I frequently hear the desire for hospitals to be more like the travel or hospitality industry. It’s quite a challenge because people stay in hotels or travel generally to relax. I suppose they mean they’d prefer it to be more like business travel at its best — comfortable and efficient, with your needs anticipated without having to be repeatedly reminded.
Although this has been an evolving trend, 2012 has produced a lot of growth in this area from emergency room reservations to improve patient flow to adding clearer directions to improve efficiency and reduce stress to doctor review websites. A couple of health IT companies have developed HIPAA-compliant messaging systems to help patients’ families get updates on their care so they don’t need to stress out in a waiting room.
Patients using MDconnectME’s service enter contact email addresses for those who they want to keep updated on their conditions. When a nurse or a physician has an update to send he or she enters the information and it’s distributed to the contact list. The company passed a critical test when Hurricane Sandy struck New York City. Mount Sinai Hospital, one of the company’s clients, was able to use the one-way service during the storm.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Fresh from raising nearly $400,000 in capital, co-founder Scott Anzel, the CEO, said in a phone interview that the experience with Hurricane Sandy gave the company more validation. He said the company is looking forward to using the capital raise to scale its operations to offer the service to a wider market. “By making life easier for the provider side, we can make life better for patients and families, and improve the overall quality of care,” he said.
Another update service was developed by Rahul Shah, a physician at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He developed the MyCareText platform to keep patients’ families informed of their statuses with generic, prewritten text messages sent by hospital staff members to cellphone numbers provided in advance by the patients’ families. They can also send messages to a patient’s phone before procedures, like reminders not to eat or drink anything.
On the other hand, some hospitals are taking this hospitality trend a bit far and actually adding hotel-style suites and plush maternity rooms for those willing to pay extra. What worries me is that, like the hospitality industry, we could end up having more well-defined classes of patients. I don’t believe healthcare professionals think that way, but it doesn’t look good. Hospitals wanting to generate more revenue lost from reduced Medicare reimbursements will see it as a practical solution. Hopefully, this particular hospitality trend won’t spread beyond the celebrity playgrounds of L.A. and New York.
