strategy

Health Plan Strategy Options in Two Sentences

March 20, 2011

“If you’re a health plan, you either become a care delivery system or an information services company,” said David Brailer, a former George W. Bush administration health official who now leads an investment firm. “The traditional business is dead.”

Read more at Kaiser Health News.
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The Crucial Distinction Between “Accountable Care” and ACOs

March 18, 2011

While in Philadelphia earlier this week, my colleague Dr. David Nace presented me with a print copy of McKesson Relay Health’s newest whitepaper — Providing Accountability: Accountable Care Concepts for Providers. I felt honored as he handed it to me and confided that it was one of only six copies in print. I took time to read it carefully on the long flight home.

The whitepaper is a great overview of accountable care and ACOs (Accountable Care Organizations). It’s a quick and easily digestible read.

However, there is one […]

Doctors Love iPads. What Does it Mean? What Does it Mean?

February 26, 2011

After attending the largest annual health IT conference of the year — HIMSS 11 – John Moore reported that “nearly every EHR vendor has an iPad App for the EHR [electronic health record], or will be releasing such this year.”

Doctors love iPads…not surprising? But, how might you explain this?

There are at least two different possibilities:

Coincidence Theory
Conspiracy Theory

The Coincidence Theory

So doctors want to access EHR software through the iPad…what’s the big deal?

Apple has built a great new hardware platform with the iPad. […]

10 Reasons Why an Open IT Platform Strategy is the Right Long-Term Choice for an ACO

February 9, 2011

Many Physicians and Clinical Service Providers Will Not Be In Your ACO Contracting Network.
Expect Significant Patient Leakage (Migration) Out of Your ACO Network
Expect Patient Demands for Sharing Records.
Minimize Anti-Trust Concerns.
Expect Continuing Government Pressure for Broad Data Exchange.

Verizon Abandoning Walled Garden Network & Business Model: Implications for Healthcare

October 7, 2010

Wha…? why are we talking about Verizon…isn’t is a healthcare blog?

When a major, multinational company does a complete turnaround on its operating and business model, it’s worth noting and examining the reasons behind the switch.

Wireless Week reported on a presentation made at the CTIA conference this week by Verizon COO, Lowell McAdam:

In a nod to the future, McAdam also said Verizon Wireless will scratch its “walled garden” approach because “in a 4G world, we need to turn that guarded model inside out.” […]

Is HITECH Working? #4: While most attention has been focused on demand side incentives (will doctors and hospitals buy EHRs?), the supply (vendor) side of HIT is already transforming.

April 19, 2010

by Vince Kuraitis JD, MBA and David C. Kibbe MD, MBA

Most of the press coverage and attention to HITECH has been to the “buy” side of the market: The central question here has been: “Will doctors and hospitals buy and use EHR technology?”

Meanwhile — and much more quietly — the sell (vendor) side of the EHR market is already dramatically different than it was a year ago. We observe change occurring at at least three levels:

HITECH […]

What’s a Network Industry? Is Healthcare One?

August 26, 2009

This post is a foundational overview of characteristics of network industries. Much of the terminology will deserve deeper discussion, but we have to start somewhere.

In his book The Economics of Network Industries, Professor Oz Shy lists four characteristics of network industries.

The main characteristics of these markets which distinguish them from the market for grain, dairy products, apples, and treasury bonds are:

Complementarity, compatibility and standards
Consumption externalities [network effects]
Switching costs and lock-in
Significant economies of scale in production

In this essay, I’ll quote from Dr. Shy in explaining each […]

Intro to a New Series

August 20, 2009

“We need to make care linkages a core competency of American health care.”
George Halvorson, Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Kaiser Foundation Hospital

There’s a double meaning to the title of this new series: Healthcare Crosses the Chasm to the Network Economy

At the level of technology, it’s a reference to Geoffrey Moore’s bestselling business/technology book — “Crossing the Chasm”. The Chasm here is the huge gap between early adopters of technology and mainstream users. The book describes the process of bringing […]

Microsoft HealthVault is a Serious Business Strategy. Will Google Health Become More than a Hobby?

August 7, 2009

Google Health…please stick around….but please also get your stuff together.

Over the past few days, several of my respected colleagues have written excellent blog posts essentially asking “Does Google Health have life?”

Scott Shreeve — CLEAR! Shocking Google Health Back to Life
John Moore — Is Google Health Irrelevant?
Will Crawford — Future of Google Health

I share their observations and sentiments. I see Microsoft HealthVault as a serious business strategy while Google Health is more like a hobby (one of probably hundreds at Google).

Are there reasons […]

Markle v. HIMSS: Differing Views of “Meaningful Use” and “Certification”

April 30, 2009

The forthcoming definition of the “meaningful use” of health information technology will set the direction of the Obama administration’s strategy for health IT adoption, said David Blumenthal, the new national coordinator for health IT. Government HealthIT, April 28, 2009

…but not everyone sees eye-to-eye on the definitions of “meaningful use” and “certification”. [See the first […]