Service Journal: Question 7 of 15

1. In thinking about your focal firm, what information should your business track about each customer? IHC should track demographics, lifestyle, geneology, qualitative and quantitative test results, customer satisfaction by services recieved, patient history, references of other doctors and proceedures performed, and any other study information pertinent with improving patient care.

2. Where and when in the production process is the info collected and recorded (and how)? Population size growth demographics lifestyles would give IHC a crossectional view of patients needs, through out the triage process (prior to seeing a physician), during the processing of the patient (while being x-rayed, tested...seeing the physician), and post services rendered (satisfaction surveys and other).
3. Where and when might the information be used by a different /product/service provider to enhance the ability to provide or market the service? As with any medical processing of patients HIPPA or the health insurance privacy and portability act will inhibit or block many usefull services to this industry. A required release of medical information form has to be filled out by the patient in order to share this information across hospital divisions and is a real disadvantage to building meaningful individualistic data bases egineered to suit the patient. With that said they can desencitize the information and compile larg data bases inorder to track disease trends. One of note is the increase in prevelance of diabetes this will help doctors to key in on signs and symptoms. This will reduce procedures and time of diagnosis and better equip hospitals to service this growing market.