Saturday, December 16, 2006

The McKinsey Quarterly: The market for health infomediaries

The McKinsey Quarterly:The market for health infomediaries.: "To develop these capabilities, payers are pursuing partnerships with companies, from outside the industry, that already have them. 'Infomediaries'—businesses that can advise consumers about their complicated treatment and provider options—would be one type of potential partner. In other industries (such as automotive, financial services, and personal computers), independent agents have emerged to give consumers information about the technical performance, reliability, customer satisfaction levels, and, of course, prices of products and services. These agents are now starting to emerge in health care. Partnerships with such independent advisers might help payers to overcome the consumers' current lack of trust in them."

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous10:21 PM

    Dr. Malpani,

    I agree that a health infomediary will be necessary; however, I think that unless health professionals are properly incented (i.e. paid a lot more $$$), this role will be filled by financial and insurance employees armed with actuarial tools to help patients navigate the process.

    Also, if such a medical infomediary existed (i.e. MD, CFP, etc) how would they go about creating the designation for it?

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