Towards A New World of Communications in Medicine
Case Study: Overlake Hospital Medical Center
Information on Demand: Consumer-Controlled Medical Records
Finding Leaders for Internet Health Care
Building the Security-Capable Enterprise
Planning Business Strategies with Internet Support
Towards A New World of Communications in Medicine
If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by the barrage of articles and Web information advising you to “change your medical practice or be left behind,” you are not alone. The subject of eHealth, its promise and prospects, has left many breathless and many more have tuned out. This supplement, we hope, will be the one guide you find useful as you measure your opportunity and determine the right time for your move to a new world of communications in medicine. As luck would have it, this summer, my own family was touched by the issue of timing and communications in medical imaging. I have been fortunate to be part of the medical imaging community for more than a decade. However, since joining eMed earlier this year, I have developed an appreciation for what the Web can do for productive, effective, and less costly health care. My daughter was injured this summer and it appeared as if two or three of her fingers were broken. You are familiar with the drill...go to ER for radiographs, fix problem, go home. However, we did not return home for several hours: the delay was in radiology, waiting to take images, waiting for processing of images, waiting for moving of images to the ER, waiting to receive permission to move images to the off-site orthopedist, and more waiting. When we were finally able to take images off site after hours of waiting, the orthopedist had to turn around and mail them back.
What an unbelievably inefficient and expensive method of communication! When I told the orthopedist he could have seen those images hours earlier by just logging on to a radiology group’s Web site, with his image and report presentation preferences already captured, he was very enthusiastic. Bottom line, he and many other referring physicians would select a radiology group if Web communications were provided as part of the service. A study conducted by the VHA shows that more than 50% of physicians would begin using the Internet for receipt of radiology results. As successful Web services solutions take hold, this number will undoubtedly increase.
The great news is that the external communications model using the Web provides a true and appreciable cost savings. The value proposition of saving money while acquiring more and especially loyal physician customers is quite compelling. Customers have choices and Web marketing of clinical services will be vital in keeping local medicine truly local. Even for large, well-positioned groups such as Bay Imaging (see story on inside back cover), creating a strong brand differentiator was a critical requirement for continued strong growth and local market prominence.
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