Patients can handle the truth, and are looking for it: peer-to-peer health care
Most health consumers in the U.S. use the internet to seek health information, socialization and empowerment. Dig deeper, and you’ll find a growing cadre of people who go online to find people with the same conditions they have; 1 in 4 people (23%) among those living with chronic conditions have gone online to ID others like them, including people with high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, lung conditions, cancer, and other chronic health issues. The percentage of people looking for “people like me” drops to 15% of internet users with no chronic conditions seeking health-peers online. However, peers-in-health aren’t always seen as the ideal source
The health IT talent shortage could slow HIT adoption in U.S. health care
For hospital CIOs, 2011 and 2012 are all about achieving meaningful use, focusing on clinical systems, safe-keeping health information, and staying financially healthy as an organization. These insights are brought to you by the 22nd Annual HIMSS Leadership Survey, sponsored by Citrix. This survey has become the most important snapshot of health CIOs’ priorities looking ahead. This year’s survey results, unveiled week at HIMSS 2011 in Orlando, held some important findings. While achieving meaningful use is the top IT priority for the next two years (with 81% of organizations believing they’ll quality for MU in 2011 or 2012), clinical systems implementation and
The Connected Patient: some forces converging in the market, but barriers remain
Remote health monitoring, which enables people to track health and daily living metrics when they are in one place and communicate those measures to another node via some communications platform, is not a new concept. Telehealth, telemedicine, consumer-facing health electronics like USB-ported blood pressure monitors, and some mobile apps can all fall under the broad umbrella of remote health monitoring. There are strong market forces converging to enable health citizens to connect to their providers, institutions, payors, health coaches, caregivers, and each other. Still, a balanced look under the remote health monitoring hood reminds us that old saw taught to me by colleagues
Robert Reich connects the dots between the macroeconomy, angst, politics and health care costs
“I’m not a class warrior. I’m a class worrier,” Robert Reich told a standing-room only crowd of thousands of health IT geeks as he delivered the first keynote address of the annual meeting of HIMSS, the Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society. This year’s crowd will have reached about 31,000 people interested in health information technology’s transformative role in health care. The 31K represents an 18% increase in attendance from last year’s crowd. The HIMSS economy is strong. Robert Reich warns, however, that the U.S. macroeconomy is far from healthy…and health care costs will be a long-term threat to the
As health care demand is constrained, who will pay for medical innovations? Reflections on Moody’s analysis
“Employers and health insurers, through benefit design and medical management, are now playing a larger role in curbing use of healthcare services….spurring a more permanent cultural shift in consumer behavior,” Moody’s writes in a special comment dated February 16, 2011. “This will continue to constrain healthcare demand even as the economy recovers.” The chart illustrates one of the main reasons for the so-called “constrained healthcare demand:” increasing costs on health consumers. Look at the slope of the line on average out-of-pocket maximum costs for an employee receiving health insurance at work: the raw number grew from $2,742 in 2008 to
Personal health records: will doctors connect?
What doctors are most likely to use patients’ personal electronic health records? Fewer than 1 in 2 are willing to. Those who most likely would include Hispanic physicians, doctors who practice in rural areas, those employed in hospitals, and surgeons. As part of the HITECH Act included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) 0f 2009, U.S. physicians have the opportunity to receive a portion of the $20.8 billion carved out as incentive payments to those who adopt and “meaningfully use” electronic health records (EHRs). Many EHRs include portals which allow patients to access a slice of their personal health information.
Success factor for mobile health: mash up the development team
With mobile health (“mhealth,” for short) at the top of the Gartner Hype Cycle, and the annual HIMSS meeting gearing up for next week’s countless announcements about mHealth solutions for health providers and patients, how can someone get a true read on the intersection of mobile and health? What’s practical, what’s real, and where are ‘we’ in mobile health in February 2011? If you can’t be in the room with me on the morning of Thursday 17 February 2011 in the small group meeting at unNiched in New York City, let me share with you one lesson learned just last week at the
Love, sex and what I tweeted
EURO RSCG has polled 1,000 online Americans’ views on romance through the lens of digital media, publishing results in a paper, Love (and Sex) in the Age of Social Media. This ‘digital love’ survey was conducted in January 2011. [It’s interesting to note that EURO RSCG won the business for the Durex condom line in November 2010.] In its introduction, EURO RSCG suggests that, “the Internet is the most powerful erogenous zone that the world has ever known.” There are five aspects to digital love, based on these findings: 1. Observing love online. As more people do more daily activities online like banking,
Meeker & Murphy on Mobile – through the lens of health
We technology market data junkies look to several thought leaders throughout the year for updates on their forecasts: one of these, for me, is Mary Meeker. Now with KPCB (who some of you know as Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Myers, the Silicon Valley venture capital company), Meeker has surveyed the morphing field of mobile and finalized her snapshot in Top Mobile Internet Trends, along with her colleague Matt Murphy. Meeker’s Top 10 (drum roll, please) are that: 1. Mobile platforms have reached c4itical mass 2. Mobile is global 3. Social networking is accelerating growth of mobile 4. Time shifting is driving mobile use
Closing pharma R&D plants: The New Rust Belts
Pfizer‘s closure of the R&D plant located in Sandwich, England, is a harbinger of more plant closings-to-come. With scenario planning hat cocked firmly on one’s head, what does this mean for the lovely region of Sandwich, and other towns where the pharmaceutical industry’s reduction in R&D spending is falling hard on similar plants located in developed Europe and the U.S.? I’m inspired by a story in today’s Financial Times, Supply Running Low, about the implications of the closure of the Pfizer R&D factory in Sandwich, England which, “pleases investors but calls into the question the flow of new blockbusters” according to
1 in 10 jobs in the U.S. is in health care – an all-time high that will go even higher
In February 2011, 1 in 10 jobs in the U.S. is in health care employment; nearly 14 million people in the U.S. work in health care employment, with health care representing 10.7% of all jobs in America. The growth rate of health care jobs rose 1.2 percentage points since the recession kicked in late 2007. Since the start of the recession, health employment grew 6.3%; the number of non-health jobs fell by 6.8%. The chart starkly illustrates this story. Altarum Institute has crunched the health job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and published their analysis in Health Sector Economic Indicators, published
The mobile health opportunity is connected health
February is American Heart Month. The month also features Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Awareness, and National Condom Week. It also feels like mobile health month. I’ll be speaking three times this month at meetings featuring mobile health themes, in very different venues. On February 8, the Health|Tech|Food event will be held at the Paley Center for Media in New York City as part of Social Media Week. I’ll set the stage at the meeting for mobile health, sharing my perspective on the role of social media and mobile health, and how together these can combine to address health
Employees look to their employers for health information – new findings from NBGH
Employers spend about $10,000 each year per active employee for health care. In return, they’re looking for value for their money in the form of cost-effective, efficient health care that yields optimal outcomes for insured workers and their families. The ROI isn’t as great as employers as investors in worker health would like to see. As a result, companies are looking to comparative effectiveness research as a tool to help make better health spending decisions — for the companies themselves and for employees. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) surveyed 1,538 employees at large employers to ascertain workers’ views on health
Women seek healthier habits in the post-recession economy
Women’s #1 priority is health and wellness. Wellness means taking care of herself, based on a survey of women by Saatchi Wellness. Women are coming out of the recession with the modus operandi of a “me-covery,” according to Saatchi Wellness’s read on women’s attitudes about the economy’s impact on their wellbeing and health priorities among 800 women polled online in August 2010. The 5 elements of the “me-covery” for women are: To eat right. This doesn’t mean “diet;” it’s striking a balance and buying healthier, and more organic, food. People most negatively impacted by the economy are buying less fast food. To
Affluent boomers worry about health costs in retirement
Affluent Baby Boomers in the U.S. foresee a retirement with a more active lifestyle, with a better standard of living and engagement in work. 1 in 4 see continuing their education or learning a new trade, and 1 in 5 anticipate starting or furthering their business. These aspirations are tempered with many financial concerns — top among them being rising health care costs and expenses (a concern for 2 in 3 affluent Boomers), and ensuring that retirement assets will last throughout their lifetime (a worry among 1 in 2 Boomers). Merrill Lynch surveyed affluent U.S. adults on their retirement concerns
The people who seek health information online aren’t always the ones who should
While 8 in 10 U.S. adult internet users seek health information online, they’re not the people you might assume would take advantage of the opportunity to do so. This lightbulb moment is brought to you by the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s latest survey analysis, Health Topics: 80% of internet users look for health information online. For example, while 2 in 3 U.S. adults with one or more chronic condition go online, only one-half of them are looking online for health information. Among the 54% of online adults with disabilities, only 42% of them seek health information online. Among the 88%
Jane joined host Dr. Geeta "Dr. G" Nayyar and colleagues to brainstorm the value of vaccines for public and individual health in this challenging environment for health literacy, health politics, and health citizen grievance. Click onto the Pfizer Value of Vaccines site and you can watch four episodes covering the challenges with adult vaccination, the employer and health plan member's journey to vaccination, reimbursement, and collaborating for proactive prevention.
I'm grateful to be part of the Duke Corporate Education faculty, sharing perspectives on the future of health care with health and life science companies. Once again, I'll be brainstorming the future of health care with a cohort of executives working in a global health care enterprise.
Jane will be working with EU- and UK-based clients in September and October 2026, collaborating with stakeholders in digital health, public/community health, retail health, and growing opportunities for health-at-home. Stay tuned to her updates here on Health Populi on-the-ground as she lives the digital nomadic work-life in Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and in London.