Healthcare IT News - May 2008 - (Page 27)

www.HealthcareITNews.com May 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 27 NEWSBRIEFS KaISER PERmaNENtE BoaStS 2 mIllIoN uSINg ItS PHR Kaiser Permanente officials say 2 million members are actively using Kaiser’s personal health record My health manager, which was launched in 2005. Accessed at kp.org, My health manager online enables members to schedule appointments and request prescription refills. In addition, users have 24/7 access to lab test results, eligibility and benefits information and their children’s immunization records. With secure e-mail messaging, members can also communicate with their doctors at anytime, from anywhere. More than 300,000 secure e-mail messages are sent to Kaiser Permanente doctors and clinicians each month, and more than 1 million lab test results are viewed online. Humana pilots care-coaching effort Program helps Medicare Advantage members target chronic illness. By PaTTy Enrado, Contributing Editor LOUISVILLE, KY – Humana is piloting a Personal Health Management program to help Medicare Advantage members take control of their chronic medical conditions. The pilot, which can accommodate up to 2,500 members in its Louisiana Medicare to that member’s condition through Advantage HMO market and education, improved communication, Tennessee Medicare Advantage PPO and combined national clinical stanand PFFS markets, will help deterdards with specialized criteria and mine if this type of intervention tools for better health assessment. makes a “concrete, positive impact Steve Wigginton, president of on our members,” said spokesman Health Integrated, said the program Mitch Lubitz. Enrollment in Health Integrated’s Steve Wigginton is an intervention model that uses Synergy program began in August 2007. mass customization – the ability to look at Each participant has a dedicated care coach co-morbidities and psycho-social conditions who helps to achieve specific goals related HUMana see page 28 Health plans look at It to evaluate overseas hospitals By PaTTy Enrado, Contributing Editor COLUMBIA, SC aEtNa SIgNS coNtRact FoR ElEctRoNIc tRaNSactIoNS Aetna has tapped Dallas-based Claimsnet. com to provide electronic transaction services. The contract calls for Claimsnet to deliver claims and receive Electronic Remittance Advice (ERA) to and from Aetna on behalf of Aetna’s healthcare providers. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. oHIo INSuRER to oFFER mEmBERS oNlINE tool Medical Mutual of Ohio will offer Intuit Inc.’s Quicken Health Expense Tracker to its 1.6 million members. Formerly named Quicken Health, Quicken Health Expense Tracker is an online tool that will be available at no extra cost to Medical Mutual members to help them organize and manage their medical claims and bills. It is slated to be on the market by the end of the year. “Offering Quicken Health Expense Tracker is another cutting-edge tool that will promote more cost-informed choices and greater satisfaction among our members,” said Bob Mau, vice president of eBusiness at Medical Mutual. – Through its subsidiary, Companion Global Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina added three Singapore hospitals to its overseas network in March, now offering its members access to seven Joint Commission David Boucher International-accredited medical facilities in five countries. As the first U.S. health insurer to provide medical tourism as part of a benefit plan, BCBSSC conducts ToUrISM see page 29 Booming IHA market drives use of online tools By PaTTy Enrado, Contributing Editor BLOOMINGTON, MN David Boucher, vice president of healthcare services for BCBS of South Carolina, and Elif Sozer, MD, medical director of surgical services, check out one of the operating theaters at Anadolu Medical Center in Istanbul, Turkey. calIFoRNIa admINIStRatoR BooStS aNalySIS Employee Benefits Administration & Management Corp., with offices in Westlake Village and Costa Mesa, Calif. has contracted with Tulsa, Okla.-based Benefit Informatics to implement online benefit analysis and reporting technology. The goal, say EBA&M officials is to enhance communication and distribution to clients and brokers. Implementing Benefit Informatics technology gives EBA&M a strategic advantage in delivering detailed health plan analysis and reporting combined with plan modeling and forecasting capabilities, EBA&M officials said. HealthcareITnews.com e ●Connect: PaYerS 0508 More at which reflects upon the growing – Health- individual health plan market in Minnesota, said Donna Partners has deployed Zimmerman, vice presionline tools to help condent of government and sumers choose individual community relations. health plans appropriate “Our market research to their needs and lifefor Minnesota shows style. that more than 26 perMore than 1,000 peocent use the Internet ple have used the tools Donna to buy insurance,” she since they were first Zimmerman made available in February, said. Forty-one percent of those surveyed complained of confusion in sorting out individual health plans. HealthPartners worked with Synthetic Kit, a Minneapolisbased Web site developer/ designer, to create an online tool that would enhance consumer comfort with the buying process, said Zimmerman. Early data reports positive consumer experience. HealthPartners offers other Web-based consumer tools for all health insurance-related products. Aetna, which offers individual products in 29 states and Washington, D.C. and expects to add several new states this year, also has online decisionsupport tools for consumers interested in individual health onlInE see page 29 Harvard Pilgrim, Perot sign $1B deal HEalTHCarE IT nEwS staff Health plan members and self-service “Thinking about the last time you used your health plan’s online physician or provider directory, which of the following were you looking for?” Find a listing of doctors or healthcare institutions in my health plan’s network Whether a specific doctor or healthcare institution is in my health plan’s network Other – Harvard Pilgrim Health Care has signed a $1 billion deal with Perot Systems Corp. for information technology and business process services through 2021. Representatives of the Massachusetts-based not-forprofit health plan say the company will realize approximately $150 million of administrative cost savings over the life of the agreement through the consolidation and leveraging of techWELLESLEY, MA nology, administrative functions and redesign of administrative operations. Perot Systems, based in Plano, Texas, will operate and support Harvard Pilgrim’s information technology infrastructure, business applications, and administrative business operations. The Harvard Pilgrim health plan serves more than one million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: HarVarD 0508 60% 38% 3% (Percentages may not total 100 because of rounding.) e ● Connect: GraPHS 0508 COPyRIgHT 2008 FORREsTER REsEARCH, InC. ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9178 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9177

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Healthcare IT News - May 2008 Contents Help Wanted Speeding Up Government Silos Privacy Pressures Tracking Disease Rah Rah Health! TriZetto Suit Outcomes Watch Ambulatory EHRs

Healthcare IT News - May 2008

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