Engaging Health Care Consumers Online is To...( Managed Care Executives...),Health

Managed Care Executives cite cost and complexity

CLEVELAND, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- In its Annual Forum, held this year in Key West, Florida, the Managed Care Executive Group (MCEG) met to discuss a variety of topics and technologies in support of the President's Four Cornerstones, which focuses on value-driven healthcare. During these sessions, the MCEG members determined the 2008 Top 10 issues impacting our industry and noted a significant shift towards priorities that give members the necessary tools and support to manage their healthcare needs:

1. Consumer Directed Products: The engaged consumer will be the focal

point of significant new IT investment. A greater degree of direct

consumer involvement in everything from the sales cycle to treatment

decisions will impact plan design, service delivery and administrative

operations, ultimately resulting in radically different products.

Web-based service will be a dominant feature in these new products,

but the transition to a Web-service model will likely be slower than

in other industries as millions of members choose to remain in

traditional plans. This will prove to be a challenge in cost and

complexity for both administrative and IT departments.

2. Web Enablement: As healthcare follows the path of other

consumer-intensive industries, health plan websites will include sales

automation, self-service and information transparency. Competitive

advantage and improved member wellness will result. Health plan

websites as THE health care resource for their membership will be

essential. Mashups, Wikis, personalization and custom portlets will

become part of the working vocabulary of health plan IT departments.

3. Nimble, speed-to-market solutions: Fast, focused and results-driven

projects will address rapidly
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