Introduction of New Technology in The Healthcare Industry

Introduction

The medical professionals and the patient are facing the introduction of new technologies in the healthcare in order to increase the access in healthcare, decrease the costs and improve the quality of the services provided. These technologies are changing and challenging the traditional health care. (Chaudhry B. et al., 2006). Implementing these technologies introduced new opportunities for transformation of the patient’s role. The patients become more informed and more autonomous, responsible and active in their own care. (Nagel G., 2005)

Aetna Medicaid follows the trends in the healthcare technology. One of the ways to adapt to the changing health care system, that the company chose, is to introduce a secure web portal to providers and patients. (Aetna Medicaid, 2014b) According to Ms. Rhiannon Yandell, Information Systems and Data Analysis Manager of Aetna Better Health of Illinois, the portal is an Aetna Medicaid owned and developed application. The subsidiaries of Aetna Medicaid, like Aetna Better Health of Illinois, share the application and the databases, but they use different environments. Aetna Medicaid IT department is responsible for the building and maintenance of the application.

The application allows the providers to communicate directly with the health plans. More specifically, the users are able to verify the current eligibility of the members, search providers by name, specialty and location, check the billing status and submit authorization requests online. Furthermore, the providers can be informed online about the status and the payment of a claim. On the other hand, the application gives the opportunity to the patients to connect with their providers and case management staff secur...

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...f Aetna Inc. The company will be included to the visionaries in terms of technology adopters. (Chasm Institute, 2014) The company is motivated to increase the quality of the services provided with every technological mean. The development department is responsible to introduce new ideas and increase the efficiency of the existing toll by supporting the rest of the department, as Ms. Yandell mentioned. On the other hand, she continued, the company has some of the pragmatists’ characteristics, since it negotiates with third parties in order to obtain the best application for the needs of its employees and customers. Furthermore, the substantial increase in employees in the Information Management and Data Analysis department of the health plan in the short period of two years, seems very promising in terms of expansion of IT use in Aetna Better Health of Illinois.