Cindy Christy, President, North America, Alcatel-Lucent, an infrastructure equipment provider to large carriers and enterprises, talks about Alcatel-Lucent’s initiatives in the health care space.

Hospitals are businesses that have the same drivers as other businesses - cost reduction, increased revenue, and ultimately improved profitability. If technology can save a nurse or a doctor 20 minutes per day so they can be more productive, the doctor can contribute more to the bottom line by spending more quality time with a patient, seeing another patient or doing another test. Hospitals are upgrading to new technology and new networks such as optical networks and large speed data packet networks that have a lower cost structure and over time are more efficient.

Upgrades to voicemail and other systems with much more functionality than in the past improves productivity and the cost structure of the hospital.

As an example, Alcatel-Lucent is helping the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to upgrade the entire network, including installing a metro-optical backbone, which will allow University of Pittsburgh to leverage voice, data and video. They are upgrading the voicemail system and packet system. There will be a hospital wide wifi system, so the hospital can provide better services to doctors, nurses and, ultimately, patients.

In the telemedicine space, remote applications are some of the first applications to provide value to the hospital system. For example, visiting nurses, who visit patients in the home, never historically had access to the Internet. They now have wireless access so they can send information back to the hospital such as heart rate, blood pressure and other information about the patient. Improved optical networks and packet technology help remote hospitals get information to a metropolitan hospital that may have more resources.

Ruben Toral sits down with Curtis Schroeder, CEO Bumrungrad International, a Bangkok Thailand hospital that has been around for 28 years and was one of the early movers in medical tourism.

Bumrungrad treats about 450,000 medical tourists per year from 190 countries and is in the process of expanding. It currently has 73 clinics in 7 countries.

Bumrungrad International was the first Joint Commission International Accredited Hospital in the world. The JCI accreditation created a beachhead in Asia for medical quality. The fact that a Thai hospital was the first to receive the JCI accreditation came as a surprise to many within the global health care and hospital communities.

The JCI accreditation helped establish a sense of credibility for foreigners to travel to Asia, and Thailand specifically, for medical care. Foreign tourists, Insurers, Embassy employees, and Self-employed employers rely on third party validation rather than a flashy brochure or web site to make decisions. So the JCI has played an important role in the growth of medical tourism.

This interview was filmed at the Consumer Health World Conference in Washington DC. Click here to watch all interviews from the Conference. Click here to purchase conference multimedia.

Bill Crounse, Microsoft’s Health Care Industry Director, interviewed Jay Parkinson, MD, who has started a new practice that services patients entirely through the Internet and house calls. Jay has no office of his own. He targets young urban professionals, artists and freelancers within NYC. Most of these people are web savvy and uninsured.

A form on the web site guides patients towards trying to make a diagnosis so that when Jay leaves for a house call he can have the appropriate tools and medicine with him. Because his costs are so low, Jay can pass on the savings to his patients. Essentially, Jay acts as a first line of defense for the health care industry to help guide patients towards a healthy resolution to what ails them. Jay often guides patients towards other providers within the health care system.

Most of Jay’s patients are uninsured. Jay acts, on their behalf, as a patient advocate and health financial consultant. He spends a lot of time finding the best value for a variety of services a patient might need beyond his core services. Jay can then refer patients to those providers that offer good service for a good price. For example, in Manhattan the price of a chest x-ray ranges from $50 to $350. Most patients are unaware of this discrepancy. Without Jay’s help, many would be paying more than what they need to pay for a variety of services.

View all interviews from the World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Conference.

Sometimes combining two simple ideas creates a really great idea. I had a chance to sit down with Stanley Schoen, CEO of LifeLinks Video Interpreting Services, who has built the foundation for a pretty unique business.

LifeLinks combines two off the shelf services - video conferencing technology and interpreting services. LifeLinks has a stable of interpreters in a few different locations who can translate from virtually any language, including sign language, to English.

Every translator spends their day in front of a computer with a $20 Web cam. Translators are available 24×7.

A hospital installs the LifeLinks Web conferencing software on a server. A doctor can then sit down with a non-native English speaking patient, open their laptop with their own USB web cam, select the language they need help with, see which interpreters are available, click on the interpreters name and see, full screen, an interpreter ready to assist. The interpreter can also see the doctor and patient in total detail, down to the coffee stain on the doctor’s red tie.

This allows for some pretty interesting interactions. A doctor can ask “where do you feel pain. point to where you feel pain.” The interpreter translates and the patient points to his chest. Both doctor and interpreter can see the patient pointing to his chest.

The bottom line, of course, is improved care and / or reduced cost. With LifeLinks, a hospital doesn’t need to have an interpreting team on staff. Interpreters are available on-demand, at any time day or night, in any language, from the infrequent (Urdu) to the common (Spanish).

Hospitals can buy LifeLinks service like a utility. This is the future of software and services - paying for what you need when you need it. With LifeLinks, instead of paying upfront, hospitals pay per minute of translation service. And the per minute cost is nominal.

LifeLinks, based in NYC, already has installed their platform in a few NYC hospitals, including Bronx Lebanon Hospital(new York), Jacobi Medical Center(New York), New York Community Hospital(Brooklyn). They even signed up a hospital in Tenessee - Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.

I’m sure there are other applications of this one-two punch within both the health care space and other industries. For example, I have a friend who used to volunteer as an interpreter for, I believe, the US Immigration and Naturalization Services office in NY. Her specialty was Chinese. Think of how many different ethnic groups have to sit down with an English only administrator every day. Imagine if the administrator, the person who decides the fate of thousands of people per year, had on-demand access to interpreters at their desk.

- Peter

View all interviews from the World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Conference.

This panel discussion on Return on Investment in the Nursing Home is from the Ziva Media Nursing Home industry conference.

This panel discussion is from the Ziva Media Nursing Home industry conference in Rhode Island.

Stephanie Monette, Senior Systems Analyst, St. Mary’s Health Plans talks about increasing patient satisfaction at the Healthcare Communications Forum, hosted by Insight Forums.

One of the best ways to improve customer satisfaction in any field is to empower those customers to tend to their own needs to the greatest degree possible. Happily, embracing such a philosophy self-service benefits the service provider as well by reducing the load on the call center and thereby lowering costs.

St. Mary’s Health Plan has achieved this twin outcome by deftly applying Web technology to its patient interactions. Members have online access to eligibility requirements, referrals and authorizations, claims status, and much more, and satisfaction rates have increased as a result.
This session will detail how St. Mary’s came to implement its self-service program, the business and technology challenges it faced when doing so, and the benefits it realized as a result.

Stephanie Monette

Stephanie Monette
Senior Systems Analyst, St. Mary’s Health Plans

Stephanie Monette has been in the healthcare industry with Saint Mary’s for 15 years. In that time, she has held many positions in several departments: claims, provider relations, member services, and client services. Now Senior Systems Analyst, she participated in the implementation of Healthx for Saint Mary’s online enrollment, and member, provider, and employer services.

Ms. Monette is now the superuser and trainer, and is responsible for the activities related to system support, maintenance, development, utilization, and enhancement of Saint Mary’s Health Plans computer databases. She is very active in the Northern Nevada Association of Health Underwriters and has held the positions of Secretary, Awards chair, State Secretary, and currently, local President.

Steve Weissman leads a panel discussion at the Healthcare Communications Forum, hosted by Insight Forums.

A lot of times a hospital will have a family member calling on behalf of the injured or sick person. There is a need to communicate health care related information to someone other than the recipient of care. How does a hospital obtain permissions and ensure the family that their information will not leave the building?

The caregiver is often the last stop before a loved one is placed in a nursing home. Meeting the caregiver’s needs is as important as meeting the patients needs.

Successfully creating, producing, and delivering effective health care communications requires maintaining a precarious balance of especially complex issues: e.g., retrieving and presenting personal information on an EOB while still complying with privacy regulations, or imparting important program information to audiences of varying ages and ethnicities - and using the same technology backbone to achieve both!

This session explores these issues with a group of panelists selected specifically for their expertise in each of the key arenas. After watching this session, you will better understand the process, technical, and economic tradeoffs you’ll contend with when optimizing your communications process.

You’ll be better able to:

• Protect sensitive information while still providing access to it
• Achieve timeliness and completeness
• Orchestrate your systems components
• Avoid cultural land mines
• and more!

Moderator
Steve Weissman, Senior Analyst, Art Plus Technology

Panelists
Brian McKeen, Second Vice President for Compliance and Privacy Officer, AFLAC
Judy Roark-Mackey, Director of Marketing, Summit ElderCare
Christopher Nicholson, Director of Strategic Communications, Humana Inc.
Denise Miano, Chief Technology Officer, NEPS, LLC

Paul F. Levy, President & CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, delivers the keynote presentation at the Health Care Communications Forum, hosted by Insight Forums.

Paul F. Levy President and Chief Executive Officer, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Paul F. Levy was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in January 2002. A major patient care, research, and teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and a founding member of CareGroup Healthcare System, Beth Israel Deaconess is the third-largest recipient of National Institutes of Health research funding among independent U.S. teaching hospitals.

Mr. Levy served as Executive Dean of Harvard Medical School before joining BIDMC. He established a national reputation as an administrator with his service as the executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, the agency charged with the cleanup of Boston Harbor, one of the largest pollution-control projects in the world. He has also served as chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and Director of the Arkansas Department of Energy.

Before joining Harvard Medical School, Mr. Levy was adjunct professor of environmental policy at MIT, where he taught infrastructure planning and development and environmental policy for seven years. He has also maintained an independent consulting practice, providing strategic, negotiation, and regulatory advice to firms in the energy, water, and telecommunications arenas.

Mr. Levy holds Bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Urban Studies and Planning, and a Master’s in City Planning from MIT. He is the co-author of Negotiating Environmental Agreements (Island Press, 1999). He coaches girls’ soccer, referees youth soccer, and plays on a coed adult team.

Barbara Ficarra, RN, MPA, Award-Winning Journalist, Executive Producer and Medical Show Host of Health in 30 and Nurses in Motion recently sat down with Bruce Bonanno, MD, and ER Physician to talk about the complex issues surrounding the nursing shortage.

Barbara Ficarra and Dr. Bonanno navigate the viewer through the real ER. They talk about the challenges that face the ER, and the understaffing which leads to stress that many nurses face today. They discuss the vital role of nurses in society and how vital they are to patient quality health care. This only begins to describe the conversation between Barbara and Dr. Bonanno about the real problems facing hospitals and nurses today. Dr. Bonanno also answers viewer’s emails.