Northwest Health Unleashes Personal Health Portal

Northwest Health System Inc. is pioneering an integrated Internet portal it hopes will revolutionize personal health management and employer-directed health care programs.

In cooperation with marketing technologies consultant CPM Corp. of East Peoria, Ill., the Springdale company plans to launch its new Personal Health Portal in November and its associated Health 2 Work program by the end of the year.

Northwest Health is one of two national beta test sites for the project. But the Springdale company’s testing is ahead of Advocate Health Care, a large physicians network in Chicago.

The password-protected products are designed to help employers decrease their health care expenses by working with individual employees to minimize health risks, prevent disease and preempt illness.

PHP and Health 2 Work will be available free to the more than 50,000 clients of PremiereCare, Northwest Health’s local network of 305 physicians. Employers contracted through third-party insurers that exclusively use the network also are eligible.

Northwest Health netted $120 million last year and has about 1,500 employees who will also use the new products. CEO Bill Bradley said the interactive concept marks a paradigm shift for health care organizations.

“We don’t just want to be your health care provider,” Bradley said. “We want to be your health care partner.”

Instead of treating illnesses after they surface or doing preventive education with hard-to-manage pamphlets, PHP attacks health care costs where they start: with personal daily decisions. Health 2 Work goes a step further for employers.

Individual employees’ personal information is strictly confidential. But Health 2 Work separates itself from other Web-based health initiatives by aggregating data from an employers’ pool of workers. That way, group health risks and the associated health care costs can be identified and mitigated.

The result is a value-added service that PremiereCare CEO Roy Beebe said would help Northwest Health keep existing clients and increase its market share. With 10 competing hospitals in Benton and Washington counties, every percentage point counts.

“We think employers will gravitate to cost-effective providers,” Beebe said. “When you offer savings and a source for good health information, more people are going to choose your system.”

The interactive Web site focuses on making health-consciousness part of its users’ daily routines. For proprietary reasons, screen shots of the site and its Web address are not yet being released.

Northwest Health isn’t disclosing the investment made for the PHP and Health 2 Work. But Tami Hutchison, Northwest Health’s senior vice president of development, said it took about half of her marketing budget for 2000.

Northwest Health includes Northwest Medical Center in Springdale, Bates Medical Center in Bentonville, Siloam Springs Memorial Hospital, Gravette Medical Center, Carroll Regional Medical Center in Berryville and 25 area physician clinics.

How It Works

Hutchison, who was praised by both Bradley and Beebe for her work on the project, said PHP and Health 2 Work start with a comprehensive health risk assessment that employees complete over the Internet. She emphasized that “under no circumstances” is personal information available to employers.

The questionnaire is based on a prototype developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The questions are about family medical history, personal health history and lifestyle.

The assessments are then “scored” using proprietary software that determines the individual’s personal health risks compared with national data on individuals of similar age, gender and lifestyle. Employers get their aggregate reports and a recommended plan for reducing identified risks.

From there, proprietary algorithms, licensed from Milliman & Robertson actuarial consultants in Seattle, can even be used to put a dollar value on improving the health of a company’s employee base.

“The employers will get data on the overall health of their workforce,” Hutchison said. “They also get aggregate information on employee participation in wellness fairs, Web site activity and screenings, and a communications report that tracks marketing communications to and from Northwest.”

Other benefits employers could expect, Hutchison said, include increased productivity and reduced turnover. Employees would have the benefit of electronic calendar reminders for screenings and programs that deal with areas of specific interest. Their PHP pages will also store information about their insurance, allergies, medications and medical records, and they will be able to choose new physicians online.

“Eventually, with the patients’ permission, we would be able to access their info in emergency situations,” Hutchison said. “And they could register for inpatient and outpatient services at Northwest Medical Center and Bates.”

Doug Zarvell, CPM’s national sales manager, said it was “nearly impossible to describe everything this transactional business model will do. People just have to see it.”

“This is a vehicle that lets people organize and personalize their health info in a way that has never been done before,” Zarvell said. “There is nothing else this comprehensive out there.”

E-Doctor’s Orders

Hutchison expects to have a high level of client participation. The response from physicians has already been impressive.

That’s not surprising since the American Medical Association News recently reported that 57 percent of doctors now use e-mail, up from 37 percent just a year ago. And it’s clear that Northwest Health is on the cutting edge of its industry, since, according to the AMA News, only 5 percent of doctors have started the process of automating patient records.

Dr. Randall Oates of the Family Clinic of Rogers is excited about the prospects of PHP and Health 2 Work. Oates said he guessed that about 80 percent of PremiereCare’s doctors would immediately adapt to the technology. The rest would just be part of a learning curve.

“I am extremely excited because the next generation of patients is going to take more responsibility for their health care,” Oates said. “Especially when it comes to chronic disease, the key to maximizing health is for patients to be educated and take charge. I anticipate I’m going to be more of a consultant or information manager in the future.

“This will be the portal that makes it possible for patients to get good information in a safe and secure place.”

Oates said there is real value to employers since preventive health care is both “the toughest thing to get people to do” and the most effective treatment. He said the PHP and Health 2 Work are “a very low-cost tool for employers to save on their bottom line.”

Patients may eventually be able to even schedule their own appointments through the portal, Oates said. Hutchison said other future applications could include an insurance “smart card” or one with a magnetic strip that could be scanned to access the system.

“Health care is such a local decision,” Hutchison said. “We are in a unique position to capture that Internet audience, and the possibilities with this system are literally endless.”