The Genesis of MedEncentive
An evolution of purpose.
Starting in 1997, a group of physicians represented by Drs. Susan Chambers and David Parke began meeting weekly for breakfast with practice management expert Jeff Greene. The original purpose of these meetings was to find ways to stabilize physician compensation.
As healthcare costs continued to escalate, the purpose of these breakfast meetings evolved to finding ways physicians could be compensated for adding value. Our originators began to focus on what the other healthcare stakeholders wanted in terms of added value. It was obvious that healthcare purchasers wanted cost containment. They also knew that the consumer’s health behavior and the physician’s practice performance held the key to costs.
So the logic followed, “how could physicians influence the consumer’s health behavior in a way that helps purchasers control healthcare costs?” We eventually called this objective an “alignment of interest.” Since we identified three key healthcare cost stakeholders (consumers, physicians and purchasers), we call the process “triangulation.”
At a healthcare convention in 2003, Jeff was introduced to a web-based medical content system that was geared for both doctors and patients. He conceived wrapping financial rewards around the content to get both doctors and patients to use it. This idea was the basis for our first web-based incentive application authored by Chief Software Developer, Robert Purser. Our first trial installation was with the municipal government in Duncan, Oklahoma. Sourced and implemented by Sales and Service Executive Director, Jim Dempster, the trial began in August 2004. Initial results exceeded expectations and MedEncentive was founded in early 2005.
Over time, Jeff’s idea evolved to link the financial incentives to a process we call “declare and confirm.” This process rewards doctors and patients for declaring or demonstrating compliance to a desired performance standard, and then agreeing to confirm or acknowledge the other party’s declaration. Since 2003, we have filed a series of patent applications around these concepts, and there is much more to come.