Today, the top rated social sites are successful because of this principle.  For example, LinkedIn’s networking site was designed with the realization that at some point, people will need a simple solution to develop business connections. Pinterest’s picture sharing site ascended to $200 million in value because they knew at some point, people will need a simple solution to gather creative ideas. Obviously, these “needs” are not as serious as the spy plane mechanic’s but here’s one that could be …“At some point, people will need to find a doctor.”

The need to find a doctor brings the most traffic to a Health Plan’s web site. So, just like that spy plane mechanic, consumers must have access to a simple solution that meets their need.  As opposed to the lemming’s approach of building out separate member tools in various areas, The KISS principle would call for plans to bring all consumer tools into the highest traffic area (provider search), for one simple solution.  Engagement doesn’t happen by building a “Facebook for healthcare”.  It happens when you bring a simple solution to a basic need. Otherwise, you’ll end up creating an overcomplicated, unusable product and might as well kiss your consumers goodbye.

We need tools to help us know the cost of a medical procedure or service before we have it performed. In addition to comparing our true out of pocket expense, knowing the provider’s quality ratings and how our social network ranks them would be helpful pieces of information. A tool that would put all of that information in one place for us would help us make a much more informed healthcare decision.

Putting an emphasis on healthcare transparency will be a key trend in the years to come. With so much transparency available today in every other aspect of our lives, the healthcare industry will need to move to accommodate our growing appetite for more information. At the very least, it would help eliminate any unwanted surprises when we open our medical bills.

Visit Prism Services Group website.

The long term impact of the law could bring some tectonic shifts in the medical industry in the United States as three-fourths of the doctors worried about physician shortages with 70 percent believing some would-be doctors wouldn’t go into the profession now, and 60 percent think some physicians might retire because of the law.

With more people having access to health insurance, patients definitely can expect longer wait times and the reduced number of providers. Ninety percent of doctors believed they would be paid less by the insurance companies because of the law, which seems a bleak future indeed.

To help offset the potential dip in revenue, three fourths of the doctors favored tort reform to limit the amount that can be awarded to victims of medical malpractice. This could help lower the cost of malpractice insurance for physicians, but the future is unclear all around.

While on the surface, ensuring everyone can access healthcare service paid for by health insurance benefits, the flood of previously uninsured into the system will have ripple effects that no one could have predicted.

This debate continues to rage, putting the impact of the health care reform in question.

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Netflix capitalized on an industry where movie renting became inconvenient and expensive. Through the innovation of a unique delivery strategy and an adaptation to consumer demands, they brought convenience and savings to people. Their $8 monthly membership for unlimited mail-in or streaming movies led us to consume movies more intelligently and view renting more favorably.

In healthcare, consumer driven health plans (CDHP) are inconvenient and expensive for many.  Healthcare, for them, has become difficult to manage and the cost of doctor and hospital visits shock most people (a more acute reaction than the one to Netflix’s rising monthly fee). How does a health insurance plan innovate and adapt to lead people towards consuming health services more intelligently and viewing them more favorably?

Their innovation, like Netflix’s, needs to begin with a better information delivery strategy. Payers need to proactively deliver information to members so they can estimate out-of-pocket liability, search for treatment cost and act on personalized savings alerts before visiting doctors and hospitals. Developing one platform that merges with existing tool sets (provider search, quality transparency, online appointment booking) will meet consumer demands and be utilized more by members.

Plans may view the days of print directories like Netflix is beginning to view the mailing of DVDs (not with a nostalgic grin). But through innovating and adapting, payers can provide convenience and savings to people.  Borrowing a play from Netflix will lead people to consume more intelligently and view the industry more favorably.

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Visit our website for more information.

Large healthcare entities like hospitals have jumped on the social media bandwagon and now many of them have Facebook pages and Twitter accounts to keep their patients updated on the latest innovations that they have to offer, as well as to offer sound medical information that their clients are seeking.  Doctors and other healthcare professionals are also using social networks to collaborate with one another and to share research that can benefit the medical community.

Beyond the popular social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, specialized websites and networks are emerging that are aimed at healthcare professionals.  One example is HealthSprocket.  HealthSprocket provides a unique service to the healthcare community.  It is a home for healthcare lists.  They have created a community of healthcare professionals and make lists available on a variety of topics that these professionals can read, rate, and comment on, as well as post lists of their own.  Lists can be designated as fact or opinion based, and they involve business or clinical aspects of healthcare, health insurance and anything else related to the industry.

As the trend to exchange information online and use social networks continues, sites like this will continue to emerge throughout the healthcare community.  Healthcare professionals can benefit from the unique opportunities presented to share information and learn from each other in ways that were unavailable in the past.

Below we have hilighted a few of our favorites from the HealthSprocket’s  list:

1. ACO Watch – http://twitter.com/ACOwatch
2. Action For Better Healthcare – http://twitter.com/act4healthcare
3. AHIP Coverage Blog – http://twitter.com/AHIPCoverage
4. Altarum Institute Health Policy Forum – http://twitter.com/Altarum
5. American Medical News – http://twitter.com/amednews
6. Marc Chasin CMIOblog – http://twitter.com/CMIOblog
7. Cyndy Nayer Value-Based Benefit Design – http://twitter.com/cyndynayer
8. Dark Daily – http://twitter.com/Dark_Daily
9. Disease Management Care Blog – http://twitter.com/DisMgtCareBlog
10. Gary Schwitzer’s HealthNewsReview – http://twitter.com/garyschwitzer
11. Health Business Blog – http://twitter.com/HealthBizBlog
12. HealthBlawg – http://twitter.com/healthblawg
13. Bob Coffield HealthLawBlog – http://twitter.com/HealthLawBlog
14. Healthcare Financial Management Association – http://twitter.com/hfmaorg
15. iHealthBeat – http://twitter.com/iHealthBeat
16. Kevin Pho, M.D. KevinMD – http://twitter.com/KevinMD
17. MCOL – http://twitter.com/M_C_O_L
18. MedSynergies – http://twitter.com/MedSynergies
19. The Medical Group Management Association – http://twitter.com/mgma
20. Milliman, Inc. – http://twitter.com/millimanhealth
21. Brian Dolan Mobilehealth – http://twitter.com/mobilehealth
22. Modern Healthcare – http://twitter.com/modrnhealthcr
23. The New England Journal of Medicine – http://twitter.com/NEJM
24. Payers & Providers – http://twitter.com/payersproviders
25. Lindsay Resnick Healthcare Trends – http://twitter.com/ResnickLR
26. Todd Park CTO HHS- http://twitter.com/todd_park
27. Vince Kuraitis e-CareManagement – http://twitter.com/VinceKuraitis
28. William J. DeMarco DeMarcoHealth – http://twitter.com/WJDeMarco
29. WSJ Health – http://twitter.com/WSJHealth
30. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society – http://www.twitter.com/himss

What are your favorites? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook!

Recently, I recall one of my friends attempting to show us a brand new search engine on the web, and she naturally used Google to find it. Searching for a search engine is a little unusual but shows that it may be the Internet’s example of a Genericized Trademark (and yes…I searched to find that term).  Free text searching has become the modern shortcut to find the information you need quickly without having to provide a lot of input.  In the absence of referrals, however, healthcare consumers in uncharted medical waters can suffer the negative outcome of a decision made with limited information.

Health plans continually enhance member portals to compete with the variety of ways to search for providers on the Internet. The task in increasing utilization has been to replicate the convenience of normal search engines without sacrificing important medical content and direction.  While the use of a search engine can lead a patient towards more understanding of a condition, it also can lead to unintentional compromises, unnecessary anxiety and an absence of key direction that may have led them to a better decision.  Dr. Martin Young on KevinMD suggests in The Trouble with Dr. Google that information from search engines should be used as a reference only.  How is the bridge to be gapped?

Highmark Health Plan in Pittsburgh has developed a free text search, powered by Google, within their provider search platform.  A member searching for “family practice in Pittsburgh, PA” immediately is connected to in-network results and given all the supplemental information to make more informed healthcare decisions. This advancement is one more step towards creating a more personalized healthcare experience.  Health plans need a member’s trust and should innovate to reach members in such a way that their providers become the primary source of information.  In this case, convenient and informed input will lead to better output.  Providers should be “Googlable” but direction needs to be given by the ones who are in charge of covering the searcher.

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