Coming Soon – The Art and Science of Improvement
Posted on 10 March 2010 | Comments Off
After a long… very long hiatus this corner of the web will undergo a few changes in the next few days/weeks. If you happen to drop by looking for old healthcare and technology content you may not find it as it will start to disappear and this website will become my corporate identity.
Even this message will eventually disappear.
That’s it folks.
Update and Transition
Posted on 29 October 2009 | Comments Off
Thanks for dropping by.
You may be wondering where I went and why content on this page has been thin and infrequent.
There are several reasons for this.
When I started this site I did so with high hopes of building a place to read about healthcare technology. At the same time, however I also started the Mobile Strategy Blog … At the beginning it was difficult to concentrate on both sites and keep customers happy. So I have inevitably scaled back…
If you need me or would like to connect with me please do so at the links below:
Here is another goodie from the Mobile Strategy Blog … go ahead subscribe…
How much access should patients have to their medical records?
Posted on 2 July 2009 | No responses
Post and links at KevinMD.
Home Health Monitor Sends Wireless Data to Your Doctor
Posted on 2 June 2009 | No responses
Interesting little device over at jkOnTheRun from a few months ago:
Take Tunstall’s RTX3371 Wireless Telehealth Monitor, for example. The device just cleared the U.S. FDA and uses a slower GPRS cellular radio to receive and send data.
Vital signs are wirelessly collected from other compatible devices like weight scales and blood pressure units; the stats can then be forwarded on to doctors or hospitals by using the integrated cellular radio. As if that weren’t enough, the RTX3371 offers voice functionality for questionnaires on how a patient is feeling.
I still want to see this done by just one device… my smartphone.
Healthcare IT Primer
Posted on 7 May 2009 | No responses
John Halamka (profile on his blog here) has a piece over at the Health Care Blog on the fundamentals of healthcare IT. He calls it A Healthcare IT Primer and presents in 10 common questions and answers. I have listed the questions below… but for the answers you must go to the original post here.
- Can you define EHR, EMR, PHR and PM in simple terms?
- How large is the unserved market for HIT?
- How many companies are currently competing in the small practice/ ambulatory EHR market? Are there any clear leaders in terms of client base or innovation?
- What does “meaningful use” really mean? Do you think physicians currently feel compelled to wait for clearer language from the government on the interoperability standards before investing?
- What other details about meaningful use are listed in the bill?
- Will Healthcare Smart Cards replace PHRs?
- Will clinicians be able to migrate easily from one EHR to another?
- What is the roadmap for interoperability?
- “After standards are adopted in 2009, the National Coordinator shall make available at a nominal fee an electronic health record, unless the Secretary determines that the needs and demands of providers are being substantially and adequately met by the marketplace. Nothing in the legislation requires that entities adopt or use the technology made available through this provision.” -from HITECH Act. Do you see this as a viable solution for small practices who want to wait it out and go with a cheaper software product?
- Do you see PHR’s and EHR’s as separate markets currently and what about in the future?
Mobile Health Savings Lives in the Developing World
Posted on 20 March 2009 | No responses
From MediaGlobal.org:
Cell phones are now a common part of our everyday lives. But not
only is the technology taken for granted, its wide-reaching potential
is largely unrecognized. The technology that is found in cell phones
and PDAs is currently being applied to improve health services in developing countries.The United Nations Foundation (UNF)
and Vodafone Foundation (VF) Technology Partnership is using mobile
health (mHealth) technology to support UN programs in developing
countries. Innovative mHealth projects are powering the collection of
health data, supporting diagnosis and treatment, and advancing
education and research in even the most remote and poverty stricken
environments.In health care, time is of the essence. With
mobile technology, data can be quickly and accurately collected,
allowing health workers to coordinate their efforts and track the
success of health campaigns. This technology can also be used in
disaster and outbreak response, to track the spread of an epidemic in
real time. With the most up-to-date, easily accessible information and
communications, mHealth is revolutionizing healthcare delivery in much
of the developing world.
Read the rest here.
Online Health Records Get Patients More Involved
Posted on 19 March 2009 | No responses
The Wall Street Journal has a story on how large managed care groups, such as Kaiser Permanente and Group Health Cooperative, are turning more and more to electronic health record systems to encourage patients to become more involved in their own care.
The trend, known as information therapy, involves delivering reliable health information directly to patients to help them manage their conditions and make treatment choices. Health plans also are offering online self-management programs and virtual coaching sessions for a wide range of health issues.
“Information therapy can help bridge the transition from [doctors] doing things to and for people, to helping them become active participants in their own care,” says Paul Wallace, medical director of health and productivity management programs at Kaiser and a director of the nonprofit Center for Information Therapy, which promotes providing patients with information as part of the process of medical care.
Read the entire story by following the link above.
Mobile Health Consumers at 10 Million
Posted on 12 February 2009 | 1 response
Manhattan Research is out with a report entitled: The Future of Mobile Health: Mobile Adoption, mHealth and Mobile Marketing … some excerpts for you:
All of this holds exciting possibilities for the world of mobile health. Just as “eHealth” emerged as a buzzword in the early days of the Internet and later became an industry unto itself, “mHealth,” short for “mobile health,” is poised to see exponential growth in the U.S. in the coming years.
mHealth has the potential to transform healthcare among consumers as much, if not significantly more than the Internet has. The relatively more portable, personal, and single task–focused characteristics of mobile are ideal for tracking and modifying health behavior, which is at the core of most health businesses and public initiatives. Around the globe, especially in regions where Internet or phone access is spotty at best, mHealth programs are already stepping in to fill this connectivity gap for millions of people. Progress in the U.S., however, has been slower – largely because of the pervasive use of the Internet and the types of mobile devices and plans available to consumers.
…
A recent Manhattan Research survey suggests these forays into mHealth are well-timed: over ten million online adults have looked up health information on their cell phones in the last year.
The outlook for mobile marketing and mHealth looks slow and steady, but certain. To remain competitive, marketers and product developers would do well to keep an eye on this developing market to maintain a competitive advantage as mobile becomes a critical piece of consumer channel mix over the next 18 months.
Health 2.0 – Some terms of reference
Posted on 29 January 2009 | 3 responses
As I have sat in meetings, speeches, read my Twitter stream (@virtuate) and loitered some blogs here and there I have been quietly putting together a list (initially mostly for my reference) on terms that come to mind when I think of advancing the service and provision of health care. Is it 2.0? I am not really sure but perhaps you folks can help me out by commenting and agreeing or disagreeing on the terms.
- Patient
- Care
- Accessible
- Accountable
- Awareness
- Connected
- Contextual
- Collaborative
- Consumer
- Community
- Choice
- Digital
- Electronic
- Experience
- Interactive
- Intuitive
- Mobile
- Networked
- Ownership
- Personal
- Participatory
- Preventive
- Private
- Relevant
- Real Time / Timely
- Secure
- Simple
- Shared
- Social
- Transparent
- Trusted
- Valuable
Of course each one of these has to be placed in context and I am sure that a lot is missing and some don’t fit here. What do you think? Please add your comments and relevant links below.
———–
Updates from the comment section:
- Empowerment
- Segmented
- Differentiation
- Responsive
Clinically Relevant vs Patient Centered
Posted on 14 January 2009 | 1 response
Not sure why I am thinking about this… and to some of you more advanced thinkers and practitioners this might even be a rather silly question.
But it struck me.
Which of the two phrases in the title should be the one we focus on as we move forward into pushing the healthcare conversation forward?
Clinically Relevant (Clinical Relevance)
or
Patient Centered
Does it make a difference? Would it change our behaviours? Will it affect our focus?
If we use one more than the other, will this affect our outcomes in transforming healthcare? (Oops, you are right, the goal is not to transform healthcare but to improve patient outcomes. In the process of improving outcomes it just happens that the delivery of health care services will also be transformed.)
I do believe it makes a difference… but need to think through it some more. Please let us know what you think.