Healthcare IT News - May 2008 - (Page 29)

www.HealthcareITNews.com PayERS specific tools that can help them Doty said. WellPoint, Humana, and Blue manage their health,” said Slavin. Carl Doty, senior analyst for Cross Blue Shield of Texas and Forrester Research, said that BCBS of Florida have been leadconsumerism, cost shifting and ers in this market, he said, with the number of uninsured in this ehealthinsurance.com as the leadcountry are driving the popularity ing online marketplace. While the market potential is of individual health plans. According to a Forrester high, Doty said the trick for health Research report, one-third of the plans is to address the high churn 47 million uninsured are research- rate, thanks to price-sensitive coning and shopping for insurance. sumers and the seemingly endless “This represents a fairly signifi- variety of choices. ■ April ad 3 4/14/08 5:53 Page 1 cant untapped market for health PMMore at HealthcareITnews.com plans to increase membership,” ●Connect: oNLINe 0508 e May 2008 ■ Healthcare IT News 29 onlInE Three CMS chronic care pilots extended WASHINGTON Continued from page 27 plans, said spokesman Ethan Slavin. The tools include a Web site organized into different life stages with personal preference selection and a free Web site available designed to educate all consumers on the importance of health benefits. “Once an individual consumer becomes an Aetna member, they have access to a number of Aetna- – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has extended for two years a chronic care demonstration project. The Medicare Coordinated Care Demonstration is one of the first studies of chronic care coordination under fee-for-service Medicare. It was designed to test whether care coordination services can lower costs, increase patient satisfaction and improve quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries with chronic illnesses. It began in 2002 with 15 sites, was extended for two years at 11 sites in 2006. Last month CMS extended again by two years the project at three sites that showed a potential for budget neutrality. The other eight pilot projects will end this year as scheduled. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: CMS 0508 ● ToUrISM Continued from page 27 comprehensive evaluations of hospitals, said David Boucher, vice president of healthcare services. While he noted “excellent care can be provided without a fully leveraged CPOE;” nevertheless, many of the contracted hospitals have a high degree of healthcare IT implementation. Anadolu Medical Center, a nonprofit, two-year-old medical facility in Istanbul, Turkey, has a fully integrated electronic medical record system and IT infrastructure “built from the ground up,” said Boucher. Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, has a state-of-the-art CPOE and advanced HIT, he said, while Clinica Biblica Hospital in San Jose, Costa Rica, is slated to implement a fully integrated EMR system in late 2008, early 2009. “BCBSSC is an IT company, and we have an affinity for IT,” Boucher said. Aetna is developing a pilot project with one of its customers, according to Charles Cutler, MD, national medical director for national accounts. In evaluating overseas hospitals, Aetna is looking for “good outcomes” and quality measures, he said. Information technology is important as a contributing factor but not a requirement, he added. That said, Aetna is in discussions with a hospital that has a “good HIT investment,” according to Cutler. While BCBSSC and Aetna are leading the pack, other payers are in investigative stages. Interest from its employer groups has prompted Cigna to explore medical tourism as part of plan offerings, said spokesman Mark Slitt. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association is reviewing the effects and benefits of medical tourism, said spokeswoman Lisa Johnson. WellPoint is also evaluating programs and benefits. Spokeswoman Jill Becher said quality of care for members is the main focus. BCBS of North Carolina, however, is not looking to outsourcing patient care to overseas providers, according to spokesman Lew Borman. Among other issues, he said different hospital accreditation and physician training are too risky for the Blues plan to engage in medical tourism. ■ More at HealthcareITnews.com e Connect: toUrISM 0508 Get the whole picture from MDdatacor If you rely on claims data to improve patient outcomes and measure physician performance, you’re only getting half the picture. If you can’t access clinical data, are you getting the entire patient picture? MDdatacor provides the most comprehensive patient data set for your quality improvement, pay-for-performance and patient-centered care initiatives. By combining claims, pharmacy and clinical data from registries, electronic medical records, practice management and lab systems – even transcription notes – MDdatacor gives you better, more comprehensive data. Customizable, web-based reports and scorecards provide insight into individual physician progress as well as comparisons of performance within a practice and across multiple sites. To see what you’ve been missing, contact us at www.mddatacor.com or (866) 460-5681. ● MDdatacor www.mddatacor.com clinical data, quality outcomes e ● Connect: MDDataCor 0508 http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://ehealthinsurance.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9180 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9176 http://www.mddatacor.com http://www.mddatacor.com http://HealthcareITnews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9175 http://www.mddatacor.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9209

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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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