Healthcare IT News - March 2009 - (Page 29) www.HealthcareITNews.com payers member portals with Medicaid Transformation Grants. Despite the proliferation of activity, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, does not provide any guidance due to different program and technical requirements across states, said spokeswoman Mary Kahn. The Medicaid beneficiary Web portal of today provides very basic functionality, said Carl Doty, vice president and research director at Forrester Research. “Given the dismally low adop- March 2009 of these same kinds of services among the Medicaid population are very slim,” he said. Doty says he remains skeptical whether this particular popul at i o n c a n “ r e a l l y behave like empowered consumers.” At this point, he said, Carl Doty “there is little to no incentive for them to engage in online services that provide them with personal healthcare ■ Healthcare IT News 29 KaNSaS Continued from page 27 implemented the portal and is also the fiscal agent of Kansas’ State Medicaid Program, is noting that state Medicaid Programs that already have self-service provider Web portals are developing a self-service member portals, said Tripp Fulton, account manager for EDS. “It’s a natural progression,” he said. West Virginia, Arizona and Georgia are implementing “There is little to no INCeNTIVe for them to engage in online services that provide them with personal healthcare information.” –Carl Doty tion of member portals in the private sector, I think that the chances of widespread adoption information.” Nonetheless, Tripp said that the member portal provides valuable self-service. And as the unemployment rate rises and Medicaid enrollment is expected to go up, the self-service functionality will ease the administrative burden, Allison said. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: KaNSaS 0309 ● HumaNa Continued from page 1 and more coordination of care between the emergency room physician and other clinicians or specialists who have treated the patient, he said. In the Milwaukee area alone, Humana spends several million dollars annually on ER visits, Tzeel said. “It’s a good start if we get a little savings,” he said. While elimination of unnecessary or redundant tests will produce immediate savings, Tzeel said that coordination of care is akin to “compounded Kim Pemble interest.” Humana will subsidize the fee to access WHIE’s platform – Microsoft’s Amalga – and it will provide a net incentive to physicians to incorporate the new workflow process. Thirteen hospitals in the Milwaukee area, representing four IDNs, are contributing data, with the fourteenth hospital coming on board in March, said Kim Pemble, WHIE executive director. Despite the data coming from multiple systems and interfaces, Amalga is able to match patients across the community and provide a consistent view of them across the different systems, Pemble said. “The goal is to make health information exchange as simple as possible,” he said. WHIE reached out to the major payers in the area, and Humana “dem- Steve Shihadeh onstrated taking a lead role in the first step to long-term business sustainability,” said Pemble. Steve Shihadeh, general manager of sales, marketing and partners for Microsoft Health Solutions Group, noted that when health information exchanges deliver the benefits payers step up. Humana has every reason to believe the pilot will be a success and will consider expanding the program to its populations, Tzeel said. “This benefits the community, so we want our competitors to join us,” he said. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: HuMaNa 0309 Even One Weak Link Is Too Many Infrastructure Mobility Point of Care Document Management Compliance At HealthConnection, we know the importance of a reliable infrastructure and the support it brings. We also understand that it is only part of the complete healthcare IT solution. That’s why we bring together healthcare-specific technology products and services that make it easy to eliminate weak links throughout your organization. HP Smart Buy ProLiant ML115 G5 Server With Dual-Core AMD Athlon™ Processor 4450B $ APC Smart-UPS 750VA, USB and Serial Rackmount 2U, 120V $ MultiSync MD212MC 21.3" Diagnostic Flat-Panel Monitor $ HP Smart Buy D2D2503i Backup System $ 369 #8600385 38595 #9408791 3499 #9380062 5459 #8728354 www.pcconnection.com/health HealthConnection technology solutions are only available through the PC Connection family of companies. Call today. ©2009 PC Connection, Inc. All rights reserved. PC Connection, GovConnection, MoreDirect, and HealthConnection are trademarks of PC Connection, Inc. or its subsidiaries. All copyrights and trademarks remain the property of their respective owners. Our Sales Policy—All sales are subject to PC Connection’s Standard Terms of Sale. 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