Many factors determine whether physicians willingly use information systems: usability, functionality, and workflow integration are often the most important. Hospitals are buying systems whose benefits depend on active physician usage, but results have been unimpressive, with utilization barely reaching into double-digit percentages of doctors. PatientKeeper’s applications help physicians work more efficiently and practice better medicine, but they also unlock the value of existing hospital systems whose physician usage is less than optimal. We spoke to Paul Brient, president and CEO of PatientKeeper.
Frantic activity with clinical and patient safety systems has kept a quiet revolution out of the limelight: financial systems are rapidly evolving as well. Billing itself has grown in complexity, but a higher level of patient payment responsibility has made it imperative for hospitals to develop a plan for getting paid even as initial care is being delivered. RelayHealth’s May 2008 acquisition of privately held HTP Inc. of Columbus, OH gives RelayHealth more connectivity services between patients, payors, and financial institutions that will help providers manage the growing burden of uncompensated care. With the acquisition, RelayHealth provides the most comprehensive set of services to automate and simplify financial management activities with patients and payors. We spoke to Ray Shealy, former president and CEO of HTP and newly named VP/GM of Financial Clearance Services at RelayHealth.
It’s safe to say that Sentillion’s applications are the security tools that even users love. The company is unusual in that its technically polished infrastructure applications were designed exclusively with healthcare in mind, meaning all that sophistication is hidden from the end user. All they know is that Sentillion’s products make it easier to log on to multiple applications, to work efficiently across best-of-breed applications, and flawlessly run feature-rich applications remotely just like they were within the four walls. We spoke to CEO and Co-Founder Robert Seliger about the benefits healthcare organizations are seeing from their use of Sentillion’s tools.
You may know AT&T for wired and wireless telecommunications, infrastructure, and disaster recovery. You may not have known, however, that AT&T has formed a healthcare practice and is taking a more active role in helping healthcare organizations make strategic decisions about remote access, telemedicine, home health, and mobile worker support. We spoke with Laura Johnson, executive director of AT&T’s Industry Solutions Group.
Describe AT&T’s involvement in healthcare.
Hospitals often view their front doors and EDs as having a never-ending line of patients, causing little concern about getting and keeping customers. The Internet, however, is raising customer expectations for online services, including self-service appointments, pre-registration, and check-in. Patients accustomed to choosing plane seats online and printing their own boarding passes will favor hospitals that offer similar self-service options. Because of short lengths of stay, hospitals need to start revenue cycle management before the patient arrives. Physicians, too, will favor hospitals whose technologies make them easier to work with. SCI Solutions, the pioneer of Internet-based ASP model healthcare applications since 1999, puts all its talents and energies into the highly critical areas of access management and revenue cycle management. We spoke to John Holton, president and CEO of SCI Solutions.
