I = Innovation

By Laurie Gelb, October 17, 2011

If you thought the 80's were "the Me Decade," consider these the "Me, Myself & I" years. Introspection is in, singly or in groups (witness the Occupy Wall St. Movement).

What does this have to do with managed care? Depends on who's doing the managing (or thinks they are).

A top tier disease management vendor's intake form currently includes the following question:

Do you currently have any of the following conditions:

[list of 12]

where the list includes cancer, pregnancy, poor circulation, heart attack and stroke, among others, in seemingly random order.

So just as they're signing up for a program that invites unknown strangers into their care, the first thing that [mostly seriously ill, some terminal] patients learn about their disease manager-to-be is that it's insensitive to the distinctions between acute and chronic, and between clinical and colloquial dx. There is no clue as to what, if anything, a given patient should write in the "other specify" field.

What exactly would "currently having" a heart attack or stroke mean? That you should call 911, of course. So the first thing you've learned is not to take DM communication literally. It's only a short step to take it for a joke, like most of your mail.

Nor does this invitation reminder letter explicitly mention that program signup is optional, not mandatory. In fact, it finesses the difference "introducing the program...part of your health benefits coverage..." If I were the plan sponsor's risk manager, I'd feel a bit squishy.

So the promise on the accompanying letter that "Your health is important to us" (appearing once on each side of the paper) is ringing a bit hollow, no? And our introspective, seeking-the-good member is blatantly being treated like a number, a bundle of [poorly] specified conditions, from intervention day one.

There isn't a simple declarative, personal, conversational sentence in this enrollment package. The signature is in cursive typewriter font, in the proudest tradition of 1970. I've signed thousands of letters to document I cared enough about someone's behavior to wield a pen my own self.  (And yes, there are scanners, too.)

So as you expend your resources and your members' time, goodwill and wellbeing on DM, consider that for every condition listed in a vendor's portfolio, there is a SNF, a clinic, a university program, an industry pilot, a health system, a single clinician whose DM is state-of-the-art. I'm not talking about 7-8 figure CER, AHRQ style, but the one-patient-at-a-time evidence base that can blossom into something new and improved.

For example, one psychologist (whom I'm proud to say taught me Psych101 eons ago) directs translational research into innovative Alzheimer's care that has been successful in several facilities. To what extent would moving the needle on AD progression and sequelae in any setting benefit your organization and/or anyone you care about?

The corollary question is whether you have appropriate resources allocated to find and leverage this essential intellectual capital. You know that incents -- from money to recognition -- can move the needle when little else can (and let's not pretend the wormy apples of P4P or buy-me pharma grants are the same thing).  If and when you spark something real, that helps create competitive advantage that in turn adds to brand and ally equity.

Did you notice Wendy Schmidt's contest to find better tech to clean up oil spills? The winning team tripled the "industry standard." When they asked the contestants why they hadn't tried these new approaches before, the responses boiled down to, "No one else [e.g. oil company clients] cared. Everyone felt they were doing OK."

What's in your MCO's wallet? Maybe the down payment on improved outcomes for millions.  All it takes is an I for innovation.