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A Primer on Disease Management Terminology – is DM Like a Wall, a Spear, a Rope?
Remember the story about the blind men and the elephant? The first felt the side of the elephant and said it is “very like a wall”. The second touched the tusk and declared it is “very like a spear.” Another man held the elephant’s swinging tail and said it is “very like a rope.” And so on….
This is not unlike how people use the term “disease management” (DM). The meaning of the term DM depends very much on your knowledge […]
Lessons from History: Anticipating Implementation Challenges for eDM Programs
In the mid-1990s disease management (DM) outsourcing companies attempted to integrate their services into local delivery systems. They often encountered resistance from local providers (physicians and hospitals), who viewed the DM companies as outsiders.
Today a new wave of companies is beginning to develop Internet disease management (eDM) offerings. The challenge is similar: implementing and integrating eDM offerings into local delivery systems, which are often resistant to innovations of outsiders.
This essay will list and briefly describe some of the challenges experienced […]
An eDM Scorecard: Who’s Suiting up to Play in the Game?
A host of different organizations — some old, some new — are emerging from the wings to provide disease/care management services and tools utilizing the Internet!
…and they are approaching the Internet disease management (eDM) opportunity from very different angles.
Let’s categorize organizations scrutinizing eDM into four broad groupings:
Traditional Health Organizations
E-Health Companies: Business-to-Consumer (B2C)
E-Health Companies: Business-to-Business (B2B)
Other Technology Companies
How might each of these groups view the eDM opportunity?
Traditional Health Organizations
Traditional health organizations that have shown interest in eDM include DM outsourcing companies, […]
RWJF Report Forecasts Health Care in the U.S. Through 2010
A report entitled “Health and Health Care 2010” has been released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for the Future.
Here are a few summary findings from the section of the Executive Summary entitled “Care Processes and Medical Management”:
Medical management — the active management of the care of patients and populations — is currently applied sporadically, if at all. There are two main issues in the future of medical management. The first is the debate over which care […]
Healtheon/WebMD to Acquire Care Insite and Medical Manager – Good News for Advancing Care Management
The Richter scale shook again this week as Healtheon/WebMD announced an acquisition of CareInsite and Medical Manager. This mega-merger will bring together the #1 and #2 companies providing e-health connectivity. Details of the proposed deal can be reviewed at:
Healtheon to Buy Medical Manager
Healtheon-WebMD to CareInsite: “Be Mine!”
Online Health Firms Unite
Healtheon-WebMD Pops a Big Question
So what does the new HealtheonWebMD mean for those of us interested in disease management, care management, and clinical integration approaches?
Mostly it’s very good news.
Why? It avoids […]
“e-Care” Emerges as a Distinct Internet-Health Category
Internet health analysts initially divided the world of e-health into 3 or 4 “Cs” – usually Content, Connectivity, and Commerce (and sometimes Community).
Wit Capital has recently another C to the list –- Clinical Care.
Wit’s excellent 58 page report “eHealth 2000: Healthcare and the Internet in the New Millennium” can be viewed in either HTML or Adobe Acrobat formats.
Wit Capital’s report identifies this new category as — Clinical Care: The Convergence of Disease Management, Health Management and the Internet.
“Relentlessly rising healthcare […]
Five Simple Truths About Employers and Disease Management
Employers are playing an increasingly active role in disease management (DM) initiatives for their employees. Employers are recognizing that a disproportionate amount of health costs are incurred by a small percentage of their employees (typically 5% of a group accounts for about 60% of health care costs). Many employers are frustrated by perceptions that health care premiums are rising faster than medical costs and that health plans and providers are not taking enough steps to manage clinical care.
Here are 5 […]
Will the Internet Connect – or Disconnect – Patients and Physicians?
It’s hardly news these days, but there’s another entrant into the Internet health portal race. However, this one brings some unique twists. Medem has opportunities to employ both push and pull strategies to promote its web site and to improve the patient-physician relationship.
Wall Street and Main Street Health Care
At the new millennium, U.S. health care is living in two different worlds.
The world of Wall Street recognizes the huge opportunities in bringing the Internet to health care. In 1999, market capitalization […]
B2B eDM: Revolutionary Opportunities!
“What’s B2B eDM?” you ask. It stands for business-to-business Internet disease management.
The Internet is receiving great attention for its potential to improve disease management processes. However, almost all the attention has been paid to business-to-consumer (B2C) applications, rather than business-to-business (B2B) applications.
This parallels the attention that all B2C Internet companies have received over the past several years. The explosive potential of the B2B Internet market is just emerging!
This article highlights some of the strategic opportunities relating to B2B eDM. In […]
United Healthcare Pulls MBAs Licenses to Practice Medicine
In a story making national headlines this week, UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has announced that it is giving doctors the final say on treatments for their patients.
Good Medicine and Good Business
It’s hard to overstate the significance of UHC’s move. This is a sentinel event in the shift from managing cost to managing care!
It’s the right thing to do AND will prove to be an excellent business decision.
It’s another sign of the ending of the era of “MBAs Practicing Medicine”.
UHC’s Care Coordinator Program
United […]