PHRs Model by Blue Cross Insurance

High quality health care today simply means having the right information in the right hands and at the right time. You may be an individual or a family, every body need concurrent access to health care information that might be discrete among a number of physicians, hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers. But in fact we are many years away from the system that are fully interoperable. Consumers would have superior access to the health care information they require to optimize their health and health care thanks to a new personal health record (PHR) model being urbanized by Blue cross health insurance plans.

America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) worked jointly to recognize the core health care information to comprise in PHRs, and have urbanized and pilot tested standards, which allow consumers to move PHR data when they actually change their coverage. This ensures that PHRs would surely be portable from health insurer to health insurer as customers have requested. Members of the two teams cover about 200 million people.

The industry model PHR by Blue cross insurance is in fact private, secure web-based tool preserved by an insurer, which contains a consumer's claims and organizational information. PHRs allow individual patients and their chosen caregivers to look and manage health care information and play a better role in their own health care.

Consequently of health insurance claims filed on behalf of consumers, insurers have most information required to give PHRs, and are in an exclusive position to build them for customers in the near term. PHRs are different from the electronic health records, which providers normally use to store and run detailed clinical information. A projected 75 million people have PHRs throughout health insurers, with millions more planned for the service during 2007.

Physicians tend to encourage insurers to accept a reliable set of core PHR data. Health insurers would carry on innovating in the PHRs they expand, but the aim is to slot in core data elements into every PHR. These elements comprise patient histories, medications, immunizations, allergies, risks, plans of care, and much other information, which physicians recognized as the key data. The health insurance groups of people have set an objective of incorporating the core data elements and implement the standards for portability from a previous insurer to a new insurer by 2008.

Tamil Selvi is a SEO Copywriter of Blue Cross Health Insurance. She written many articles in various topics.For more information visit: Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance. contact her at tamil@searchenginegenie.com

Did You Hear About The Three Blind, The Elephant And The Systems Analyst

If this story doesn't sum up the average relationship between System Analysts and End Users then I'll turn in my Palm Pilot!

One day three blind men encountered an elephant.

Upon touching the elephant's tail, the first blind man exclaimed "I declare, an elephant is exactly like a rope."

The second blind man, bumping into the elephants side, said "No sir, you are wrong. An elephant is exactly like a wall."

Then the third, having grasped the elephant's trunk, declared "You are both mistaken. The elephant is exactly like a snake!"

Yes, it's all a matter of perspective. And it's that simple word: perspective that creates one of the biggest disconnects between System Analysts and the users they are trying to serve.

The elephant in the room in this case is one called the "abstraction barrier". That barrier represents the difference between how users see a software development project and how analyst's view it.

Users are by nature modal. They see software from the perspective of the data elements that they are required to collect and enter in order to do their job. They see the elephant being represented as "screens" of data that either collects information or displays it.

Most users care very little about databases and tables, properties and procedures, functions or compilers. All they really care about is seeing a visual representation of the screens that they will encounter and use once the software is developed and deployed.

So, why fight city hall?

Once the requirements have been gathered, why not take the easy route and test your understanding of the user's needs by presenting them with the one thing they understand the best? A visual representation of the system that takes them through each use case in a way that most closely matches the actual environment that the user will be working in.

"Um, no duh. We already do that."

Well good for you. If that's the case then you already understand how to provide a holistic view of that elephant. So answer these two questions for me:

1. How much work effort are you expending on creating those screens?

2. And how much more accurate could your presentation be if you were actually using a tool specifically designed to take your user to the "ah ha" level in the shortest amount of time possible?

Let me give you a little bit of help answering those questions.

If you actually are already delivering visual mockup drawings of your proposed system, the chances are good that you are either creating those drawings manually, or you're using a complicated program that requires way too much input before it's willing to crank out those drawings for you.

If you're not actually already delivering visual mockup drawings of your proposed system, then the chances are it is due to either the fact that no one on your team knows how to draw, or you do not have the time, patience, or perhaps the money needed to use those expensive and complicated documentation tools.

Here's the solution to all of those problems. It's called MockupScreens. A descriptive name for a tool that represents the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to smash through the abstraction barrier by presenting one cohesive 'elephant' that all of the users will instantly be able to see in the perspective that most matches their expectations.

It's a consensus-building, "ah ha" moment-generator that is easy to use and inexpensive to own. Better yet, it's so good at reducing project risk that your PM will probably reach right into his or her own pocket and buy it for you themselves!

The MockupScreens software program is easy to understand and use because it's designed to work in a similar way to sketching screens on paper. MockUpScreens reduces the chances of distracting your users with unnecessary details by keeping everything in black and white. That way everyone's attention is focused on fields and data elements and not screen colors.

You have the flexibility of adding comments, icons, questions and other elements into the drawings and then either hiding them when you create the users' version of the drawings, or displaying everything for the whole world to see.

MockUpScreens can even generate slide shows that will display every screen in the same order that they will appear when the system goes live.

You can make changes to the screens in response to user input, during the presentation if you want to, and then display those changes right in front of their very eyes. MockUpScreens actually helps to increase your professional image, and the users' confidence level in you and your team, at no extra charge.

The best part is that you don't need any artistic or programming skills to extract every ounce of power out of MockUpScreens. You simply fire up MockupScreens and the intuitive interface leads you from there.

There are keyboard shortcuts for every action as well as context-sensitive help everywhere you'd expect it to be.

Built-in features, like automatic screen resizing when new elements are added, free you to concentrate on functionality instead of GUI design.

Actual tests with brand new MockUpScreens users showed that the average inexperienced user was capable of drawing 5 screens in about 10 minutes! It doesn't get any easier than that. You can shave even more time off of the cycle, if you have similar looking screens, thanks to the built-in screen cloning feature.

Look, your job is hard enough without having to conduct multiple user meetings just to explain what an elephant looks like. Find out how to gain user approval of your designs faster and easier than ever before by taking a minute to visit www.MockUpScreens.com. You can even download a fully-functional 30 Day demo copy of MockUpScreens so you can see for yourself how quickly and easily you can develop screen mockups even if you can't draw a stick figure on a cocktail napkin.

Igor Jese works in software development since 1990s, with emphasis on software requirements and development methodology. He is a certified Software Requirements Expert and the author of Mockup Screens, a popular tool for quick GUI prototyping. Find out more on MockupScreens.com

Three Step Marketing System and One Golden Nugget

This is the exact system I use daily to build my business online. Practicle, simple and easy to implement today. This week I want to talk about why to focus on driving traffic to your site. Specifically, increasing unique hits even before making any offer beyond building your optin subscriber list.

By now you most likely have heard or read, 'The money is in the list.' Meaning simply that earning income with your Internet business is produced through email marketing to your subscribers.

If you are finding it rather difficult to make any income through your efforts, consider the following three step system to building your business.

First Step

Resolve to not make any real offer other than asking visitors to join your newsletter as a subscriber.

And the purpose of not making any offer is because you will otherwise be wasting your time, effort and resources. You'll go broke waiting to earn a living off of first time visitors to your site.

In my opinion, as a marketer, there is no other purpose for you to create a website other than to build a subscriber list. The only offer to make is one which entices people to subscribe.

Sure, two page mini-sites can sell products, notice though itis the affiliate who mainly promotes the mini-site. The product owner somewhere built their list first, then developed their product(s) and then offered it to their subscribers to buy. And then made these buyers affiliates to expand their business.

Bingo! - better read those last two paragraphs one more time. They are The Golden Nugget you have been searching. The Internet business model to success.

Second Step

Determine the general theme of your newsletter.

I know you are told discover your niche. I believe that is true for sure however, here is something to think about.

Maintaining a general in nature approach to increasing your subscriber count does one thing - brings in a greater number of interested subscribers.

Trust me, subscribers will weed themselves out. Some will opt out right away. Others will do so after reading a few of the newsletters you publish. And still more will seldom even open your mailing, effectively removing themselves by default.

Your job as the publisher is to hold on to that subscriber. You will have to offer valuable information, resources and experience.

The subscribers who stay are your niche. Build a relationshipwith these subscribers. Let them know you are a real individual. Don't pretend to be a guru or expert when you really are not.

Besides, I see a trend happening online. I believe the 'guru' is falling from grace in the eyes of the Internet community as a whole. And for many reasons, but mostly I see it as a revolt against being used.

I believe my responsibility as a newsletter publisher is to help my subscribers first. Everything else will take care of itself. I encourage you to take a similar approach.

Third Step

Be on the lookout for the product(s) which will truly help your subscribers build their business.

You'll not only know which products and services best fit your subscribers, you will know when it is best to make an offer in your mailing.

Certainly the very best product is one you develop yourself.

You are just going to have to trust me when I tell you this too, you will be able to develop your own unique products and services. It will come naturally as a progression of your focus on building your business.

And that focus will be on helping your subscribers as best you can.

So don't go off thinking right away about the excuses you can dream up about how you can't create and develop your own products. Doing so will only destroy your resolve. As I said, you must trust me that you will one day develop your very own product.

I'm proof. I have absolutely no programming skills. I write only so-so. Spent far to much time in the past chasing hype and threw away hundreds of dollars doing so. Yet I'm still here with my very own product too :)

Let's put it all together.

The reason to focus on building traffic to your site is for the express purpose of getting visitors to subscribe. You do not want to sell from your site - this is reserved for offers you will present to your subscribers. Reread the Golden Nugget found above.

Take a general approach to publishing your newsletter. Not necessarily avoiding a niche but rather defining yourself as time passes. You'll fall into a niche all your own in no time.

The benefit is that you are able to reach a larger audience which will help you fall into that niche. They will be the subscribers who stick with your newsletter.

In time you will be able to discover the products and services that best help your subscribers to build their businesses. Then offer those products naturally in your regular schedule of publishing. I recommend one newsletter weekly. Any more than that you run the risk of being a nuisance. You lose.

Try not to jump on every product which comes along - think about it - how many newsletters do you already receive?

You can always tell when a new 'hot' product has been released. Every publisher and their pet duck is presenting it to their subscribers. I suggest passing over the opportunity to make a few quick affiliate dollars, be selective and I am sure your subscribers will be grateful.

Doing so will make the difference in whether or not your newsletter gets read. It is really that plain.

There you have it, my overall approach to marketing online. Works very well too. One more thing - The Golden Nugget - will take years off of your Internet Marketing learning curve, if you work at implementing what I've shared.

Take it to heart.visit: http://www.opportunity4profit.com