E-Health, Negotiations And Change

RUNNING HEAD: e-Health, Negotiations and Change

e-Health, Negotiations and Change

Introduction

The advent of the internet has had a major impact on the healthcare industry in the last four decades. While the sophistication of PDAs, wireless systems and browser based technology is at the forefront of all healthcare entities considering implementation and/or expansion of their technology, there are no limits as to how far these will go. With all major financial decisions comes benchmarking for best practices, conflicts and negotiations.

Internet Health, Conflict and Negotiation

The twenty-first century continues to see a rise in the number of mergers in most industries including healthcare. Similarly, in our communities many smaller hospitals are joining forces and creating the mega-giant healthcare systems we've come to rely on for expert, quality care. These mergers have involved major conflicts and negotiations including the consolidation of electronic data. The magnitude of the patient information that is now shared by these mega-giants can be beyond the consumer's expectations for privacy and confidentiality. Although the HIPAA regulations govern the healthcare industry in protecting the privacy and confidentiality of the patient, such guarantees on websites relies on the ethical principles of those providers of information.

Healthcare facilities rely on e-mail for communication and the internet for everything else. Whether it is a browser-based technology system or a stand alone product, searches, benchmarking and access to vendors and competitors can be easily be found on the internet. Many companies and products take advantage of regulations such as HIPAA to develop products that can be marketed to the healthcare industry against their competitors. As is seen in today's market, conflicts regarding products and services combined with negotiations for the best possible "fit" is a skill required of all administrators and executives in healthcare. Unfortunately, the advancements in technology continue to far exceed the pace at which negotiations are undertaken.

Health and Human Services: www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Hospital Compare is a valuable website for anyone who may require medical or specialty care. The website allows the consumer to compare various quality measures for acute care hospitals, general hospitals and critical access hospitals in a particular region, state or other locality. Unless you're well-versed in the healthcare lingo, the information could be very easily misunderstood. As for most educational material that should be written at an eight grade level or less, the language level on this website is at the eleventh grade level. This is not uncommon in materials that have medical terminology.

In conducting a search within various zip codes I'm familiar with in my state, I was not surprised by the correlation of results and the reputation some facilities have within the area. While the comparison of data among various hospitals selected was interesting to view in chart form and the descriptors were simplistic enough, I do not believe the average consumer could draw any conclusions without assistance from a healthcare provider or professional. This is primarily true of areas noted to not have enough data for analysis.

The hospital checklist located in the about section is quite helpful and should be utilized by all consumers in pre-planning any healthcare decisions. Information on this website should not be construed as an endorsement or advertisement for any hospital and should be evaluated with in conjunction with a healthcare provider.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the recognized national leader of information and regulations designed to protect the health and safety of people in any setting. Its primary goal is to promote a healthy lifestyle for all. Most commonly, CDC is known as the focal entity in developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States. The website is easy to navigate and is written in language easy to understand. The layout of the website and graphics makes it pleasing to navigate. Major components on the home page include:

1. Health and Safety Topics is a quick link to common health issues that are of interest to the general public. These broad categories will then connect the reader to more detailed categories. The website provides information about all health related issues from flu vaccination season to immunizations for children. Many healthcare professionals utilize the CDC website for policy formation.

2. Publications and Products: primarily for clinical/healthcare professionals seeking references from authorized federal agencies. Some of these include: National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; National Center for Environmental Health; National Center for Health Statistics; National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention; National Center for Infectious Diseases; National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; National Immunization Program and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. For those who may not easily recognize the full name of these organizations, the links are provided.

3. Data and Statistics: this section provides statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve health. Such data includes research and analysis on aging activities; births, deaths & marriages; growth charts; national and state data and monitoring systems and statistical databases. Although some of the statistics may be two to three years old, it still provides adequate data for benchmarking purposes.

Message to the Hospital Governing Board

It has been ten years since Dr. Lucian Leape's world renowned