January 31, 1995
Health Care Task Force
International Center for Communications
Attendees: Capt. Don Arthur (NAVY), Barbara Bamberger (City of Chula Vista), Bob Bowen (Health Com), John Buettgen (Scripps Health), Charles Christ (Teleport Communications Group), Terry Churchill (Time Warner Axs), Dave Cox (DEC), Gary David (Impact Enterprises), Ames Early (Scripps Health), John Eger (International Center for Communications), Paul Friedman (UCSD), Frank Garland (NHRC), Arnold Hafner (Information Systems Research), Anke Kamrith (SDSC), Richard Kremsdorf (Mercy Hospital), Holly Mayo (SDSU), Kim Miller (Sharp Health Care), Steve Nice (NHRC), Lee Rizio (SDDPC), Doug Scutchfield (SDSU), Roger Southwell (IBM), Harold Tuck (SD County Department of Health Services), Edwardo Waisman (SİCubed), Michael Wiskerchen (CA Space Institute), Chery Woodard (Kaiser Permanente).
The meeting was called together by Chair, Doug Scutchfield with a welcome and introductions.
Legal alternatives for a San Diego Health Care Utility were discussed and include for-profit and non-profit alternatives. The primary advantage of the for-profit alternative is that there are no restrictions on purpose or activities, the main disadvantage is that for-profits are required to pay income tax on earnings.
The Internal Revenue Code grants tax-exempt status to various types of nonprofit entities. The proposed health care consortium could qualify as either (i) an organization operated exclusively for charitable, educational or public purposes under Code Section 501(c) (3), (ii) an organization operated for social welfare purposes under Code Section 501(c) (4), or (iii) a business league or trade association under Code Section 501 (c) (6). Which type of entity the proposed health care consortium will qualify for depends upon the intended scope of its activities and its anticipated source of financing.
Holly Mayo discussed the deliverables and management of a Strategic Planning Project funded by CalTrans. This strategic plan includes a literature search, a list of current applications, and marketing research in telehealth and telemedicine. The final project will result in a State-wide Strategic Plan for the implementation of telecommunications in the areas of telehealth, telecommuting, distance education, and other telecommunity services. This project includes an analysis of the National Information Infrastructure.
Peter Rosen discussed applications for telemedicine.
Open discussion followed the applications presentation. Informed decision-making for the patient was added as an application. Imaging Centers and physician E-mail addresses were added to the list of applications by Scutchfield. Kremsdorf suggested thinking bigger and making the Health Care Utility more sophisticated than E-mail. Scutchfield offered that a more sophisticated utility is the long range plan, and we intend to achieve that plan via small steps in that direction and building on our successes. It was mentioned that the cable companies plan to have interactive cable wired in San Diego by 1996 and that there should be 5000 households wired with interactive cable by the end of 1995.
Frank Garland said that this health care utility is not exclusively medical and will be market driven (supply and demand). Garland said that the efficacy of the health care utility will be important for its development and success.
Scutchfield addressed next steps for the committee. The CalTrans project team would be holding a strategy meeting with CalTrans on 22 February 1995 at San Diego Data Processing Corporation. Telehealth marketing research will continue with the physicians and insurance companies. The next City of the Future Health Care Task Force Meeting will be held in May and we should be working on applications and administrative organization in the subcommittees.
John Eger thanked everyone for attending and for the contributions made, and the meeting was adjourned at 2:30 P.M.
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