For example, patients with increased access to their providers give health plans higher ratings. Enhanced communications have been shown to improve clinical outcomes. Properly deployed communication technology and service increases efficiency and reduces costs. (The vital importance of the cost factor was underscored by findings of the Deloitte & Touche 1999 Employer Survey on Managed Care, which revealed that almost two-thirds of employers felt that cost was the primary factor driving their health care strategies.)

For health care organizations, solid customer service goes far beyond face-to-face meetings between patients and providers. Real-time communication with patients, 24x7, is vital. Patients expect excellent service and customized attention delivered by other top companies, ranging from traditional "bricks and mortar" establishments to online booksellers. To raise service levels, health care organizations must consolidate current information silos into a central repository, making customer service an integrated organization-wide mission, rather than a collection of disjointed initiatives. To be successful, health care organizations need to combine customer relationship management (CRM) practices with healthcare-specific expertise, resulting in a concept called electronic patient relationship management (ePRM).

Adopting ePRM Practices
Similar to CRM, ePRM concepts blend technology with customer service practices, transforming traditional call centers into strategic patient contact centers. ePRM practices leverage and integrate all communications media that patients encounter, such as Web sites, e-mail messages, phone calls and faxes. The result is a seamless single solution that meets both the informational and interactive needs of patients.

With ePRM, patient-specific information is integrated from multiple sources to help clinicians and other professionals with decision-making and service. Accurate patient triage capabilities decrease patient utilization of expensive medical resources when not necessary. Process coordination eliminates manual and duplicative processes and increases efficiency, enabling organizations to increase service levels.

Since health care organizations are just beginning to adopt ePRM concepts and technologies, the best examples of integrated, industry-specific customer service programs come from outside the health care industry. E-tailers such as Amazon.com use integrated customer relationship management systems that show customer activity?from browsing and buying to making payments and calling customer service. Examples of companies implementing customer self-service include Charles Schwab, which has revolutionized securities trading with its Web-based systems.

To get immediate service from their health care organizations, many consumers are going online. Cyber Dialogue analysts predict that by 2003, 68 million individuals will be e-health consumers?people using the Internet to retrieve health information, engage in health commerce or connect with professionals to assist them in health care decision-making. This marks a 119 percent increase from the more than 31 million e-health consumers online in 1999.

The Value of ePRM Technology
ePRM technology allows health care organizations to differentiate themselves in the marketplace because it impacts how they attract and retain patients. The Gartner Group projects that by 2002, less than 20 percent of payer call centers and 10 percent of physician and hospital call centers will have integrated live Web contacts or e-mail response management systems with their telephone-based agents. These figures contrast sharply with other customer service-focused industries, which have a much higher rate of adopting integrated Web-based systems. Yet, despite the health care industry's slow adoption, The Gartner Group estimates that health care organizations offering integrated live Web contacts or e-mail with their telephone-based agents?solutions that are provided using ePRM concepts?will experience more than a 25 percent performance improvement in targeted interactions.

The next step organizations can take is to include ePRM in their strategic business plan. Customers switch companies based on customer service and satisfaction everyday, and it's only a matter of time before they will switch health care providers due to a poor customer experience?especially if a competing organization employs ePRM practices.

Mr. Otley is chairman and CEO of IntelliCare, Inc., Portland, Maine.