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Data-Rich Interactive Online Disease Management Close at Hand

The technological and consumer acceptance dams have burst, it seems, and more and more companies are lining up to exploit the Internet's new place in the public consciousness for explicit DM purposes.

A DM approach to healthcare – focusing on prevention and long-term management of the symptoms and causes of chronic illnesses – continues to gain popularity. And proponents are discovering that reaching patients through the Internet can be a viable component of those programs.

Still, the costs to integrate online information and advice into provider and managed care organizations' existing World Wide Web presences – not to mention the staffing and technological requirements of real-time interactivity and the investment in hardware and software needed to build the infrastructure of such systems – are high.

Also, management expertise is still quite scarce. And no one's confident yet that enough consumers and physicians will be willing to participate.

Indeed, the players coming closest to real-time, full-fledged online DM aren't the nation's high-profile healthcare organizations or even its high-profile DM organizations. Instead, the companies leading the rush are e-specific firms that are laying a DM structure over their real specialty: an Internet network to connect whoever's needed to build a profitable enterprise.

That's why – despite the growth in interest in online DM and the corresponding explosion in fully interactive, DM-specific Internet operations – the key question about online DM remains: If they build it, will they come?

The Health Commons Institute, a computer advocacy organization in Falmouth, Maine, that promotes shared decision-making between patients and physicians, perhaps puts it best:

"Despite promising research findings, a growing arsenal of information tools and rising consumer demand for this approach, [it] has yet to achieve a significant impact on American medical care. This is because many of the obstacles are of a non-technical nature. Chief among them are the cultural norms or medical practice, as well as economic and legal barriers. Some practitioners have been deterred by the expense of hardware and software, while others fear that using computers and involving patients will take time and increase the cost of care. Concerns over loss of privacy and uncharted liability risk also have hampered acceptance.

"There is good news, though. While the barriers may seem formidable, they are shrinking and incentives to overcome them are on the rise. The cost of computers relative to their processing power continues to drop. So does resistance to employing them in clinical practice, as younger physicians enter the workforce and computers become easier to use. Meanwhile, managed care organizations are coming to see that enlisting patients as co-producers of their own care helps control costs while improving quality."

• 2001 Guide to Disease Management on the Internet
  
• 2001 Disease Management Directory & Guidebook
  
• Online Disease Management: The Promise, The Potential and The Practical
  
• Behavioral Disease Management

2001 Guide to Disease Management on the Internet

This report includes clear and concise descriptions of the most important, state-of-the-art developments and what they mean for your organization; profiles of 21 organizations already using the Internet for DM; and interviews with top experts about future trends and their impact. The guide also includes an examination of the many legal issues surrounding online DM, a 14-page list of active DM-related web sites along with site descriptions, and locations and phone numbers of persons quoted in the report. You’ll also discover who is breaking new ground using the Web for secure transmission of health status data, online decision-support tools, and software. Learn how to improve outcomes, quality and cost containment with progressive application of online interactive seminars treatment guidelines, clinical self-care information and more!

$104.95

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2001 Disease Management Directory & Guidebook

This just-published directory is up-to-date with the latest tools, strategies and contacts for 2001. You’ll save countless hours and dollars with this unique, useful tool that you’ll want to keep within easy reach all year long. Its 500+ pages are organized into 7 sections. You’ll find valuable management advice on developing and implementing your programs such as: models of care delivery, integrating the full continuum, outcomes measurement techniques, demonstrating cost effectiveness, contracting strategies, information technology, staffing, benchmarking & best practices, risk screening and patient compliance. The directory section features more than 140 DM vendors and consultants, along with managed care organizations using DM programs. The listings include each organization's address, phone, fax and e-mail/URL addresses; contact name; diseases managed; services and programs; number of covered lives in DM programs; how long the organization has operated in DM; names of clients and partners; forms of payment accepted; and geographical areas covered. There also is a separate index of these organizations by disease state.

$356.95

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Online Disease Management: The Promise, The Potential and The Practical

Online Disease Management: The Promise, The Potential and The Practical, is an audio conference on cassette, which looks at the issues surrounding online dm. Topics like overcoming the barriers to successfully implementing a program, the keys to a successful program, physician “buy-in,” dealing with issues of trust, the types of online tools, dealing with multiple sources of data across the continuum, and how to measure the success of your online dm program. Get this 90-minute audio conference on tape for a highly rated overview of trends, developments, and approaches in online disease management. Featured presentations focus on disease management from the perspectives of payors, healthcare providers and vendors of online disease management tools. You'll get information on: barriers to online disease management; how to measure the success of an online disease management program; who should be responsible for paying for online disease management; and, what payors are looking for in online disease management programs. Also, how current disease management programs can/can not help patients; how current disease management programs can/can not reduce costs; and, trends and projections for online disease management.

$99

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Behavioral Disease Management

Disease management initiatives, once the exclusive domain of pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit management companies, are blossoming with significant success outside the environment of those early pioneers. Behavioral disease management is more than just a component of somatic disease management, and has the potential to improve clinical and patient outcomes, as well as improve cost savings. In this valuable resource you’ll find an introduction to behavioral disease management, including recent initiatives undertaken by pharmaceutical companies, HMOs, professional organizations and disease management vendors, new behavioral disease management programs, examples of wellness programs and integrated behavioral health services related to somatic illness, how to extend population-management techniques from somatic care to behavioral health management, models for financing and delivering behavioral health and much more.

$137.00

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