Washington Business Journal
Friday, February 27, 2009
By Darlene Darcy
Staff Writer
Private industry trailing the government in innovation may seem surprising. But in the use of technology to deliver and manage health care more effectively, the government is taking the lead — at least for now.
Health-related agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and components of the Defense Department have been plugged into electronic medical records and medical information exchanges for years.
But many private hospital groups and small physicians’ offices have not adopted big-ticket tech systems and software because of various hang-ups, including the cost of technology.
President Barack Obama’s technology agenda, not to mention his massive stimulus package, include plans and billions of dollars for a nationwide electronic health information system to house and exchange patient records, insurance information and other medical data.
He sees these information technology improvements as the foundation for future health care reforms.
Obama’s health care proposals would invest at least $10 billion annually for the next five years to accelerate technology adoption.
In addition, the new $787 billion stimulus legislation, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes $19 billion to boost the economy through implementation of electronic medical records.
Tech industry officials hope the cash infusion leads to a broader adoption of health care IT, which might benefit many Washington-area companies, including those building and supporting systems for electronic medical records, data exchanges and Web sites that enable doctors to interact with patients.
Here are several local companies involved in the effort to fix a costly and inefficient health care system.
Symptom: Inefficient operations
Treatment: Systems integrator CSC has developed a system for the government that would enable insurance companies, hospitals and doctors’ offices to exchange electronic records over a nationwide network.
The Falls Church company has installed electronic records systems for organizations that include the National Institutes of Health’s research hospital in Bethesda and New York’s Medicaid program. But without a way for electronic records to be shared, those systems can’t realize their full value.
Prognosis: “There hasn’t been a commitment at the federal level to do this,” said Dr. Robert Wah, chief medical officer of CSC’s North American public sector business.
CSC is connecting systems for the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, where a budget of more than $17 billion over 20 years was committed years ago, he said.
The U.S. is “going toward a national medical records system driven primarily through legislation and regulation ... [and] the pace is pretty clearly defined,” Wah said.
Electronic medical records for all patients by 2014 is “probably achievable,” but incentives for doctors to spend money today is critical for a nationwide system to emerge.
Symptom: The paper-to-digital divide
Treatment: Wisper Technologies LLC in Reston, a subsidiary of IMC Inc., is developing software that uses speech-recognition technology to capture and organize patient-doctor conversations for planning patient care and billing insurance companies. The resulting electronic records can be fed into digital health information systems.
Wisper Technologies launched the software on a trial basis in 2004 but has not yet found a commercial market for the product because it is too costly for doctors.
Prognosis: “Doctors don’t have the money to buy sophisticated technology,” said IMC’s chief executive officer, Sudakar Shenoy. “The only people who can help them do that is the federal government.”
Stimulus funds used to reimburse doctors for investments in medical records technology could help reduce the barriers to adoption of Wisper’s software. But at hundreds of thousands of dollars for a hospitalwide implementation, IMC’s software will remain costly until high volumes of sales bring the price down, Shenoy said.
Symptom: Patient data unleashed
Treatment: McLean-based Trust Digital Inc., which provides mobile security software, has created an application that secures patient data stored electronically on a care provider’s mobile device.
Early in January the company landed deals with three health care organizations to support as many as 15,000 doctors, nurses and other health professionals in a single implementation.
Care providers and administrators at hospitals, physician practices and insurance companies are increasingly sending information over mobile devices, and they need an inexpensive way to make those transmissions securely.
Prognosis: “Trust Digital is already doing a brisk business with health care providers who use our product to protect confidential patient and doctor information stored on employee smart phones,” said Chief Executive Officer Nick Magliato.
The loss of a doctor’s phone could have a huge impact on patient privacy if data is stored there, and “obviously the stakes go way up as hospitals and other health care institutions, spurred on by funding from the government, quickly move to electronic patient records,” he said.
Trust Digital is counting on the new federal funding to advance more efficient care delivery systems and create new customers for the company.
Symptom: Choking on costs
Treatment: Health care management company WellNet Inc. is testing software designed to help employers understand the medical risks driving up their cost of employee coverage.
The software, called Point to Point Healthcare, was developed by Glenwood, Md.-based Healthcare Interactive Inc. and uses The Johns Hopkins University’s predictive modeling and pharmaceutical claims data to create charts and reports for employers. The data reveals cost-saving options by simulating changes to the company’s benefits plan.
Point to Point, which complies with privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), keeps employees’ identities confidential but lets workers access social networking tools to manage their care.
Prognosis: WellNet already has 100 clients testing the software, which the Bethesda-based company and Healthcare Interactive plan commercialize this year.
Employee health care is one of the biggest expenses for companies, but employers don’t know what is driving up their costs and employees don’t have tools to take preventive health measures before those costs hit them, said WellNet CEO Keith Lemer. “We give that data back to the employer.”
Symptom: Good information can be hard to find
Treatment: Ozmosis Inc. provides a social networking Web site that doctors can use for collaboration, continuing education and sharing “best practices.”
Formed by Joel Selzer and Jason Bhan in 2008, Vienna-based Ozmosis has 1,000 active members and will grow by invitation-only so that doctors’ identities can be verified and the site remains a trusted environment for trading information. The service is free to member physicians, universities and hospitals.
Prince William Hospital in Manassas is using Ozmosis within its electronic health information system.
Although not a traditional ad-supported site, Ozmosis will get revenue from pages sponsored by medical device and drug companies. Physicians can opt into those pages for new product information.
Prognosis: Ozmosis hopes to “benefit from the tremendous momentum low-cost, social media solutions are gaining throughout the health care industry,” Selzer said.
“With 84 percent of physicians now searching online for health care product information, the pressure to shift physician marketing and product education online has never been greater.”
Ozmosis needs to capture those marketing dollars to make its site sustainable.
Selzer warns that “just giving economic incentives to doctors to buy [electronic medical record systems] and hospitals to deploy them doesn’t mean they’re going to use them effectively.” That requires education — a role Ozmosis can fill, he said.
How much and how long?
Despite the increased use of electronic technology in health care, the cost of implementing new systems remains a major roadblock to a nationwide network.
President Barack Obama’s health care agenda includes a $50 billion investment in information technology over five years, but critics say he should be thinking more like $100 billion over 10 years.
The administration believes the savings will be worth the investment. A “fully functional” nationwide system could reduce health care costs by $200 billion annually by decreasing human error and fraud, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition to the $50 billion investment in Obama’s health care agenda, $19 billion will be provided through the new stimulus legislation to offer financial incentives to hospitals and physicians’ offices that implement electronic health records systems. A minimum of $2 million would be awarded to each organization that can show meaningful use of those health IT systems by 2011.
“The challenge for hospitals that haven’t committed a budget to purchase electronic systems is that current economic conditions will make it difficult to find the extra money to deliver these systems,” said Deward Watts, president of CSC’s commercial health care sector.
An additional $87 billion of the stimulus money will be used to offset state contributions to Medicaid. It is unclear how states would be allowed to spend their savings and if any of that money would go toward health IT.
Whatever money is spent now could be viewed as a down payment on a bigger investment in health, Watts said. “We need to put in place some technical foundation to make sure that is done ... in the best way possible.”
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Cronin Appointment in MyHealthGuide
My HealthGuide Newsletter
Monday, February 23, 2009
WellNet Healthcare appointed Dan Cronin, a longtime sales and marketing executive and acclaimed author of technical books is the new senior vice president of sales for WellNet Healthcare and Healthcare Interactive (HCI), two companies that recently launched the game-changing software and technology platform, Point to Point Healthcare.
In joining Bethesda, Md.-based WellNet and Glenwood, Md.-based HCI, Dan Cronin will direct the team responsible for delivering Health-Care Performance Management software to large employer groups that provide and pay for employee health benefits.
Cronin’s more than 20 years of executive sales-management experience for industry-leading Fortune 500 companies such as EMC, Oracle and Sybase has resulted in major, multi-year contracts for enterprise products and services. In addition, he has written the best-selling technical books, “Mastering Oracle” and “Microcomputer Data Security.”
“Dan’s background and success make him the perfect fit as we roll out our Health-Care Performance Management software nationwide,” says Keith Lemer, WellNet’s president. “He will undoubtedly be a major force in driving our companies to the next level.”
A comprehensive and unique solution, the Active Reporting System (ARS) and Point to Point platform empowers employers for the first time, providing them with accurate, actionable, real-time information to measure and manage their health plans as they would any other aspect of their business. The technology provides visibility and insight into customers’ plan risks, combined with patient-centric services to improve outcomes and lower medical-benefit costs for both employers and their employees.
“ARS and Point to Point will revolutionize the health-care sector, and I’m enthusiastic about playing a key role in marketing this technology to the business community and saving employers hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their health-care costs while getting their workers healthier,” Cronin says.
WellNet Healthcare is the majority investor in HCI, which developed ARS and Point to Point. The two companies launched a beta version of their Health-Care Performance Management software last year, offering it to WellNet’s existing client base. ARS and Point to Point are now available to the entire business community.
Monday, February 23, 2009
WellNet Healthcare appointed Dan Cronin, a longtime sales and marketing executive and acclaimed author of technical books is the new senior vice president of sales for WellNet Healthcare and Healthcare Interactive (HCI), two companies that recently launched the game-changing software and technology platform, Point to Point Healthcare.
In joining Bethesda, Md.-based WellNet and Glenwood, Md.-based HCI, Dan Cronin will direct the team responsible for delivering Health-Care Performance Management software to large employer groups that provide and pay for employee health benefits.
Cronin’s more than 20 years of executive sales-management experience for industry-leading Fortune 500 companies such as EMC, Oracle and Sybase has resulted in major, multi-year contracts for enterprise products and services. In addition, he has written the best-selling technical books, “Mastering Oracle” and “Microcomputer Data Security.”
“Dan’s background and success make him the perfect fit as we roll out our Health-Care Performance Management software nationwide,” says Keith Lemer, WellNet’s president. “He will undoubtedly be a major force in driving our companies to the next level.”
A comprehensive and unique solution, the Active Reporting System (ARS) and Point to Point platform empowers employers for the first time, providing them with accurate, actionable, real-time information to measure and manage their health plans as they would any other aspect of their business. The technology provides visibility and insight into customers’ plan risks, combined with patient-centric services to improve outcomes and lower medical-benefit costs for both employers and their employees.
“ARS and Point to Point will revolutionize the health-care sector, and I’m enthusiastic about playing a key role in marketing this technology to the business community and saving employers hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their health-care costs while getting their workers healthier,” Cronin says.
WellNet Healthcare is the majority investor in HCI, which developed ARS and Point to Point. The two companies launched a beta version of their Health-Care Performance Management software last year, offering it to WellNet’s existing client base. ARS and Point to Point are now available to the entire business community.
WellNet in Washington Post
Washington Post
Monday, February 16, 2009
By Anita Huslin
Staff Writer
The $19 billion prescribed in Congress's economic stimulus package to bring America's health-care records into the electronic age is a welcome opportunity for information technology firms seeking to build market share in a still-young industry.
Although the federal government set a goal five years ago of creating an electronic health record for every American by 2014, the effort has lagged for several reasons. Roadblocks include concerns over lack of universal protocols for collecting data as well as rules that establish how, with whom and under what circumstances the data can be shared. Many health-care providers -- physician practices, testing facilities, hospitals and clinics -- fear liability if private information gets into the wrong hands. Embedded in all these issues is the cost, an estimated $150 billion, which has proven to be a significant barrier to that 2014 target.
Few expect the new spending to change things immediately. "The incentives for doctors and hospitals to use these tools have months of regulatory processes to go through," said David Brailer, former head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, created under the Bush administration to establish standards for the collection and use of electronic medical records. "I don't think doctors will go out tomorrow and buy electronic records because there is a little bit of money coming."
To computerize their medical records, physicians and their practices stand to get $44,000 to $64,000 in incentives, and hospitals up to $11 million. But there are also penalties. Providers who treat Medicare and Medicaid patients and have not gone to paperless systems within five years could lose funding. With the federal government spending more than $600 billion annually on 80 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, that could prove a powerful incentive for providers to get on board.
At least that's what businesses such as CNSI, a Rockville company that sells Medicaid reimbursement systems in four states and is pitching more than a dozen others, would like to see happen. Arvinder Singh, senior vice president of CNSI, said the company hopes the stimulus money will bring more customers and allow CNSI to expand pilot programs. "This will help create more of a market for analysts and support staff, and create jobs," he said.
Others, such as WellNet Healthcare of Bethesda, hope to take advantage of spending on a medical data infrastructure system linking doctors and hospitals to insurance companies. Such technology could provide a broader arena for sales of their systems, which help companies monitor and manage their employee health-care costs.
Brailer cautioned that spending will not really grow until standards are set for secure collection and handling of medical information. He said there was some progress, but funding limits mean there's still a way to go.
Many doctors' offices and smaller hospital systems have held back from adopting available systems, vendors said, because of the cost and because they don't know whether the one they choose ultimately would comply with federal standards.
"There are too many unknowns as to what might be required, standards-wise," said Kevin Hutchinson, president and chief executive of Prematics, a Vienna firm that is one of the largest sellers of electronic prescription systems. His prospective clients know "there's lots of money they could be in line for, but they've in the past got so frustrated with chasing new ways of reimbursement and then lo and behold it disappears."
The anticipated demand for workers with technology skills who can help install medical record systems and then train physicians and health-care workers to use them will require training programs. Getting such programs off the ground is "not an easy thing to do," said Ritu Agarwal, director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.
"Study after study show that physicians in their small and medium-sized practices are extremely challenged with incorporating technology into their current flow. They haven't been able to afford it," she said. "We would anticipate seeing significant spending on training dollars . . . and if government is going to help pay for that, through some pilots and demonstrations, that will help move things along."
WellNet, for example, last fall rolled out a preliminary version of a system that puts patients' health information online so they can schedule appointments. Information can then be aggregated into detailed reports -- with individual identities removed -- that employers can use to track cost and medical use trends.
WellNet gave the program free to companies that agreed to load their pharmaceutical benefits data into it. Company representatives say much of their client introduction to the technology includes ample reassurances about privacy.
If the new package helps more potential clients get accustomed to the idea that online medical records, like personal banking information, can be a tool and not a security risk, WellNet officials see that awareness opening the door to more business.
"Hopefully this will help the marketplace look outside large corporations with existing operating systems and focus more on entrepreneurial and transparent organizations," said Keith Lemer, president of WellNet health management company. "One of the messages we are getting loud and clear from the new administration is that we are looking for a change."
The Los Angeles Times picked up the Post article. Read here.
Monday, February 16, 2009
By Anita Huslin
Staff Writer
The $19 billion prescribed in Congress's economic stimulus package to bring America's health-care records into the electronic age is a welcome opportunity for information technology firms seeking to build market share in a still-young industry.
Although the federal government set a goal five years ago of creating an electronic health record for every American by 2014, the effort has lagged for several reasons. Roadblocks include concerns over lack of universal protocols for collecting data as well as rules that establish how, with whom and under what circumstances the data can be shared. Many health-care providers -- physician practices, testing facilities, hospitals and clinics -- fear liability if private information gets into the wrong hands. Embedded in all these issues is the cost, an estimated $150 billion, which has proven to be a significant barrier to that 2014 target.
Few expect the new spending to change things immediately. "The incentives for doctors and hospitals to use these tools have months of regulatory processes to go through," said David Brailer, former head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, created under the Bush administration to establish standards for the collection and use of electronic medical records. "I don't think doctors will go out tomorrow and buy electronic records because there is a little bit of money coming."
To computerize their medical records, physicians and their practices stand to get $44,000 to $64,000 in incentives, and hospitals up to $11 million. But there are also penalties. Providers who treat Medicare and Medicaid patients and have not gone to paperless systems within five years could lose funding. With the federal government spending more than $600 billion annually on 80 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, that could prove a powerful incentive for providers to get on board.
At least that's what businesses such as CNSI, a Rockville company that sells Medicaid reimbursement systems in four states and is pitching more than a dozen others, would like to see happen. Arvinder Singh, senior vice president of CNSI, said the company hopes the stimulus money will bring more customers and allow CNSI to expand pilot programs. "This will help create more of a market for analysts and support staff, and create jobs," he said.
Others, such as WellNet Healthcare of Bethesda, hope to take advantage of spending on a medical data infrastructure system linking doctors and hospitals to insurance companies. Such technology could provide a broader arena for sales of their systems, which help companies monitor and manage their employee health-care costs.
Brailer cautioned that spending will not really grow until standards are set for secure collection and handling of medical information. He said there was some progress, but funding limits mean there's still a way to go.
Many doctors' offices and smaller hospital systems have held back from adopting available systems, vendors said, because of the cost and because they don't know whether the one they choose ultimately would comply with federal standards.
"There are too many unknowns as to what might be required, standards-wise," said Kevin Hutchinson, president and chief executive of Prematics, a Vienna firm that is one of the largest sellers of electronic prescription systems. His prospective clients know "there's lots of money they could be in line for, but they've in the past got so frustrated with chasing new ways of reimbursement and then lo and behold it disappears."
The anticipated demand for workers with technology skills who can help install medical record systems and then train physicians and health-care workers to use them will require training programs. Getting such programs off the ground is "not an easy thing to do," said Ritu Agarwal, director of the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.
"Study after study show that physicians in their small and medium-sized practices are extremely challenged with incorporating technology into their current flow. They haven't been able to afford it," she said. "We would anticipate seeing significant spending on training dollars . . . and if government is going to help pay for that, through some pilots and demonstrations, that will help move things along."
WellNet, for example, last fall rolled out a preliminary version of a system that puts patients' health information online so they can schedule appointments. Information can then be aggregated into detailed reports -- with individual identities removed -- that employers can use to track cost and medical use trends.
WellNet gave the program free to companies that agreed to load their pharmaceutical benefits data into it. Company representatives say much of their client introduction to the technology includes ample reassurances about privacy.
If the new package helps more potential clients get accustomed to the idea that online medical records, like personal banking information, can be a tool and not a security risk, WellNet officials see that awareness opening the door to more business.
"Hopefully this will help the marketplace look outside large corporations with existing operating systems and focus more on entrepreneurial and transparent organizations," said Keith Lemer, president of WellNet health management company. "One of the messages we are getting loud and clear from the new administration is that we are looking for a change."
The Los Angeles Times picked up the Post article. Read here.
HCI Partnership in MyHealthGuide
My HealthGuide Newsletter
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Point to Point Healthcare, a game-changing technology for the health-care sector that will save employers across the country hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their medical-benefit costs, is adding to its arsenal of innovative solutions.
Healthcare Interactive, the Glenwood, MD-based developer of Point to Point, today announces that it has licensed an online tool for use in Point to Point that allows employers and their employees to access vital prescription-drug information.
WellNet Healthcare, with nine U.S. offices, is the majority investor in Healthcare Interactive, which is licensing the technology, called DestinationRx Drug Compare, from Los Angeles-based DestinationRx, a leader in consumer drug-comparison and purchasing technology.
DestinationRx Drug Compare allows self-funded employers, plan sponsors and consumers to reduce their prescription-drug spending by up to 20% by comparing their current therapeutics with lower-cost alternatives.
The DestinationRx technology enables consumers to find direct comparisons on prescription-drug prices as well as therapeutic safety and effectiveness, helping to improve medication compliance.
“One of the biggest flaws with the U.S. health-care sector is that employers and their employees don’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions about their prescription-drug spending,” says Henry Cha, Healthcare Interactive’s president.
“DestinationRx Drug Compare provides an accurate and convenient way for people to find less-expensive prescription drugs,” Cha says, adding that this tool is yet another important feature of Point to Point Healthcare, which he expects will revolutionize the health-care sector.
“Comparing and shopping for prescription drugs is one of the easiest and most effective actions consumers can take to save on their health-care costs,” says Toby Rogers, executive vice president of DestinationRx. “We are excited to be part of this innovative platform to help patients manage their entire health-care experience.”
Point to Point is a Web-based storage system for employers to analyze and interpret critical pharmacy and medical data combined with an online health-care social network that allows employees to connect with all their providers in a secure environment.
Healthcare Interactive and WellNet Healthcare, a data-analysis and health-management company, launched a beta version of Point to Point last August, offering it to WellNet’s more than 200 existing clients. Healthcare Interactive and WellNet will make Point to Point available to the entire business community in the first quarter of 2009.
This technology and administrative platform seamlessly links employees to, among other things, their pharmacy and medical data, care providers, scheduling, chats, gaps in care, drug-utilization alerts, predictive modeling and health-management programs.
About Healthcare Interactive
Healthcare Interactive, founded in 2007, is a privately held software company commercializing innovative technologies for health-care administration and insurance. Based in Glenwood, Md., Healthcare Interactive has developed an information portal and intelligence technologies to enhance existing health- are products that focus on predictive modeling, information sharing and Web services. The company’s signature product is Point to Point Healthcare. Visit www.hciactive.com.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Point to Point Healthcare, a game-changing technology for the health-care sector that will save employers across the country hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their medical-benefit costs, is adding to its arsenal of innovative solutions.
Healthcare Interactive, the Glenwood, MD-based developer of Point to Point, today announces that it has licensed an online tool for use in Point to Point that allows employers and their employees to access vital prescription-drug information.
WellNet Healthcare, with nine U.S. offices, is the majority investor in Healthcare Interactive, which is licensing the technology, called DestinationRx Drug Compare, from Los Angeles-based DestinationRx, a leader in consumer drug-comparison and purchasing technology.
DestinationRx Drug Compare allows self-funded employers, plan sponsors and consumers to reduce their prescription-drug spending by up to 20% by comparing their current therapeutics with lower-cost alternatives.
The DestinationRx technology enables consumers to find direct comparisons on prescription-drug prices as well as therapeutic safety and effectiveness, helping to improve medication compliance.
“One of the biggest flaws with the U.S. health-care sector is that employers and their employees don’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions about their prescription-drug spending,” says Henry Cha, Healthcare Interactive’s president.
“DestinationRx Drug Compare provides an accurate and convenient way for people to find less-expensive prescription drugs,” Cha says, adding that this tool is yet another important feature of Point to Point Healthcare, which he expects will revolutionize the health-care sector.
“Comparing and shopping for prescription drugs is one of the easiest and most effective actions consumers can take to save on their health-care costs,” says Toby Rogers, executive vice president of DestinationRx. “We are excited to be part of this innovative platform to help patients manage their entire health-care experience.”
Point to Point is a Web-based storage system for employers to analyze and interpret critical pharmacy and medical data combined with an online health-care social network that allows employees to connect with all their providers in a secure environment.
Healthcare Interactive and WellNet Healthcare, a data-analysis and health-management company, launched a beta version of Point to Point last August, offering it to WellNet’s more than 200 existing clients. Healthcare Interactive and WellNet will make Point to Point available to the entire business community in the first quarter of 2009.
This technology and administrative platform seamlessly links employees to, among other things, their pharmacy and medical data, care providers, scheduling, chats, gaps in care, drug-utilization alerts, predictive modeling and health-management programs.
About Healthcare Interactive
Healthcare Interactive, founded in 2007, is a privately held software company commercializing innovative technologies for health-care administration and insurance. Based in Glenwood, Md., Healthcare Interactive has developed an information portal and intelligence technologies to enhance existing health- are products that focus on predictive modeling, information sharing and Web services. The company’s signature product is Point to Point Healthcare. Visit www.hciactive.com.
WellNet in Washington Biz Journal
Washington Business Journal
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Darlene Darcy
Staff Writer
WellNet Healthcare's' Healthcare Interactive has licensed a technology from DestinationRX in Los Angeles to help reduce medical costs for its customers.
Bethesda-based WellNet will use the technology, called DestinationRX Drug Compare, for comparing pharmaceuticals and identifying less expensive drug alternatives to enhance software that it developed with Glenwood-based Healthcare Interactive.
WellNet, which manages health care benefits for commercial customers, is the majority stake holder in Healthcare Interactive, which launched in 2007.
“One of the biggest flaws with the U.S. health care sector is that employers and their employees don’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions about their prescription-drug spending,” said Healthcare Interactive President Henry Cha. “DestinationRx Drug Compare provides an accurate and convenient way for people to find less-expensive prescription drugs.”
WellNet, led by Keith Lemer, and Healthcare Interactive will integrate the drug comparison tool with the Web-based software that the two companies launched in August 2008.
The software, which is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), allows employers to manage their employee health care plan by providing timely pharmacy and medical data translated into comprehensive and actionable charts and reports. HIPAA regulations ensure health care coverage and establish privacy standards for electronic communication about patients’ medical information.
The software also helps employers better manage their plans through predictive medical modeling and by linking employers and employees with care providers through social networking tools such as chats, alerts and scheduling.
A test version of the software is being used by 200 of WellNet’s existing health care management clients and is expected to be available commercially in the first quarter of 2009.
With 40 percent growth in 2008, WellNet’s annual revenue is about $100 million, Lemer said. The 50-person health care management company has a small internal sales team that Lemer expects to grow modestly. Lemer said he expects adoption of his software to increase through word of mouth as customers recognize savings.
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Darlene Darcy
Staff Writer
WellNet Healthcare's' Healthcare Interactive has licensed a technology from DestinationRX in Los Angeles to help reduce medical costs for its customers.
Bethesda-based WellNet will use the technology, called DestinationRX Drug Compare, for comparing pharmaceuticals and identifying less expensive drug alternatives to enhance software that it developed with Glenwood-based Healthcare Interactive.
WellNet, which manages health care benefits for commercial customers, is the majority stake holder in Healthcare Interactive, which launched in 2007.
“One of the biggest flaws with the U.S. health care sector is that employers and their employees don’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions about their prescription-drug spending,” said Healthcare Interactive President Henry Cha. “DestinationRx Drug Compare provides an accurate and convenient way for people to find less-expensive prescription drugs.”
WellNet, led by Keith Lemer, and Healthcare Interactive will integrate the drug comparison tool with the Web-based software that the two companies launched in August 2008.
The software, which is compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), allows employers to manage their employee health care plan by providing timely pharmacy and medical data translated into comprehensive and actionable charts and reports. HIPAA regulations ensure health care coverage and establish privacy standards for electronic communication about patients’ medical information.
The software also helps employers better manage their plans through predictive medical modeling and by linking employers and employees with care providers through social networking tools such as chats, alerts and scheduling.
A test version of the software is being used by 200 of WellNet’s existing health care management clients and is expected to be available commercially in the first quarter of 2009.
With 40 percent growth in 2008, WellNet’s annual revenue is about $100 million, Lemer said. The 50-person health care management company has a small internal sales team that Lemer expects to grow modestly. Lemer said he expects adoption of his software to increase through word of mouth as customers recognize savings.
All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.
WellNet in Thompson Publishing Guide
Thompson Publishing Group
February 2009
By Todd Leeuwenburgh
Editor
Everyone’s heard that old saw: "20% of the population drives 80% of plan costs". If plan sponsors only knew exactly which plan participants are in that 20%, they could head off future acute conditions by managing high-risk conditions early on. But how should one identify those high-risk members?
It seems obvious: Ask plan participants, and analyze what prescription drugs they are taking, vendors and other experts tell the Employer’s Guide to Self-insuring Health Benefits ("Guide").
Bethesda, Md.-based WellNet Healthcare says prescription drug utilization data can identify those high-risk plan members. This will allow plans to understand their treatment needs, budget for those needs down the road, and adopt management strategies to change member behavior.
Predictive modeling software marketed by WellNet enables self-funded plans to use pharmacy benefit data to manage the plan as a whole. Based on the insights, plans may adopt strategies — such as chronic care management and wellness programs — to improve member health and manage utilization.
Many businesses use predictive modeling to build a picture of health risks, but only with medical data after the fact, company executives said. Claims processors and third-party administrators deliver data quarterly, but that’s often too late for the employer to take preventive action. Drug data enable the plan to micromanage care based on daily information.
Using Rx as the Leading Predictive Indicator
The advantage is that Rx data enables self-funded plans to manage benefits before expensive charges hit the system. And since drug claims come in faster than medical claims, companies can act more proactively. “It’s a window into the future,” WellNet Healthcare President Keith Lemer tells the Guide. The data analysis can also help the employer create personalized treatment plans and wellness initiatives.
WellNet executives say that drug data is 95% accurate at forecasting future risk. Analyzing drug utilization helps planning for the next three to five years, the company says. “Learning what’s driving costs in your health plan is not the same as shopping for vendors,” Lemer says.
Today’s Rx Data Reveals Tomorrow’s Risk
In a demonstration for the Guide, WellNet executives showed how the software sifts though a hypothetical 1,460-member self-funded plan to find the people who are most at risk. Without betraying patient privacy, the software found:
-Thirty-two employees who were at high risk of incurring major medical expenses soon. Those employees had an average of nine conditions.
-Two hundred and sixty-three employees were at medium risk. Those members had an average of five conditions each.
-That the total anticipated cost of high- plus medium-risk patients was $4.3 million to the plan, but it could go as high as $20 million.
The program revealed conditions that are most prevalent, and in this case they were: allergy/immunology, cardiovascular conditions, infections, and skin and respiratory problems. The software broke down these broad categories to more specific clinical conditions. For example, under cardiovascular, the software identified patients at high risk for high blood pressure, lipids, vascular disorders and congestive heart failure.
Software Lets You Tinker With the Plan
After the initial analysis, the software enables plan managers to plug in limited plan design changes and estimate outcomes. The design changes are mostly drug benefit tweaks like generic conversions, switches to OTC medications and mail order.
WellNet’s Plan Simulator gives plan sponsors a look at the impact of changes in drug plan design. It will predict savings from switching to generics and/or mail order.
Plan sponsors can also apply case management and other means to encourage treatment compliance, but the software will not predict impact in advance for these measures.
After 120 days with the design variation, the software measures results over time. It estimates what medical claims volume would have been without the intervention to claims volume since analysis and management strategies were applied.
The software highlights new prescriptions; those indicate a new diagnosis, and signal that it is the right time to reach out to the patient and maybe renew care management efforts on that person for the new diagnosis.
The approach builds on the self-funding plan’s access to data that insured plans don’t have. Insurers and PBMs do not share raw utilization data, because if inner workings remain secret, employers cannot question double digit cost increases, Lemer tells the Guide. WellNet’s program promises to fill in that transparency gap, he says.
Networking Software and Managing Health
Networking software takes the transparency further. “Point to Point Healthcare” offers online tools that connect employees to their utilization data, keeps track of health appointments, allows instant messaging with providers, and helps the employee create a network of providers he or she usually confers with.
Point to Point requires participation by the patient’s caregivers, by no means a given. Right now caregivers are invited to participate, but participation is voluntary.
Download Full Report in PDF Format
February 2009
By Todd Leeuwenburgh
Editor
Everyone’s heard that old saw: "20% of the population drives 80% of plan costs". If plan sponsors only knew exactly which plan participants are in that 20%, they could head off future acute conditions by managing high-risk conditions early on. But how should one identify those high-risk members?
It seems obvious: Ask plan participants, and analyze what prescription drugs they are taking, vendors and other experts tell the Employer’s Guide to Self-insuring Health Benefits ("Guide").
Bethesda, Md.-based WellNet Healthcare says prescription drug utilization data can identify those high-risk plan members. This will allow plans to understand their treatment needs, budget for those needs down the road, and adopt management strategies to change member behavior.
Predictive modeling software marketed by WellNet enables self-funded plans to use pharmacy benefit data to manage the plan as a whole. Based on the insights, plans may adopt strategies — such as chronic care management and wellness programs — to improve member health and manage utilization.
Many businesses use predictive modeling to build a picture of health risks, but only with medical data after the fact, company executives said. Claims processors and third-party administrators deliver data quarterly, but that’s often too late for the employer to take preventive action. Drug data enable the plan to micromanage care based on daily information.
Using Rx as the Leading Predictive Indicator
The advantage is that Rx data enables self-funded plans to manage benefits before expensive charges hit the system. And since drug claims come in faster than medical claims, companies can act more proactively. “It’s a window into the future,” WellNet Healthcare President Keith Lemer tells the Guide. The data analysis can also help the employer create personalized treatment plans and wellness initiatives.
WellNet executives say that drug data is 95% accurate at forecasting future risk. Analyzing drug utilization helps planning for the next three to five years, the company says. “Learning what’s driving costs in your health plan is not the same as shopping for vendors,” Lemer says.
Today’s Rx Data Reveals Tomorrow’s Risk
In a demonstration for the Guide, WellNet executives showed how the software sifts though a hypothetical 1,460-member self-funded plan to find the people who are most at risk. Without betraying patient privacy, the software found:
-Thirty-two employees who were at high risk of incurring major medical expenses soon. Those employees had an average of nine conditions.
-Two hundred and sixty-three employees were at medium risk. Those members had an average of five conditions each.
-That the total anticipated cost of high- plus medium-risk patients was $4.3 million to the plan, but it could go as high as $20 million.
The program revealed conditions that are most prevalent, and in this case they were: allergy/immunology, cardiovascular conditions, infections, and skin and respiratory problems. The software broke down these broad categories to more specific clinical conditions. For example, under cardiovascular, the software identified patients at high risk for high blood pressure, lipids, vascular disorders and congestive heart failure.
Software Lets You Tinker With the Plan
After the initial analysis, the software enables plan managers to plug in limited plan design changes and estimate outcomes. The design changes are mostly drug benefit tweaks like generic conversions, switches to OTC medications and mail order.
WellNet’s Plan Simulator gives plan sponsors a look at the impact of changes in drug plan design. It will predict savings from switching to generics and/or mail order.
Plan sponsors can also apply case management and other means to encourage treatment compliance, but the software will not predict impact in advance for these measures.
After 120 days with the design variation, the software measures results over time. It estimates what medical claims volume would have been without the intervention to claims volume since analysis and management strategies were applied.
The software highlights new prescriptions; those indicate a new diagnosis, and signal that it is the right time to reach out to the patient and maybe renew care management efforts on that person for the new diagnosis.
The approach builds on the self-funding plan’s access to data that insured plans don’t have. Insurers and PBMs do not share raw utilization data, because if inner workings remain secret, employers cannot question double digit cost increases, Lemer tells the Guide. WellNet’s program promises to fill in that transparency gap, he says.
Networking Software and Managing Health
Networking software takes the transparency further. “Point to Point Healthcare” offers online tools that connect employees to their utilization data, keeps track of health appointments, allows instant messaging with providers, and helps the employee create a network of providers he or she usually confers with.
Point to Point requires participation by the patient’s caregivers, by no means a given. Right now caregivers are invited to participate, but participation is voluntary.
Download Full Report in PDF Format
Texas Office in Philadelphia Biz Journal
Philadelphia Business Journal
Friday, January 2, 2009
By John George
Staff Writer
Southampton, Pa.-based WellNet Healthcare is expanding out West by opening an office in San Antonio. Led by Texas native Dr. Dan Van Ackeren, the new office will provide services to businesses in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana and New Mexico. WellNet, founded in 1994, designs, implements and administers employer-sponsored health benefits including prescription drug coverage … Pottstown Memorial Medical Center opened a wound healing center. Drs. Benjamin Eskra and Dennis Montiero, plastic surgeons on staff at Pottstown Memorial, are serving as co-medical directors of the center … Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro invested $35,000 in an OB simulator, the Noelle S575 made by Gaumard Scientific, to better prepare and educate physicians, nurses and other staff members on how to manage rare but life-threatening labor and delivery scenarios. The simulator is comprised of a mannequin of a pregnant woman and a newborn connected to a motorized system that can create standardized and unique delivery-related scenarios. Lourdes Health System plans to expand the use of the simulator to Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden early this year.
Friday, January 2, 2009
By John George
Staff Writer
Southampton, Pa.-based WellNet Healthcare is expanding out West by opening an office in San Antonio. Led by Texas native Dr. Dan Van Ackeren, the new office will provide services to businesses in Texas, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana and New Mexico. WellNet, founded in 1994, designs, implements and administers employer-sponsored health benefits including prescription drug coverage … Pottstown Memorial Medical Center opened a wound healing center. Drs. Benjamin Eskra and Dennis Montiero, plastic surgeons on staff at Pottstown Memorial, are serving as co-medical directors of the center … Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County in Willingboro invested $35,000 in an OB simulator, the Noelle S575 made by Gaumard Scientific, to better prepare and educate physicians, nurses and other staff members on how to manage rare but life-threatening labor and delivery scenarios. The simulator is comprised of a mannequin of a pregnant woman and a newborn connected to a motorized system that can create standardized and unique delivery-related scenarios. Lourdes Health System plans to expand the use of the simulator to Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden early this year.
WellNet Appoints Dan Cronin Senior VP of Sales
February 17, 2009 - A longtime sales and marketing executive and acclaimed author of technical books is the new senior vice president of sales for WellNet Healthcare and Healthcare Interactive (HCI), two companies that recently launched the game-changing software and technology platform, Point to Point Healthcare.
In joining WellNet Healthcare, which has nine U.S. offices, and Glenwood, Md.-based HCI, Dan Cronin will direct the team responsible for delivering Health-Care Performance Management software to large employer groups that provide and pay for employee health benefits.
Cronin’s more than 20 years of executive sales-management experience for industry-leading Fortune 500 companies such as EMC, Oracle and Sybase has resulted in major, multi-year contracts for enterprise products and services. In addition, he has written the best-selling technical books, “Mastering Oracle” and “Microcomputer
Data Security.”
“Dan’s background and success make him the perfect fit as we roll out our Health-Care Performance Management software nationwide,” says Keith Lemer, WellNet’s president. “He will undoubtedly be a major force in driving our companies to the
next level.”
A comprehensive and unique solution, the Active Reporting System (ARS) and Point to Point platform empowers employers for the first time, providing them with accurate, actionable, real-time information to measure and manage their health plans as they would any other aspect of their business. The technology provides visibility and insight into customers’ plan risks, combined with patient-centric services to improve outcomes and lower medical-benefit costs for both employers and their employees.
“ARS and Point to Point will revolutionize the health-care sector, and I’m enthusiastic about playing a key role in marketing this technology to the business community and saving employers hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their health-care costs while getting their workers healthier,” Cronin says.
WellNet Healthcare is the majority investor in HCI, which developed ARS and Point to Point Healthcare. The two companies launched a beta version of their Health-Care Performance Management software last year, offering it to WellNet’s existing client base. ARS and Point to Point Healthcare are now available to the entire business community.
In joining WellNet Healthcare, which has nine U.S. offices, and Glenwood, Md.-based HCI, Dan Cronin will direct the team responsible for delivering Health-Care Performance Management software to large employer groups that provide and pay for employee health benefits.
Cronin’s more than 20 years of executive sales-management experience for industry-leading Fortune 500 companies such as EMC, Oracle and Sybase has resulted in major, multi-year contracts for enterprise products and services. In addition, he has written the best-selling technical books, “Mastering Oracle” and “Microcomputer
Data Security.”
“Dan’s background and success make him the perfect fit as we roll out our Health-Care Performance Management software nationwide,” says Keith Lemer, WellNet’s president. “He will undoubtedly be a major force in driving our companies to the
next level.”
A comprehensive and unique solution, the Active Reporting System (ARS) and Point to Point platform empowers employers for the first time, providing them with accurate, actionable, real-time information to measure and manage their health plans as they would any other aspect of their business. The technology provides visibility and insight into customers’ plan risks, combined with patient-centric services to improve outcomes and lower medical-benefit costs for both employers and their employees.
“ARS and Point to Point will revolutionize the health-care sector, and I’m enthusiastic about playing a key role in marketing this technology to the business community and saving employers hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their health-care costs while getting their workers healthier,” Cronin says.
WellNet Healthcare is the majority investor in HCI, which developed ARS and Point to Point Healthcare. The two companies launched a beta version of their Health-Care Performance Management software last year, offering it to WellNet’s existing client base. ARS and Point to Point Healthcare are now available to the entire business community.
HCI Partners with DestinationRx
January 28, 2009 - Point to Point Healthcare, a game-changing technology for the health-care sector that will save employers across the country hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on their medical-benefit costs, is adding to its arsenal of innovative solutions.
Healthcare Interactive, the Glenwood, Md.-based developer of Point to Point, today announces that it has licensed an online tool for use in Point to Point that allows employers and their employees to access vital prescription-drug information.
WellNet Healthcare, with nine U.S. offices, is the majority investor in Healthcare Interactive, which is licensing the technology, called DestinationRx Drug Compare, from Los Angeles-based DestinationRx, a leader in consumer drug-comparison and purchasing technology.
DestinationRx Drug Compare allows self-funded employers, plan sponsors and consumers to reduce their prescription-drug spending by up to 20 percent by comparing their current therapeutics with lower-cost alternatives.
The DestinationRx technology enables consumers to find direct comparisons on prescription-drug prices as well as therapeutic safety and effectiveness, helping to improve medication compliance.
“One of the biggest flaws with the U.S. health-care sector is that employers and their employees don’t have the necessary information to make wise decisions about their prescription-drug spending,” says Henry Cha, Healthcare Interactive’s president.
“DestinationRx Drug Compare provides an accurate and convenient way for people to find less-expensive prescription drugs,” Cha says, adding that this tool is yet another important feature of Point to Point Healthcare, which he expects will revolutionize the health-care sector.
“Comparing and shopping for prescription drugs is one of the easiest and most effective actions consumers can take to save on their health-care costs,” says Toby Rogers, executive vice president of DestinationRx. “We are excited to be part of this innovative platform to help patients manage their entire health-care experience.”
Point to Point is a Web-based storage system for employers to analyze and interpret critical pharmacy and medical data combined with an online health-care social network that allows employees to connect with all their providers in a secure environment.
Healthcare Interactive and WellNet Healthcare, a data-analysis and health-management company, launched a beta version of Point to Point last August, offering it to WellNet’s more than 200 existing clients. Healthcare Interactive and WellNet will make Point to Point available to the entire business community in the first quarter of 2009.
This technology and administrative platform seamlessly links employees to, among other things, their pharmacy and medical data, care providers, scheduling, chats, gaps in care, drug-utilization alerts, predictive modeling and health-management programs.
About Healthcare Interactive:
Healthcare Interactive, founded in 2007, is a privately held software company commercializing innovative technologies for health-care administration and insurance.
Based in Glenwood, Md., Healthcare Interactive has developed an information portal and intelligence technologies to enhance existing health-care products that focus on predictive modeling, information sharing and Web services. The company’s signature product is Point to Point Healthcare.
To learn more about Healthcare Interactive, please visit www.hciactive.com.
About DestinationRx:
Founded in 1999 and based in Los Angeles, DestinationRx is a leader in consumer drug-comparison and purchasing technology. The company provides government and commercial plan providers with the resources to create fully integrated and comprehensive decision-support capabilities for their members.
To learn more about DestinationRx, please visit www.destinationrxinc.com.
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