ABSTRACT
The convergence of technology, business processes, credit practices, and other resources within the nexus of healthcare and banking has yielded a new industry niche. This nascent market development was called "medical banking" by the author in 1996, who founded. The Medical Banking Project in 2001, now unified with the global HIMSS organization (2009). In this article, the author expands upon an earlier work (The Rise of the Bank Infomediary, Casillas, 2007) to suggest that banks and financial institutions, teamed with healthcare firms, are working on multiple commercial fronts to develop inter-organizational systems. The primary focus areas include privacy and security, revenue cycle improvement, "health-wealth" programs, and a new micro-insurance area that is classified as an "advanced community care platform."
Subject(s)
Financial Management, Hospital/organization & administration , Global Health , Models, Organizational , HumansABSTRACT
In the quest to implement electronic health care records, health care stakeholders have uncovered an elephant in the room - how to implement patient identity and integrity solutions. Without this, linking the unique records of an individual is impossible. An inaccurate record can be dangerous for prescribing treatment. Yet many consider a unique patient identifier as an unacceptable privacy risk. Medical banking, or the convergence of banking and heath IT systems, is spawning new ideas that could impact on this difficult area. This article suggests that new forms of efficiency in payment processing may yield a common, cross-industry technology platform for managing digital identity by banks. Redefining a bank based on core competencies, the article looks at three areas: (1) the "identity theft arms race"; (2) innovations in payment processing; and (3) consumer engagement, and suggests that, as banking and health care systems converge, digital identity may become the new money. This realization may find banks fully engaged in helping health care to overcome the challenge of patient identity and integrity.
Subject(s)
Efficiency, Organizational , Insurance, Health, Reimbursement , Medical Record Linkage , Patient Identification Systems/organization & administration , Electronic Health Records , Humans , Insurance Claim Review/organization & administrationABSTRACT
Banks are evolving in four key areas that collectively comprise the rise of a "bank infomediary": Efficient administrative processing; Medical Internet; Health information broker; Community care platform.
