The health care industry won’t be recognized
Internet changing the way providers do business
Not only is the Internet changing the expectations of consumers about their health care providers, but it’s also transforming the way providers conduct their business.
"Electronic commerce conducted via the Inter-net, although it is in its early stages of emergence, already is revolutionizing the conduct of business in virtually all sectors of health care," says Arky Pollokoff, a partner in Arthur Andersen’s Central Region Healthcare Consulting practice in Chicago.
"E-business is not just an information technology issue — it represents a new way of doing business that requires changes in business strategy, process, and people."
Give yourself a Web presence
First of all, the Internet is changing the way providers market themselves. Many hospitals know that if they don’t have a strategy to help them maintain or increase market share, patients may go elsewhere. That is just one reason why most hospitals now offer Web sites.
Although patients may use the Web site to gain information about their present physicians, they may also use it to evaluate a provider’s worthiness. "They look for a stickiness to the Web site," Pollokoff says. If patients don’t have an opinion of one provider vs. another, they may choose the one with the best Web site.
A good site, for instance, should provide information about the organization and its physicians, allow patients to ask a nurse or doctor a question, tell patients what services are provided, and detail employment and volunteer opportunities. It also should provide directions to the facility and may even allow patients to schedule appointments over the Web. Some sites even publish research conducted by their physicians.
Consumers, however, often find hospital Web pages difficult to navigate, Pollokoff says. And they might not be able to find more health information about a certain condition or treatment plan. "The sites don’t always have a compelling interface that leads consumers to pertinent information."
That’s why hospitals such as the University of Maryland (UM) Medical Center in Baltimore have chosen to partner with firms like the health information Web site drkoop.com. In exchange for a fee, drkoop.com gives the medical center geographic exclusivity to the greater Baltimore metropolitan area.
"That’s important for the University of Mary-land because Johns Hopkins is also in that area," Pollokoff says. On UM’s Web site (www.umm .edu), therefore, users see information about the University of Maryland as well as a link to drkoop.com.
"When you click on that link, you go to a drkoop.com page, but you still see a University of Maryland logo on that page. That links you back to UM," he explains. "That’s the only hospital in the Baltimore area that is allowed to do that."
Instead of having to invest in providing general health and wellness information, the University of Maryland uses drkoop.com to provide it. Hospitals are realizing the value of such e-business partnering, Pollokoff says. "Hospitals have to make the decision whether they want to gather and maintain the information themselves."
Physicians also are going to be increasingly Web savvy, Pollokoff says. "They will understand what they need to do as individuals and as part of their groups to figure out the best way to keep market share, to deliver information, and to get information so they can maintain credible information for their patient population and potential patient population."
Regular business transactions also are changing through the use of the Internet. For example, companies are working with hospitals and hospital providers to facilitate on-line claims processing. One company, RealMed in Indianapolis espouses real-time adjudication and resolution of claims. (For more information on RealMed, see story, p. 43.)
Hospitals also have to figure out which transactions they want to use in this electronic business world, Pollokoff advises.
Ordering materials is one way hospitals will be using the world of e-business. Healtheon/WebMD Corp., an Internet health care company in Atlanta, and medibuy.com, an e-commerce solution for health care supply procurement based in San Diego, have entered into an agreement to design and operate an integrated e-commerce marketplace for the procurement of medical and nonmedical supplies by physicians.
Hospitals can use e-business in planning construction and renovations, too. "The Web site Neoforma.com lets you do a panoramic tour of a room or building," Pollokoff says. "Then you can click on a piece of equipment in that room and order that piece of equipment just like ordering an item from amazon.com." The site also gives providers the ability to sell or auction used equipment. "You can sell a three-year-old MRI to a third-world country through the Internet."
The Health care industry can learn from other industries who are more proficient in these new technologies, he says. "Instead of reinventing the wheel, look to other organizations that are leaders in customer service, sales, and the processes they use and benchmark yourself against those other industries."
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