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The
Trouble with Medical Messaging Service
Part
2: Technology Threats and Opportunities
By
Joseph Sameh
April, 2003
According to the results of
the April 2001 Harris Interactive survey, people are accustomed to using the
Internet for customer self-service.
Customers can now track package shipments, pay
bills, order books, and do numerous other tasks without the participation of a
customer service representative. More
than 90 percent of people with Internet access would prefer to communicate with
their doctor via email while only 15 percent of doctors would want to do so.
The
most significant use of the Internet in the teleservices industry is in the
self-management and maintenance of on-call schedules. As a result, many call centers have been reclassified into
contact centers.
The threat: A
number of organizations are providing email access to doctors.
Understanding the threat of this technology is crucial. These new
providers will unquestionably grow and this trend has the potential to destroy
the medical messaging service industry as we know it.
These
companies are well organized and superbly financed; some even have the support
of pharmaceutical companies and massive electronic medical records suppliers.
One such company, Medem, is endorsed by the American Medical Association.
Think back to the introduction of voice mail and remind yourself how that
technology changed the commercial telemessaging business.
In a similar way, cable TV has hurt the broadcast networks.
For those providing medical messaging services, this is an even bigger
threat.
The opportunity:
Admittedly, these players have the significant advantages of access and
money but many don't fully understand the operational dynamics of the health
care call center market, the patients, and the practices.
Many companies intend to charge patients to use their service.
Why patients would flock to a "pay-for-email" model when they could
place a phone call instead is hard to imagine, unless the office hold times are
so staggering that any price is worth avoiding the wait.
Banks have successfully implemented pay-for-service by providing
notoriously poor service to their client base.
Now banks charge for everything. In
the U.S. we have what many believe is the best health care system in the world,
but access can be a challenge. All
these players are addressing the aspect of patient access.
Most of
these companies rely on the physician as the touch point for the patient.
Stated differently, if the patient's call results in a physician
requiring the patient to come in to the office, the doctor ends up asking the
patient to call the office to schedule an appointment.
The physician becomes the secretary for the secretary.
Physicians answering phones at the front desk is not a viable option, yet
these companies think doctors will want to answer all email messages.
There are some successful
Internet self-service models. Federal
Express successfully offered its clients an easy-to-use system.
Customers can augment live customer service with Web-based self-service.
This process saves millions of dollars annually in reduced labor and the
more it is used, the more valuable it becomes.
This is known as the "role of network" effect.
Joseph Sameh is the founder of Mediconnect, Phone
Screen, and NeedMyDoctor.
See part one, The Trouble with Medical
Messaging Service,
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