Whether people do or not, they get paid the same amount. The first step in creating economic incentives to underpin disease management is for consumers to understand the value of care management and use quality of care as a competitive force. If you can show you're doing a better job caring for patients, the market should reward you. Web-based disease management also suffers from its newness. Vendors have been ready to go since the end of last year, but sales cycles of six months or more mean few health plans have gone live with Web solutions yet, according to Al Lewis, president of the Disease Management Association of America and executive director of the Disease Management Purchasing Consortium.
Demographics work against disease management, too.
As baby boomers age, Web-based disease management may become mainstream, but until then, simple devices will need to stand in for more sophisticated computer interfaces to disease management applications. Choose carefully In time, experts believe Web-based disease management will overcome these pitfalls. How you develop your Web-based road map depends on what segment of the healthcare industry you serve. First, decide if your organization is right for disease management, says Kuraitis. Ask whether care management is strategic for your company.