While visiting with a potential partner company that happened to be both an employer and healthcare system, I realized that they were emotionally trapped by the theory of "negative doctor reviews by patients lead to lost referrals."
Yes, there were sites like MDratings.com that tend to be clusters of individuals dealing with Anger Management [i jest]. There are also several other websites that mesh doctor and hospital reviews in with restaurants and retailers - such as Yelp.com (which i actually like and use). Regardless of the site or the quality and depth of the reviewing/rating tools - one inalienable fact remains… Doctors and hospitals, in general, suck at dealing with negative reviews/ratings by patients.
The irony of this to me is that these patients/caregivers who are upset, angry or dissatisfied still exist regardless of whether there is a public forum on the internet to vent their case. In fact, these individuals actually …
Because he’s authentic , sincere , yet doesn’t take himself too seriously.
I feel like we share a similar vision about what is right vs. stupid. My hat goes off to Jay for simply being really honest and avoiding the complexity that the healthcare system tends to swirl in. Keep on cutting through the crap, sir.
If you haven’t downloaded Jay’s HIMMS presentation , do it. Albeit 460 slides, like Jay, the presentation is simple and honest.
Also, I wanted to point out the long stream of comments from an article about Jay in the WSJ here that reinforces the angst and anxiety faced by Physicians and Providers when presented with change… like anything there are those who react with
- fight/flight
- acknowledge/question
- embrace/rejoice
No matter what your position is (mine is c. obviously), the mere notion that people are discussing and presenting their heated position for/against the notion of evolving a healthcare delivery model is …
Thank goodness that Page knows his place! (just kidding). During the life of a start-up company, the ability of a team to keep a sense of humor makes the day go by quicker. We’ve got a great team.
During our meeting today, Page serenely said, “I should be flogged!”
Attached is another case study that reflects the utter confusion that healthcare consumers face… feel free to download. Page two is where the ironic humor is captured.
My favorite quote from a “supposed” physician in the case study who’s phone number was provided by the Insurer… “You have reached Veronica and ‘for the masters use…’”
SUMMARY
With the cost of healthcare continuing to grow, change:healthcare wanted to study a seemingly nondescript healthcare service as a snapshot indicator of how costs might impact consumers. We know that as companies shift a greater burden of the cost of employee healthcare to the employees – either through health savings accounts, high deductible health plans, or simply increased premiums — it’s important for employees to understand the impact of their healthcare purchase decisions. Consumers don’t appear to know the variations that exist in the cost of healthcare components. Our premise: if this is true for something as …
Attached is the detailed case study with all of the gory details and named companies… BTW, anyone is welcome to use this case study as a basis for other initiatives or further study.
SUMMARY
change:healthcare knew that a wide range in costs for consumer pharmaceuticals existed at major pharmacy chains within the same marketplace. But there was no empirical data to back up this assertion. Verifying this fact would underscore that consumers can and should become smarter purchasers of healthcare goods and services by shopping around. Because doing so would increase the quality and value they will find in their healthcare purchases. This mindset is especially important since healthcare costs continue to impact the bottom line of employers – who pay the greatest share of that burden today — and larger and larger portions of healthcare costs are being transferred to employee shoulders.
RESULTS
If all six drugs were purchased from any of …
Internal emails were going around post-Wyoming and also our updated bios for media (yeach… too stuffy for my tastes but i’ve been told to get used to it). Anyway, in the back-and-forth emails, Robert added this “inside joke” gem regarding Matt’s official title. See if you can guess what happened in WY with Matt and Katrina:
We were tempted to start off with “Semi-deity project manager yet
unable to rent a car Mueller” but opted for brevity.
Sheesh, we all have a dry sense of humor!
Earlier this month, business IT and Enterprise2.0 master Dion Hinchcliffe posted a very insightful article about social networking and the social graph. With a significant hat-tip to Dion, I wanted to site several of his insights as well as tweak his concepts to overlap with healthcare and health consumerism.
As Robert pointed out today that the MedFICO score is breathing down consumer’s necks… consumers are going to have to wake up, smell the coffee, and begin to quickly learn how to become their own advocate for their health but more importantly - their own health expenses and risks. To an employer and insurer and the government - YOU are a liability. A cost risk. An expense waiting to happen. It’s not a question of “if” you will generate medical expenses, but rather “when” and “how much” medical expense you or your dependent will generate. I’m not pointing out …
want a hint of what’s coming? I can honestly say that this has been in development for the past 5 months and hopefully the team will let me begin to share some of the cool things that we are preparing to release.
Ok, twist my arm a little 
HERE… sadly, that “thing” under the crowd is supposed to be an engine (therefore it is apparent that drawing is not my forte)
As we’re working on the patient experience (with their providers) rating system, we got into an interesting “verbal brawl” of what quality means. No clear answer as everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE has differing opinions as to how quality is defined or what is meaningful to them.
So to set the stage internally, here are the “Eleven Dimensions of Quality” (yes, one more than ten):
- Access: How easily accessible healthcare services are to patients – unrestricted by geographic, economic, social, organizational, or linguistic barriers
- Technical performance: How well tasks are carried out by health professionals and facilities. Whether they meet expectations of technical quality and adhere to standards
- Effectiveness of care: How well desired results/outcomes of care are achieved
- Efficiency/Continuity of services: How well services are performed in relation to cost (do you only have to do an x-ray once or multiple times). Delivery of care by the same …
bbbbrrrrrrrrrr…
Thanks to Matt and Katrina for flying out to WY (in the middle of January) to work with one of our leading client’s employee groups. Sadly, baggage was lost of course on day 1 by United… sigh.
We’re already working on a joint-case study for an HR magazine based on their utilization of MedBillManager for their employees - Yea!!
Get home safe, gang… please!
