The interview asks pointed questions about Improving Doctor-Patient Communication from the provider and patient perspective. ePatient Dave gives Cleveland Clinic a big endorsement. See Dave’s blog post about the video.

Second is a post by Dr. Cosgrove, CEO of Cleveland Clinic on One Question that Changed our Organization or How Cleveland Clinic went from doctor-centered to patient-centered.  It is a description of a water-shed moment.  “Yes we do teach empathy. We’ve made it part of our culture.”

This new territory needs more discussion. See the comments on the podcast page. Also, you can follow Hugo on the ICD Users blog.

New featured blog post of mine on HealthWorksCollective. Would be interested in comments especially from the e-Patient and Quantified Health communities.

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Here is the slide deck:

You can read it here.

Thanks to @ePateintDave for the enthusiastic invitation.

Related is the book Program or Be Programmed by Douglas Rushkoff. The same concept of empowerment comes through. More once I read the book. Implications for healthcare? Obvious – epatients going beyond advocacy to become app developers. Physicians and nurses developing apps for their own use or for their patients. Check out this post about creating a journal club with Google Reader and Facebook. Not mobile yet but maybe for the iPad?

Check out the HIMSS HIT X.O conference track which include HIT Geeks Got Talent? contest – live programming. I was on the planning committee for this innovative program track.

Also, from Wired magazine check out the redesign of medical test reports.

• ePatient 2010 in Philadelphia with the likes of ePatient Dave and Susannah Fox
• Health Care Social Media Summit in Jacksonville, Fl

Notable is the announcement by Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands and the Mayo Clinic of a Global Social Media Health Network.

All of this reflects the maturity of the healthcare social media, ePatient and Health 2.0 community.  A kind of convergence is occurring bringing technology to the focus on the patient with full participation of the epatient. Greater attention by mainstream media and the scientific community is only accelerating  the movement – see last week’s Scientific American Pathways article, “The Rise of the Empowered Patient“, which quotes Lucien Engelen of Radboud University among others.  Can this convergence be sustained? Will the enthusiasm and energy be focused to create real change in healthcare?  This level of optimism can only do good.

Recommended changes include improving:

• the speed and efficiency of the design,
• launch, and conduct of trials;
• innovation in science and trial design;
• trial prioritization,selection, support, and completion; and
• incentives for patient and physician participation

The full IOM report lays out participation of key stakeholders, particularly patients and physicians. The emphasis on patient participation is strong and reminiscent of the e-Patient White Paper. While the concept of the Lethal Lag Time is not directly mentioned, the overtones can be heard. I recommend this report as key to the future of the conduct of clinical trials including innovative approaches.

Provider organizations are moving into social media but struggling to identify meaningful ways to connect with their patients through Facebook and Twitter. Perhaps the struggle has to do with a broad stroke strategy of trying to appeal to all comers. The real opportunity is in the Long Tail of small online communities who know the best hospitals, information sources, physicians for their disease or condition and talk to each other about it all the time. Certainly PatientsLikeMe.com has found this in the specialize community of ALS and others like it have found the value in the long tail. What about groups like Marfan Syndrome or others that fall under the umbrella of the National Organization of Rare Diseases (NORD).  Specialist who treat these diseases in the long tail of healthcare have a unique opportunity to become online partners potentially contributing to blogs, social networks or listservs and inviting patients to post blogs about their experiences on the hospital’s blog or Facebook page. There are many possibilities to explore – meetups, suggestions for improving care – hope to see some take up this challenge.

The combination of the quantified self and the patient as the platform can potentially create a future where rich information is controlled by the patient and shared with providers to enhance personal wellness and treat conditions. Adding social networking with like patients creates a powerful trio of technology for the e-patient.