Many health insurance carriers are looking at ways for their members to have online access to a database that contains their health information, since health information technology has been growing through the use of electronic medical records and other tools.
However, employers should be aware that some carriers can do more with these tools than others, says Michelle Richter, the director of sales for Kaiser Permanente.
“In our medical group, all of the physicians are connected to the same database, so the group can share information and use it to make decisions about the best care protocols for patients, which is something others can’t do,” says Richter. “A tool is just a tool until you use it to transform health care.”
Smart Business spoke with Richter about how health IT can positively affect a company.
How can health IT benefit employers?
The biggest benefit for employers is that health IT can help contain costs. An electronic medical record system by itself isn’t enough. The power comes from how physicians use this tool to share information to help improve patients’ health.
When a patient seeks care, their entire health history — all their information, everything you would expect in a paper chart — ends up in an electronic database. That database is connected to every physician, nurse and allied health professional in the system. As data is entered into the system, it can be accessed in real time.
If I’m at the doctor and he or she inputs information into my record, then I walk 20 feet down the hall to a pharmacist to fill a prescription, that pharmacist has already pulled up the same information the doctor entered minutes ago. The pharmacist doesn’t have to wait for the paper chart to be transferred and can access everything about me in real time.
Physicians can utilize this information to identify patterns and find the most effective ways to treat patients with certain conditions. Within minutes, the database can show every single diabetic patient with a hemoglobin count of 10 or higher, how they’re being treated and which doctors are achieving the best outcomes. This gets patients healthier more quickly and reduces costs for employers.
How can health IT benefit employees?
The biggest advantage is convenience. Employees who can access their medical records through a Web site can take care of a lot of their day-to-day health needs at their convenience. For example, members can schedule or cancel routine appointments, download and print their after-visit summary, print their kid’s immunization record for school, refill prescriptions and e-mail their doctors.
In some situations, e-mailing a doctor can replace an office visit, which means saving time and saving money on a copay.
