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Archive for the ‘Infocommerce’ Category
TEDxBoston: It’s Not Just About Information
- Posted August 5th 2010
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
I had the great pleasure of spending last Thursday at the TEDxBoston conference. TED stands for Technology, Education, and Design. From my vantage point as a publishing industry consultant, I’d say that the value of content is a function of technology, education, and design: Content=f(T,E, D).
Three talks at TEDxBoston that held the most for publishers were those by César Hidalgo, Seth Priebatsch, and Eric Mongeon. Hidalgo spoke of the benefits of incorporating more complex relationships in predictive modeling. He used the example from his studies of development economics, but on his website he also describes his collaborative research project related to predictive modeling of human diseases: HuDiNe. Advances in computer technology and analytics have enabled his work that models complex relationships between a large number of variables. Underlying his research are cross-discipline data sets, a trend that data publishers in all industry should take note of.
Priebatsch, who is founder of SCVNGR, a game platform for completing place-based challenges, addressed how engaging users through interactive learning experiences that offer tangible or virtual rewards can guide behavior. He referred to the medication compliance problem in healthcare where patients don’t take their prescriptions as directed and mentioned Cambridge-based Vitality that has a partial solution with its smart device GlowCaps. Too bad he wasn’t aware of HealthPrize, [1] another start-up that is targeting the same medication compliance issue with a solution that embraces the gaming mentality and rewards positive behavior.
Eric Mongeon, who includes the line “Denier of the death of print” in his Twitter profile, underscored how design can transform a publication into a multi-dimensional experience. In his 4 by Poe series, design isn’t an afterthought, it’s an integral part of the publication. The same thinking should hold for digital publishers that want to rise above commodity status. Another lesson from Mongeon’s talk: publishers won’t enhance the lifetime of their print publications by scrimping on design and quality.
TEDxBoston included an imaginative collection of speakers from academia, industry, non-profits, start-ups, students, musicians, artists, and journalists. Every talk and performance was inspiring and passionate. Filtering it for to B2B and healthcare publishers, the message was: always consider the three TED elements when planning content products and services. Think beyond the informational value of your content to consider how to optimize the experience of consuming your content—that is, if you want to rise above commodity status.
—————
1 HealthPrize’s CMO, Dr. Katrina Firlik, will be speaking. at our upcoming Data Content 2010 conference.
Content and Technology: A Love-Hate Relationship
- Posted November 24th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
In late October I participated in a couple of conferences that underscored how information technology (IT) has changed business publishing. The first event, e-Patient Connections 2009, had a diverse audience comprised of Pharma marketers, medical communications agencies, health literacy experts, and health care publishers. Special guests included e-Patients who spoke about their use of community, content, medical expertise, drugs and devices to manage their conditions to allow them to live life as ordinarily (or extraordinarily) as they would if they didn’t have their disease or condition.
The second event, Data Content09, was the InfoCommerce Group’s 17th annual event for b2b directory and data publishers. Themes ranged from improving lead-generation applications of directories, the importance of understanding the workflow needs of your customers, and the overarching theme of how over time technology is commoditizing content.
The keynote speaker at Data Content09, Sharon Rowlands, CEO of Penton Media, described how she has aligned Penton by markets and is undertaking a thorough customer analysis to understand how the company’s information can be integrated into customer workflow and improve productivity. Sharon described why in today’s economy, in order to rise above commodity status, publishers need to offer point-of-need solutions that are tailored to each segment of their user base. Standalone reference works and print publications may still play a role, but it is an increasingly marginal one.
The final session of Data Content09 presented four examples of companies that are employing IT to their advantage. These companies (Capterra, KnowWho , Skyscape, and EDA) effectively use technology to move up the value chain. Publishers need to ask themselves how their data can be put to use to make their customers more productive: for example, can their data be integrated into the customer’s supply chain process or sales pipeline process? Or can technology and Web 2.0 tools help improve the quality of the data that are provided, through reviews and ratings, deeper verification, or mash-ups with related content? In some cases, it’s as simple as offering a mobile version or including video or interactive quizzes to enhance the experience for the user.
Forward-looking publishers recognize the inevitability of commoditization of information due to better, cheaper, and faster IT and digital distribution. These leaders use the commoditization trend (“the race to the bottom” in the words of Barry Graubart from Alacra) to their advantage by scouting more and more free inputs for their higher value information packages, and they know how to use commodity-level information as a marketing tool.
For more on the topic of content commoditization and the importance of moving up the content value chain, see the slides from my e-Patient Connections 2009 presentation (esp. slides 7-11). Although focused on the opportunities in the health content sector, these slides apply to all types of information.
Also, for detailed examples from the companies that presented at Data Content09, full video of the sessions for those who were unable to attend are available for purchase here.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Free Is Not a Business Model
- Posted July 17th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
“Free” is an attention grabber, not a business model. Chris Anderson, author of the recently introduced book, Free! The Future of a Radical Price , understands the power of the word “free” on many levels (including using it as a catchy title). But even he can’t justify giving away intellectual property as a complete business model. Rather, he frequently recommends a “freemium” model, where some content is widely available for free with revenue coming from upselling leads.
I wrote my last article on the commoditization of health content, before the release of Anderson’s book. While I agree with most of his points—especially the fact that digitized content is subject to commoditization because of low marginal costs and ease of replication – it’s important to keep in mind that Anderson and others are only talking about a part of the picture. Digital content and digital distribution may drive down prices over time, but they also increase the options available for packaging content for different audiences and applications. So, while the basic bits may be commoditized, helping customers apply those bits to solve problems, close sales, or become more efficient remains a very valuable service.
There is a range of options available to publishers to differentiate their content in the marketplace to retain value. The best mix of free content, premium content, tools, subsidies, and value-added services will differ depending on the nature of the content and the size of the potential audience. Very specialized content with a limited audience may do better with a premium subscription model; news content with mass appeal may be better suited to an ad-supported free-to-the-reader model. In both cases, some content may be used for marketing purposes to attract and retain users.
To thrive in the digital economy, publishers need to rethink how their users value the information they provide. What do these users do with the content? What can you do to help these users become more productive or work more efficiently? This is the essence of infocommerce, and many publishers still have not harnessed its full potential. Some are still stuck in the old mindset that they produce “textbooks” or “newspapers” or “journals”. Instead, they should be thinking about how their content can be integrated with software to offer decision-support systems, or how their content could be used by an online marketer to shorten the sales cycle.
In the past week or two, infocommerce has been the subject on Andrew Savikas’s blog at TOC at O’Reilly Publishing in his post Content as a Service, and Matt Dickman, a digital marketer at Fleishman-Hillard, writes about Content as Commerce on his blog. Both stretch their ideas a bit too far in order to make their point, but they represent creative thinking about how to readjust the way we view the value of content.
Another phrase should be added to the discussion: “Content as Advertising”. Publishers need to gain a renewed understanding of their advertisers’ needs and consider how content can be used as a vehicle to engage prospects. Using free content to attract leads and build brand equity isn’t all that radical if one looks at how this “content as advertising” is supporting (and in some cases supplanting) traditional branding and lead-generation methods. We predict that as infocommerce in the forms of “content as advertising” and “content as commerce” continues to evolve, the lines between publishers and marketers will blur as marketers learn new methods for using content online to attract new customers.
[Note, although not specifically focused on health content, this article is certainly relevant to pharmaceutical marketers and health content publishers.]
Click on the link to read Chris Anderson’s book http://www.scribd.com/doc/17135767/FREE-full-book-by-Chris-Anderson.
Follow me on Twitter: @janicemccallum.
Headline Commentary July 7-13
- Posted July 13th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
Modern Healthcare’s analysis of recent IOM and Federal Coordinating Council reports on comparative effectiveness research (CER). Key finding: data infrastructure is need and investment in creasting databases is critical (and probably > total funds allocated for CER –$400 M–in ARRA).
Perhaps the UK will promote & accelerate adoption of Google & MSFT’s PHR platforms before they gain traction in US.
Pretty good list of useful purposes of Twitter–mostly business related.
Interesting new aggregator of top journal content (based on impact factor & google scholar rankings) in clear, attractive interface. Access to premium fulltext journals is limited to existing subscribers via Athens. [edited 7/15] Note, Clinical Reader has been called out by medical librarians because of sloppy copyright practices and use of false implied endorsements by NLM & others. To gain credibility as source of authoritative content, CR team needs to tread carefully!]
Decent article in Telegraph about Reed Elsevier’s need to focus on IT infrastructure to enhance value of content assets. Title a bit misleading, but it does mention specific title/markets where Reed might reconsider selling RBI assets: Construction, chemical, energy, XpertHR & Totaljobs.com.
I wouldn’t call it WebMD, but it includes health and wellness information and lots of information on the institution.
PhRMA site offers limited access to Adis’s R&D Insight drug pipeline db for no charge. Limited info on each drug is output, but list of drugs by phase is available. US only.
Beta version released; official release sched. for Q4 2009. Breakthrough sounds like an exaggeration, but it is a step forward for a traditional directory publisher who sells to libraries.
Tim Berners-Lee talks about data that do stuff (an ICG mantra): “And now there are lots of different ways that people need to be able to look at data. You need to be able to browse through it piece by piece, exploring the world of data. You need to be able to look for patterns of particular things that have happened. Because this is data, we need to be able to use all of the power that traditionally we’ve used for data. When I’ve pulled in my chosen data set, using a query, I want to be able to do [things like] maps, graphs, analysis, and statistical stuff.
SpringerImages, which includes over 1.5 million scientific images, tables, charts & graphs, to be officially launches at ALA in Chicago this week. Was originally planned for Q1 release.
Can’t resist tagging this article, since it intersects the key topics I follow & my interests (tennis). Serena Williams launches skincare line developed by chairman for American Academy of Dermatology Chair, Dr. Bryan Adams. Skincare line is targeted for those with “demanding and active lifestyles” like Serena.
Serials Solutions, a ProQuest company, expands the content indexed by its Summon Service. Summon aims to offer “Google-like” search interface across library’s holdings. For now, content from ProQuest, Gale, Springer, IEEE, Taylor& Francis and some other scholarly publishers and university presses participate. Summon is in beta at Dartmouth, Claremont Colleges, and 5 other universities in US, Canada, UK, and Australia.
Some good analysis of Amazon’s Kindle pricing strategy and why share to publishers may shrink. Quotes couple of analysts.
Kent Anderson of NEJM writes about Amazon’s growing role in book publishing, not just redistribution of books. How should publishers react? Comments as of 7/9 suggest scholarly publishers stick to their knitting of creating content and build their own open repositories– and be more aggressive with digital distributors. Granted, scholarly publishers should take more control of digital distribution, but in order to do that, they have to invest in digital infrastructure & know-how.
Monster cuts 160 jobs; will add 80 in new technology innovation center. New focus on long-term strategic planning and customer engagement. Evidence of need to add layers of analytic and other value to core content.
Good dialogue about social media’s relevance to clinical practice.
Healthcare reform may include tax credits for employer-sponsored wellness programs.
Good write-up of interview with Berners-Lee by ReadWriteWeb’s founder, Richard MacManus. W3C’s focus on data content is exciting development for us at InfoCommerce Group, where the role data in publishing businesses has been a central focus on ours from day 1. s
Survey conducted by Rodale on behalf of FDA DTC division provides data that show that almost 50% of consumers rate online health videos information websites as top resource when searching for medical conditions and prescription drug info online. Next in line were pharma websites, video sharing sites, and social networking sites.
Good article on the under-tapped value of customer lists held by publishers. As author points out, many print publishers seem to miss the connection between their ability to build communities of interest for publications and adapting that ability to web-based communities. Instead, too many publishers are letting upstarts replace them online.
Candover & Cinven (current PE owners) ask bidders to resubmit bids for up to 49% of Springer. Initial bids from TPG, EQT and consortium of Carlyle & Providence did not meet current owners’ expectation. Owners asked for 500M Euros for up to 49% of Springer; 2 sources said 350-380 Euros was a more reasonable valuation.
The concepts of EBM and Comparative Effectiveness Research are reaching consumer-focused publications. IMO, considerable education via general press and other venues will be necessary to help consumers/patients understand EBM and CER.
Interesting partnership between Mayo Clinic and Winn-Dixie grocery chain, whereby Mayo provides info related to nutrition and conditions including cold & flu, heart disease, digestion, asthma and allergy (most of which have OTC products sold in grocery stores to help manage these conditions).
SDI, which acquired Verispan last year, releases results of most respected pharma companies by pediatricians.
CDC launched a web-based public health tracking interface that includes state-by-state data through 2006 on air & water quality, lead paint, and other public health measures. My first attempt to extract data for air quality in MA led to an error message. It’s likely that no data were available for the query I entered through the menu-based system, but a better-designed faceted search would have alerted me to this fact. In sum, it’s great that CDC is providing more data in easy-to-use formats, but there’s lots of room for improvement by commercial information services that can add value by aggregating data and improving the search experience.
Thomson Reuters, already one of the biggest webcast providers, acquires Toronto-based webcasting s/w firm Streamlogics.
Emdeon, a RCM vendor, buys eRX Network, a vendor of epharmacy solutions. eRx has established base in government, providing claims-processing services for CMS.
A medical librarian’s comparison of DynaMed and UptoDate
Health Content Needs to Drive IT Investment
- Posted March 20th 2009
- Comment (1)
- by Janice
There is plenty of buzz about the $19.2B in stimulus money earmarked for health IT, some of it positive (see here, too) and much of it negative. The positives focus on the improved efficiency of electronic medical records (EMRs) that will improve outcomes and minimize medical errors and adverse effects. The negatives focus on poor design of existing EMR technology and the reluctance of physicians to adopt medical records systems that require substantial investments in time, money, and behavior change.
Research Customer Workflow
Both sides agree that digitizing records and automating information flows is a good idea, but the skeptics emphatically insist that the workflow of the intended users be studied before the interfaces, navigation systems, and methods for data entry are determined. Simply stated, health IT vendors need to involve physicians more directly in the design of EMR systems.
Incorporate Content to Drive Adoption
Expert opinions from both sides of the argument touch on-but don’t clearly articulate-the importance of incorporating health content into the development of health IT systems; and that the content has to include external as well as internal data in order to be “mission critical.” Content-driven systems such as Epocrates and UptoDate demonstrate that doctors will flock to digital systems that offer useful information on an easy-to-use and convenient platform.
We at Health Content Advisors have been involved in transforming print-based content to online information tools for over 20 years and have been living by the mantra that technology + content = “data that can do stuff”. For instance, we have witnessed the productivity-enhancing benefits of transforming a print buyers guide into an online e-commerce site that not only helps buyers find the right goods and services, but also includes tools that compress the sales cycle. So we understand that digital information systems in the health industry will lead to better health outcomes and more efficient delivery of healthcare. But it will happen more quickly if physicians and content providers are more directly involved in design and implementation of EMR systems, and if content drives the technology.
ENURGI, a Heath Content Innovator, Is Acquired by Univita
- Posted February 4th 2009
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
ENURGI, a presenter at Health Content08 Innovator’s Showcase, has been acquired by Univita. Univita, backed by Genstar Capital, is a new company set up to acquire care management companies with a focus on eldercare and independent living. Univita recently merged with Long-Term Care Group, a Minnesota-based administrator of long-term health insurance, providing application processing, premium billing, and claims processing to over 30 long term care insurers.
Whereas Long-Term Care Group has been in business for over 12 years, ENURGI was founded only 2 years ago and had yet to raise outside funding. ENURGI describes itself as a “revolutionary web-based healthcare services company that connects families and patients in need with local, clinical caregivers across the country”. Its service is based on a caregiver database that contains over 1.5 million records of licensed and certified caregivers in the US supplemented with referral ratings and tools to facilitate scheduling and payment transactions between patients and caregivers.
We are not surprised that ENURGI was snapped up at this early stage. We chose to highlight it in our Innovator’s Showcase because of its market potential and robust business model in which it earns subscription and transaction fees, paid by patients and/or employers. In addition, ENURGI has a smart partnering strategy that includes working with content sites in the care management space, including caring.com and disaboom. Further, they plan to partner with state healthcare services as well as employers to offer ENURGI in EAP programs.
All-in-all, ENURGI and its founder Chiara Bell have done an outstanding job of creating a database driven information service that greatly simplifies the process of finding licensed and certified caregivers. We wish them continued success.
Headlines for October 13-14
- Posted October 14th 2008
- Comments (0)
- by Janice
HealthGrades acq. WrongDiagnosis and CureResearch.com, from Adviware, an Australian company.
Vitals/MDX Medical secures additional VC funding. “Providing in-depth information on more than 720,000 doctors nationwide, Vitals is a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use tool for consumers to access information on doctors and specialists in their area, free of charge.” Milestone, Greycroft, Cross Atlantic, and Health Venture Group particpated.
CMS is partnering with several regional health care groups to subsidize the adoption of EHR systems that are CCHIT compliant.
Harvard Medical School is supporting the use of Kindles for PDF and Word course documents via Amazon’s Mycourses educational website. Docs can be wirelessly transferred for 10 cents per doc (paid to Amazon).
Good post by Marydee Ojala questioning why BMC has been silent on its acq. by Springer. Further, she speculates whether this acq. validates the open access model or demonstrates that open access publishers cannot exist as standalone entities (major paraphrasing by me in the latter part of this statement).
Availity and Prematics work with BCBS Florida and Humana to offer free e-prescribing tech & service. In Tampa and Miami, Prematics sponsors free PDAs, printer and Internet access to doctors, too, to encourage e-prescribing (Prematics is paid by insurers for prescribing ordered through its service & therefore can subsidize costs to doctors if it leads to traffic through its network.) Support and training is included, too.
“New tools are being developed that may help harried patients, including those with chronic health conditions, monitor their medications, home tests and other details. The information can then be posted to a Web page that the patient can choose to share with a doctor, pharmacist, friend or caregiver.”
Healthcare 3R’s Bring Pain and Gain
- Posted May 23rd 2008
- Comments (0)
- 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.
Medical Tourism Site Launches
- Posted May 14th 2008
- Comments (2)
- by Marji
CPR Communications, a healthcare marketing and communications company, has launched YourMedicalTravel.com, a web site that provides information about medical tourism to consumers.
Specific information accessible on the site includes travel tips, cost comparisons for various procedures, legal data and insurance facts. Site visitors can also find information about treatments as well as particular regions (from India to Singapore and Thailand).
The new site complements another CPR Communications offering, MedicalTravelToday.com, a site for businesses that participate in the medical tourism industry.
CPR has launched this latest site to capitalize on a trend of individuals traveling abroad to find more affordable medical treatment. However, recent media reports suggest that the market for such content is not as large as previously thought. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal cites a McKinsey & Co. study that revealed that not as many people are interested in traveling abroad for medical treatment as was assumed. Yet, the study does note that the industry is still poised for strong growth.
In addition, the article notes that the Medical Tourism Association doesn’t size the medical tourism market because there is no firm definition of the market.
Still, for CPR Communications, the launch makes sense. It really does fit nicely with the company’s MedicalTravelToday.com offering, and the organization is certainly on its way to creating a solid portfolio for the medical tourism market. Although the McKinsey study found the market to be smaller than originally thought, it is still predicting growth; and CPR Communications is extremely well-positioned to capitalize on that growth.
New NCPDP Database Boasts Increased Functionality
- Posted May 14th 2008
- Comments (0)
- by Marji
The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs launched a new database for pharmacies, pharmacy benefit management companies and health insurers. The application, dataQ, is a new version of the NCPDP’s standard pharmacy database that includes information on nearly 75,000 pharmacies. According to news reports, the goal of the database is to provide information to make pharmacy claims more accurate.
The new web-based database offers users a variety of new features. In addition to instant look-ups and custom reporting functions, the database can also help users with pharmacy network development and credentialing; data validation; drug utilization and product recall monitoring, as well as the ability to pull all of it together through market research and analysis.
Anything that will improve the accuracy of pharmacy claims is a good thing. This database seems to contain all of the content and functionality required of databases today. While a vast number of listings is vital, today’s databases are not nearly as valuable without abilities that make their data actionable. The NCPDP has all of the necessary components here – components that will help users perform their job duties more efficiently and effectively.
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