Archive for January 1st, 2008
eHealth 2008
January 1, 2008
What does 2008 hold for eHealth? Here is my take on some trends to anticipate
- Announcement of Google Health – will the much anticipated personal health tool be rolled out?
- PHR market consolidation – there are more than 100, but adoption is slow. With HL7 standards and a HIMSS position statement, will the market thin out and more robust tools prevails?
- RHIOs – will continue to struggle with a few exceptions until after the 2008 elections allow some movement on health care reform which will support IHE.
- Telemedicine and eMonitoring will show increased growth both in rural health and other areas where incentives are made available.
- Consumer-Directed Health Care and Health Savings Accounts will see gradual growth. Many consumers will stick with traditional health plans when possible rather than opting for high-deductible plans
- Health 2.0 tools and networks will also expand although there will also be some companies which will be acquired or go out of business
- Consumerism in health care will continue to expand with consumers demanding more access to information about their health care, providers and outcomes
Looks to be an exciting year. The Year of the Consumer in Health Care.
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European “Consumer Report-like” Ratings for Health Care
January 1, 2008
eHealth in Austria pointed to the European consumer health rating matrix for 2007. Indicators include everything from
- Patient Rights (percent of GPs using EMRs, no fault malpractice insurance, etc.),
- wait times (cancer treatment in less than 21 days – would the US patients tolerate this?),
- Outcomes (heart infarct mortality),
- Generosity of public health systems (cataract operations per 100,000)
- Pharmaceuticals (Rx subsidy percent).
These few examples are very clear indicators which could easily be applied to the US and in some cases to health care systems themselves. Can anyone point to similar measures here?
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