FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MCOL research indicates most health plan web sites have on-line provider directories, but not service centers.
Modesto, CA - MCOL has used the Managed Care On-Line™ directory of over 600 web sites of managed care interest, as a basis for research, and identified HMOs that offer web site access to provider directories and Member Service Centers.
Of the 43 HMO web sites researched in detail by MCOL, eighty-four percent offer access to on-line provider directories, and the remaining sixteen percent without directories indicated that on-line provider directories were coming in the future.
Surprisingly, while most health plan sites offer electronic access to provider directories, only nineteen percent of sites studied offer members the ability to conduct member service transactions via their web sites i.e., enrollment activities, requests for membership, reporting of service issues, etc. Of the sites studied, the health plans that offered both on-line provider directories and access to Member Service Centers included Aetna US Healthcare, Group Health Cooperative, HealthLink, Kaiser, National Health Plans and Wellpoint.
"All health plan sites researched had adequate marketing information", stated Claire Thayer, MCOL Director of Research & Development. "Most had some level of health education resources in addition to the provider directories. But I was surprised, given the ease of creating web page forms to submit basic member requests for additional information or action items, that more health plans weren’t using this resource. While confidentiality is an issue for certain transactions, certainly there are some types of customer service requests that shouldn't be impeded by the confidentiality issue" concluded Ms. Thayer.
On a separate note, MCOL also determined that only 9% of sites with content of managed care interest were generated by managed care organizations themselves. Most applicable sites were generated by other sources including university based medical centers, associations and vendors to the industry.
A free copy of this report is available from Managed Care On-Line™ upon request, or can be viewed for free on the MCOL web site at www.mcol.com.
MCOL offers informational software and services for those professionally involved with managed care. MCOL product lines include: Managed Care On-Line ™, a private internet-accessible on-line service with powerful managed care data, informational and communication resources; web-site design and maintenance services for managed care and health care related companies; individual managed care informational software titles; and sponsored custom software for managed care related companies. MCOL is based in Modesto, California with additional offices in Oregon and Southern California.
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