Managed Healthcare Executive - October 2008 - (Page 15)

MONG THE TOP ISSUES in 2009 is increasing consumer engagement. Health plans have done a reasonably good job developing member portals and adopting technology that puts information and applications in the hands of the healthcare consumer to better manage their own care. The challenge going forward is to leverage technology to touch members even more. “Some plans are very focused on how they leverage the Web as a way to reach and activate their members, but I think we still have a long way to go,” says Kevin Noland, CEO and president of A.D.A.M., a consumer health information organization. “There needs to be a recognition that not everyone of us gets engaged at the same level. There are multiple touch points, and I think we have to recognize what those touch points are A TRENDS and how we best provide information, tools and support at all of those places.” Noland says that there are few standards for presenting cost information to consumers, for example, therefore rendering much of the information useless. Until standards are solidi ed and adopted across a broad use, it will be di cult for consumers to make heads or tails out of the information. “There is more comparative information [and] more valuable consumer information on plasma televisions—so I can select the best one based on all the di erent parameters that are important to me—than there is for me to go and select a healthcare provider,” he says. Roy Schoenberg, MD, CEO of American Well, an online healthcare marketplace, believes that the top three picks among survey respondents—which account for better than two-thirds of all responses—may indicate a transformation for the healthcare industry into a traditional service industry. Consumers are e ectively becoming buyers, according to Schoenberg, and are for the rst time getting currency with which to buy. Industrywide standards for measurements will translate to better information detailing what they can purchase and how to make cost-e ective choices. “When you have a de nition of a buyer, a de nition of currency, and a de nition of goods, you are well on the way to actually making a marketplace out of healthcare,” he says. PLAN DATA David Knowlton, president and CEO of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, and a director of the HealthWell Foundation, a non-pro t organization that provides nancial assistance to individuals, says MHE readers’ top three choices spell great opportunities for health plans, but also great challenges. “The way [health plans] would like this consumer engagement in care choices to take place is through the data that the health plan provides,” says Knowlton. The problem, however, is that surveys indicate that consumers don’t trust the data that health plans provide. For example, Knowlton suggests that if a health plan rates hospitals and doctors objectively, and that objectivity is sustained by an independent group, the list might need to include doctors outside the health plan’s network. “If health plans really believe that this is the right way to go, and I think they do, they’ve got to [provide the data] through an independent, thirdparty group,” says Knowlton. MHE OCTOBER 2008 Emerging Trends Receiving the Most Attention in 2009 25.9% 22.6% 20.2% 11.8% 10.9% 6.2% Consumer engagement in care choices Payment reform Industrywide standards for various measurements Medical home models Evidencebased medicine Comparative effectiveness studies Source: Managed Healthcare Executive Reader Survey, 2008 15

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managed Healthcare Executive - October 2008

Managed Healthcare Executive - October 2008 For Your Benefit Editorial Advisors Contents News Analysis State Report Politics &�Policy Healthcare Reform Trends in 2009 Cost Control Strategies Predicted Premium Increase Top Challenges in 2009 IT System Integration Technology Innovation Disease Management Health Management Pharmacy Best Practices Technology Desktop Resource Ad/Edit Index Managed Care Outlook Statement of Ownership

Managed Healthcare Executive - October 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.