Keeping the Balance: Health Plans Move From High-Tech to High-Touch
Rapid technological advancement and industry modernization have made healthcare executives wary of distancing members by replacing interpersonal feedback with mechanical indifference. This concern poses a dilemma for an industry trying to maximize time - and cost-efficiency and still provide adequate support to its members. Striving toward balance, healthcare planners are quickly establishing a trend that satisfies these dual objectives. Working within the frame of consumer-driven healthcare, they encourage members to engage themselves.
(PRWEB) August 1, 2005
Manasquan, NJ (PRWEB)August 1, 2005 – Rapid technological advancement and industry modernization have made healthcare executives wary of distancing members by replacing interpersonal feedback with mechanical indifference. This concern poses a dilemma for an industry trying to maximize time - and cost-efficiency and still provide adequate support to its members. Striving toward balance, healthcare planners are quickly establishing a trend that satisfies these dual objectives. Working within the frame of consumer-driven healthcare, they encourage members to engage themselves.
“Moving from High-Tech to High Touch: How Health Plans Are Providing Robust Personalized Web-based Services,” a March 2005 audio conference on CD-ROM sponsored by the Healthcare Intelligence Network (HIN), outlines how self-service web applications can increase customer satisfaction and contain costs. During this 90-minute audio conference on CD-ROM, expert panelists lead a detailed discussion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts’ (BCBSM) experience with Bluelinks, a state-of-the-art web-based solution developed by EDS, a provider in healthcare IT solutions. For more information, please visit http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr (http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr).
Though focusing on one case study, the speakersÂ’ presentation underscores the potential impact of web-based initiatives across the healthcare industry.
“With the advent of many of these initiatives, we are shifting the traditional burden of responsibility to our customers,” said Jonas Shoor, senior consultant at EDS, who contributed to the conference. “Instead of filling out a form and sending it in, we now need to analyze, interpret and key it into our systems. And we are asking our customers to log into websites and do it themselves.”
BlueLinks allows BCBSMA business customers to manage and update their BCBSMA health insurance over the Internet in real-time - 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information and a first-hand account of the usefulness of this novel tool, please visit http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr (http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr).
Incorporating information from both organizational and technological perspectives, conference presenters Edward Esposito, vice president, IT Delivery Systems, BCBSMA and Joseph Fraser, client delivery executive, EDS provide an integrated approach to web-based services. They outline how online initiatives encourage member engagement by providing personalized access to claims status, benefits review, deductible information and a plethora of additional account information. Using BCBSMÂ’s experience with BlueLinks as a backdrop, Esposito and Fraser offer an analytical, comprehensive account of how these services capitalize on Internet speed to foster consumerism and industrial efficiency. They also offer explicit strategies for how health plans can institute these programs as productively as possible.
“Developing an intuitive and effective user interface is critical to the success of the project,” suggests Joseph Fraser, client delivery executive, EDS. “Usability cannot draw people to your site, but it certainly can drive them away.”
“Without a very strong attention to design and content, you'll find that customers will continue with their old patterns and adoption of these sites. Even ones developed with the best technologies will stagnate,” added Shoor.
This 90-minute audio conference on CD-ROM is directed to presidents and vice presidents, key health plan executives, e-visit directors and strategic planning coordinators. Also included on the CD-ROM are comprehensive outlines of the speakersÂ’ presentations and a live question-and-answer session in which participants tap into the panelistsÂ’ expertise. For more details on related products and upcoming audio conferences, visit http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr (http://www. hin. com/cgi-local/link/news/pl. cgi? hthtcdpr).
About the Healthcare Intelligence Network---HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. For more information, contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 292-3073, e-mail info@hin. com, or visit http://www. hin. com (http://www. hin. com).
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