New product monitors patient satisfaction

HealthLink America, Inc., Indianapolis, has created Rx: VS4 (Visit Specific Satisfaction Survey System), a turn-key approach to patient satisfaction measurement. Rx: VS4 measures and tracks client satisfaction for any health care business/practice, including solo, small goup and large multi-specialty goup practices, hospitals and specialty practices, such as dental or optometrist offices. Rx: VS4 can be used in both fee-for-service and HMO settings.

Rx: VS4 combines optical scanning, proprietary databasing and reporting applications to provide the end-user with an analysis of their services. In addition to providing details about the overall effectiveness of the individual doctor’s or goup’s performance, Rx: VS4 also provides total aggegate reporting for the network, practice comparisons by specialty and individual provider comparisons. All scores are compared to the scores from the Medical Outcomes Study (a study of more than 18,000 patients who visited the offices of participating solo, small group and large multispecialty group practices in both fee-for- service and HMO setting).

The survey process - from questionnaire to data analysis - is complete within four to six weeks. HealthLink America provides each provider 200 postcard-sized surveys to start the survey process. Every card is assigned a serial number for accurate measurement and the cards are given to patients after their officevisit is complete. The questionnaire takes about three minutes to answer. Once completed, the patient drops the postcard into a mailbox and it is returned, postage paid, to HealthLink America.

Once the last survey is distributed, HealthLink allots two weeks for the surveys to be completed and mailed back. Data processing begin.s immediately with results being sent to the provider within 48 hours of data compilation. (Note: survey results can be sent to the network administrator, if requested.) The surveys may be used by practices/providers once a year, semi-annually, quarterly or monthly, whichever the provider prefers.

Costs of the Rx: VS4 survey range in price from $229 to $499, depending upon survey cycle, number of providers participating, and number of times per year the survey will be presented. All prices are all-inclusive, meaning that each provider package includes: individual provider profiles as well as comparative national norms, processing, postage and 200 questionnaires. Shipping charges are additional.

Mexican omnibus now available

Kormos, Harris & Associates, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, is conducting a quarterly research omnibus of Mexico in conjunction with Trendex Mexico, a Mexico City-based research firm. The Trendex Mexico Quarterly Omnibus is based on 3,906 personal interviews conducted quarterly with different samples of adult Mexicans (ages 14-65) in 10 cities.

Firm measures technology market leadership

Cunningham Communication, Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif., public relations agency, has introduced Momentum Management - a leadership positioning methodology that is based on a comprehensive market survey of how technology customers define and perceive market leadership.

Cunningham has surveyed over 2,000 buyers of technology products and services in the United States over the past year in building the Momentum Management methodology. As a result, Curmingham has created a statistical model for measuring market leadership that allows technology companies to assess their competitive strengths and weaknesses.

Using the Momentum Management methodology, Cunningham has independently assessed the market positions of more than a dozen industry leaders, including Adobe, Apple, AT&T, Canon, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Intuit, Kodak, MCI, Microsoft, Oracle, Polaroid, Sprint and Xerox.

Based on its market research, Cunningham has learned that technology customers define leadership around 35 specific attributes that define a company’s mass, speed and direction - the fundamental characteristics of momentum. The attributes that define leadership companies include: "has products and services essential to stay competitive"; "is in a category attractive to investors"; "attracts early adopters"; and "has technologies that are consistently revolutionary."

Cunningham established a partnership with San Francisco-based Socratic Technologies to perform fieldwork and validation on Momentum Management surveys.

Quantime updates Quancept

Quantime Corp., New York, has released an update of its telephone interviewing software, Quancept CATI 7e5. The new release includes: enhanced facilities for multilingual interviewing; improved support for tracking studies, including different regions; options for creating different data formats, such as single and multi-coded ASCII files; a sampling algorithm which simplifies samplebased quotas by eliminating unnecessary dialing of the sample; additions to the scriptwriting language; refined project timings, accounting facilities and fixes to the automated testing feature; and more user-friendly interviewing and supervisory interfaces.

New Hispanic market study

Strategy Research Corp., Miami, is now offering its "1998 U.S. Hispanic Market Study," which provides 1998 population estimates, demography, language use, market characteristics, socioeconomic modeling, acculturation and cultural components, media habits, shopping habits, sports mar- buying power information for the Top 50 U.S. Hispanic markets.

VIS offers audience response system

Vistacom Information Services, a new professional services firm in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., is now offering information gathering .systems, including audience response technology. The company’s Stadia system includes audience keypads, a laptop computer, and a video projection system. Its wireless, digital keypads use radio frequency technology and its software runs in a Windows environment. Companies have the option to rent, lease or purchase the Stadia system. For lease or rental contracts, Vistacom engineers will be on hand to operate the system. Training is offered with all purchases.

Web bureau for Bellview WEB users

Pulse Train Technology has set up a Web bureau to provide a way for research companies to conduct surveys over the Internet. The bureau will put up surveys for interviewing to be carried out using Pulse Train’s new Web data collection software, Bellview WEB. Respondents can then log into Pulse Train’s Web server using any compatible browser, such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, and carry out the Interview over the Interuet. Surveys are set up for Bellview WEB using Pulse Train’s QSL scripting language (or using Visual QSL, the company’s Windows survey design package) so that the new software is compatible with other data collection products in the Bellview range. This also means that options such as full loNc and data checking, rotation and randomization and substitution of text during an interview are all supported. Images can also be included to aid response and make the interview a more enjoyable experience.