50,000 Marriott Employees Get Online Health Alert System

Marriott had health coaches and how many alerts will a physician receive?  20 full time MDs tracking literature and data bases for Marriott...big operation...privacy issues again the big issue..and why are the patients notified after the doctor?  BD 

As health care costs have soared, more employers are testing online tools to help employees keep better tabs on their health. Marriott International is pushing that effort a step further, giving 50,000 U.S. workers access to a system that sends alerts to an employee's doctor if there's a potential problem such as a dangerous drug interaction or a key test that's been missed.  The hotel chain is using a Web-based personal health record system from ActiveHealth Management, which is owned by insurance company Aetna.  The company has 20 full-time physicians tracking medical literature to keep the databases behind the rules engine up to date, says ActiveHealth CEO Lonny Reisman, a cardiologist.

For such systems to work, they need to reach the right conclusions and gain the trust of employees--and the doctors who get the alerts.

BEWARE OF DOCTOR OVERLOAD  Doctors worry about being overrun with alerts, says Dr. James King, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.  Employers get access to aggregate data showing, for instance, high blood-sugar levels.  Alerts to doctors come by phone, fax, or letter, depending on the urgency, and members usually are notified after the doctor.

50,000 Marriott Employees Get Online Health Alert System - Yahoo! News

Reactions: