Archive for March 6th, 2007
Measuring the benefits of online health management
March 6, 2007
A new study done by Illumina for Cisco reports that 33% of Americans say that the Internet has changed the way they manage their healthcare. 62% report using online health tools and 56% reported an improvement in their health management due to personal technology. 45% want to be able to email their doctors, and a third want to access lab results and make appointments. However, few have the option to do so now.
Does this imply a greater demand for patient portals, PHRs and online tools than previous studies? Of this group studied, about a third either had a serious chronic condition themselves or have a family member who does. Half considered themselves informed healthcare consumers.
I don’t think this is a skewed sample of America. More people are online for themselves or family members than every. Providers and hospitals should work to meet this demand for online interaction.
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Web 2.0 in Health Care – Where’s the Value
March 6, 2007
Today I was interviewed by Government HealthIT regarding Web 2.0 adoption in Healthcare. If you have been reading my blog, you know my answer is – gradual adoption, wait and see. Some of the reasons for this is that Web 2.0 is a disruptive technology and especially so toward healthcare. Specifically, health care organizations, especially hospitals and medical practices are risk adverse (read liability crisis). Healthcare typically view information as authoritative and works hard at controlling that authority through clinical trials and the peer review process. This way health care information is owned by authoritative sources which maintain the public’s trust. Web 2.0 promotes that content is owned by all and that truth is achieved through social networking (e.g., Wikipedia). At the same time, healthcare has always been a collaborative science and for decades, patient advocacy movements, such as, cancer survivors, have interacted online in social networks.
Conclusion: Web 2.0 concepts have been present in healthcare for a long time but at the same time the technology is perceived as a threat. A contradiction? No, just a social trend which will take time to sort out.
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