In The Know - MEDSEEK News and Expert Opinion on the eHealth Industry

What Patients Expect… Transparency

For over 10 days the leading story in the press has been the  AIG executives and the millions of dollars of bonus money for which we, the taxpayers, are paying. We all want transparency in government, business and healthcare. The reports of the AIG fiasco hit the press lightning fast - media outlets, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, whether AIG wanted the story out or not.

All of us have experienced this digital world where we get instant information, conveniently displayed on our homepage of choice or streaming over our RSS feeds. For example. Tuesday March 17th was the last time the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was available in print. The newspaper is now 100% digital. Our world and the way we access information - across all generations - has changed, and there is no going back.

Likewise, patients expect access to their medical information, conveniently displayed and available 24/7. They embrace self-service and, in fact, demand that hospitals provide it. Just like email replaced snail mail, the glass front door of the hospital has now been replaced with the glare of the terminal screen on our computers. The current discussion in hospitals is how to improve consumer Web sites or patient Web sites. They are reacting to the demands of their patients …give me a better experience.

Recently, eHealthcare Strategy and Trends interviewed Wayne Sensor, CEO of Alegent Health, and  Peter Kuhn, CEO of  MEDSEEK.  They were asked to describe “How do patient portals benefit the organization and the patients?”

Find out where and how transparency benefits consumers, patients and the organization and how the use of a patient portal gives patients the ability to view their medical information and participate in making informed healthcare decisions. Finally.

Click here to read the full interview.

MEDSEEK’s 2009 eHealth Client Congress Breaks All Attendance Records

February 23-25th, MEDSEEK held our 9th annual eHealth Client Congress (eHCC) at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Tampa Bay, Fla. We were pleased to see:

• A 25% increase of organizations 

• A 9% increase of attendees
• 66% of eHCC09 registrations were first time attendees

All of our previous attendance records were broken this year as our clients are looking for information to meet the demands of the user experience expected inside and outside of the hospital. The recently passed HITECH Act has brought a greater awareness of leveraging the Web to promote and conduct hospital services and highlights the need for Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) to connect healthcare systems across America. eHCC is a forum for education, preparation and information for healthcare professionals who are interested in collaborating and sharing knowledge to improve the overall experience of patients, employees and physicians in their organizations and surrounding communities. 

This year’s theme was “eHealth and the Next Generation.” As part of this year’s agenda we heard from healthcare industry experts:

• Cynthia Schaal, Practice Manger for The Advisory Board, presented “The Next-Generation Website Strategy - Improving the Patient Experience through Online Investments”
• Jim Molpus, Editor-in-Chief of HealthLeaders Magazine, shared the results of the 2009 industry survey and noted the significant findings of the report
• Luis Mendez with Intel’s Digital Health Group presented Intel’s insights and a new offering for a digital medical home

We also heard from our clients, including Provena Health, Henry Ford Health System, Via Christi Health and Advocate Health who shared with the group many of the 2.0 innovations they have implemented using Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter and explained the impact these tactics have made to their respective hospitals. The group also explored how the 2.0 tactics should be incorporated into the definition of eHealth. Janice Wurz, who serves as a co-chair for the HIMSS eHealth Special Interest Group reported that she intended to share the information provided by eHCC attendees with the group when it meets in April at the HIMSS annual conference.

The highlight of the event was the presentation of this year’s eHealth Excellence Award for outstanding achievement, which was presented to Dale Anderson with Hamilton Health Sciences of Ontario, Canada. As we in this country begin to take on the challenge of connecting Americans and the health community, we look to Canada, a country that has been leading the way to making connected healthcare a reality. In addition to the Excellence Award, a new award for innovation in eHealth was presented to individuals who presented their creative concepts during the MEDSEEK Knowledge Exchanges sessions. Congratulations to Bill Ferris who won the 2009 Innovator Award for his presentation on conducting Twitter surgeries at Henry Ford Health System.

Overall, attendees ranked this year’s eHCC a 4.29 out of 5, with 5 being the highest mark possible. Next year’s conference plans are already underway for a May event in San Diego, CA. Stay tuned for more details.