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Spring 2007 e-Update
 The Kim McAllister Story Underscores the
Importance of MedEncentive
I am pleased to report that this last quarter was filled with all kinds
of good news and positive developments. However, one event stands out from
all the rest - an event that reinforced in my mind exactly why
MedEncentive is so important to all of us.
It all started when Larry Gundlach invited me to spend an hour with him
as part of his continuing education class for insurance brokers. Larry is
a Partner with Oklahoma Business Insurors and is a faculty member at
Francis Tuttle Technology Center. This is the third such class Larry has
asked us to join him at the podium. Since insurance brokers are required
to attend continuing education classes to maintain their licenses, each of
these sessions have been full with over a hundred attendees. And each time
the attendees have responded to MedEncentive with great enthusiasm.
However, it was Larry’s most recent class in April that was so
extraordinary.
Larry is a natural teacher and likes to conduct our sessions as an
interview. He asks me questions and provides commentary. In April, Larry
did something different. After he had me describe how MedEncentive got
started, how it works, and about our two year trial in Duncan, Oklahoma,
he turned to the class and asked if anyone was from Duncan. Since Duncan
is not a large city, the likelihood of an attendee was small. Much to our
surprise, a broker spoke-up and said, “I’m from Duncan and I’m covered by
the MedEncentive Program through my husband's employment.” What she said
next had us all captivated.
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"Recently, I broke my arm in an accident. As a
result, I had five separate doctor visits including a pre-scheduled
wellness exam. My husband's employer offers a $30 (MedEncentive)
reward for each office visit. I completed each information therapy
prescription and earned $150. That was great! However, I received
something much more valuable. After reading my information therapy,
I discovered that my doctor had prescribed a medication that could
cause a serious side effect with my kidney disorder. When I called
my doctor to tell the nurse what I had read, she said the doctor
would research the information and they would get back to me. She
called me back and said the information I read was correct. My
doctor had already referred me to a kidney specialist but wanted me
to discuss medications with the specialist in detail. I really
believe in the MedEncentive program." |
Her comments were followed by a series of questions from the class.
When the session was over, I was surrounded by insurance brokers asking me
how they could sell MedEncentive to their customers. I was unable to break
away to meet the mystery subscriber and left the campus not really knowing
who she was.
When I got back to my office, I couldn’t wait to tell our team and my
wife and anyone else who would listen. Larry and I caught up with each
other a few days later. We both immediately started recounting this
extraordinary experience. I asked Larry if he could find the name of
the Duncan broker so we could follow up. After some good investigative
work, Larry learned her name is Kim McAllister. Kim and I finally had a
chance to visit. She is the branch manager for a local credit union and
her husband, is a police officer with the City of Duncan. I thanked her
for her testimonial. I explained that we have had a number of patients
with similar experiences. However, we had never had a patient in a class
setting do what she did so well. She explained to me that she has only one
kidney and went into more detail about the sequence of events.
She wanted me to know how much she trusted her doctor and added, “He
cared enough about me to participate in the MedEncentive program so that I
could gain more knowledge about my health and he could have access to the
most recent medical research.”
“I think as patients we put way too much responsibility on our
doctors,” Kim said. “Medicine is changing so fast, how can doctors
possibly keep up with everything? Your program offers a nice incentive for
patients to step up to the plate and learn what is going on around us...I
like that and think you are taking a positive step in educating the
public.”
I asked Kim if she would help us help other patients learn about the
potential of MedEncentive. She has graciously agreed to assist us however
she can.
I don’t know exactly how to close this story except to say that this episode epitomizes MedEncentive’s win-win-win – the patient won,
her doctor won, and her husband’s employer won. However, it is experiences like this that validate the commitment of our team and the
faith of our supporters. To make an important contribution to the wellbeing of another human is priceless. To have someone
like Kim McAllister share her experiences in a large gathering like she did renders me speechless. This is why MedEncentive is so
important to all of us. I guess it speaks for itself.
The following are some of the highlights for the spring of
2007:
Wichita
Clinic Adopts MedEncentive Program
National
Pay-for-Performance Summit
National
Pay-for-Performance Webcast
Interview
by Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog
Doctor-Patient
Communication Feature Attracts Award-Winning Journalist and More
Magazine
MedEncentive
Conducts Inaugural Agent Workshop and Broker Seminar
Mutual
Assurance Administrators and Kempton Group Administrators Become First
Approved Vendors
Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation Market Survey Stimulates Interest in
MedEncentive
Upcoming
Presentations and Speaking Engagements
Strategic
Advisors
E-Update
Archives
 Wichita Clinic Adopts MedEncentive Program
– Wichita Clinic recently signed on as MedEncentive’s newest
customer. This is the next step in an expanding relationship that began
last December when the Clinic became the first MedEncentive provider
licensee. The latest development means that the Clinic will be offering
MedEncentive to its own employees effective June 1. Wichita Clinic has
commissioned Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Kansas to create the automated
claims interfaces with MedEncentive. This is another important and
positive development.
 National Pay-for-Performance Summit
– In February, the National Pay-for-Performance Summit took place
at in Los Angeles. The who’s who in the P4P movement were there in mass,
including representatives of the British National Health Service. The
keynote speaker was Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who impressed the
Beverly Hilton gathering with his understanding of the problems plaguing
health care delivery and with his resolve to bring universal coverage to
Californians.
Don Kemper and Jeff Greene were invited to present MedEncentive at the
Submit. Don is founder and CEO of Healthwise, Inc., the leading developer
of web-based medical content. He coined the term information therapy.
The response to Don and Jeff’s presentation can be summed up by one
attendee’s comment: “most useful presentation and best new idea of the
entire conference.”
 National
Pay-for-Performance Webcast – As a result of the positive
response to their MedEncentive presentation at the P4P Summit, Don and
Jeff were asked to contribute podcast interviews to the National
Pay-for-Performance Webcast that took place during the week of April 25.
Jeff’s podcast interview with Clive Riddle, President of MCOL, can be accessed at:
http://www.mcol.com/podcasts/p4p07/greenepodcast07.mp3
 Interview by
Matthew Holt of The Health Care Blog – Noted health care
journalist and editor of The Health Care Blog (THCB) interviewed Jeff
about MedEncentive. This interview has been posted as a podcast on the
THCB and can be accessed at the link immediately below. Matthew first met
Jeff at the Information Therapy Conference in Park City in 2005. Matthew
has tracked MedEncentive’s progress and remains intrigued by the
“elegance” of our concept and with our impressive trial results.
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/files/jeffgreene.mp3
 Doctor-Patient Communication Feature
Attracts Award-Winning Journalist and More Magazine – While on a
speaking engagement in Wichita, Lori Hope took time to interviewed Jeff
and Wichita Clinic’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rob Kenagy, Chief Financial
Officer Frank Cordon and Public Relations Director Angie Prather. Lori is
the author of the widely-read book, Help Me Live: 20 Things People
with Cancer Want You to Know. The following is an excerpt from Lori’s
website:
Lori, a cancer survivor herself, speaks and writes about the
importance of communicating compassionately with those rendered
especially vulnerable by any disease, trauma, or condition. A producer
of more than twenty documentaries that have garnered dozens of awards,
and a former medical reporter and newspaper editor, Lori uses her skill
and passion as a communicator to inspire others to find the pleasure and
value in supporting those who are suffering.
Lori's work has appeared in Newsweek and on the Oprah show and her
commentaries have been broadcast on radio stations nationwide. Her book
has been featured in numerous media, including The San Francisco
Chronicle, ABC News, and Redbook magazine.
Lori is writing a story for More magazine about doctor-patient
communications. She had read the news articles about the MedEncentive and
Wichita Clinic relationship. She was particularly intrigued by the use of
information therapy and rewards to enhance patient understanding, which
prompted the interview. We will look forward to her article.
You can read more about Lori on her website at http://www.lorihope.com/.
 MedEncentive Conducts Inaugural
Agent Workshop and Broker Seminar – As the MedEncentive moves
past the trial stage toward commercialization, we have begun to execute
our sales and distribution plan. With the help of Cindy Mitas of Francis
Tuttle Technology Center, MedEncentive received a business development
grant from the state of Oklahoma to conduct our first Agent Workshop and
Broker/Consultant Seminar in March. The two day workshop attracted
attendees from Kansas, Texas, Utah, Connecticut and Mississippi. Attendees
learned about the Company’s products and how we intend to distribute these
products through provider-friendly agents who will recruit and train
existing insurance brokers in assigned territories.
The workshop was followed by two half-day broker/consultant seminars.
Over thirty brokers, consultants and third party administrators from
Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri attended. The response was very
enthusiastic. We are now working with a number of these attendees on
several prospective customers.
A second broker/consultant seminar will take place in Tulsa at
Hillcrest Hospital on May 24. We expect to conduct seminars in Kansas City
and Wichita in the near future.
 Mutual Assurance Administrators and Kempton
Group Administrators Become First Approved Vendors – As part of
MedEncentive’s commercialization plan, we are in the process of approving
third party administrators (TPA) who are willing and able to meet
MedEncentive administrative criteria. These criteria principally deal with
the automated transferring and processing of customer claims data and
participant rewards.
We were pleased to announce that Mutual Assurance Administrators and
Kempton Group Administrators are the first MedEncentive “Approved TPA
Vendors”. We are currently working with other TPAs who are interested in
gaining this distinction to attract and retain customers. Read the
newspaper article and press releases about MAA and Kempton’s designations
in the News section of our website (http://www.medencentive.com/).
 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Market Survey Stimulates Interest in MedEncentive – In 2006,
MedEncentive participated in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation market
scan of ambulatory health care quality attributes in 14 cities across the
country. RWJF released the survey on April 12, 2007 with the intent of stimulating a nationwide call to action. One of
the seven attributes was the presence of physician financial incentives.
We view MedEncentive as the ideal means to initiate improvement in all the
quality attributes through physician incentives. To this end, MedEncentive
has begun to form an Oklahoma City task force to address the RWJF
attributes. Working through our agents, we have also offered our
assistance in some of the other surveyed cities and there is interest. To
learn more about the RWJF health care quality market scan, click on the
link, below.
Aligning Forces for Quality:
The Regional Market Project
 Upcoming
Presentations and Speaking Engagements – The following are some
of the upcoming presentations and speaking engagements:
- Wilson Partners Conference – Troy, Michigan, June 26
- National Consumer-Driven Health Summit – Washington, D.C., September
27 - http://www.consumerdrivensummit.com/
- Sedgwick County Roundtable – Wichita, Kansas, October 31
Strategic Advisors – We always
want to take this opportunity to recognize and thank MedEncentive’s list
of strategic advisors and supporters who include:
- Drs. Susan Chambers and David Parke, MedEncentive co-founders
- Greg Main, Tom Francis, Daniel Mercer, and company with i2E
- Mike Joseph, Mike LaBrie, Bill Hall, Jennifer Wheeler and company
with McAfee and Taft law firm
- Dick Rush and company with the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce
- Chuck Rahill with Wedel Rahill and Associations
- Renzi Stone and company with Saxum Strategic Communications
- Cindy Mitas, Business Development Marketing Director, Francis Tuttle
- Ken Schuerman, special advisor
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2005
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2007
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