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| Posted on: Tuesday, August 8, 2006 |
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With the increasing popularity of consumer driven health care plans that have higher deductibles and copays, the need for information about the quality and cost of healthcare has exploded. Consumers are looking for reliable facts and the market is responding with a variety of web-based information sources.
Identifying websites whose information can be trusted can be a challenge. Many sites are advertiser supported; some directly promote specific products and most provide links to articles on other sites that may or may not have been screened for accuracy. With that caution, here are a number of quality sites that might be considered:
1. WebMD is a good source of medical information to help patients learn about health conditions, pharmaceuticals and get links to other well run medical information websites. WebMD is advertiser supported.
2. Groups such as the American Diabetes Association are excellent resources for information about specific medical conditions. Most are non-profit organizations, some are also advertiser supported.
3. Information about specific Physicians can be found on Health Grades. Health Grades provides reports detailing board certifications, education, and quality comparisons for 600,000 physicians nationwide for a small fee. Consumers can search hospital ratings on specific procedures and diagnoses as well as search for award winning facilities free of charge.
4. Hospital Compare is maintained by the United States Department of Health and Human Services and allows consumers to compare the quality of care from over 4,200 hospitals nationwide for three procedures: Heart Attack, Heart Failure and Pneumonia Care. This site allows consumers to customize their own reports by choosing which hospitals, conditions, and measures they are interested in.
5. The Colorado Hospital Report Card utilize standardized quality and clinical outcome measures endorsed by national organizations, with established standards to measure the performance of healthcare providers and hospitals.
6. Leapfrog shows you what steps hospitals are taking to reduce preventable medical mistakes. It is a non-profit organization which also accepts advertiser support.
Employees interested in making better healthcare decisions and maintaining or improving their health will come to rely on web based information but should not forget the importance of a good Doctor. They should look for a skilled and caring Doctor who not only knows medicine, but is equally committed to their economic good health. That is, he/she advises patients on the costs of healthcare ensuring they will get great medical results at the lowest possible cost.
Why should employers be concerned?
Most employers care about employees’ well-being and also recognize the importance of wise healthcare decision-making as they are paying a large share of ever-increasing medical costs via Medical Benefit Plans.
What should employers do?
Spread the news about where to find good medical information to help employees make good healthcare decisions.
The future?
Doctor and hospital rates may be coming to a website near you soon. Stay tuned to Denman for more information on this critical trend.
Should you have any additional employee benefit questions or would like to discuss this material in detail, please don’t hesitate to call the Denman Team. |
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on this site is for general information only. It does not constitute
nor should it be construed as legal, financial, health or any
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