HEALTHCONNECT

HEALTHCONNECT TEAMAmarinder MatharuAnnika NarotamCarlo ReyesErika PinedaJameson CaseJosh HibbenKate O’Brien

MARK 468 Health Group Final Marketing Plan

2012 PRODUCT LAUNCHAND MARKETING PLAN

Professor Evanthia GeroulisMARK 468 Winter 2010-11Loyola University of ChicagoGraduate School of Business

MISSION STATEMENTHealthConnect aims to improve health outcomes and reduce costs by increas-ing transparency within the healthcare industry. Our company provides health consumers with access to their medical information to promote better choices about their health and lifestyle. We also seek to reduce healthcare costs by aggregating data into our network offer-ing healthcare providers and insurance companies better insight into patient out-comes so they can improve the way they care for their patients.

Get Healthy, Stay Healthy.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYHealthConnect helps people get healthy and stay healthy by providing a comprehensive, interactive health portal, giving consumers the information needed to have more control over their health. Our system offers users greater access to health information by enabling them to upload their electronic health records from various health systems using the HealthConnect API (Application Programming Interface). Unique to other health portals, our system sorts data from official medical records as well as self reported vitals into simple graphics, providing the consumer with trends, benchmarks, com-parisons, and goals. This engaging, user friendly approach gives consumers greater information and motivation to improve their health and lifestyle.

In addition to its health portal services, HealthConnect can function as an information outsourcing service for insurance companies. Our consumers can elect to give limited profile access to their insur-ance companies who can then use the real time data and analytics to reduce risk and better reimburse patients for medical services. Also, due to our vast data resources and tools, HealthConnect plans to market this information to medical researchers so care providers can improve patient outcomes.

Finally, HealthConnect aims to build relationships and trust between patients and healthcare sys-tems. Our network enables health systems to create profiles and answer general questions that patients post about health concerns. This benefits both parties, patients get questions answered about their health, while health systems build brand awareness and loyalty.

Targeting the Right ChannelTo distinguish ourselves from other health portals, HealthConnect will partner with health insurance companies to draw in a larger consumer base. These companies will then promote our services to be used by health providers in their network. By encouraging providers to create their own profiles and experience the benefits of our tools, they can in turn edu-cate our services to their patients. Through this marketing strat-egy, we believe that the consumer will view us as a legitimate compass in their quest for health.

The incentive for the health insurance companies will be the access that they receive through con-sumer membership. This access will enable the insurance companies to significantly reduce labor costs due to the ability to outsource data gathering and analysis. In return, members that share and frequently update profile information receive monthly discounts and more efficient reimbursements.

Going Beyond the DebateHealthConnect has been able to use the Affordable Care Act requirements to flesh out key needs in the digital health care space. This company has positioned itself well and remains flexible to adapt to current health care issues and grow in relevance and usefulness.

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DiscoveryUnmet needs: the ability to share patient health records across multiple platforms; and for patients to be able to access, read, understand and act on the information in those records.

“If we build increasingly interactive platforms to enrich feedback at each stage of diagnosis and care,

patients and physicians can make better health decisions

together.”Ronald Dixon, M.D., MAHarvard Business Review“Breakthrough Ideas for 2010: The Technology That Can Revolutionize Healthcare”

At-a-Glance Analysis of HEALTHCONNECT Compare to Competitor Analyses on page 6

Products: HealthConnect online, interactive health record portal, HealthConnect mobile appService: Health data collection and analysisFeatures: User friendly interface, comprehensive health analysis, API designed to harness data from multiple platforms, large amount of individualized care information at lowest cost, cross platform (web and mobile) Benefit/Strength: Targeting health insurers to push market service to membership. This marketing channel is under-used by competition. Weaknesses: Market is young, but large players (Google, Microsoft) have enteredTarget: Health insurance companies’ membershipEnd Users: Health insurers members, physicians, individuals Cost Burden: Health insurance companies, individuals

HEALTHCONNECT

SWOTANALYSIS of

Strengths• Partnerships• Multiple revenue streams• Marketing strategy: targeting health

insurance membership by tapping insurers’ need for information

• Engagement of consumer• Legimate access to information • Simple data anaylsis

Weaknesses• Privacy concerns (Please

see Appendix A for more information on healthcare privacy laws.)

Opportunities• New healthcare legislation —

Affordable Care Act (ACA)• Demand for lower healthcare costs• Demand for better control of health

information• Increasing chronic health problems• Large aging baby boomer • population• Trend of online sharing• Culture of insurance companies

(inabiility to collude)

Threats• Repeal of large parts of ACA

(would not damage business model but would create confusion)

• Resistance to change: all parties• Access to information and

role in malpractice suits• Health insurance companies

creating own health portal service

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Uncertainty is plaguing the healthcare market in 2011. The biggest target of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been the individual insurance mandate.1 Fortunately, our product can adapt to get ahead of current issues in the healthcare space and only grow in relevance and usefulness. We have used ACA requirements to flesh

out key needs in the digital healthcare space. Our analysis has found that there are the following un-met needs: the ability to share patient health records across multiple platforms; and for patients to be able to access, read, understand and act on the information in those records.

A Requirement for Electronic Health RecordsOn October 1, 2012 a new law within the ACA will require health plans to begin adopting and imple-menting rules for the secure, confidential, electronic exchange of health information in the form of electronic health records (EHR).2 The law is intended to harness electronic health records to “reduce paperwork and administrative burdens, cut costs, reduce medical errors and, most importantly, im-prove the quality of care.” HealthConnect’s model relies on this mandate somewhat, but goes beyond

it to connect many platforms of EHRs. The certain existence of the EHRs now and in the future enables us to collect and analyze data for consumer use. HealthConnect goes one step beyond the current thinking and seeks out the path to seamless integration, relevance and ease-of-use for a person’s health information.

A New Venture for DoctorsThe ACA also provides incentives for physicians to join to-gether to form “Accountable Care Organizations.”2 In these groups, doctors can better coordinate patient care and im-prove the quality, help prevent disease and illness, and re-duce unnecessary hospital admissions. If Accountable Care Organizations provide high quality care and reduce costs to the healthcare system, they can keep some of the money that they have helped save. Before they do that, they need patients to treat. Our product will allow these organizations to interact with patients online and build awareness of their practices.

The Market Potential The identification of high-care/high-cost patients is impera-tive to health insurance companies, especially now. There is broad support to maintain the idea of the ACA’s Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. This plan “will provide new cover-age options to individuals who have been uninsured for at least six months because of a pre-existing condition.” In 2014,

all discrimination against pre-existing conditions will be illegal and insurers will no longer be able to deny membership based on preexisting conditions and/or chronic diseases. Since there will be more patients on the rolls for health insurers, they will need members to take greater responsibility for their health. Just as Mint.com revolutionized online accounting and personal financial management, we hope to break apart the idea of how people interact with their own health information. Where Mint.com can show your net worth and credit ratios, our product can show you your cholesterol tests from the past three years (uploaded from your doctor) then cross tabbed with your physical activity over the same time (as entered into your smart phone or on the site). The importance of that information will be clearer.

MARKET ANALYSIS

AnecdotalDevoid of Data Sharing? In “The Hot Spotters,” by Atul Gawande, M.D., in The New Yorker, Jan. 24, 2011, a young doctor in Camden, N.J., is scouring the city for the most unhealthypeopleandfindingways to reduce care costs. He is doing it with “an expanded computer database that lets Camden doctors view labora-tory results, radiology reports, emergency-room visits, and discharge summaries for their patients from all the hospitals in town—and could show cost patterns, too. The absence of this sort of information is a daily impediment to the care of patients in Boston, where I practice.”

HEALTHCONNECTSITE MAP for

Main pageSecure Login

Provider PageInsurer Page Individual Page

Mobile AppUser Interface

Member Information

Analysis Tools

UploadFunctionality

Patient Information

Analysis Tools

UploadFunctionality

IndividualInformation

Analysis Tools

UploadUI

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Health Goals

HealthConnectCommunity

Privacy Policy

FAQ

Account Dashboard

About Us

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COMPETITOR ANALYSISProducts: Suite of connectivity solutions and services Features: Cerner Network allows providers to electronically share clinical information with one another and makes it easier to stay in touch with patients. Enables physicians, nurses

and other authorized users to share data, streamline process across an entire organization.Benefit/Strength: Cost saving and revenue improvements: Reduce unnecessary test, duplicate orders, transcription costs, risk of medication errors, ineligible Rx/ Procedure Combos. Saves on regulatory documenta-tion. Expand access through E-Visits. Maximize copay collection and decreases insurance costs. Weaknesses: Reliability/scalability problems as well as implementation problems Target: Mid-Size/Large Medical Groups, Hospitals and Integrated healthcare organizations End Users: Patients and Physicians Cost Burden: Healthcare providers

Products: Online service to store, manage, and share health information.Features: Manage health information online in a single storage location. Set and monitor personal health goals. Track progress by keeping a health diary. Share health information with family, friends, and medical professionals. Connect to third party apps and content providers.

Benefit/Strength: Provides individuals with an easier way to track health records from disparate sources. Improve health by tracking progress made towards health goals or in coping with a chronic illness. Better coordinate care by sharing medical records. Get personalized information from content providers. Google brand recognition, easy to use tools for individuals, developer knowledge of existing Google APIs.Weaknesses: Privacy concerns, few industry partnersTarget: Individualconsumers;doctors’offices,hospitals,retailpharmacies,andhealthdevicemakersandotherapplication developers can partner with Google HealthEnd Users: Patients, healthcare providers, device and application makers, and content providersCost Burden: Free

Products: Software for mid-size and large medical organizations. Features: MyChart gives patients controlled access to the medical records their doctors use. Patients can schedule apporintments, get test results and print growth charts. It allows true any-

time/ anyplace access to patients information by allowing providers to login. Information is shared in two ways: Careeverywhere,wherethedoctorcontrolstheflowofdataacrossorganizationsandthePHR,wherepatientscontrol their own health information. Benefit/Strength: Cost Saving and Revenue improvements: Reduce unnecessary test, duplicate orders, tran-scription costs, risk of medication errors, ineligible Rx/ Procedure Combos. Saves on Regulatory Documentation. Expand access through E-Visits. Maximize Copay collection and decreases insurance costs. Weaknesses: Reliability and scalability problems as well as Implementation problems Target: Mid-Size and Large Medical Groups, Hospitals and Integrated healthcare organizations End Users: Patients and Physicians Cost Burden: Healthcare providers

Products: Medical Management Software Features: Integrated electronic medical record and medical charting solution with full practice management including scheduling and medical billing capabilities. It provides a complete EMR capabilities (integrated scheduling, messaging, referral processing, on-lineeligibilityverificationandpatienthistoricalcharting)Physicianscanutilizeworkflow

procedure and forms to manage clinical activities, collect patients history, etc. Benefit/Strength: Managepracticesefficiently,increaserevenue,improvecollectionsandcashflowandpro-vide improved customer service. Increases productivity, adherence to best practices, medical coding recom-mendations and seamless operation with billing system. Weaknesses: Only used in local hospitals, not connecting networks used among large hospitals Target: Mid-Size and Large Medical Groups, Hospitals, Integrated healthcare organizations End Users: Patients and PhysiciansCost Burden: Healthcare providers

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Products: Completesuiteofproductsformedicaloffice:PracticeManagementSystem,Electronic Medical Record and Appointment Scheduler Features: MPMS: is an automated practice management medical billing software, quick, ready to use and with customizable reporting capabilities. The electronic medical re-cordsoftware:helpsmedicalofficescreatethemostcompletemedicalchartelectroni-

cally. The appointment scheduler: is used for scheduling and managing patient appointments. Benefit/Strength: Managepracticesefficiently,increaserevenue,improvecollectionsandcashflowandpro-vide improved customer service. Increases productivity, adherence to best practices, medical coding recom-mendations and seamless operation with billing system. Weaknesses: Not well known in the industry. Not a big supplier.Target: Mid-Size and Large Medical Groups, Hospitals and Integrated healthcare organizations End Users: Patients and Physicians /Cost Burden: Healthcare providers

Products: Online service to store, manage, and share health and wellness information.Features: Create and access personal health records. See how an individual’s health score compares to peers. Create a personalized health plan and track progress. E-mail content with relevant information to individual health issues.

Benefit/Strength: Easier tracking of health information from multiple sources. Peer comparisons with anonymous data help to incentivize individuals to set personal health goals. Online tracking of personal health goals helps individuals meet goals, resulting in healthier lifestyles. Brand recognition, extensive collection of health content can be leveraged from WebMD existing site. Integration with WebMD community helps to connect patients with experts.Weaknesses: Closed system: does not appear to provide an API to allow for third parties to leverage informa-tion in the system. Does not appear to have import function from third party systems like pharmacies or labs. Target: Individuals; employees and health plan member access coming soon. End Users: Patients / Cost Burden: Free

Products: Online service to store, manage, and share health and wellness information in one central place. Features: Create an account and manage personal health records or records for fam-ily or loved ones. Import data from pharmacies and lab companies. View and track

health info with health tools. Share information with family and caregivers. Software development kit and API for developers.Benefit/Strength: Provides easier tracking of health records in a central location. Save time by importing data from pharmacies and labs. Coordinate personal care or the care of loved ones. Microsoft brand, integration with health devices, ability to manage a single individual or an entire family. Weaknesses: Privacy concerns, fewer content resources Target: Individuals, families, and health solution providersEnd Users: Patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare device manufacturers / Cost Burden: Free

Products: Personally controlled health record that stays with a person for life. Features: Open source system with secure storage of health records and an API to access data from other sources.

Benefit/Strength: Open source allows developers to extend and expand the capabilities of the platform. Weaknesses: Little brand recognition, not consumer-centric (developer focused) Target: Developers / End Users: Developers Cost Burden: Free

Products: Electronic medical record system using open standards to share data across EMR systems. Features: Open standards allow data to be transferred between systems. Ease in

collecting and aggregating information through use of standard data APIs. EMR with patient-facing portal.Benefit/Strength: Ease in collecting and aggregating information through use of standard data APIs. EMR with patient-facing portal.Weaknesses: Not currently a well-know industry player Target: Health providers, developers End Users: Health providers, developers Cost Burden: Unknown

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COMPETITOR ANALYSIS con’tProducts: Interoperable personal EHR, modules and infrastructure solutions Features: Open-source-based software and web services, automatic and manual entries are structured in industry-standard HL7 continuity of care format (cannot be altered or de-leted) and identify the source of entry

Benefit/Strength: Patients can access medical health records, or provide records to doctors with ease Weaknesses: Dependent on technology and web connectivity- doctors can access data from EHRs or directly with web-connected devices; does not allow for patient diary or self-recorded history, only provides medical records. / Target: Healthcare providers, patients, developers/ End Users: Healthcare providers, patients, developers / Cost Burden: Cost to patients, and cost to health providers

Products: Personally controlled health record that stays with a person for life. Features: Create and manage a personal health record. Aggregate information from various sources. Share information with healthcare providers.Benefit/Strength: Employees become more active healthcare consumers, thereby reducing waste and saving employers money in health insurance costs. Data source network not available in other solutions, employer-sponsored service could increase

adoption among employees.Weaknesses: Privacy concerns related to employer access of data, little brand recognition Target: Individuals, employers, developers, and providers End Users: Patients,healthcareproviders,employerbenefitsdepartments,andsoftwaredevelopersCost Burden: Employer paid

Catalyst Resources

Products: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Cloud Services, Rich Internet Applications, Reusable UI, Mobile, Touch and Gesture applications, instrument control applications Features: SaaS, multiple application and dashboard components, user-validated UI com-ponents, on-going implementation support

Benefit/Strength: Easy access through cloud computing (through multiple devices), saves time with built in IT li-braries,panels,toolsandcomponents,efficient-providesworkflowautomation,easytouse-designsanddevel-ops modular, high-performance rich user interfaces (Adobe Flex, Java, Microsoft Silverlight, WPF, AJAX/HTML 5, iOS, Android, Adobe AIR) Weaknesses: Cloudcomputingcouldprovedifficultwithpatientinformationrights,notforpatientsTarget: Health providers, developers / End Users: Health providers, developers / Cost Burden: Health providers

Mobile Frame

Products: Custom mobile app. design software and mgmt. tools for mobility projects Features: Has built-in mobile application development (point and click), mobile device management, project administration, GPS tracking, and software integration Benefit/Strength: Easy integration to backend systems, Saves time and money through mobilesolutions(findinganefficientrouteformobileworkforce),easydevelopment

through WYSIWYG and code-free application development, simple- only need to create mobile application once, and MobileFrame handles screen rendering complexities. Weaknesses: Can be used for patient care, but not available for patients. Unknown where patient data is stored. / Target: Health providers, healthcare administrators / End Users: Healthcare providers (home health, and hospital-patient care) / Cost Burden: Cost to the health providers

Products: Web design-content development, usability testing, content management, SEO, online recruitment, hospital social media, healthcare mobile applications Features: Benchmark process to meet objectives and analysis of competitor applica-tions, uses goal mapping processes to prioritize user requirements, product based on stakeholder information/interviews

Benefit/Strength: Multiple offerings through one company; makes processes and recruitment easier Weaknesses: Limitedfunctionalityforpatients:ER/EDwaittimes,pre-registration,findingaphysician,newsandevents, health libraries, and videos Target: Health providers, healthcare administrators, developersEnd Users: Healthcare providers, patients, developers Cost Burden: Cost to the health providers

Market Share: HealthConnect is a B2B venture and our target market is primarily health insurance companies. Although this service will be available to every individual who has a medical

record, for simplicity reasons our initial target market is the healthcare insured population. Accord-ing to latest US Census Bureau data on Health Insurance Coverage there are presently 253.6 million people insured. HealthConnect’s long term goal is to bring all 253.6 million insured people plus 45.6 million uninsured people on our network.3 Initially, we will rely on insurance company’s to market our services to their members. In our first year of operations we hope to tie up with at least two big names in the healthcare industry, such as United Health Group and Well Point. In our first year of operations we hope to bring in at least 300,000 patient records on our network. As stated earlier, by 2012 the healthcare law will require health professionals to document patient records electronically. It is during this period that we feel our sales will grow dramatically as the data will be easily retrieved from a network. We expect to have 800,000 patient records by 2012, 1 million in third year, 2 million in fourth year and 4 million records in year 5.

Costs: We will need to constantly upgrade our servers to handle high user traffic. Our initial invest-ment in technology (servers) should be more than enough to handle 300,000 users traffic. We found an online calculator that can calculate the data/bandwidth usage based on the traffic. Based on the average cost of data usage (based on number of user traffic) we were able to come with a cost. Cost for securing a web-based high security system to ensure patient privacy is also included. Our primary investment in technology will be in the de-velopment of API (Application Programming Interface) for which we will be hiring two software engineers (full-time), one of them will be in-house programmer. Cost of securing a server and data stor-age is directly proportional to the sales. These costs will increase as we start adding more features to our web page, such as access to MRI images, etc. which require huge amount of bandwidth and data storage. This API will be the core of our business; it is through this interface that all the encrypted pa-tient records in local hospitals will be uploaded to a network accessible by patients and other doctors and insurance providers, with a user-friendly interface. Average salary for the software engineer is around 90K/annum. Investment in technology will be a continuous process and will be directly proportional to sales. Initially our sales forces will in-clude five people with base salary plus commission. We expect to hire a sales manager with a reason-able amount of sales experience in the Healthcare industry (Average salary is 80k/annum plus com-mission). The cost structure mentioned above is assumed to be in direct proportion with sales hence percent of sales method is applied to estimate earnings.

Projected sales: Our primary source of revenue will be charging the insurance companies $3/year for access to each patient record therefore our projected sales in dollars will be directly proportional to the number of users we bring on the network. Our secondary source of revenue will be selling online ad space to healthcare insurance companies. Ad revenue will play a key role only after five-six years in operation. We expect this to be a profitable venture within the first year, and due to the nature of the industry the sales are projected to increase exponentially.

OBJECTIVES

Revenue Streams• Insurancecompaniespay$3/yearperuserprofile• Health systems pay us for brand marketing

(Health systems experts pay us to engage with users by answering their general health concerns)

• Sales of aggregate data• Ad revenue

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Table 1: Startup Costs OBJECTIVES CON’T

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MARKET ENTRYSTRATEGIES

We have laid out in detail the 12 month plan for the development and launch of our prod-uct in the timeline within the Implementation section. Broadly, we see the product creation in three phases. Phase oneEstablish main site• This extracts and houses a person’s health

information in a simple and well orga-nized way

• Data and analysis outsourcing services to health insurance companies

Building key relationships: • Insurance companies• Health care organizations• Research groups

Phase twoHealthConnect Mobile app: This contributes to the depth and utility of the main site while adding its own, more immediate access to analysis of and interaction with day-to-day health data.

Health Care Community: Allow healthcare systems such as hospitals to build profiles within the network to interact with patients, market services and build brand loyalty

Phase threeAnonymous data packages aggregated for medical research.

3 PHASE ROLLOUT

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We are targeting with insurance companies because they have a large consumer base that we can tap into. Also we realize the need to be legitimate and going through well established health care organizations will help us to create an official brand. Our product rollout

would require a mix of inside and outside sales staff to approach health insurance companies and present the benefits of the comprehensive health record portal. In the interest of overall cost savings, the insurance companies will then encourage providers to educate their patients on the benefits of our services and tools. All service agreements are between patient and HealthConnect (the insurer who may introduce the product to a member is not liable for service is-sues). Additional service agreements apply if a patient wishes to allow an insurance company access to the portal to offer targeted discounts and other qualifying benefits.

More on the Mobile App.While mobile is a key part of our product’s design, we are staging the rollout in Phase 2 so that the app will be immediately useful because it will tap into the fully-realized main site. That means con-centrating on developing the main site software now. Once we launch the HealthConnect mobile app (targeting month 12) we will use market data on some core questions to deliver a fully realized product. We interviewed Sutha Kamal, the CEO of the startup Massive Health (massivehealth.com), to deter-mine what the key questions are for a mobile health app to answer in 2011. He suggested that we determine:• Overlap of Facebook and Twitter

to the various demographics of chronic diseases

• Percentage of individuals inter-ested in fitness/use fitness apps

• Percentage of individuals that care about Google Health/Microsoft Vault

• Percentage of individuals (and in what demographics) that use smart phones now

• Market size/consumer willingness to pay for each of the above

• Advertising spend in those industries• Breakdown by medical device vendors, pharmaceutical

CON’T

At-a-Glance Market Entry for HEALTHCONNECT Thisinitialcostofentrywillbesignificantbutwillgraduallyeaseasadoptiontakes hold:• Sales force lands key accounts with insurers• Insurers push product to membership• Healthcare systems are offered the opportunity to access the service to

drive business and encourage referrals• Eventually, the sales force will migrate to untapped markets. The service is

largelyturnkey,butwillrequiresignificantITinterfaceandsomeaccountmanagement.

MARKET ENTRYSTRATEGIES

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MARKETINGMIX HealthConnect is a network that enables a pa-tient to compile a comprehensive health portal which includes electronic medical records and

self-reported data. In the best interest of that individual’s health, this information can be shared with whomever the patients selects. The HealthConnect portal can be securely accessed through website and mobile devices anywhere with Internet access. To communicate these benefits and connect with the consumer, emphasis will be placed on user-friendly data graphics, personalized analysis and progress, and interactivity. These features simultaneously benefit patient users, healthcare providers and insurance companies.

Benefits to Communicate to Patients (User Features to Highlight in Marketing Materials)Access:• Upload health records from care provider’s EHR directly into portal.• Enter and track self reported data: drug side effects, daily symptoms, glucose levels, weight, etc.

Analysis: • Algorithms will offer health analysis and scoring based on comprehensive individual data.

Progress reports and stated goals• Alerts: Health reminders and alerts, based on life stage (e.g.: mammogram

reminders after age 40 for women• Aimed to maximize patients preventative care to

save costs from major illness

Appearance and Extras• User friendly, simple interface• Data presented in charts and

graphics for quick, easy review• Fun incentives to encourage users to update info frequently such as points, levels, status awards• promotions and discounts from insurance companies to encourage updates

Privacy• Secured website,password protected• Health provider access with permission and/ or emergency situation

Benefits to Communicate to Healthcare ProvidersEfficiency and cost reduction due to:• Cross platform access to patient data, regardless of individual health system EHR format• Comprehensive look at patient data: formal medical records as well as frequently updated self

reported data (ex: daily glucose levels for diabetics)• Medical Research: Access to aggregate data over time of health outcomes• Platform for Accountable Health Organizations and other health systems to market cost effective

services

Benefits to Communicate for Insurance CompaniesEfficiency and cost reduction due to:• Collection of Aggregate Data on subscribers• Health patterns and trends analysis• Predictive Modeling• Ability to determine more appropriate pricing structures

HEALTHCONNECT

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PromotionHealthConnect is distinct from other online health portal providers such as Google Health. They tar-get and benefit mainly individual health consumers. This method results in limited patient participa-tion due to lack of interactivity and adequate incentives. Since HealthConnect’s success depends on a large network of users, the company will target health insurance companies. HealthConnect will offer insurance companies access to a multitude of valuable health informatics and modeling based on aggregate user data. As a result, it would be in the insurance company’s best interest to offer discounts to customers who participate in HealthConnect’s portal. In addition, the insurance companies can encourage healthcare providers in their network to motivate patients to participate in the portal. Patient participation will benefit the patients, health providers, and insurance companies. Our company expects that this approach will be successful in attracting a large base of HealthConnect users. In addition to targeting users through their insurance companies and healthcare providers, we will educate people of our services through online marketing initiatives such as Google and Facebook Ads. Facebook will be an important place to attract users because people who are already comfortable displaying a personal profile, may be more willing to participate.

PartnershipsIntegration is at the heart of HealthConnect’s business model. As we work with health insurers to encourage their membership to centralize their health information, we then move to the next step of

partnering with healthcare organizations. The access to a cohort of people who are interested in im-proving their health would give the healthcare organizations many marketing opportunities. The trade-off is simple: For a certain amount of interaction with the health consumers on our site, the healthcare organizations will pay an access fee. There is a baseline level of interaction required from the health experts (five health questions answered or commented on per week). But there is no limit to how much information they can share. This could be a direct link to referrals for doctors through the online interaction space. Smart hospital systems would see our service as a niche social media platform that they could use to build brand awareness and get an edge on the communication compe-tition that any business faces, but that the medical community is only now confronting. As HealthConnect grows, we would have the opportunity to create partnerships with brands that wanted to have a captive

audience and a trusted portal through which to share information. The key to the portal is that the health insurer is front-facing. Although research shows a low level of appeal for the healthcare industry as a whole (New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 358, no. 18, pp. 1881–1883), information delivered by the insurance providers is taken at face value.

MARKETING MIX CON’T

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DistributionHealthConnect will own all the data that users upload. For privacy purposes, the website will anony-mously aggregate the data when selling for research purposes. The company will sell user profile access to health insurance companies as determined by the user. When selling research we will offer digital research packages or the option to mail hard copies.

PricingHealthConnect will have a two-tiered revenue stream of the up-front licensing fee with and addition-al per member usage charge. This will be very adaptable as we work toward profitability. That two-tiered system allows for a great deal of pricing flexibility:• For a large health insurer (250,00 members or more), the initial license fee will be substantial with

a modest per member fee.• For a smaller insurer, we would take the opposite tack: a smaller upfront fee that would be aug-

mented by a higher per member usage fee.

That pricing structure ties into our approach as a unifier of the niches, not an across-the-board solu-tion. Our service is adaptable for any kind of member, regardless of health and so it appeals to any health plan.

Additional PricingAdd pricing for other revenue streams referenced in Objectives:• Health systems interaction with users would be based on a subscription fee: $50,000/year

subscription (based on ShareCare pricing)• Ad Revenue: Bid Based Rate PPC to be determined by auction• Research packages: starting at $1000

MARKETING MIX CON’T

the old way

the new wayHEALTHCONNECT

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For the initial phase of the network, we will only need a few professionals (see Objectives). Once the network is ready to launch, other personnel

will be required full time. Below are the professionals needed after the network is created and fully launched.

President/CEO: To align the company, internally and externally, with strategic vision. Will facilitate business outside of the company while guiding employees and other executive officers towards a central objective

VP Marketing: Responsible for the strategy, tactics and programs to create interest, demand and recognition for the Network through the use of PR, Product Marketing, Creative Services, Advertising, Strategic Relation-ships, Direct and Online Marketing. Marketing Manager: Full time professional respon-sible to create the logo, marketing materials, and website design. And responsible for influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand accepted. VP Finance: Responsible of analyzing the key areas of the business, including product profitability and prepare annual budget, monthly forecasts, and other financial reports. As well as, to forecast revenue based on current sales and future estimates Programmer: Full time professional in charge of writing the software necessary for the network. Engineer: Full Time professional concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and in-genuity to develop solutions for technical problems that may come forward.

Web Designer: Responsible for creating the look and feel of web page for a HealthConnect’s Web site. This involves developing a graphic design that effectively communicates the ideas being promoted by the Web site and must collect the text documents and images that will appear on the page and convert them into a form in which they can be viewed.

Product Manager: Full time professional responsible of investigating, selecting, and developing the network by considering factors such as intended demographic, the products offered by the competition, and how well the product fits with the company’s business model. Nursing Informatics: a part-time professional which will assist the hospital management and nursing teams by converting patient data into computer programs.

Training Specialist: Full time professional who plans, organizes, and directs a wide range of training activi-ties. Trainers conduct orientation sessions and arrange on-the-job training for hospital and member involved in the usage of the network. Sales Manager: Full time professional responsible for the implementation of the sales plan.

Sales Team: Full time employees who responsible for selling the product.

Customer Service: Area responsible of service to customer before, during and after the imple-mentation of the network. Capable of providing the best service by answering any questions or concerns a client might have, in the most appropriate and professional way.

IMPLEMENTATION

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TIMELIN

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APPENDIX AHealthcare and Privacy LawsHIPAA, shortened for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, is the federal legislation that protects and provides patient rights. There are two parts to HIPAA: The Privacy Rule, and the Security Rule. The Privacy Rule pertains to individuals health information be it electronic, written, or oral. The Privacy Rule sets rules and limits on who can look at and receive health information. The Security Rule pertains to information doctors, nurses and other health care providers put into patient medical records, conversations doctors have about patient care or treatment with nurses and others, information about health insurers’ computer system, billing information about patient at patient clinic, and most other health information about patients held by health plans and health care clearinghouses. The Security Rule requires that all electronic health information be protected and secured. This rule applies to health insurance companies, HMOs, company health plans, govern-ment plans like Medicare and Medicaid, health care providers including those that conduct business electronically like electronic billing, doctors, clinics, hospitals, psychologists, chiropractors, nursing homes, pharmacies, dentists, and those that process nonstandard health information received from another entity into a standard electronic format or data content or vice versa. The information is protected by safeguards, such as encryption tools, restricted access, use and disclose patient health information properly and appropriately, and implement training programs for employees about how to protect patient health information. If contracted, entities must have contracts in place with their contractors and others ensuring patient health information is safeguarded, and entities must have procedures in place to limit who can view and access patient health information.

Patient health information can be used and shared:• For treatment and care coordination• To pay doctors and hospitals for health care and to help run their businesses• With patient family, relatives, friends, or others identified who are involved with patient health

care or patient health care bills (unless patient objects)• To make sure doctors give good care and nursing homes are clean and safe• To protect the public’s health, such as by reporting when the flue is in a specific area• To make required reports to the police, such as reporting gunshot wounds

Patient health cannot be shared without written permission unless the Privacy Rule allows it. Examples of unauthorized use of health information, a provider generally cannot:• Give patient information to employers• Use or share health information for marketing or advertising purposes• Share private notes about patient health care

Endnotes1. Domenech, B. (2011, 1 31). Retrieved from Health Care News: www.heartland.org/healthpolicy-

news.org/article/29270/Florida_Judge_Rules_Obamacare_Unconstitutional.html2. US Government. (2010). Provisions of the Affordable Care Act, By Year. Retrieved from Health-

Care.gov: www.healthcare.gov/law/about/order/byyear.html#20123. US Census Bureau. (2010). Health Insurance Historical Tables. Retrieved from US Census

Bureau: www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/data/historical/files/hihistt1.xls

APPENDIX B

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Get Healthy, Stay Healthy.