Archive for March, 2007
Getting the Best Care – Adam Bosworth
March 30, 2007
In the Official Google Blog yesterday, Adam Bosworth, CEO of Google, wrote at length about “How do you know you are getting the best care possible.” He addresses several important questions and admits to some of the limitations of Google’s current search results:
- How do I know if the information is trustworthy and reliable?
- Am I getting the best standard of care?
- Who is the best doctor or institution for you?
On the first point, he states, “we can do better at making this kind of labeling noticeable and your ideas on how we could make it clear to you that a site is medically reliable or trustworthy.”
The best standard of care issue is his real passion – he notes that even finding guidelines for treating a specific condition is a challenge but is essential to good care.
Address the best doctor question, he admits that rating physicians is not the same a rating food, perhaps a reference to the growing number of provider rating sites.
His posting is a good summary of the limitations of the current status of internet health information. I would welcome Google’s willingness to “do better” and help find solutions beyond the intial Google Coop effort.
Disruptive Technology in Healthcare IT – Major Vendors Back Off?
March 28, 2007
In a response to a letter regarding the lack of major vendors at the HIMSS Venture Capital fair, Christensen and Raynor’s in The Innovator’s Solution is cited regarding how established companies often view disruptive technology as a threat. They suggest, “The proven solution is to have senior managers make a solid commitment to address and allocate resources to the disruption and then place the responsibility to
commercialize it in an independent organizational unit.”
Is Web 2.0 one of those disruptive technologies being ignored or seen as a threat? For instance, why purchase an extensive knowledge management system if an open source Wiki can catalog your business knowledge across the enterprise.
Perhaps companies like PracticeFusion free EHR will challenge some major players to rethink strategy.
Share this:The Growing Impact of Social Media
March 27, 2007
Today I attended the meeting of the Web Association in Cleveland to hear some of the local bloggers talk about Web 2.0 trends. The speakers were George Nemeth of Brewed Fresh Daily, John Ettorre of Working With Words and Dan Hanson of Great Lakes Geek and other ventures, many of which now include podcasts. One of them brought up the Long Tail concept and made me wonder, has this been applied to health care? Is much of web marketing in health care focused on the big money procedures like heart disease while the long tail of many diseases and conditions may hold a wealth of opportunities?
Three value propositions were cited for blogs in business: education (how tos, etc.), communication and marketing/brand awareness including improved search engine position.
Share this:Health Care Hustle
March 23, 2007
The website of the organization Working America has launched the Health Care Hustle – an opportunity to share stories online by health care consumers who feel the impact of the broken health care system here. Many of the stories are submitted anonymously by the uninsured or underinsured and low income. As you might expect, these are stories of high deductables, expenses driving people to bankruptcy and relying on emergency room care. The site also gives the user the opportunity to write one of the Hustlers – big pharma, insurance industry, greedy corporations, and Bush and company generating a standard letter email promoting the groups issues.
Unlike other consumer websites which encourage rating doctors and hospitals as good or bad, this site is focused exclusively on what’s wrong with healthcare. Maybe it will provide fodder for legislators to promote change in health care financing and delivery.
Share this:PracticeFusion and Google – the real story
March 21, 2007
The big announcement by PracticeFusion, a startup offering a free EMR in exchange for using the patient data to sell ads, is reported as a partnership with Google. Is this Google Health or something else. Reading the fine print, “Practice Fusion’s deal with Google is what makes a free medical records system possible. Google’s AdSense program will generate ads that will be displayed as the records system is used.” according to SaukValley.com. Doesn’t sound like Google is moving into the EMR business with this program. Besides, if it was a high level Google partnership, won’t Google announce it simultaneously?
Share this:AHIC Members Disagree over PHR Certification
March 20, 2007
According the Government HealthIT, the American Health Information Community (AHIC) “sided with the majority on its Consumer Empowerment Workgroup and voted unanimously in favor of the certification recommendation.” The group favors “teathered” PHRs – one’s that are populated with information from providers and/or insurance companies which requires standards on data storage and transfer. The dissenters, lead by a Markle Foundation representative, says that the technology is too new for standardization and it could stifle innovation.
My opinion is to agree with the point that the field is relatively new and difficult to standardize, however, we are at a tipping point in terms of adoption and standards, particularly around security, could enhance and speed adoption and the risk of not standardizing is a potential for a security leak which could significantly damage adoption by the general public. I do not agree that standardization would hurt innovation.
Share this:Cleveland 2.0 – Avatars and Innovations
March 17, 2007
Today I attended Cleveland 2.0 – a new confederation of business, education, the arts and healthcare to move the “best-kept secret” city to a new level using Web 2.0 innovations. One of the features was a new island in the virtual word, Second Life, representing the city of Cleveland including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic. This growing phenomenon may just seem like a new toy for the gaming set but companies are investing in becoming the first to set up shop in this world, for instance, Reuters.
The meeting generated hundreds of ideas with planned followups for each topic group. Since the groups have entrepreneurs as well as a social conscience, great things are possible. Unfortunately, health care, such as large force in the city, was under represented. More as this unique phenomenon develops.
If you haven’t watched the “Web 2.0 – the Machine is Us” video on YouTube, do it now.
Share this:Patient-centered medical home
March 16, 2007
Four physician groups are endorsing this new model of care (American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Osteopathic Association) according to Healthcare IT News. This model supports the use of information technology to coordinate and integrate care throughout the health system to improve outcomes. Key principles include:
- Personal physician
- Physician directed medical practice
- Whole person orientation
- Care is coordinated and/or integrated
This is a major endorsement for Heath IT. Another trend to watch as healthcare becomes more outcomes-driven and linked to IT.
Share this:New Medical Wiki Gaining Interest
March 15, 2007
Cardiology fellows at the Cleveland Clinic have established www.askdrwiki.com with a growing catalog of cardiology information for physicians and other medical professionals. The wiki includes videos, images and text with a growing group of screened participants. This is a good example use of Web 2.0 technology in health care using techniques to control who contributes but allowing collaboration among professionals as a way of building a knowledge base. They have been cited by the journal Nature.
Share this:Posting on the Cavalacade of Risk #21
March 15, 2007
My posting on How private are Proprietary PHRs is now linked from the MSSPNexus blog. Lots of other interesting posts especially on the risks of corporate blogging.
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