Analysis of the Value of IMS Medacom to a Managed Care Organization

摘要

IMS Medacom is a privately owned community health information network that has independent systems in metropolitan areas throughout the United States. Shared computer networks of this type have become increasingly common as the health care industry has worked to cut costs and increase efficiency by reducing paperwork, speeding communications, and automating management tasks. IMS Medacom is provided as a free service to physicians, with its cost being borne by national and local sponsors, including, in the San Antonio area, PacifiCare, a large HMO. This paper assesses whether the benefits that PacifiCare receives from the sponsorship of this service are worth the cost. Surveys and transaction reports of actual usage patterns show that IMS Medacom was used by a minority of the area's physicians and those that did use it were much more likely to use the hospital-related functions of the system than they were to use PacifiCare's functions. Expected cost savings to PacifiCare from its use of the system were negligible. PacifiCare already has excellent means of communication and realizes little or no benefit from sponsoring and using IMS Medacom. The costs of sponsorship far outweigh the benefits that the company receives in return.