Fall 2004
AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: Web Site Helps
Visitors Maintain & Improve Overall Wellness
Staying healthy is not just an 8-to-5 commitment ... that’s why St. John’s
Health System has launched an interactive Web site for St. John’s Health
Plans enrollees to help them maintain and improve their overall wellness,
as well as manage certain high risk chronic diseases. The new Web site is
located at
www.stjohns.com/healthplanservices.
“The purpose of this new, dynamic, interactive Web site for St. John’s
Health Plans enrollees, employers and physicians is to help people take
better care of themselves by providing another way for them to access
information about health care and their own health plan,” says St. John’s
Health Plans Senior Vice President Ronnie Brownsworth, M.D. “The Web is an
awesome communication tool, and St. John’s is taking advantage of this
powerful medium to improve health care communication and the value
providers and patients receive from our health plans.”
Next to salaries, health insurance is typically the largest employee
expense that employers have, according to St. John’s Health System Human
Resources Vice President Jim Brookhart.
“It is in the employers’ and employees’ best interests for employees to be
knowledgeable about their health status and the impact of life style
choices and benefits. This new Web site is a powerful tool to achieve
these goals,” Brookhart says.
He added that employers do not have access to individual health claim
information but are able to access the Health Plans Web site to verify
enrollment, and to access their "employer report card," which shows health
care utilization trends for employee groups.
Because enrollees may be entering and storing confidential health
information on the Web site, security is a top priority. St. John’s staff
custom-designed a multilevel security system for the Web site that
includes an encryption program to protect users’ protected health
information. Users will log in to the site with unique identifiers
assigned only to them.
“Keeping our patients’ health information confidential has always been a
priority for St. John’s,” Brownsworth says. “We have made sure that our
efforts to maintain patient privacy also extends to our online presence.”
Features of the secure, password-protected site:
• Health risk assessment, which provides a snapshot
of an individual's overall health and heart risk factors.
• Educational materials on how to manage chronic diseases and conditions
such as diabetes, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease.
• Ask the Pharmacist feature; a drug formulary and a contract reference
guide, to name just a few.
• Customized health content for enrollees, their employers and St. John’s
Health Plans network physicians.
Brownsworth says one of the key advantages of the new Web site is its
ability to store educational and health related information and perhaps
one day eliminate the need for paper copies of some materials.
“We’re hoping that placing our disease management education materials on
the Web will allow our enrollees to refresh themselves - what they have
already learned or what their physician directs them to learn about
managing their condition,” Brownsworth says.
The availability of disease management materials and other health
educational materials allows participating employers to use these
materials in other media, such as employee newsletters, to reinforce the
message with employees and their dependents.
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