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Archive for the ‘InfoCommerce Group’ Category

Healthline’s Semantic Ad Network for Health Content

• Posted June 9th 2008
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• by Janice

Healthline, announced today its entry into the vertical ad network business with its healthcare-focused media network called HealthSTAT™ On-Demand.  HealthSTAT is a welcome addition for medical and healthcare publishers that need new options for revenue generation beyond AdSense and the other general search engine ad networks.  HealthSTAT joins other recent entries in the healthcare ad network space, including IAC/The Health Central Network and Glam Media. Healthline’s initial group of publishing partners includes some trusted traditional brand names and some new entrants (AARP, USNews.com, Time Inc.’s new Health.com, PracticeFusion, Elder.com, HealthPricer, and JustAnswer), as well as its own Healthline.com portal and a new consumer health portal to be launched by United Health later this year, MyOptumHealth. 

We’ve noted before that online health sites that rely primarily on pharma advertising revenue are showing slow and disappointing results. It’s time to think beyond the pharma companies as the only source of ad dollars for consumer health sites.  What impresses me about Healthline (an InfoCommerce 2006 winner), is its understanding of sponsorship opportunities. Its recent deal with Aetna and the signing of United Health in this new ad network show that Healthline recognizes insurers are good publishing partners.  It is important to note that these same insurers should be good prospects as advertisers on the HealthSTAT ad network, too. 

There will undoubtedly be more entrants in the healthcare vertical ad network market. Healthline, with its much-touted medical taxonomy, has built a good technical foundation on which to build its ad network.  But it’s Healthline’s demonstrated ability to form partnerships with important stakeholders that puts it ahead of competitors.

 

Healthcare 3R’s Bring Pain and Gain

• Posted May 23rd 2008
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• by Janice

 Arguably the most powerful and actionable of all consumer health information, ratings, rankings ad recommendations (the 3R’s), present both opportunities and minefields, as the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission (GIC) found out this week when a lawsuit was filed against them by the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS).   

GIC ranks physicians using cost and quality measures, and its rankings are used for  cost containment; patients have to pay higher copayments for doctors who rank in the lower tiers.  MMS, which has more than 20,000 physicians and student members, alleges that GIC’s system, called Clinical Performance Improvement Initiative (CPI), uses “inaccurate, unreliable and invalid tools and data”.  In particular, the complaint cites miscoding of procedures and inaccurate assignment of patients to physicians who were not responsible for their care. 

A different ratings approach is practiced by the department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS). Its CAHPS program  centers its rankings on patient satisfaction measures.   HHS was also in the news this week with a near-full-page ad in local papers in all 50 states promoting the use of the Hospital Compare site (http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/). As reported by AP, “the ads reflect an emphasis by the Bush administration to increase transparency in the health care system. Officials say greater public disclosure of costs and quality will drive providers to improve on both fronts.”

Currently, hospitals are penalized with a reduction in their reimbursement rates from CMS if they do not participate in the CAHPS program.  It is expected that HHS will continue down the path of pay-for-performance (P4P) as the CAHPS program develops.  

The 3R’s are shaping up to be a lively and controversial business, and Health Content Advisors and our parent company, InfoCommerce Group, will continue to monitor closely those information products that offer ratings, rankings, and recommendations, and you can look for them to continue to play a prominent role in this year’s Health Content08 conference.

 

InfoCommerce Group Launches Consulting Practice for Health Content Industry

• Posted April 10th 2008
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• by Janice

The formal press release announcing Health Content Advisors follows:

PHILADELPHIA–April 3,2008 (BUSINESS WIRE)–InfoCommerce Group, Inc. (www.infocommercegroup.com) has launched a new division devoted to serving publishers of medical, life science and healthcare information. Health Content Advisors (www.healthcontentadvisors.com) will serve as both an industry connector and a source of knowledge and perspective on how to turn trends into opportunities.

“Despite the huge and growing need for healthcare information, the health content industry remains fragmented and compartmentalized,” says Russell Perkins, Founder and Managing Director of InfoCommerce Group. “Improving the flow of information among health content providers is itself an important part of building best of breed products that address both the business needs of the healthcare industry and the inexorable trend toward consumer-driven healthcare.”

Janice McCallum, an InfoCommerce Group Managing Director, will head the new practice. Health Content Advisors will continually monitor the shifts in information usage in all sectors of the healthcare market and will interpret these shifts and guide publishers in their current business as well as help them evaluate where new investment should occur. Janice’s blog, Health Content in Perspective, is issued every week and can be accessed at http://www.healthcontentadvisors.com/blog/

“Our perspective is unique,” McCallum says. “We are not IT-centric, not Web-centric, but rather take a holistic view of how quickly-changing supply and demand forces impact the content business. With our website, consulting engagements, and annual Health Content conference, we are becoming the epicenter for the re-invention of healthcare publishing.”

Health Content 08, our annual conference, will take place November 12-13 in Philadelphia. This year, in addition to providing context and clarity on how the health content industry is evolving, the event will include an afternoon forum for emerging companies on November 12 which will put a spotlight on those who are setting the standards for innovation in the industry.

ABOUT INFOCOMMERCE GROUP, INC.

InfoCommerce Group provides consulting and research to commercial database publishers. It publishes ICG Weekly Perspective. It produces the annual InfoCommerce Conference and the InfoCommerce Models of Excellence awards. More information is available at www.infocommercegroup.com, or by calling (610) 505-9189.

Bios of Russell Perkins and Janice McCallum can be found at: http://www.healthcontentadvisors.com/about/principal-bios

Contacts

InfoCommerce Group, Inc.
Media Contact:
Roxanne Christensen
610-505-9189
rchristensen@infocommercegroup.com

 

Welcome to Health Content Advisors

• Posted January 25th 2008
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• by admin

Welcome to Health Content Advisors, the new division of InfoCommerce Group. Devoted to serving publishers of medical, life science and healthcare information, HCA was one of the outcomes of our inaugural Health Content conference in Philadelphia last September. The conference, which brought together tech-centric point-of-care information providers, traditional medical publishers, and consumer web site producers, affirmed our value as both an industry connector and a source of knowledge and perspective on how to turn trends into opportunities.

We continually monitor the shifts in information usage in all sectors of the healthcare market: providers, practitioners, patients, payers and pharmaceutical companies. We interpret these shifts and guide publishers in their current business as well as help them evaluate where new investment should occur.

Our perspective is unique: not IT-centric, not Web-centric, but rather a holistic view of how quickly-changing supply and demand forces impact the content business. With our website, consulting engagements, and annual Health Content conference, we are becoming the epicenter for the re-invention of healthcare publishing, and we welcome you as part of that community.

Please visit our new website to learn more about the services we provide. And, please check back for new entries in our blog that will offer you our nuanced understanding of the industry’s dynamics and help chart the most pressing industry forces reshaping the health content business.