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

Where Do Americans Go for Healthcare Information?

…Number 1 answer: The Internet

Texas Health Resources Launches MEDSEEK Consumer Portal

Consumers benefit from convenient online registration, bill pay and health library

MEDSEEK Unveils New Educational Webinar Series: reThinking eHealth

Birmingham, Ala.– July 15, 2008 –MEDSEEK, the leading provider of enterprise portal connectivity solutions, announced today that it will present a monthly webinar series focused on the unique challenges facing the healthcare industry in the “Age of Consumerism.”

New study supporting the value the patient experience plays in driving hospital revenue

McKinsey & Co recently published survey data from over 2,000 interviews with patients and over 100 physicians. The purpose was to begin quantifying the influence the patient "experience" has on a patient's [and their physician's] decision making process in selecting a hospital.

Wow! MEDSEEK has been advocating this for the past 12 years. It's great that such a great consulting firm validates the value we create for our hospital customers.

It's one of the first studies to explore the relationship between the non-clinical "experience" one has with the hospital and it's relative impact on the selection of services and where to receive them.

Key findings include (paraphrased from the report):

• About 41% on the nonclinical experience has an influence on their choice of hospitals.
• More than 50% of patients interviewed said they definitely would switch to a hospital known for giving its patients a positive experience—all other things (including the quality of clinical care) being equal.
• About 75% of patients reported they will consider switching if they think that a specific hospital will keep them better informed about their treatment.
• 94% of the primary-care physicians (and 92 percent of the specialists) said that patients now have at least as much or more influence over which hospital they will visit as they did three years ago.
• Remarkably, our survey found that almost 30% of the general practitioners would honor their patients’ requests to be treated at hospitals with a reputation for providing a superior nonclinical consumer experience even if they thought those facilities were clinically inferior to one or more of the alternatives.

An abstract of the results are clipped here:

clipped from www.mckinseyquarterly.com New research indicates that US patients and physicians are more and more likely to base their choice of hospital on nonclinical aspects of a visit—like convenience and amenities. Yet few hospitals have the marketing skills, the organizational structure, or the operating approach needed to deliver a distinctive experience in the way that retailing and hospitality companies do. As competition for commercially insured patients heats up, US hospitals will have to invest in the capabilities needed to learn what these patients want and to deliver an experience that could attract them. Hospitals that succeed should gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

The full report is available for purchase from McKinsey & Co.

Customer success stories highlight the impact eHealth has on the hospital community

What makes MEDSEEK successful? The diversity of our customers. Each has unique challenges, but we bring them all together. It's the shared experience, technology platform, and our applied expertise that separates MEDSEEK from others and drives value for our customers.

Check out our latest customer success stories and learn how each customer deployed eHealth solutions to achieve their corporate goals.

University Health Care System in Augusta, Ga. invested in a consumer portal to reinforce their system brand and their promise of comprehensive health services to the entire Augusta community. It's a promise no other organization can deliver in the market and they turned to their Web properties to create ubiquity.

William Osler Health Centre in Ontario, Canada approached their portal with an inside-out view. The challenge came from the need to provide instant, real-time access to clinical information for their medical staff. Osler was transferring the management of one of their hospitals and needed to minimize disruptions and maintain continuity of care. With their initial success, Osler expanded access to include five other facilities within their local region.

Conway Regional Health System in Conway, Ark. had more modest goals, comparatively speaking, but their achievement was extremely important to the community hospital system. Back in 2004, Conway simply wanted a more efficient and easier process for managing their Web site. Once achieved, they realized how Web empowerment can improve relationships with their community and physicians. As they move towards patient self-service not only has traffic to the site doubled, they are raising more funds than ever for their foundation. Human Resource productivity has improved as well as their physician recruitment efforts.

What do each of these organizations have in common? MEDSEEK. Check out their full stories and more at our customer success channel.

eHealth delivers, lets take a closer look

Our very own Peter Kuhn was published in the December 2007 issue of ADVANCE for Healthcare Information Executives. Several customer success stories are highlighted including East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, La, Edward Hospital & Health Services in Naperville, Ill., Munroe Regional Medical Center in Ocala, Fla, and Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Mich.

Here's an excerpt:

Today's information-driven society is changing health care (for good or bad we'll save for another discussion) forever. Consumer expectations are more demanding of our institutions, where access to timely, relevant information is a clear market differentiator. Hospitals that embrace these changing dynamics will thrive in the coming years.

As hospitals begin addressing these new challenges, many are turning to e-health as their foundation for creating a positive, differentiated experience. It's certainly not the only answer, but key to engaging and interacting with an information-driven constituency.

Shifting processes to the Internet

By leveraging the power of the global network to fundamentally transform how they interact with their constituencies — consumers, patients, physicians and employees — and shifting business processes to the Internet, organizations can differentiate themselves in their local hospital market.

Smart, progressive organizations that invest in their constituents' overall experience with the organization will find that their investment will more than pay off in improved patient and physician satisfaction, more effective community advocacy, increased downstream revenue, better employee collaboration and clinical excellence. The investment also will strengthen their ties to consumers, patients and patients. In the past, for example, hospitals built office space within or near their hospital to forge relationships with physicians. Smart organizations will continue to use that tactic, but they also will use Web portals to supplement their physician recruitment and retention initiatives.

Hospitals currently are deploying Web portals that enable doctors to access and direct patient data remotely, sparing them a road trip to the hospital or forcing them to make clinical decisions without the benefit of all the information they need because the patient's paper record is unavailable. Given the choice of selecting a hospital that helps them practice more efficiently versus one that doesn't, physicians will go with the former.

Innovative hospitals also are delivering information online to help patients take better care of themselves and schedule appointments, making it more convenient for existing and prospective patients to interact with and access their services.

Alegent Health delivers price transparency to its community

Seems as though Algent Health is on a roll. We just learned they were featured in December 2007 issue of Healthcare Informatics. The article is entitled Pulling Back the Curtains (great title by the way) and features several hospital systems delivering price transparency to their community.

In January 2007, a ground-breaking online application called My Cost, conceived by Alegent Health and MEDSEEK, went live. My Cost provides consumers with information on fees and estimated out-of-pocket costs for nearly 500 common treatments, based on the consumer's individual health plan or financial situation. Uninsured consumers have access to a list of self-pay prices for frequently purchased services as well as information on financial assistance programs for needed services that are cost-prohibitive.

In demonstrating its commitment to price transparency Alegent Health and MEDSEEK are conducting a two-day hands-on workshop on the topic called POWER TO THE PATIENT. This practical workshop is available to all hospital and we encourage you to sign-up, as space is limited.

In addition to the article in Healthcare Information, feel free to read Alegent's success story published within our web site.

Mobility designed to enhance the experience with Alegent Health

Alegent Health, a long time MEDSEEK customer, went "live" with a new mobility application designed to make it even more convenient for consumers and patients to interact with the largest health system in Omaha, Neb.

check it out at www.alegent.com. The new mobile service is available on any mobile device with a browser and Internet connectivity.

Consumers and patients alike can now get instant access to the entire medical staff directory, facility locations (primary care and urgent care, as well), breaking health news (updated six times per day), Google driving directions to all Alegent facilities, and more. One of the more convenient features allows visitors to the site to download physician's contact information directly to their contacts or call them directly from their phone.

Using SiteMaker, Alegent continues to deliver convenience to their community while enhancing the overall patient experience through their Web Portal. 

For more about Alegent Health please read their success stories.