Archive for July, 2008

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New Drug Trend Blog

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In a new blog called DrugTrendsToday by DestinationRx, you can find some good initial posts and some good data such as the following on generic Zocor (aka simvastatin).  What this shows you (that I have blogged about before) is the massive difference between AWP and actual cost for a generic.  In this case, the AWP […]


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460,000,000 Vacation Days

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Just a nugget I came across.  (If you can’t tell, I am trying to clean up my inbox today.)
According to Expedia.com, US employees will leave 460M vacation days on the table in 2008.  Pretty sad considering the value of those days and their ability to help us manage our lifes and stay balanced.
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RWJF on PHRs

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The Robert Woods Johnson Foundation has put out a series of podcasts on Personal Health Records.  I love to see how people are using new media more and more to deliver information.


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PBM Competitive Intelligence

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TMA, a group that was doing a PBM study, called me with questions a few months ago.  They sent me some of the results of the work last week.  A few interesting observations from them looking at CVS Caremark, Medco, Express Scripts, Wellpoint NextRx, Prescription Solutions, Aetna Pharmacy, and CIgna:

Aetna was cited as having the […]


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Call Center Agent vs. Automated Calls

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The other day I called some service provider to ask some questions about their product.  It was painfully obvious that the person at the call center was reading from a script.  This made me realize that there are reasons (beyond simply cost) for using automated, speech-recognition technology for calling people versus humans.
It would have been […]


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Avoiding Calls Then Texting

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CNet has an interesting article about teens avoiding live calls only to text back the person immediately so they can continue their current activity.  I do it all the time when I am in meetings or on conference calls.
They provide some interesting statistics on text messaging (see below) for this young group.  Not a prime […]


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What Driving Teaches Us About Wellness

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We all understand the challenges in getting people to take their healthcare seriously which manifests itself most prominently in a obese society which leads to numerous other conditions - heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure.
I was reading an article earlier today about driving slower to maximize your fuel usage and thought what a great example […]


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Texting – We Are About To Call

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I had one of our clients use an interesting banking example the other day. Initially, I was a little skeptical, but after an incident this morning, maybe there is a place.

They said their bank lets you opt-in to receive a text message right before they call you. It says something like “This is […]


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McKinsey On Automated Calling Technology

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McKinsey and Company published a report called “Using IT To Boost Call Center Performance” in the Spring of 2006 which had a few relevant comments for those of you looking at how to leverage automated communications in the healthcare space. Here are the two primary quotes that I took away:

Customers are getting used to […]


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Medical Home

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I just changed PCPs (primary care physicians) to find a new one who was easier to access and more personable. (Not that I had been to my other PCP in 5 years.) I was very pleased that this new individual has adopted the medical home concept. He wants to be my central […]