Online shopping from hospital eases discharge plans.
Shopping online is not new. For many of us it is the best way to obtain information and products, especially during busy holiday seasons when the stores are crowded, or when they are closed. If nothing else, online shopping is convenient. GetWellNetwork Inc. partnered with The Paquin Group has developed an entirely new feature of online shopping; shopping from your hospital bed.
Healthcare IT News has the story. Online shopping from a hospital bed enables patients to purchase products and services prior to being discharged so that they can have the requisite supplies to facilitate their recuperation period at home.
The service offers more than 250,000 products to choose from and is currently targeting new mothers, diabetics, orthopedics, and cardiovascular health. Products and services are obtained with the recommendation of the patient’s physician.
“In recent years, the online healthcare industry has grown to a billion-dollar-plus market,” said Tony Paquin, CEO of The Paquin Group. “By integrating online shopping into the delivery of patient care, hospitals are able to not only improve the patient experience but also effectively generate additional revenue streams.”
Healthcare organizations are able to work with The Paquin Group and GetWellNetowrk to establish their own online retail stores which would potentially generate significant revenue.
This idea has some real merit to it. Online shopping from your hospital room as a means of setting up home care prior to discharge is a great tool for patients. The article from Healthcare IT News didn’t provide details regarding what types of products or services could be purchased by patients, or delivery particulars, but I suspect that patients and their families are able to have items dropped off at home and set up prior to the discharge day. Additionally the article didn’t allude to how products were purchased, either by the patient’s own credit card, via insurance, or if items were added to their hospital bill.
The retail aspect of this is clearly a great business venture for hospitals, and could be used quite well in developing strategic planning initiatives. For the non-profit organizations their 501 tax status may preclude them from developing retail online shopping services of their own. I am not an expert by any means regarding tax code; perhaps someone may want to chime in here on this note.
The other question I have relative to shopping online looks at the ethical implications if there are any with a patient’s physician providing recommendations for online products. Does this recommending that providers would offer violate any ethical rules or constitute a conflict of interest? Clearly providers and patients will develop an opinion about products and services over time, and those opinions will drive selection choices. However for retail medical product suppliers that are already established in the community, will this hospital based online shopping create an unfair market share, causing community businesses to seek some sort of injunction? In any event this is just a new way that technology has found its way into the healthcare scene.
About the Author
Mike Pringle is the creator of Mike’s ViewPoint, where he provides his perspective on various Healthcare issues. He has over 20 years of nursing experience working both domestically and internationally. Mike has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Masters Degree in Public Administration with a healthcare emphasis. He specializes in both Emergency and Critical Care Nursing. Mike has held positions ranging from department staff and Nurse Manager to Executive positions.
