On-line vendor observes shift in market needs
Honeymoon is over; it’s time to get serious
While a number of employers initially got on the on-line bandwagon because it was "the thing to do," they are now beginning to realize just how valuable on-line health promotion services can be — and will be demanding more from their vendors in the months and years ahead.
That’s the opinion of Trent Sterling, MBA, MHA, general manager of Salt Lake City-based DoHealth, an on-line service and a division of Rx Remedy Inc., based in Westport CT.
And Sterling should know. DoHealth is one of the on-line pioneers, having launched its service in 1996. "From our standpoint, on-line health promotion is really taking off," he says.
"We’ve seen much excitement on the client side in the last six months in terms of rollout and recruitment," says Sterling, who has contracts with several federal agencies, as well as managed care organizations. "We think it signals the advent of e-health as a more integral part of their health promotion initiatives."
The novelty has worn off
Sterling says, "We are right at the end of the e-health honeymoon. . . . Some early adopters of e-health did it because it was the thing to do; it was more from an image and marketing standpoint. The metrics have always been available, but it was less about ROI [return on investment] and health improvement, and more about whether the program had sizzle and made the benefits manager look good."
Today, Sterling sees a definite shift. "Now, we’re starting to see much more focus on how this service will save me money, how it will work with or replace telephonic or printed health promotion vehicles, and how it will enhance our ability to meet the needs of different groups of people, and how it will save money."
Sterling’s observations are supported by Jill Mehner, MA, vice president of client and corporate services for Seattle-based First Choice Health Plans, which provides the DoHealth service to a major airplane manufacturing company through Health Washington, which is administered and underwritten by First Choice Health Plans.
"Our initial rationale was probably product differentiation," says Mehner. "We wanted to provide a value-added feature to the employees, because to them the benefits of the different insurance carriers were so blurred. If you’re an employee, and you have three different plans to choose from, how do you choose? If we can assume this employer is looking for a differentiator, we chose health and wellness, because this firm is big on it."
An on-line service was selected because of its interactivity. "This [on-line health service] is a health management resource; it is interactive, very personal, and very flexible," says Mehner. As for the selection of DoHealth, "Our CEO was impressed by with the product and he drove the initiative," Mehner notes.
A traditional launch
The First Choice program launched in 1998 with a traditional rollout. "As part of the rollout, the employee is given an access code," Sterling explains. "When they go to dohealth.com, they then proceed to a special place to create their account and are asked for the code. They register, select a user name and password to access the system."
Users have the option at sign-in to have an encrypted or nonencrypted session, he adds. "If you want to look up an article, you may not care if the session is encrypted," he explains. "If you’re recording personal health information, you do."
DoHealth typically charges on a per-employee-per-year basis, which can range from $2 to $20 a year, based on the size of the employer. For that fee, the client gets a cobranded site with their logo on it. "There is also an area where clients can provide content and links to other information they have on-line," says Sterling.
The cost is different for health plans. "I’ve noticed a real difference between employers and health plans," Sterling observes. "Employers can communicate with employees through e-mail, so it’s easier to promote programs. In the HMO world, typical communication is through the mail; it can get real expensive sending postcards to millions of homes, so we get much less than $2 per member for HMOs."
The managed care organizations also can miss out on the marketing support Dohealth and other on-line services provide. "In the employer setting, before rollout we introduce the program through e-mails, describe the components, address issues like privacy and confidentiality, and include an endorsement from the CEO or benefits manager," Sterling says. "Then, we provide a series of print-support material — posters for the breakroom, payroll stuffers, and newsletters — typically in conjunction with the launch."
Mehner concedes that First Choice’s marketing efforts could be stronger. "We’ve gone into our second one-year contract, and we need to market the service in order to see a return on use," she says. "The first year was really a wait and see’ situation; we did see some people come on-line and use the service, but without marketing the usage is going to remain pretty static. This year, we’re considering creating a hot link’ on the Web site; introducing articles on the value of the program in our quarterly newsletter; and conducting a survey to better understand what interests members about the site."
Mehner says she is also considering a mailing to members who have not visited the site, asking why they haven’t they checked it out yet.
Changing with the times
Meanwhile, Dohealth is gearing up to meet the needs of a newly demanding employer population. "Our program has been very traditional," says Sterling. "Our package is a full-blown health assessment and management tool. We have now begun to unbundle different components, such as our health risk assessment and our Health Action health reference section." (For an outline of Dohealth’s services, see box, left.)
The basic pattern of delivery is not that different from traditional health promotion, he asserts. "It’s just exciting to see clients taking that part of e-health more seriously — as an integral part of their health promotion program about which they are getting serious in terms of engagement."
In recognition of this shift and in anticipation of increasing demands from clients, six months ago Dohealth hired a PhD in health services and research, "to make sure we collect the right data and have the reporting and analytical tools in place, so we can differentiate ourselves on that basis when the market starts to insist on it," Sterling explains.
Like many managed care executives, Mehner is not convinced she will be able to quantify the value of the program. "I can’t predict ROI on this," she says. "If I want to stop smoking or lose weight, what is the cost of that? How will that save the employer or the member any money? If more people join my health plan, we’ve accomplished our goal."
Mehner admits, however, that she will be in a much better position to evaluate the program after year two. "Then we’ll be able to ask, Are we getting enough hits to renew the contract — enough interest to move forward?’"
Meanwhile, Sterling is watching the growing popularity of on-line services with more than detached interest. "We’re thrilled that client wants to use us, but that’s only a third of the battle," he says. "The real work starts when you put together marketing programs to move populations to action; programs that are really designed for engaging them and encouraging them to use the program enough to have a health impact."
• Trent Sterling, Dohealth, 48 W. Market St., Suite 300, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Telephone: (801) 517-6902. Fax: (801) 517-6990. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.dohealth.com.
• Jill Mehner, First Choice Health Plans, 601 Union St., Suite 1100, Seattle, WA 98101. Telephone: (206) 268-2302. Fax: (206) 268-2941. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.healthwa.com.
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