Monday, December 22, 2008

Disney's use of technology and what a doctor can learn from it.

I spent the past few days at Disney World and among other things, I was amazed at how they have improved their technology usage since my last visit, only 3 years ago. While I have no doubt these improvements did not come cheap, I also know they enable Disney to make money more easily and efficiently. Here are just a few that come to mind immediately.
  • Smart room keys: your room key doubles as a charge card and park entrance pass
  • Biometric scanning: upon entrance, adults have to scan their index fingers which get matched to the park pass and to the kid's entrance passes
  • Photopasses: photographers line Main Street and Hollywood and Sunset taking pictures of guests. Image numbers are infrared scanned onto cards which can be usd by guests to purchase the pictures on line
  • Ride-photography: at the end of roller coasters and flumes, guests are shown pictures of themselves during the "big drop" and the pictures can be purchased right there
  • Remote card processors: all vendors, even the portable street ones, accept credit cards, room keys, or any sort of electronic form of commerce, as payment
So how can doctors learn from this. Technology that enables more efficient billing, verification, and documentation will help you save money and make money.

Good technology can well worth the cost of implementation.

Dr S.