our own system

The next door.

Sun, 06 May 2012 20:01:00 -0400

Thank you to dedicated readers (Jordan, dad; updated! there are more: Laurel, Matt) continuing to visit our own system in hopes of finding new updates after a four-month break from regular posting. A four-year run of (nearly) daily posting did exactly what I had hoped it would: taught me much about healthcare.

It also introduced me to an engaged community dedicated to transforming healthcare I didn’t know existed, proved to myself that it’s possible to have a voice of change without decades of experience, and evolved my thinking on numerous healthcare issues.

Toward the end of the blogging run I started to feel my writing wasn’t adding to the conversation. I was linking, linking, linking. Not thinking. Nor writing. Linking makes the web go ‘round—but there’s an invigorating satisfaction that comes with adding an original thought every now and again. That feeling was missing. So I stopped.

And took a lengthy break. I’m starting to get my flow back. I have notebooks and Google Docs filled with thoughts I want to explore and share. Within the last 30 days I’ve decided to start a new project. I’m not exactly sure what it’s web form will take but this post is committing me to making it happen.

What I do know is that much of the new project will be about the chart I sketched here. Healthcare (all of it!) is under significant regulatory and free-market pressures like it has never been before. It’s a tremendously exciting time.

So I’m venturing a guess: healthcare (all of it!) will turn to mobile and digital technologies to solve problems. Solutions won’t always involve mobile and digital technologies, but the coming changes will at least, in part, be facilitated by them. The care part of healthcare is still a uniquely human to human interaction. Leading healthy lives still requires behavior change, aided by digital technology or not.

In reality that guess isn’t much of one. The growth of digital and mobile have completely transformed other industries. Some healthcare organizations have dove-in head first. Others are testing the water with their toes. By 2025, embracing mobile and digital won’t be a choice. Those who say no won’t be competitive by then, if they even exist. Lots of possibilities for thinking about the healthcare-wide implications. Stay tuned.

(In the chart healthcare units are used to depict healthcare utilization, they are a completely made-up measurement. An inpatient visit is not equal to an outpatient visit is not equal to a mobile visit. In fact, I don’t think healthcare via mobile will even be discussed in “visits.” Respectively, the time required for each drops precipitously and the number of interactions possible increases exponentially.)

Adventures in Depression

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:00:39 -0500

Adventures in Depression

"Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it,..."

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:09:34 -0500

“Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good.”

- Vince Lombardi

(via michaelhayes)

Helloooo healthcare applicability.

"Imagine if we didn’t feel compelled to hide our illnesses. Imagine if we could be open about our..."

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 07:00:05 -0500

“Imagine if we didn’t feel compelled to hide our illnesses. Imagine if we could be open about our health. What good could come of that?”

- Jeff Jarvis: Very public health

"Family Medical Officer"

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:00:28 -0500

This irks me. Really irks me.

In what is otherwise a pretty forward offering, El Camino Hospital has launched its first mobile phone app. All the standard features (find a doctor, ER waiting time, etc.) are included. But it also includes a tool to track medical histories for all the members of the family. Neat.

This, it seems, is the jumping off point. El Camino has anointed the household medical decision maker the “Family Medical Officer.” They even had the audacity to trademark the phrase.

It’s not that this role doesn’t exist, because it does. What is so frighteningly healthcare-centric is the terminology. Give me an example of one household, just one, that uses the phrase “Family Medical Officer.”

I called her mom. You may have called him dad. Some may have called her sweetie. But no one has called him or her “Family Medical Officer.” Or will.

It’s another shining example of healthcare delivery organizations that don’t get people. Patients are people! We’d all be better served by looking through healthcare from their perspective, not ours.

Bonus: If they were really about spreading the terminology, they’d knock off the pretentious “TM” from their future iterations of the phrase.

foursquare promotes its API usage in health apps

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:25:25 -0500

foursquare promotes its API usage in health apps:

via @mtommasi

Trendwatching is on board with DIY Health.

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:59:27 -0500

Trendwatching is on board with DIY Health.

Wired: “Apple’s Secret Plan to Steal Your Doctor’s...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 07:43:50 -0500

Wired: “Apple’s Secret Plan to Steal Your Doctor’s Heart”

Dude. Online healthcare. No biggie, right? Wrong. It’s...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:15:24 -0500

Dude.

Online healthcare. No biggie, right? Wrong. It’s from a traditional healthcare provider, HealthPartners.

via mtommasi

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 16:13:22 -0500

via mtommasi

Pre-Digital Healthcare.

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:02:06 -0500

Since this is going to be nearly a word-for-word pull from his blog, do yourself a favor and read Seth’s blog every day. Healthcare is “pre-digital.” That’s a slam. But also the opportunity:

A brief visit to the emergency room last month reminded me of what an organization that’s pre-digital is like. Six people doing bureaucratic tasks and screening that are artifacts of a paper universe, all in the service of one doctor (and the need to get paid and not get sued). A 90-minute experience so we could see a doctor for ninety seconds.

Wasteful and even dangerous.

Imagine what this is like in a fully digital environment instead. Of course, they’d know everything about your medical history and payment ability from a quick ID scan at the entrance. And you’d know the doctor’s availability before you even walked in, and you would have been shuttled to the urgent care center down the street if there was an uneven load this early in the morning. No questions to guess at the answer (last tetanus shot? Allergies to medications?) because the answers would be known. The drive to the pharmacy might be eliminated, or perhaps the waiting time would be shortened. If this accident or illness is trending, effecting more of the population, we’d know that right away and be able to prevent more of it… Triage would be more efficient as well. The entire process might take ten minutes, with a far better outcome.

The Business About My Breasts

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:47:48 -0500

The Business About My Breasts:

Must read if you are at all interested in healthcare experience.

jayparkinsonmd: Hany Farid has come up with a nice solution to...

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:28:20 -0500

jayparkinsonmd:

Hany Farid has come up with a nice solution to solve that self-esteem problem so many of us face when we see photos of beautiful people in magazines— use a computer algorithm to grade how much photoshop altering was used and mandate that every altered image is labeled with this grade. Level 1 is minute changes and 5 is fabricated fantasy.

This of course won’t solve our country’s self-esteem problem, but it’s an interesting way of raising awareness.

Fast Company: “How to Commit Medicare Fraud in Six Easy...

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:25:56 -0500

Fast Company: “How to Commit Medicare Fraud in Six Easy Steps”

Scary how easy this is.

Sad but true.

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:00:06 -0500

This, more or less, is what I consider to be the largest struggle for the coming shift of sickness to wellness in healthcare institutions:

On the other hand, an organization filled with people who are rewarded for shaking things up and generating game-changing products and services just might discover that outcomes they are dreaming of are in fact what happen. The enthusiasm that comes from believing that this one might just resonate with the market is precisely the ingredient that’s required to make something resonate. (Seth)

Most healthcare organizations are not interested in shaker uppers.

"But that is starting to change."

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:13:26 -0500

When we look at healthcare, what’s wrong with it, and what needs to happen to fix it, we can’t see as clearly how the web, technology, and large networks of engaged users can impact healthcare in a positive way. But that is starting to change.

A VC. Read the comments.

Saving by the Bundle

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:28:31 -0500

Saving by the Bundle:

“High-touch medicine.”

Through a child's eyes

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 12:27:41 -0500

“It’s like this big thing,” he said, spreading his arms wide. “All you see is hallways and elevators and lots and lots of rooms.”

He’s talking about a hospital. Seems an appropriate representation.

"Those that have been subsidized hate having it end, and even those that will save money don’t..."

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:45:54 -0500

“Those that have been subsidized hate having it end, and even those that will save money don’t really like the truth of their consumption so clearly exposed.”

- The very near healthcare future. Said by Seth.

A well-executed commercial for a hard-to-execute idea. I still...

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:33:41 -0500

A well-executed commercial for a hard-to-execute idea. I still haven’t come to terms for why hospitals/providers are getting their butts kicked in the “we care about you” game by health insurance companies. Bupa is an Australian insurance company, United Health is doing it well in the U.S.

via PSFK