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Home > Resources > eNews > Sept 1999 |
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The Managed Care Insider eNews Volume One Number 3 September 1999 PART ONE of TWO Welcome to The Managed Care Insider eNews. You are receiving this because you have subscribed; the eNews is never sent unsolicited. Subscribe/unsubscribe information can be found at the end of this eNews. The Managed Care Insider eNews is published, copyrighted, and owned by the Scheur Management Group, Inc. (SMG), http://www.scheur.com and is distributed monthly, free to subscribers. If you wish to forward this edition, you may do so only if the edition is forwarded in its entirety. No reproduction of any part of this publication is permitted without the express permission of the publishers. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet and Knowledge Management were selected as the focus of this issue because each, in its own way, has a direct impact on the practice of healthcare. Both are now widely used by healthcare professionals and organizations in a quest for quality and information. Part One focuses on the "power" of the Internet and Part Two on the "power" of using information to its fullest. If used effectively, both allow for the provision and implementation of strategies for healthcare organizations to succeed in an ever-increasing competitive marketplace. If you have a suggestion for a topic you would like to see addressed here, send us an e-mail to Insider@scheur.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Insider Vision: OF POWER AND PASSION: THE INTERNET AND ME Barry S. Scheur, President Scheur Management Group For me, this is a very personal story, in fact an odyssey of discovery. As some of our readers know, I am blind and have been from birth. The farther up the professional totem pole I climbed, the less information was available to me in any format that I could listen to or read. And then, in 1982, the first Braille computer was invented and sold, and I became one of the early addicts to weird-sounding services like The Source, CompuServe, and MCI Mail. The technology was primitive, the computer actually stored data on high quality tape cassettes, but the window of information access had been blown open, never to close again. The power of on-line services and Internet communications for me, both in terms of my work and personally, is hard to overstate. From those first frustrating days of trying to get documents on-line at the then amazing speed of 300 baud, through the use of acoustic couplers in hotels that didn't have modem jacks, and now, to the challenge of windows graphical information presentation for someone without vision, computer access has been liberating, exasperating, and rewarding all at the same time. I would like to share some of the extraordinary ways that computers and the Internet have made it possible for me to run my healthcare consulting firm, Scheur Management Group, and to build and turn around complex organizations which is our specialty. E-mail: Today, e-mail is commonplace, but for me, it goes way beyond the exchange of information to the realm of business necessity. E-mail is the way our staff and many of our clients communicate with me, from sharing issues, ideas, information, and strategic alternatives to letting me know the agenda for a meeting, which flight I will be taking, and the name of the limousine driver who will be meeting me. In short, e-mail provides the nuts and bolts of running our business. E-mail is also the way I get numerous health care journals, newspaper articles, and the daily news of the health care industry and the world. My little one-pound Braille computer, rather than books or magazines, has become the main source of reading for me, either through e-mail or the Internet. Research: Libraries have always been treasure troves of information just out of reach for many visually impaired people. You'd have to take a reader with you, make a copy of what you wanted to study later, then take copious notes because there was a good chance you couldn't go back to the source document easily. Although scanners can convert printed documents into Braille, I was still dependent upon a sighted person to do my basic research, unable to explore first hand these information sources. Then came the world of databases like Magazine Database Plus and later the Dow Jones Service, with its motherlode of searchable publications encompassing newspapers, magazines, and specific industry sources. I have helped my two sons with their research papers through Dow Jones, learned enough about the South African health care system to conduct a series of symposia comparing the United States managed care system with their emerging health care reform struggles, and, for the first time in my life, follow my favorite sports team daily, again something small that most people take for granted. Unfortunately, the technological upgrade of Windows is again making the world of information search and retrieval more complicated and inaccessible for blind people as text-based databases go the way of the dinosaur in favor of graphics, frames, and Java scripts. But we have coped before in a struggle to gain equal information access, and we will not let it go, even though it means struggling with icons and cascading windows that appear without any apparent organization everywhere on the screen. Today, I read the Boston Globe, several health care related digests, many newsletters, and just about anything else I can get my fingers on and my computer to access. But the window that opened has partly closed. Our company uses a Lotus Notes interactive database system coupled with Windows, and Lotus Notes is just about impossible for blind users to navigate. So we have written e-mail bridges from my text-based mail system to Lotus and back again. The consultants, and particularly our administrative support team, retrieve and reformat information to send to me, but it certainly isn't as easy or inexpensive as it is for those who can visually access Windows-based programs. Once again, I am less than fully independent in my research capabilities. Shopping: Perhaps the greatest thrill for me is that shopping, one of the most onerous chores for blind people, has become a matter of search, find, and order. CompuServe opened up the world of merchandise on-line to me with Hammacher Schlemmer, FTD Florist, Coffee Anyone, J.C. Pennys, and many more. But then these text-based services gave way to the Web, and the shopping task became harder again for a while as web designers cared a lot more about visual appeal than accessibility of information. But during the past two years or so, I found some very friendly text-based sites that get lots of traffic from people who can't see. I want to praise Amazon.com, Onsale.com, Auction-sales.com, and eBay.com for being the most accessible shopping sites. Most people who can see take going to a store for granted. You go in, browse the merchandise, compare prices, and make your decisions. Two years ago, I bought and sent all of our holiday client appreciation gifts on-line. A year ago, I took up an old hobby again -- buying antique radios. Until the emergence of the Web, I had to have a long suffering sighted friend scan the classified ads of countless magazines. In the absence of such a friend, a very enjoyable hobby would have been lost. On-line shopping has allowed blind people to be just as independent and enjoy America's favorite pastime of shopping. Communication: The previous examples may sound rather dry, like a series of facts and figures. But the world of on-line information and communication brings with it much more than that for disabled people. As I mentioned earlier, I help my two sons with their writing and homework through the miracle of e-mail. They send me their reports and papers, and I can sit down with them and discuss what they have written, just like their mom, who can see. When my kids went to camp, it was almost impossible for me to write letters to them unless I was willing to dictate them. Then I discovered that my e-mail service could print and mail a paper copy of an e-mail-generated letter, and more recently send it by facsimile. I didn't have to worry about whether the printer ribbon was out of ink, whether the paper was properly aligned, or whether the formatting was set up correctly. I could simply sit down at the keyboard and write, then push a button and the letter would be sent. Future Challenges: As an optimist, I am confident that the world of on-line information will continue to expand our horizons, using its superior technology to compensate for human frailties, individual learning capabilities, and environmental limitations, and challenge us to search for knowledge without encountering boundaries. If true communication is really about sharing, then the Internet has been the medium for opening up new relationships, giving me the intellectual tools to better manage, and, ultimately, allowing me for the first time to live the phrase "in knowledge there is power." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sites and sounds on the Internet NOTE: SMG takes no ownership of these sites. They are offered as a point of reference for readers. The SMG website subscribes to the principles of access to the visually impaired and is certified by "Bobby" (see below). The US government has a new law which requires government websites and those websites owned by companies who do business with the government to be more accessible to handicapped users. For other businesses, this accessibility is voluntary, and frankly, its good business, especially for healthcare organizations. To learn more about meeting the requirements of the visually impaired visitor, we suggest the following sites: BOBBY: Bobby is a web-based tool that analyzes web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities. CAST offers Bobby as a free public service in order to further its mission to expand opportunities for people with disabilities through the innovative uses of computer technology. http://www.cast.org/bobby/ For a comprehensive article about the new law, and the accessibility for web users who are blind, visit http://www.freedomforum.org/technology/1999/4/30handicapaccess.asp For a comprehensive list of websites offering information on this topic, you can visit: http://trace.wisc.edu/world/web/owsag.html ---------------------------------------------------------------- What's New at SMG? SMG going e-commerce: Known for providing realistic and innovative solutions to healthcare clients faced with the bombardment of operational, managerial, and regulatory challenges, SMG believes the fastest and easiest way to assist their clients to receive needed information is to put their expertise on-line. The first steps? Our Ask SMG forum, which offers interactive information for healthcare professionals, and our Insider eNews. Next? "I am confident using our on-line presence with superior technology including video, audio, and real time chat, will allow us to provide our clients, and our visitors, the knowledge for which they search, without encountering boundaries. Our "Virtual Office" will not be static or robotic, but will take relationship building to a new plane where communication is shared, intellectual tools provided, and management strategies presented. Our vision is to include access to speeches, articles, training, even reviewing and scheduling our Pre-NCQA survey format for PPOs and Managed Care Operations and Revenue Enhancement (MCOREœ) programs," notes SMG president, Barry S. Scheur. Watch our site for updates. Coming soon: SMG's Beta version of "The MCO Challenge." Managed Care Organizations will be able to take a "fitness" test on-line by answering a few questions which will enable us to assess the "health" of their MCO. ---------------------------------------------------------------- End of PART ONE of TWO, The Managed Care Insider eNews, Volume One, Number 3. Scheur Management Group is a nationally recognized change agent for the health care industry. We provide hands-on operations management and consulting services that improve your business and promote best practices in managed care. We deliver market-driven, customized solutions to clients in all segments of the health care industry. Contributors to this edition are Barry Scheur and Judith Jaffe. Editing and research by Judith Jaffe. Production Coordinator is The Gracefield Group at http://www.gracefield.com/gg/index.html TO SUBSCRIBE: visit http://www.scheur.com/smghome.nsf/webcontent/ezine.html or send e-mail to insider@scheur.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject and name, email, company, title, and country in the message. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email message to insider@scheur.com with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject. Or visit our eNews page at http://www.scheur.com/smghome.nsf/webcontent/ezine.html for archives and subscriber information. Get up-to-the-minute health care news on-line at www.scheur.com Go to September 1999 Part 2 |
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