Healthcare IT News - September 2008 - (Page 36) 36 Healthcare IT News September 2008 ■ payERS www.HealthcareITNews.com mvP Continued from page 34 and cell phones. MVP’s extensive ROI study estimates that two years of use will pay off MVP’s initial investment and four years of use will provide a 4-to-1 return, Henderson said. William Wetmore, vice president of relationship management for ikaSystems and project manager for MVP Health Care, said MVP Health Care is trying to create a retail healthcare distribution site with a one-stop shop for financial and healthcare products and services. “MVP is a role model for the rest of the industry “technology will allow us with this vision to diversify to be where customers make and have all the informatheir decisions and engage tion and better intelligence them at the in one place,” he said. In today’s competiRIght tIME.” Dave Henderson tive environment, payers are trying to differentiate themselves by using portals to expand products to the right population to ensure their product line and marketing, said profitability, she said. “MVP’s strategy is to deliver proof of conJanice Young, program manager for Health cept, Young said. ■ Industry Insights. Using flexible and innovative tools are More at HealthcareITNews.com critically important to targeting the right ●Connect: MVP 0908 e Aetna offers PHR to Medicare members HARTFORD, CT architects of change – Aetna has made its personal health record available to its current Medicare members who have purchased their Medicare plans individually. By offering its PHR to its Medicare members, Aetna hopes to engage members in managing their own health and make it easier for them to share health information with their physicians. Aetna officials say this type of tool is especially important to Medicare members as their use of the Internet continues to increase. A May 2008 study from the Pew Internet & American Life Society estimates that 35 percent of individuals age 65 and over use the Internet, and the percentage increase for this age group has been greater than any other since 2000. Medicare members will be able to share their PHR with their physician online as well as print a copy before an office visit. They also have the option of creating and printing a wallet-sized Emergency Information Card that contains information such as blood type, allergies, medications, and insurance information. More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: aetNa 0908 ● IBC Continued from page 1 Annual Conference & Exhibition Save the Date CHICAGO | McCorMiCk plACE | April 4-8, 2009 www.himssconference.org TM on patients with chronic conditions have been distributed to primary care physicians semiannually since May 2004. The registry is one piece of IBC’s larger Connections Health Management Program. “We have been offering a program that goes deep into the population of members with chronic conditions,” Maurer said. “The biggest benefit is giving actionable, timely data to providers.” “We’ve made a lot of progress on the use of the registry,” said Rebecca Polss, supervisor of IBC’s Population Health and Wellness department. “Receptivity to the registry has increased by word of mouth among providers as well as through the efforts of our provider service specialists who meet with providers throughout the year.” The reports were distributed to more than 5,200 primary care physicians this past June with information on more than 270,000 members with chronic conditions. Siejak said the next registry enhancement, likely in 2009, would provide an online version of data that would enable monthly updates and allow quicker provider feedback. “Health Industry Insights has seen a steady increase in the deployment of disease registries by payers into their provider networks,” said Lynne Dunbrack, program director of HHI. Clinical analytic tools and reporting tools help identify members with potential gaps in care and help providers manage the care of patients with chronic conditions and meet pay-for-performance care metrics, respectively. “This is especially true for practices that have not implemented an EMR and must rely on manual chart pulls to identify patients with chronic conditions or who have missed critical preventative care,” she said. ■ More at HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: IBC 0908 ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9905 http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9910 http://www.himssconference.org http://www.himssconference.org http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=9863
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