The HealthVillage pilot: tuning up an Internet solution

Health Management Technology, Nov, 1997 by Joanne Sunquist

Among the most radical changes in the health care industry today are those that involve the creation, dissemination and exchange of information.

As consumers become the primary health care decision-makers and assume greater responsibility for managing their own health care, they need tremendous amounts of information, presented in a format that is easily accessible and easy to understand.

Increasingly, they are turning to the Internet to satisfy those needs.

A Find/SVP Emerging Technologies Research Croup Report, published in March 4, 1997, identified a previously unknown, but well-defined segment of Internet users who regularly accessed the 'Net's many resources to gather health and medical information: The "HealthMed Retrievers." Representing 36.7 percent of the general Internet user population at the time of the survey, this segment is expected to grow dramatically, as an additional 43.4 percent of cyber-surfers plan to begin accessing the Internet's vast health and medical resources within the year.

This convergence of the health care and online information revolutions created a unique opportunity for Allina Health System, an integrated system of clinics, hospitals and health plans in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and eastern North and South Dakota.

Like al integrated health care organizations, Allina was interested in improving the health care experience and the health of its plan members while cutting administrative costs. Its senior management recognized the potential of the Internet as a way to communicate critical health care and plan information to its million members while simultaneously enhancing provider-patient relationships.

Allina and the Medica Health Plan realized the digital age was upon them, while they found they were still communicating with members in a fairly traditional fashion. They used a lot of paper. And so the question was, "How do you begin to reach a million members differently with information that would help them become better informed consumers?"

The solution: Allina HealthVillage, an Internet site that provides Allina Health System's Medica Health Plan members with easy-to-use, round the-clock access to medical and health plan information. The Allina HealthVillage has been targeted towards the health plan members, but over time access will also be available to Allina patients, physicians, brokers, employers, clinics, hospital administrators and other health care professionals.

Allina Health Village was developed in partnership with IBM Global Healthcare Industry. IBM provides the Internet application software, hardware and networking capabilities, consulting and training. Allina is responsible for content, health care business process expertise, the nurse triage service and Help Desk.

Allina's objectives

Allina's adoption of an Internet solution was designed to accomplish three primary objectives.

First, it was intended to provide members with information that would help them make informed decisions about their personal health care. Second, the Internet connection could eventually be used to keep down administrative costs--for example, by reducing the paperwork now required for enrollment. Third, it begins to establish a way of strengthening the doctor/patient connection.

A pilot was launched in May, 1997 with one health plan customer employer group and was successfully completed by July, 1997. Focus groups have also been conducted with commercial community health plan members and senior Medicare members from the community. All participants had access to the Internet and were quite comfortable with its use. In fact, many of the seniors were the "medical librarian/researcher" for their extended family, their retirement providing ample time to surf the Net.

The consumers in the focus groups were very clear about their needs and priorities for health care information on the Internet. Allina found that speed, not elaborate graphics was key to user acceptance. Certain information presentations were not as intuitive as Allina thought they would be and needed to be redesigned.

The consumers in the focus groups also had different priorities for developing content. Drug reference information, ideally with prescription and over-the-counter drug-drug interaction information is of great importance. Also important was developing the content in the Center for Healthy Aging for Seniors on the Allina site.

Accordingly, it is now deemed essential to continue to evaluate all aspects of the site on an ongoing basis, with all audiences. This medium allows Allina to respond quickly to the users' needs. Since Allina is focusing on customers' needs, one of the top priorities for Medicare members will be the Center for Healthy Aging site in Allina Health Village.

As a result of the feedback from the focus groups and the pilot, Allina and IBM redesigned portions of the application and will very soon target the Health Village to an initial group of members. The initial group was chosen because one of the employer groups in the health plan requested information be made available to their employees through the Internet. Most of the employees have access to the Internet and are technically trained--a perfect match for providing access to general health care information and plan-specific information, whether they are on the job or at home. In future, the HealthVillage will be marketed to all of Allina's Medica Health Plan members, Allina patients, physicians, brokers, employers, clinics, hospital administrators and other health care professionals.