PERSONAL bests
April 2007
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There can be such a thing as getting too personal. Tailoring the content of a printed piece to the individual recipient has been seen as a positive, but the risk of a backlash grows as people find more of their lives becoming an open book.
Privacy can also become an issue in another way with variable data communications. If sensitive information is included in a database provided to a print provider, that data must be secured, and care used, when incorporating it into the printed piece. The March edition of PRINTING IMPRESSIONS included a story on database management (Takin’ Care of Business) that featured some recent lapses by printers in dealing with sensitive data, but there have been many more reports of sensitive databases being “lost” by various other parties.
It’s likely a toss-up whether people will be more sensitive about how their financial information or health records are used. Even very intimate communications can be well received, though, if they are done right.
[ The Proposition ]
Resolution Health Inc. (RHI) is a health management company that works with employers and health plan payers to reduce costs, while enhancing the quality of care plan members receive. It provides technology and information that conveys medically approved guidelines and best practices to healthcare professionals, insurers and patients to lower the cost of providing the right patient care.
The company sought to capitalize on advances in printing and data processing technologies to provide patients visual reports and tools to help them make better decisions in matters affecting their health. Working with Anderson Direct Marketing, in Poway, CA, it developed a program to create customized reports that summarize health services individual members receive. The main goals of the program were to:
• Send patients information on appropriate care and services.
• Reduce patient care costs through education.
• Make patients aware of options and services.
• Provide patients summary information about health services they used that quarter.
RHI sends patient communications reports to insurance plan members who have received more care—in the form of doctor visits or medications—than the median for all participants in their plans. These reports summarize all medical care (doctor’s visits, prescriptions, tests and other services) that the patient has received since the previous report was issued. They also detail the cost of those services, the amount the patient paid and the outlay made by the insurer, along with any other related information deemed useful.
Companies Mentioned:
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Variable Data Printing Case Studies
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