The Economics of Networked Health Information
Chairperson:
Bruce R. Kingma, State University of New York at Albany
Panelists:
Arthur E. Schiller, Jr., Value Creation Strategies
Ann Geyer, Health Information Services, Pacific Bell
Victoria Weisfeld, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Steve VanNurden, Mayo Foundation
Tim Kieschnick, Kaiser Permanente
Patricia F. Brennan, Case Western Reserve University
While technology has provided methods for lower cost delivery of higher quality
information to the consumer, the roles of the private, public, and nonprofit organizations
in financing the creation of, delivery of, and access to information must be determined.
This requires measuring the costs and benefits of information creation, ownership,
accuracy, storage, and access by health care consumers and health care, information, and
network providers. It requires understanding the economics of network externalities
whereby individuals, beyond the immediate consumers and producers of the information,
receive benefit from it such as a reduction in the spread of infectious diseases or
reducing the cost of government subsidized health care. Finally, it also requires
determining the various roles of prices, government subsidies, tax policies, provisions,
and regulation of networked health information.
KEY ISSUES, INCLUDING THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
Issues that shape the economics of networked health information for the public include
costs and benefits, copyright and ownership, accuracy, privacy, pricing, storage, access
by information "haves" and "have-nots", creation, distribution
efficiencies, and provision of health information.
Distributed architectures, integration and aggregation of information for managed
care, physician group practices, hospitals, and the inclusion of consumers in the health
care information value chain will dramatically alter the economics of health care. That
process is already underway and will have a profound impact on government policies and the
health care private sector.
High quality systems will provide comprehensive information services that are
accurate, appropriate to the individual user, and integrated with clinical care. When
systems with these qualities are made readily accessible, patient/provider satisfaction
and health outcomes may improve, which will, in some cases, lead to decreased costs.
ROLES, RESPONSIBILITIES, AND PRIORITIES OF KEY SECTORS
Create partnerships of many parties, including network providers, public utilities,
entertainment providers, government, health care organizations, and individual users for
funding high quality systems that will provide comprehensive information services that are
accurate, appropriate to the individual user, and integrated with clinical care.
Government and the health care private sector: Policies must acknowledge that
distributed architectures, integration and aggregation of information for managed care,
physician group practices, hospitals, and the inclusion of consumers in the health care
information value chain will dramatically alter the economics of health care.
Foundations: Broaden their circles of giving. Although foundations vary markedly in
their grantmaking interests and are generally conservative in their own adoption of new
technology, the situation is changing. Foundations are funding health information projects
that meet their program priorities and are effectively presented.
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Comments or questions regarding the conference can be mailed to info@nhic.org