I Want My Health Care Easy

Imagine a time when you can log onto Facebook, click on your Doctor's profile, schedule a appointment for the next few days, fill out a quick form with a list of what's ailing you, happy in the knowledge that your medical information will be electronically transferred to his medical and office software for quick diagnosis and easy billing.

Facebook's easy to use, consumer friendly medical insurance app would monitor the Doctor's invoice, the insurance company's payments for any errors, while anonymous data about your condition, diagnosis and treatment would be sent to the CDC so it could monitor for pandemic flu and other diseases.

All of this would happen with a few clicks of the mouse.

Science fiction right?

Electronic health records (EHR) have been talked about forever and a day it seems. I remember sitting through a compelling presentation at the AeA four years ago about EHR. Microsoft and Google have SaaS offerings already up. Everyone agrees that EHR will be consumer friendly, increase reporting, preserve privacy, save Doctors money- so why doesn't happen?

Probably because the whole healthcare industry is so fractured, non-functional and distorted by haphazard government regulation that something this, well simple, has to wait until everything else wrong with healthcare gets fixed first.

How messed up is it? Here are five healthcare experts talking on a NYTimes blog with five different takes on healthcare reform. They each have an axe to grind but none of them seems to have a holistic solution.

What do you think? Even given that the President is setting aside $600B for health care reform, will it work? Can it work?

Health Care Social Media Tools

There has been a lot of discussion recently on the impact of social media on the healthcare industry. I've written about the topic here on this blog. Many people are in agreement that the healthcare industry will be transformed both by any upcoming regulatory reform and by the impact of social media. My guess is that social media will begin to have its effect before government driven reform gets started. But this is just a lot of big picture thinking...what is possible now? Who is twittering? what are the social networks?

Here is a short list of the social media sites I've come across. If you know of any others, just leave the link in the comments...

First of all, Ed Bennett, a web manager at a hospital has compiled a list of 172 hospitals with links to all the social networks they participate in. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter...they are all here. Check out the list here.

Twitters that I follow:
(This is a good slideshow on the basics of Twitter from a healthcare point of view.)
@Health_IT
@mdtrussell
@mdbraber
@act4healthcare
@UH_Sci_Flack
@mencarna
@TrishaTorrey
@jerseygrl
@AdamGross
@naimul
@planetrussell
@healthTF
@OHSUNews
@ShermanHealth
@rilescat
@LungAssociation
@joemd
@healthmashr
@FamilyDoctorMag

This is a comprehensive list of people in the healthcare industry on Twitter: http://twittgroups.com/group/healthcare

Social Networks
Patientslikeme.com
Dailystrength.org
hospitalimpact.ning.com/
themedica.com/
enurgi.com/
qnahealth.com

LinkedIn Groups
Health 2.0
Health Informatics Technology (HIT)
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
Healthcare Technology Alliance
Healthcare-IT/ EHR/ HIS
Professionals in Pharmaceutical Industry and Biotech Industry

Blogs/Posts/etc.- Background Social Media and Healthcare
Twitter in Healthcare
Twitter a Healthcare Marketing Tool? Maybe
140 Health Care Uses for Twitter
Newsweek's take on Health 2.0

And oh, by the way, if you'd like to fill out a survey I've been running on the use of social media in the healthcare industry, please click here.

Social Media and Government Marketing Best Practices from Steve Lunceford

One of the best parts of my job is that I get to talk every single day with talented marketers. Talking shop with these experts is a joy and I could do it all day long. Over the past few years, marketing and PR have undergone the most significant transformation since the mass adoption of the Internet, and possibly since the invention of advertising funded mass media in the 19th century.

Most amazing to me is that the whole industry has seemingly embraced change in the space of two to three years. Given the poor reputation of PR flacks and marketing people, you'd think that we'd be stuck in our ways with our heads in the sand. But no, nothing but continual innovation. Look at the auto industry for an example of folks that just can't quite admit the world has changed- something they've known for decades.

One of the most innovative marketers out there is Steve Lunceford, the Director of Global Communications for BearingPoint. Steve's main responsibility is to support BearingPoint's engagements with government agencies. "Business to Government" marketing has always been one of the areas of marketing most resistant to innovation. But even here, under the leadership of people like Steve, social media is being used to generate real, measurable results.

I sat down Steve to learn first hand how he is integrating social media into his successful government marketing program.

Please listen to the podcast interview we recorded last week.

Related links:
http://GovTwit.com – BearingPoint’s government Twitter directory
http://BearingPoint.com/GovTube - New Thinking In Government video series
http://Twitter.com/dslunceford - Follow Steve on Twitter
http://ProReporterTips.com – Steve’s personal blog

What do you think of Steve's strategy and tactics? Would you do the same thing or do you have a different approach to government marketing? I'd love to hear what you have to say! Please leave a comment...

(...and full disclosure, BearingPoint is a client of my employer, Strategic Communications Group)

Health Care and Social Media

One of the most interesting areas where social media will make an impact is in the health care industry. Most people would readily admit the last two groups to adopt any technology are lawyers and doctors. Of the two, I think that the doctors, and the larger healthcare industry, will be much more rapid adopters of social media. Here is why:

- Government regulation: healthcare reform, medical process management, electronic health records are all trends that, for better or worse, are pushing technology and healthcare workers together. It's easier to adopt social media when you are already using a mobile device, PC or laptop to view professional development videos, process medicare forms, view/send patient records and run your hospital/HMO/personal office.

- Generational shift: as the Baby Boomers move into retirement, they will create openings in senior management for people who are comfortable using technology to communicate transparently with peers, co-workers, vendors and customers.

- Customer demand: patients have adopted social media with amazing rapidity. They are now used to communicating with their service providers in a community type environment where the corporation's voice is merely one among many. Smart companies have mastered this new viral, less controlled communications environment. Less nimble companies have fumbled this opportunity to recreate relationships on a stronger basis, and have suffered sales and market share effects. Organizations as diverse as insurance companies to hospitals to medical device companies to professional associations will have to master social media in order to communicate effectively with their stakeholders.

What do you think? Am I off base? I'd like to get your feedback. Leave a comment below or feel free to fill out a quick three question survey I running on the use of social media and the healthcare industry http://tinyurl.com/6fscao

CQ is Up for Sale

In another small but real way, the continuing meltdown in publishing world spreads through DC. I just read an announcement that CQ is being put for sale by its owner, Times Publishing, based out of Florida. From today's Washington Business Journal:

In a statement, Chairman Paul Tash said Times Publishing would explore the sale of the 63-year-old publishing company, based in the District, to steer investment capital toward the company’s other publishing ventures in Florida, including its flagship newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times.

I used to work at CQ and it is a phenomenal organization that develops amazing stories each and every day that are absolute must have for any DC insider.

Founded in 1945 by St. Petersburg Times owner Nelson Poynter, CQ grew over the decades into a leading publisher of news and information about legislation, the federal government and politics. Its clientele is largely made up of professionals seeking to influence Congress, including lobbying firms, law firms and government agencies.

In the late 1990s, CQ moved aggressively into the online world, turning CQ.com into a powerful tool for tracking legislation moving through Congress. CQ also publishes Governing magazine, which covers state governments.

Times Publishing said it has retained New York-based investment banking firm the Jordan, Edmiston Group Inc. to handle the transaction. JEGI performed the same role last year in the sale of CQ’s books division, CQ Press, to Sage Publications of Thousand Oaks, Calif.

“The Times Publishing Co. has been a wonderful steward of this business. But to maintain CQ’s double-digit growth, we appreciate that it’s time to bring our enterprise under the banner of an owner with national or international reach,” said CQ President Robert W. Merry.

My only worry is that, in the hands of a private equity group, the pressure to drive growth will dilute the world class product CQ has produced over the years, and ultimately kill the golden goose.