1. ACO, PCMH and All Healthcare Needs Simplification by Jim Bloedau
Jim Bloedau of Information Advantage Group
April 25, 2013: What can we expect when introducing digital technology to
patients. Rhonda Daniel, Sr. Manager of Market Research at CEA, summarizes
their just released research on how consumers are using their smartphones and
other digital devices. Two things stand out:
• That people rapidly get rid of their single use devices if they can
aggregate the same functionality on to their smartphones.
• That their initial usage tracks what their pre-purchase expectation were.
If you have already been part of the connected life style for a while and have developed comfort with the
digital functionality you use daily being made mobile and on one device, then nothing new here. Now add
an integrated glucometer, if you're diabetic, or blue tooth enabled scale, if you're obese or managing
congestive heart failure, or a GPS tracking app to see how far you walk as you try to get healthier after a
hip replacement or long hospitalization. What we are doing is adding not only great functionality but
elevated complexity to an already complex path to engaging in our health - it this any way to treat a
customer? Accessing an analogue healthcare system, like a doctor's appointment, and then laying new
and not so easy to use technology on top of it isn't simplifying healthcare for those who use it the most.
My call here is that we need to simplify the analogue side as we add complexity to the digital side.
The early results from the Direct Primary Care (DPC) model where patient's pay a low monthly fee directly
to a doctor and by pass the added complexity of payer involvement is suggesting this may be the right
path to be explored. Lower utilization and higher satisfaction with equal or better outcomes for both the
doctor and patient is what's in the literature. The Kaiser model also streamlines healthcare because it
reduces the dual agenda independent payer/provider model to one agenda...and it works too.