eHealth -- the COSTCO effect

Somewhere in the West Indies

As of late, I've begun to notice something interesting happening along the Whitby-Ajax-Pickering corridor in the Durham Region of Ontario; one would expect to see the customary sky-high gas prices whilst traveling along Highway 2, but for some reason, things change within a mile or two of the COSTCO warehouse in Ajax -- prices drop by upwards of $0.10 a liter!

From a historical perspective, when news began to trickle out early in 2011 that COSTCO was planning to open a gas bar for its members, reaction was mixed:

• wasn't the competition far too entrenched
• won't they have to buy gas from the same source
• won't they have to tow the line in terms of pricing

was the way discussions tended to go.

Well, we didn't have long to wait -- the station opened in the Fall of 2011 and even though prices weren't advertised in the traditional way, one could soon perceive changes in the immediate vicinity.

For example, the station directly across the road stood firm for a while, but soon, its prices began to inch closer to COSTCO's; to be sure, they would fluctuate when COSTCO was closed, but tended to normalize throughout the day.

What I would like to call the COSTCO effect, has now begun to ripple outwards in the Ajax area, getting closer and closer to the Whitby/Pickering borders.

I began with the above discussion to make the point that someone at COSTCO Canada must have asked the question: How can we continue to delight our members? 

The answer must have come back that something different had to be done, and a gas bar would be one option.

Therefore, they went out on a limb to challenge the establishment, and from the lineups we see today, it appears to be paying off in a big way.

To compare the above with our current healthcare system, a similar question begs to be asked: How can we delight the residents within our jurisdiction? 

Now, what if some LHIN official somewhere in Ontario were to answer back that an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system should be implemented LHIN-wide, whereby health and drug providers, patients and other appropriate personnel, can securely share information.

I suspect, similar to the COSTCO situation, that there will be much hand-wringing as other LHINs try to maintain the status quo.

However, if the execution is well managed (again using the COSTCO gas bar as an example), the COSTCO effect has got to kick in -- area residents to  my mind, would be delirious with the knowledge that they now have the capability to manage their own health record, schedule visits, view lab results etc., all from the comfort of a couch or even a beach chair.

They would tell their neighbors and their neighbors would tell... -- who knows I'm predicting we'd be ending up in healthcare nirvana.

To be honest, I'm just hoping this happens in my LHIN, first!

Until next time, remember it's back-to-school, so watch out for those young 'uns on the road -- they tend to get almost as excited being back in the classroom as the police officers I see pulling people over at a well-known fishing hole in Ajax.

Ernest A. James

President and CEO
Regal Informatics Inc.