Flynn K, Koller C, Reinhard J, Curtin K, Marine EJ; International Society of Technology Assessment in Health Care. Meeting.
Abstr Int Soc Technol Assess Health Care Meet. 1992; 7.
Health Care Plan, Buffalo, NY 14202.
Technology Management Information Exchange (TEMINEX) is a technology assessment and information dissemination project now in its first year of full operation for The HMO Group (THMOG). THMOG is a network of not-for-profit, staff and group model model Health Maintenance Organizations, ranging in size from 35,000 to 1,080,000. The 18 member plans in 14 states nationwide have a total enrolled population of 3,500,000. Staff and group model HMOs are both health care providers and insurers, and attempt to integrate technology management with primary care. TEMINEX was initiated in response to particular needs of THMOG medical directors, including 1) to assist with judgements about the appropriate use of specialty technologies; and 2) to identify resources for experienced provision of tertiary care. TEMINEX conducts secondary assessments based on existing literature, and collects primary descriptive data on the use of technologies with THMOG. Technologies are usually chosen for assessment when treatment is recommended for a specific patient who presents a high degree of uncertainty for outcome. Research involves analysis and synthesis of the available primary data and existing analyses in the literature, expert opinion from a panel of consultants chosen for wide representation of research and treatment experience, and surveys of THMOG clinical, cost, and utilization experience. The Project produces a short and relatively informal, but well documented, report within a time frame pertinent to patient care. Such patient-centered reports provide information on outcomes of technology use, alternate treatments, and treatment centers of excellence as a guide to informed treatment decision making. The information contained in the patient-centered report is then generalized into a written document for distribution within THMOG. Description and incidence of the condition under treatment, description and cost estimates of the technology, indications and contraindications, risks and benefits, treatment alternatives, review of the literature and expert opinion, and THMOG experience are covered in the final report. Information exchange network of HMOs is facilitated by voice mail, electronic mail, and meetings of the network with agendas centered on controversial technologies. The TEMINEX Project has responded to over 200 requests for assessments. The range of services has been increased in response to needs within the managed care environment, and the Project is increasingly able to provide prospective assessment information on which to base policy. Primary data collection will be enhanced as a planned transplantation registry for THMOG is maintained, tracking patient clinical data and outcomes, and monitoring plans' internal technology management. Data generated by responses to report evaluations indicate that 60% of reports have changed treatment plans for an individual patient, or contributed to formation of an HMO's policy. Managed care allows the integration, unique in the US's largely fee-for-service health care system, of appropriateness and coverage decisions. It requires a flexible vehicle for technology assessment and management, easily accessible to primary care providers, as part of its overall philosophy of quality care delivery with reasonable distribution of available resources. In the absence of defined national guidelines for technology use or distribution, TEMINEX is an attempt by THMOG to use collective experience and resources for effective technology management.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Data Collection
- Delivery of Health Care
- Demography
- Fee-for-Service Plans
- Health Maintenance Organizations
- Humans
- Information Services
- Insurance Carriers
- Longitudinal Studies
- Managed Care Programs
- Physician Executives
- Primary Health Care
- Research
- Technology Assessment, Biomedical
- economics
- instrumentation
- hsrmtgs
Other ID:
UI: 102211831
From Meeting Abstracts