, a presentation was to be
made to senior management and was scuttled for political reasons The political question:
Is the Internet a communication vehicle or an information technology strategy: marketing/ business development vs. MIS?
The Battle for the Internet Marketing contended it was a communication
channel MIS declared it a technology initiative It was a battle of the titles: the executive VP
and the senior VP Electronic mail in ALL CAPS flew around the
organization, jobs were threatened Communication (executive VP) won
www.hmhp.com Initial goals:
Provide another channel by which prospective clients (companies) and individuals (for the individual HMO) could gather information about product offerings
Demonstrate that we are forward thinking We threw out the notion of communicating
about the integrated health care delivery system
www.hmhp.com Site registered with InterNIC in April of 1996 Version 1 posted immediately Flat, “two dimensional” site No interactivity Development of hmhp.com has mirrored the
development of the Internet: text-based to graphical
www.hmhp.com Version 2 initiated some interactivity
Implemented a new graphical look Provided an application for our individual
product Downloadable files, PDFs, of our provider
directories Online, real-time search for primary care
doctors A “hodge-podge” of information
www.hmhp.com Version 3: where we are today
A site with two “linear” tracks, though still a “shopping” site
Client track shows the range of products available to companies
Individual track shows HMO options for individuals and families
We’re still not controlling the visitors experience of the site
www.hmhp.com Version 3 activity
Generating about 275 hits per week Guest book shows that people are arriving
at our site as a result of other elements of the marketing mix, particularly direct mail and billboards
Guest book indicates about 70% of visitors are men
Individual sales have been made
The Future: A Prognostication HMOs will provide more information over the
Internet Kaiser has a pilot program to deliver member
information over the Internet11
United Healthcare and Aetna/US Healthcare will roll out similar information products
Columbia/HCA will continue its major Internet effort and others will follow
Health information sites will continue to proliferate
11 “Improving Service to Patients,” Health Data Management, April 1997
Continued Prognostication Major development will happen within health
care organizations to use Internet technology internally – intranets.
Intranets and the Internet will merge on a selective and secure basis – the extranet.
The Future for Harris Version 4 of our Internet site is under
development and should be posted in June Specialized tracks:
Shopper tracks: prospective clients and members
Client track: for those companies that are already HMO clients
Member track: information for members Attempt to exert additional control over the
visitor’s experience
The Future for Harris,Continued
Move to server-side applications Health Risk Assessment
“Open” to the general public, unsecuredAvailable to members, secured/encrypted
Mass customize the visitor’s experience based on market segment Client/non-client, member/non-member, age,
gender, interests, etc. The communication vs. technology debate
arises again
Closing Thoughts Is the Internet the perfect marriage between
health care and technology? Need to match the goals of an Internet
presence with the needs of the customer and the way health care decisions are made
In a household, the decision-maker is a woman and women make up approximately 30% of Internet users
If a match is found, Internet technology is a cost-effective communication medium