HealthyComms

SHIFT Communications experts discuss all things healthcare and media.

12 Jun 2013

Tracking Down Accountability

One in five smartphone owners have at least one fitness app on their phone.  Recently, I joined the crowd and started using a tracker myself — but I didn’t anticipate the results.  Within about 4 months, I lost almost 30 pounds.  In retrospect, I didn’t see that much of a change in my habits, other than tracking my input and output.  However, it was the accountability and awareness that helped me meet my goals.

I had tried tracking in a journal a few years ago, but I wasn’t very successful.  By the end of the day when I wrote everything down, most of the time, I either was already over my limitations for the day, or I had forgotten something I had snacked on.  However, since my phone never leaves my hand, I’ve been able to track in real-time by switching to a fitness app.  Not only does it make me accountable for my decisions retrospectively, but it allows me to measure my progress for the day in real time, so I’m forced to be aware of what I’ve already eaten before I eat anymore.

With the ever solidifying marriage of health and technology, living a healthy lifestyle hasn’t gotten any easier, but it certainly has become more manageable.  It still stinks to get on the treadmill for an hour, or to eat an apple instead of a cookie.  But by using technology to track the effects that each action has, I can make a more savvy decision about what’s in my best interest.

These tools are improving every day.  In fact, just last month, Google announced that nutrition information for over 1,000 foods will be available in searches.  Moreover, there are countless fitness apps available on just about any budget – many are free.  And as technology is evolving, using these tools has never been easier.  There are even scales available that will send your weight information directly to the app of your choosing – you don’t even have to enter data yourself anymore.

I’ve had success using MyFitnessPal.  It tracks both food consumption and activity.  One of the best features is the extensive database of food available to track.  Both generic options and hyper-specific options come up in a simple search, so I can be as precise as possible tracking my calories.

What fitness apps have you found to be effective?

Posted by Peter McCormack in Health IT, mHealth | Leave a Comment
05 Jun 2013

The EHR Debate Wears On

If you’re like me and spend most of your day in front of the computer, and can barely function in the office when the internet goes down, then the adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) seems like an absolute no-brainer. In fact, you probably wouldn’t believe that some docs still rely on scribbled notes and paper charts — and hopefully you haven’t had to deal with pushing all that paper around yourself for something as simple as outpatient eye surgery.

But a new study out this week from the Annals of Health shows that computerized systems for managing patient records are still not widespread, with fewer than one half of respondents reporting the use of computerized systems for any of the patient population management tasks included in the survey. While the study did find that the number of physicians using computer records is rising and is up 34 percent from 2011, only 9.8% of the over 1800 doctors surveyed met meaningful use criteria.

I don’t doubt that many EHR systems are not as slick as your average smart phone or tablet, but still, the rate of adoption seems low. There are many roadblocks to adoption, each worthy of their own post, including interoperability, cost and training. But ultimately widespread use of EHRs should – in theory – improve patient care and cut healthcare costs.

According to Bloomberg, since 2009 the Obama administration has spent about $15 billion to help doctors and hospitals adopt EHRs, fueling major growth for vendors.  But amid some loud complaints that systems are hard to use and don’t share information easily, the administration recently said it was considering new regulations.

Here in Massachusetts a lot of feathers are being ruffled over the EHR policies. Just last week Howard Zwerling, an MA based MD (and president of EHR vendor ComChart) wrote a widely shared post on The Healthcare Blog about legislation that requires Massachusetts doctors to show proficient use of EHRs to meet the federal meaningful use criteria or they risk losing their medical licenses in 2015.

Seems reasonable, right? EHRs are a definite win for patients in many respects, but in Dr. Zwerling’s “open letter to Massachusetts physicians,” he points out that the practice of medicine has become increasingly difficult as a result of external mandates which specify everything from which medicines can be prescribed, to which radiology tests can be ordered, to how many days patients are allowed to remain in the hospital. Zwerling writes, “Now, the politicians intend to tell physicians which software they must use in their office and which EMR options must be utilized during the office visit.”

But perhaps hardline legislation is what is needed to push doctors to invest the money and time, and endure the annoyance of learning to use these systems. In an editorial accompanying Annals of Health study, Ross Koppel, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, wrote that the survey shows that the federal government needs to set higher standards for vendors.

Cardiologist David Mokotoff echoes this sentiment in a recent post on Kevin MD, noting that most systems were “initially built for electronic billing. So for coding purposes, they work just fine. But user friendly clinical recording of data often seems like an afterthought.”

There are no quick fixes for the squeaky wheel that is the EHR, but hopefully the ever increasing amount of quantitative and qualitative data on the subject will push vendors in the direction or better, more user friendly products soon.

Posted by Jen Hirsch in Health IT, Health Policy, Physicians, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
29 May 2013

Embracing Policy As Part of Healthcare Innovation

“The combination of Obamacare regulations, incentives in the recovery act for doctors and hospitals to shift to electronic records and the releasing of mountains of data held by the Department of Health and Human Services is creating a new marketplace and platform for innovation — a health care Silicon Valley — that has the potential to create better outcomes at lower costs by changing how health data are stored, shared and mined. It’s a new industry.”

-Thomas Friedman, New York Times, May 25, 2013

Late last winter, the CTO of Health & Human Services, Todd Park, was promoted by President Obama to serve as the CTO for the overall Government operation – a step up that not only recognized Park’s public and private sector contributions, but also the efforts that HHS had undertaken in his three years in that department. Park, who is notable for, among other things, founding digital health darling athenahealth, has long been a supporter of entrepreneurship in healthcare. His ascension in both HHS and the White House have been awesome shows of commitment to innovation culture, and he is far from being done with the industry.

Which, more than anything, is still what drives us forward in healthcare. That’s what made Friedman’s opinion piece in last weekend’s NYT so interesting. That the Affordable Care Act still stands as a key part of the legacy, Obama will obviously continue to emphasize the untold values of the bill. Sure, projections are continuing to look good from a cost perspective, but color me excited for the deeper incentives that  about the innovation that Friedman discusses and that Park embraces through events like Health Datapalooza – happening this weekend in DC and featuring Park as keynote.

If anything, perhaps there is a strong incentive to create by way of a policy initiative or a political appointment. Policy itself doesn’t create the next big thing. But it certainly can make the climate that demands it.

Posted by Dave Levy in Health Policy and tagged , | Leave a Comment
23 May 2013

Why Millenials are Hardwired for Success in PR

Millennials are 20 year olds who are lazy, narcissistic and always glued to a screen – or so that’s how Joel Stein described us in his recent Time piece, Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation. But as Stein progresses through the piece, he shows how these seemingly undesirable characteristics can lend themselves to redeeming behaviors. He closes the article with a balanced, positive depiction of my ilk:

Whether you think millennials are the new greatest generation of optimistic entrepreneurs or a group of 80 million people about to implode in a dwarf star of tears when their expectations are unmet depends largely on how you view change. Me, I choose to believe in the children. God knows they do.

While only time will tell if we are the “new greatest generation,” I can certainly tell you that we make great PR people. I’m sure there are plenty of ways to spin this — but it’s important to look at the characteristic traits of millennials and how they relate to PR skills as we arguably make up the biggest bulk of the PR industry’s “boots on the ground.” Here are a couple traits that I think translate very well to the PR industry:

  • Innate understanding of how branding works – Objectivity and industry knowledge is clutch to branding and presenting your client to the outside world. It comes naturally to the group that knows how to create a digital identity better and faster than any other generation.
  • Sense of entitlement – Our clients want to be in the best of the best (name one client that hasn’t demanded to be in the Grey Lady), and we get that. Why settle for anything other than greatness? Though valuable in any industry, I think it serves PR folks and their clients particularly well.
  • Earnest, optimistic attitude – When the going gets tough, the tough get going. A good chunk of us walked out of our undergraduate commencement ceremonies without an employer’s door to walk into – but we were hopeful, persevered and achieved results. This is what defines a good “proactive pitcher’s” outlook on life.

We’re not perfect though and still have lots of room to grow as our own fearless leader, Todd Deffren, notes in his PR Daily post, “Open letter to millennials—PR industry edition.” Todd offers great tips for how my generation can minimize the visibility of our “swarmy qualities” and outshine them with our rock star capabilities to land and secure a successful career in PR.

It will be interesting to see how we judge generation Z (or whatever those kids are called these days). In the meantime, I’ll be doing this little coverage dance because a 2 second refresh-rate is too slow for me.

Time.com

Time.com

Posted by Victoria Khamsombath in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
16 May 2013
1 Comment

Healthcare Companies as Modern Bands

Recently at HealthyComms, we examined the “this is like the that of health” companies out there.  That got me started thinking about how I viewed the various healthcare companies out in the world.  I realized that most of the time, I compared companies to bands with which I was familiar.  And from there, my list of health companies and their musical equivalents was born:

 Passion Pit

Athenahealth – A leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination

They might be a little out there for the mainstream, but once you talk to someone “in the know,” they’re everywhere.

NKOTBSB

Commonwell Health Alliance – Plans to be an independent not-for-profit trade association of HIT developers that are working together to create universal access to individual’s health information

It’s the mother of all supergroups, both in healthcare and in early 2000s pop nostalgia.

 sPORTY sPICE

RunKeeper–Track your runs, walks, bike rides, hikes, and more using the GPS in your iPhone

As Runkeeper’s Facebook says, they’re “making the world healthier, one workout at a time.”  I’m pretty sure that was Sporty Spice’s motto circa ’97.

 Jo Bros

Walgreens – The largest drug retailing chain in the United States

Walgreens is designed to keep the whole family happy, from generic meds to supplies for a family picnic.  In essence, it’s kid friendly and mom approved.

Posted by Peter McCormack in Uncategorized
08 May 2013

Google Glass in the Exam Room?

Mashable_Cashmore

Mashable’s Pete Cashmore unabashedly models Glass

Since Google released 2,000 test versions of its new wearable computer, Google Glass, to selected developers, the product has created quite a bit of buzz. The $1,500 frames that can display Google account communications, receive calls, send texts, take photos and video, display maps and directions, and deliver search results from web, have been covered across the tech blogosphere in great detail, and also mocked by SNL.

Google says that Glass is a work in progress and will release another 8,000 pairs to “explorers” who have applied and been hand-picked by Google to test the product.

While the device (which is reminiscent of a pair of slick safety goggles) won’t hit the general market for many months to come, there are already debates raging over the privacy issues that Glass presents.

The New York Times reported that numerous companies and establishments have already banned the product. A Seattle dive bar, the 5 Point Cafe, was apparently the first to explicitly ban Glass, and Caesars Entertainment has stated that they will not allow the product in its casinos.

It’s only a matter of time before the debate over Glass moves into the healthcare space. BYOD workplaces in health, especially among doctors, continue to multiply.  A recent study from Jackson & Coker found that four out of five physicians regularly use their own mobile devices for medical purposes. Will Glass be the next device to find its way into the exam room? Will your doctor be reading his or her email while you’re lamenting about your aches and pains? Or perhaps Glass will aid doctors in new and dynamic ways, such as providing easier and more seamless access to EHRs.

The Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health is on the list to receive Glass as an “explorer” next month. Kaiser plans to host an event to talk about applications in health and healthcare for the product on June 18th. So if you’re in the DC area, sign up to attend and tell us what you think.

We’ll certainly be following this debate closely. As Timothy Toohey, an LA-based lawyer specializing in privacy issues, told the New York Times, “This is just the beginning; Google Glass is going to cause quite a brawl.”

Posted by Jen Hirsch in Digital Health, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
01 May 2013
1 Comment

This is Like the That of Health!

For Health

One of my favorite TechCrunch pieces of the last year was on Airbnb, the startup that connects people with room in their homes with others willing to rent the space over a hotel in a distant city. The article starts with a simple premise – will Airbnb ever get to the best status a startup can hope for – being a reference point to describe other startups, i.e., “This new service is like a Airbnb for ‘X’!”

Thinking about that in terms of health, specifically consumer/patient aimed applications, there are a few startups out there in the digital health space looking to take a popular digital tool and “healthify” it. It may be the key to unlocking consumer and professional adoption of smart health apps and technology. If you can say, “This is the Open Table of Health!” or “This is the Facebook for Doctors!”, it is immediately recognizable.

Think of an app you can’t live without – is there a health version of that yet? Is that something you would use? The current sweet spot, or at least the one that’s come up a few times, is the search for a “Mint” of Health. Last week, TechCrunch talked about Simplee, aiming to bring some ease to medical bill management through a portal-like app. This is only a year or so removed from another TechCrunch post where Cake Health - an insurance management portal – got the same label.

Is personal bill and health finance management really the most important? Or should we be looking at something else?

Entrepreneurs are definitely thinking through this question, and that list of “This is the That for Health!” is only going to get bigger.

Posted by Dave Levy in Digital Health
23 Apr 2013

Calling All #BostonStrong Blood Donors! Make that Appointment!

During my Monday morning commute along Storrow Drive this week, I couldn’t help but smile. The trees and flowers are blossoming along the Charles River in full force now (finally), as if Mother Nature knew we were ready for a new beginning. Returning to “normalcy” after last week’s tragic events hasn’t been easy for our city but we’re getting there.

Boston Esplanade - July 4th Boston Pops Concert at Hatch Shell

As we collectively try to move forward, it’s important to not lose that giving spirit we saw immediately after the bombings, particularly as it pertains to blood donation. It isn’t for everyone of course, but as a regular donor myself, I was one of many that felt the urge to run to the nearest hospital or Red Cross center to donate. But the eastern Massachusetts Red Cross statement had to turn people away last week and encouraged donors to schedule appointments in the coming weeks and months to replenish blood supplies.

Making a blood donation appointment via the Red Cross is simple as they have online scheduling capabilities:

Boston-area residents can also make donations directly to the local major hospitals where some of the bombing victims were treated. Here’s a quick guide to blood donations for area hospitals:

  • Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) accepts walk-ins Tuesday-Friday (Tuesday – Thursday 7:30 am–5:30 pm and Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm). Call 617-726-8177 to make an appointment.
  • Brigham & Women’s Hospital accepts walk-ins at the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center but encourages appointments Monday-Friday (Monday-Thursday 7:30 am-4:00 pm; Friday 7:30 am-4:00 pm). Call 617-632-3206, 888-LETSGIV, or email at blooddonor@partners.org to schedule an appointment.
  • Boston Children’s Hospital accepts donations by appointment Tuesday-Friday and Sunday (full hours can be found here). You can schedule your appointment online or by calling 617-355-6677.

Remember, that you can donate whole blood every 56 days or eight weeks and the preparation process is easy (and good for you!). Just get a good night’s rest the evening before, hydrate, eat iron-rich foods and bring your photo ID. Be prepared to be at the donation center for about 30-45 minutes, with the actual blood drawing lasting 8-10 minutes and the rest being registration and initial screening questions. Many other questions and tips for a successful blood donation can be found on all of the above blood donation center websites as well as on the Red Cross’s Blood Donation FAQ page.

There are of course many other ways to give and donate beyond blood donation. The Boston Globe has a nice list of resources here, “Boston Marathon Bombings: How to Help.”

In the words of Big Papi, “This is our city.”

Posted by Victoria Khamsombath in Causes and tagged , , | Leave a Comment
18 Apr 2013

The Doctor Will See You in Aisle 7

It was recently announced that Walgreens would be moving into primary care by hiring nurse practitioners and physician assistants to diagnose and help treat chronic conditions.  I was dismayed when I heard the news, but I can understand the rationale – this makes primary care more accessible to many that, as it stands, may have to wait months to see a doctor if they choose not to use the ER.  It’s the consumerization of healthcare up close and personal.  While I can appreciate these facts, I’m also wary of them.

On the health IT side, I can see a minefield of problems regarding interoperability.  If we’re having problems communicating between EHRs now, I can’t imagine how we would be able to bring consumer-driven storefronts up to speed in a timely fashion.  Would primary care doctors be informed of adjustments made to patient treatment plans?  How would specialists fit into this information exchange?

Perhaps more importantly, the consumer in me is uncomfortable.  When I think of doctor’s offices, I think of sterile white rooms, not the aisle next to the deodorant.  Though their training would be the same as any other NP or PA, I wouldn’t be comfortable receiving advice on my livelihood from the same place that offers discount patio furniture.  It may be old fashioned, but I think there is a large portion of society that wouldn’t be able to distinguish a lab coat from the blue vest of any other employee when they’re working under the same roof.

But, I could be wrong.  This could be the best thing to happen to America since sliced bread.  With chronic conditions becoming more and more prevalent in America, this could be the chance we’ve been looking for to free up the waiting room for patients with acute needs.  However, America still may need a radical change in its point of view before we get there.

What do you think?  Is Walgreens move into primary care an improvement for healthcare in the US?

Posted by Peter McCormack in Healthcare Business | Leave a Comment
09 Apr 2013

New Report: The Time is Now for Big Data in Healthcare

Big data seems to be the buzz word de jour. Just last week I saw a reporter complaining via Twitter that he had received three pitches on big data in one afternoon alone. Given the prevalence of the phrase, I tend to glaze over a bit when I hear it, but when McKinsey released a new report on the subject as it relates to healthcare, my interest was piqued.

The report, The big-data revolution in US health care: Accelerating value and innovation, includes some interesting findings (despite its generic sounding title) and poignantly suggests that, “stakeholders will only benefit from big data if they take a more holistic, patient-centered approach to value, one that focuses equally on health-care spending and treatment outcomes.” It goes on to outline five pathways for redefining value: Right living, right care, right provider, right value and right innovation.

Beyond these recommendations, the report calls out specific initiatives and implementations that are having concrete affects – some of them huge and financial – some small and just cool. For example, Asthmapolis has created a GPS-enabled tracker that records inhaler usage of asthmatics and then uses that data to identify individual, group, and population-based trends. The data is also merged with information from the CDC about known asthma catalysts (like high pollen count – which we are feeling right now!). The combination of data helps physicians develop personalized treatment plans and spot prevention opportunities…it all comes full circle when big data comes back to improving patient care.

While the report calls healthcare out for lagging behind other industries in the use of big data, it also recognizes the unique challenges (like privacy concerns) that have been barriers to the wide spread collection and use of data. Nicolaus Henke, McKinsey director, answers the question,“why now for big data in healthcare?” in a short video, which is worth a watch.

The key takeaway: we finally have the tools and opportunity to collect big data, but it’s essential at this tipping point that the data be utilized to develop a new approach to patient care, one that is more holistic and redefines value in the industry.

Posted by Jen Hirsch in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

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