From Rip Emerson of TechCrunch
Founded in 1945, California-based Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest not-for-profit managed care consortiums and health plan providers in the country, with 9 million members, nearly 170K employees, 15K physicians, 35 medical centers, and 430+ medical offices under its fold. Yesterday, the health care organization announced the release of a free Android app and mobile-optimized website through which its millions of members can access their own medical information on the go.
This means that Kaiser Permanente patients can get full access to the company’s health record system and all that comes with it, which they already could do through kp.org, from their mobile devices. In 2011, Kaiser more than 68 million lab test results available online to their patients, and through the Android app and mobile web app, patients can now get 24/7 access to lab results, diagnostic information, direct and secure email access to doctors, schedule appointments, and order prescription refills.
The company plans to release an app for iOS in the next few months, but in the meantime, non-Android users can get access to the same set of secure tools through its new mobile-optimized website through their devices’ browsers. What’s more, the apps also make it possible for family members and other care providers to get access on behalf of patients and accomplish the same tasks that they could at kp.org. This is great for people who are traveling and need to receive care from non-Kaiser Permanente providers.”
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From Rip Emerson of TechCrunch:
“Technology is in the process of bringing change to every piece of the health industry — wellness, fitness, healthcare, medicine — you name it. And as it always seems with introduction of new technologies, it’s awe-inspiring how quickly they can transform entire industries yet, at the same time, make us realize just how far we have to go (or how far behind we really are). The health industry has been touched (and defined) by cutting-edge technology for years, yet its relics, legacy infrastructure, paper-pushing, and archaic procedures are as obvious today as ever before.
Nonetheless, today, we really seem to be at an inflection point. (Or do we hear that every year?) The current landscape is full of inspiring examples of how technology is changing the most fundamental aspects of how we keep track of our own health, how we approach diagnostics, treatment, and more. Earlier this month, Josh laid out six trends in healthtech that could have a big impact on medicine in 2012, and last week veteran Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla wrote an epic analysis of the significant role “Doctor Algorithm” could play in changing the literal and metaphorical face of healthcare. It’s pretty exciting, if not a little frightening….”
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From Leena Rao at TechCrunch
“Booking platform for healthcare professionals ZocDoc has named former U.S. Senators Tom Daschle and Dr. Bill Frist to its advisory board.
ZocDoc, which launched at TechCrunch in 2007,automates a task that can be incredibly frustrating and time-consuming for consumers. ZocDoc allows users to book their doctor appointments online, even for same-day appointments.
Patients can see real-time availability of doctors in their area, confirm who accepts their insurance plan and read feedback and reviews of doctors from other patients.allows consumers to find and book appointments with doctors, dentists and other health professionals online. And the service is free for patients.
On the health care side of things, ZocDoc integrates with doctors’ calendars in real-time and helps taps into the hidden supply of medical providers’ availabilities, such as the 10 to 20 percent of medical appointments that are cancelled or rescheduled at the last-minute. Doctors pay $250 per month for ZocDoc.”
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From TechCrunch’s Rip Emerson:
“The latest healthtech research shows that the forecast is looking good for mobile health solutions, especially for those companies buying into mobile apps. ABI Research recently released a report which predicts that the sports and health mobile app market is on pace to hit $400 million in revenues by 2016. That’s up from $120 million in 2010, meaning the market could quadruple over the next four years.
ABI’s report projects that the majority of that $400 million will come from sports, fitness, and wellness apps, which have begun to see heavy adoption over the least year. The increase of available health data and the growing adoption of health-related apps is owed largely to the development of increasingly wearable, portable, and non-invasive devices and their sensors that can effectively measure and transmit biometric data.”
From our Friends over at TechCrunch:
HMS Buys Healthcare Services Company HealthDataInsights For $400 Million
“HMS Holdings has acquired technology-driven healthcare services company HealthDataInsights (HDI) for approximately $400 million.
According to the press release, the transaction is not contingent upon financing and is expected to close by year’s end, pending regulatory approvals.
HealthDataInsights investor GRP Partners owned a 30 percent stake in the company, blogs partner Mark Suster, who shares more details.
The $400 million HMS is paying for HealthDataInsights will consist of $384 million in cash, paid at closing, and approximately $16 million in consideration in the form of assumption of unvested options.
HDI’s technology ensures claims integrity and is capable of identifying – and recouping – improper payments for health plans and government payers. The company says it has reviewed more than $300 billion in paid claims in 2010 alone.
HDI is the exclusive Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) in 17 states and three United States territories (CMS Region D), covering approximately 22 percent of all Medicare claims in the nation.
HDI is projected to contribute approximately $85 million of revenue to HMS in 2012. The company will become a wholly-owned HMS subsidiary and HDI founder and CEO Andrea Benko will join the HMS executive team.
HealthDataInsights employs approximately 400 people located in Las Vegas, Nevada, and facilities in California and Florida.”
While Square has been around for almost two years, we did run into an Insurance Agent whom was using it to accept payments from his client base. We thought this was a great usage of his time to in the end make money and save money. But let’s first start with Square and why you as an Agent or Agency may want to take a long hard look at implementing Square into business.
Square was found Jack Dorsey whom just happen to be one of the founders in Twitter (dude knows his tech). Square allows small businesses to accept Credit Card Payment via their Moblie Phones at a single transaction fee of 2.75%. Depending on the line of business your write, Square may be of no use to you, but for those whom generally write Property & Causalty, there are some instances where you take payments from Clients. And for those whom accept credits, you know the hassle at which it is to go about setting up a Merchant Account, Payment Gateway (Online), Business Bank Account that accepts Credit Card payments, which none of these you have to experience when using Square. At a minimum, visit the Square website to see if this technology can help your Agency business, at a maximum, if you have been looking for a way to jump into accepting credit cards, Square is the way to dip your toe in the water.
