by Fred Fortin
December 10, 2007 at 5:43 pm
· Filed under Uncategorized, Insurance, Health Plan/Payer CEOs, Policy Makers, Consumer Engagement, Business of Health, Value-based health care, Electronic Medical Records
The WHIT 3.0 conference in Washington, D.C. continues to steam along with some great presentations. I particularly liked David Lansky (Senior Director Health Program, Markle Foundation) and his work on the public interest when it comes personal health records (PHR). His thinking involves the creation of a “ecosystem” which is sympathetic to PHRs. Soon, he argues, we will have an ecosystem which sees three main actors: the 21st century consumer, global internet companies, such as Google and Microsoft, and traditional health care institutions. Three separate and clashing cultures now define these actors. You can envision the aggressive consumer, who wants fully what health 2.0 has to offer, tangling with global entities, unregulated and operating on a huge scale, and both of these confronting conservative, slow and paternalistic, traditional health care institutions. He offers some strategies that involve cooperation on data liquidity, building a national privacy and security framework, and evolving a PHR business model that makes PHRs available to all.
But the presentation that I’ve been trying to get my head around was trotted out by Roy Schoenberg (Chief Executive Officer, American Well Systems) and what they are doing in his shop. Roy boasts, — and I tend to think he’s really on to something — that he is developing the “killer app” in health care. His plan is to offer to consumers online access to health care — not just information — 24 hour, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This ‘access on demand’ to doctors and specialist integrates a host of complex technologies, and unique relationships with health plans and providers to offer real time health care. It brings these services online to a convenient place (the home) where consumers can be comfortable and for less cost.
This is the very definition of a disruptive innovation.
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Mr. Fortin:
The feedback that you have provided about the WHIT 3.O conference has been truly interesting from the perspective of disruptive innovation. Mr. Roy Schoenberg’s health care application brings together a new dimension of meeting the needs of the healthy community with in the U.S. The only concern will be is the healthy community within this country prepare to embrace such tools and how will American Well System remain competitive against other companies such as Microsoft, possible Google, and so forth that are developing similar technologies and have stronger name branding.
As a computer engineer and health care professional, the components of the application appears to be thoroughly develop from the standpoint of efficiency, online convenience, and interactive communications. I hope to see other disruptive innovations that are successful in the future.
WOW! The in home access could be fantastic for those who have the dollars to support the system. What will become of those who don’t?
Onehealthpro
I have been developing a similar vision since 1994. Visit Your Telemedical Office at http://www.telemedical.com for a demonstration.
There are a number of problems that are currently being addressed.
1. Patients do not like to take the time to enter their health information into a PHR.
2. Patients want an “inperson ” relationship with the cyberdoctor.
3. The reimbursement model is different and the workflow is different for HMO versus PPO or Medicare patients.
4. Computer/Internet literacy
5. Reliability of internet connections.
6. Ability to collect objective information.
Eventually this vision will become more of a reality. However, it is going to take a few years.
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