Healthcare Consumer Information Program
Bates College participates in the Maine Health Management Coalition, a non-profit coalition of 34 employers that includes doctors, hospitals, insurers, and public and private employers.
The MHMC is committed to addressing the crisis of healthcare costs by improving the quality and value in the health care services they purchase for their members’ employees and families. As part of this effort the MHMC has put together the Healthcare Consumer Information program aimed at helping employees become better consumers of healthcare.
The Healthcare Consumer Information program goals are to:
- Help you, as a healthcare consumer, feel more informed and empowered about your health care;
- Enable you to act upon healthcare quality information and better manage your own healthcare encounters;
- Provide you with information and tools for selecting high-quality, effective treatments; and
- Increase the number of Bates employees who are informed healthcare consumers.
When you, as a healthcare consumer, are engaged, you will get better care for yourselves and actively participate in the maintenance of your health.
The following websites are disease-specific websites that employees and their families may find useful:
- Drkoop.com … This Internet Health and Wellness Network is dedicated to “providing trusted information and guidance to consumers” (not affiliated with C. Everett Koop). It specializes in technical information and graphics, animation and videos.
- WebMD.com … Their products and services are focused on “promoting more informed decision-making, increased efficiency and higher quality patient care at a lower cost.” They provide good a-z listings, extensive drug list (pictures), and health experts’ contacts.
- MayoClinic.com …Their mission is to empower people to manage their health by providing useful and up-to-date information and tools that reflect the expertise and standard of excellence of Mayo Clinic. They provide a first aid guide, symptom checker, health tools, and the option of asking health questions to a specialist.