October 9, 2001

ONLINE HEALTH JEOPARDY

Are you familiar with the TV quiz show "Jeopardy" -- the one where contestants are shown an answer and then have to come up with the right question?

Here's today's answer:

This recent government sponsored report makes recommendations in the following areas of online health:

Do these recommendations look familiar? So what's the right question? If you guessed this report came from the US, you're wrong!

The right question? "What is.....

"Health Online: A Health Information Action Plan for Australia"
Second Edition, September 2001
National Health Information Management Advisory Council

REVIEWS OF TELEMEDICINE EVIDENCE -- MIXED FINDINGS

"Recent Advances: Telemedicine" 
British Medical Journal; September 8, 2001

Reviews recent evidence and describes clinical applications where there is early evidence that telemedicine is not only of clinical benefit but cost effective too.

"Assessing Telemedicine: A Systematic Review of the Literature"
Canadian Medical Association Journal; September 18, 2001

Evidence regarding the effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of telemedicine is still limited. Based on current scientific evidence, only a few telemedicine applications can be recommended for broader use.

McKINSEY EVALUATES DISEASE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS IN GERMANY

"A New Model for Disease Management"
McKinsey Quarterly, September 2001

Emerging technologies that support the patient-management process -- the trickiest part of disease management -- may remedy the problem. Germany is likely to be a test bed for these programs, since its government plans to compensate insurers for some of the cost of running them.

NEW BOOK -- EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND PRODUCTIVITY

"Measuring Employee Productivity: A Guide to Self-Assessment Tools"
by Wendy Lynch, Ph.D. and John E. Riedel, MPH, MBA
Institute for Health & Productivity Management, September 2001

This book provides a map for answering key concerns:

IS HEALTH CARE ON THE VERGE OF DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION?

"Good Health is Just a Costly Way to Die"
Red Herring, September 2001

"It may be difficult for U.S. health care to back away from aggressive and costly diagnostics and therapeutics now that it has created a veritable health-pharma-legal-financial complex, perhaps driven more by self-interest than by any realistic assessment of patient benefits....

"There are signs that U.S. medicine is nearing the end of its golden age of health care spending. Even health maintenance organizations could go only so far in trimming fat and reducing consumption. Now more difficult decisions must be made about long-term, population-wide benefits and costs, and not only how much we will spend, but which conditions are worth treating at all. Money can always be made in health care, but expect it to be made in new ways. Rather than seeking high-tech breakthroughs that yield incremental gains at inordinate cost, entrepreneurs may focus on developing cheaper alternatives to existing treatments."

HOSPITAL SPENDING IS THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTOR TO RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS

"Tracking Health Care Costs: Hospitals Surpass Drugs as Key Cost Driver"
Center for Health System Change
Health Affairs, September 2001

Click here for an Abstract and link to full article, or go to Data Bulletin. 

Contrary to conventional wisdom, hospital spending -- not prescription drugs -- accounted for the largest share of increased health care costs in 2000.

USING THE INTERNET TO IMPROVE RURAL HEALTH CARE

"Rural Health Care and the Internet: Issues and Opportunities for Using Interactive Communications to Improve Rural Health Care Services"
A Report on a Meeting Convened by: The Center for Health Policy, Research and Ethics, George Mason University; Health Resources and Services Administration; Milbank Memorial Fund Office of Rural Health, University of Arizona; Summer 2001

Internet technologies offer the promise of a more viable alternative to previously developed telecommunication technologies because of its lower costs, widespread availability, and relative ease of use.

Meeting participants recognized the need to promote national pilot programs that strive toward systematic change, in which processes are reengineered in favor of needs-driven, sustainable efforts.

SENIORS' USE OF WEB SIMILAR TO OTHER INTERNET USERS

"Wired Seniors: A Fervent Few, Inspired By Family Ties"
Pew Internet and American Life Project, September 2001

SURVEY ON CONSUMER EXPERIENCES WITH HEALTH PLANS

"National Survey on Consumer Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Health Plans"
The Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard School of Public Health
August 2001

HEALTH BENEFITS UPDATES

"2001 Employer Health Benefits Survey"
The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, September 2001

Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance increased an average 11 percent in 2001, the largest increase in premiums since 1992.

"Maximizing the Return on Health Benefits"
Watson Wyatt, September 2001

NCQA PUBLISHES LATEST "STATE OF MANAGED CARE QUALITY"

"State of Managed Care Quality 2001"
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA); September 2001

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW FEATURES INNOVATIVE HOME CARE TECHNOLOGIES

"Upstream: Smart Home Care"
Technology Review, September 2001

UPDATE ON JCAHO DISEASE-SPECIFIC CARE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM

Developing Disease-Specific Care Certification program
JCAHOnline, August 2001

Disclosure -- No clients were mentioned this issue.




E-CareManagement News is an e-newsletter that tracks a major change in health care and managed care—the paradigm shift from “managing cost” to “managing care”.  This e-newsletter is brought to you by Better Health Technologies, LLC (http://www.bhtinfo.com).  BHT provides consulting and business development services relating to disease management, demand management, and patient health information technologies.

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