Digital Health Archives - Page 2 of 2

Convenience care, telemedicine and breaking down barriers to geographic competition – a speculation

Tory Wolff October 29, 2015

A few problems Geographic barriers to the entry have long protected providers from best-in-class competition. Provider consolidation – theoretically a logical response to the current operating environment — reinforces these barriers by locking up referrals and making systems too big / too few to fail. Instead of pushing providers aggressively on value, payers and regulators may end up nursing underperforming systems (e.g. Highmark’s bail-out of the West Penn Allegheny system) and discouraging disruptive entrants for fear of unintended damage to the stability of the local provider infrastructure. Even if consolidation is

Shifting lines in the mobile health competitive battlefield: Aetna makes a strategic retreat while United digs in?

Tory Wolff November 24, 2014

The battle to own healthcare’s consumer relationship is being nowhere fought more intensely than in the mobile arena. Tea leaves suggest that Aetna has pulled back from trying to own this relationship in favor of a more collaborative “ecosystem” strategy, but United appears determined to lead. The thinking is speculative but I let me point out the emerging evidence and offer some guesses on what will come next. Strategy environment for consumer mobile health At the risk of oversimplification, let me offer six hypotheses regarding the strategic context for consumer

Apple HealthKit, provider partnerships and walled gardens: three observations

Tory Wolff June 9, 2014

A number of observers have noted that the Apple’s partnership with Epic on HealthKit could reinforce the role of “closed IT system” strategies in general and Epic’s leading position among EMR vendors in particular. Others have noted that prominent PHR failures (Google, Revolution Health) should add some sobriety to the hype around HealthKit. While I don’t disagree with these concerns, I have three other thoughts on the announcement that Apple has built a framework for collecting and presenting health data from a wide variety of consumer devices and apps. Providers

Cigna and Samsung: assembling a “global account”-based business model for mobile

Tory Wolff November 30, 2013

Samsung and Cigna have agreed to a multi-year development alliance for health applications for the Samsung smartphone. The partners will initially focus on content (access to the health-related tips and articles Cigna already offers its customer base). Ultimately, the partnership will “connect individuals with caregivers, doctors and hospitals to improve health and wellness globally.” So far, the announcements have been silent on any exclusivity. In our view, the content deal is a sideshow: health and wellness tips are highly commoditized and an insurer an undifferentiated supplier for this content. I

Declining value of the EMR walled garden? An emerging signpost from Cleveland Clinic

Tory Wolff October 4, 2013

Quick follow-up to our post about the Epic-eClinicalWorks deal: Today’s Healthcare Informatics has an interview with Martin Harrison, CIO of Cleveland Clinic, was asked what is the biggest strategic IT challenge right now. His answer? The challenge element is partly being driven by the complexity of the challenges in this value-driven world. So all the care providers belonging to this collaborative probably will not belong to the same organization. So the biggest challenge to my mind right now is the effectiveness of interoperability. We talk about it a lot, but

Change in tactics or change of heart? Speculations on the eClinicalWorks–Epic interoperability announcement

Tory Wolff October 3, 2013

Epic is famous for its intense focus on interoperability across its own systems coupled with its conservatism regarding interoperability with other EMRs. In 2012, KLAS said Epic has the “deepest data sharing of all the vendors” across its own practice and hospital EMRs (see this example in which Cleveland Clinic and neighboring system MetroHealth — both on Epic — have put interoperability in place). But when it comes to non-Epic systems, customers must work through defined “exits” to the Epic system (“we don’t let anyone write on top of our

Category: Digital Health

Recon takes an analytical look behind select developments in healthcare

Convenience care, telemedicine and breaking down barriers to geographic competition – a speculation

Shifting lines in the mobile health competitive battlefield: Aetna makes a strategic retreat while United digs in?

Apple HealthKit, provider partnerships and walled gardens: three observations

Cigna and Samsung: assembling a “global account”-based business model for mobile

Declining value of the EMR walled garden? An emerging signpost from Cleveland Clinic

Change in tactics or change of heart? Speculations on the eClinicalWorks–Epic interoperability announcement

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