Telephone and Cable Carriers Focus on Healthcare Too

Well I certainly don’t think we are going to have a shortage on healthcare information by any means, it’s just the services we need and can afford that are the issues. This is interesting to see Qwest listed as a HealthVault partner and next time I am in Arizona (Qwest is the telephone company there), I will have to check this out. I have my 85 year old Mother on HealthVault anyway as she and I collaborate on her healthcare records, but again would like to see the information from Qwest as well so I’ll just remote in there.

Next time you are on the web, it might be of interest to look at either the cable or dsl carrier’s home page and see what they have to offer. BD

Recognizing that the health care industry is a major opportunity for new service revenue, telecom service providers are tailoring their sales approach and, in many cases, creating new sales and customer service organizations designed specifically to create solutions for health care operations.

For example, Verizon Business (NYSE:VZ)created Verizon Connected Health Care Solutions to focus its attention on how existing and new network functions can better serve the health care industry.

Qwest Communications (NYSE:Q) has spent the last 18 months or so refining its approach to serving health care, said Barry Witonsky, group manager-solutions marketing. “We have realized that health care is something to focus on,” Witonsky said. Some ideas have come from the sales people, who directly interface with health care customers and others from vendors, such as Cisco, which is working on health care record solutions, Witonsky said.
Qwest already partners with Microsoft’s HealthVault to offer personal healthcare records but is also working with other organizations to enable doctors and clinics to have better access to – and understanding of – IT.

Cox is teaming with Sentara Health Care in Hampton Roads, Va., to set up a regional network linking doctors and hospitals in sharing patient records and medical images, and also teamed up with Integris Health in Oklahoma to improve care in rural areas there. The hospitals are typically served by Cox fiberoptics, while provider offices have either fiber or hybrid fiber-coax and homes will have HFC connections.

Telecom giants focus on health care business opportunity