Ready or not, tech-enabled consumerism continues to morph the relationship between professionals and the consumers they serve. I've written before about both the move to on-line ratings services for health care professionals (RateMDs; RevolutionHealth; Vitals.com; DrScore.com; HealthGrades.com; MDNationwide.org; ConsumerHealthRatings.com; and Rehabio) and the on-line web sites that sell excess professional capacity by the minute (ETherapistsOnline; MyTherapyNet; WebAddictionTreatment.org; and AsktheInternetTherapist.com). These categories of health care marketing organizations represent something akin to American Idol and HOTELS.COM in the health and human market space. Well, the push of technology is taking this one step further—we now have the progeny of when eBay meets health care.

The eBay of health care may soon be PriceDoc.com. The company just received a U.S. patent on its soon-to-be-released system for on-line bidding on health services which will, according to their press release, make "PriceDoc.com the only online site where patients can "make an offer" for healthcare services with verified providers." The initial focus of PriceDoc is consumers who are uninsured, underinsured or seeking elective procedures with provider organizations and professionals who accept cash or credit card payments. (The service categories on their web site include dental, medical, vision, cosmetic, mental health, weight loss, allied health, and alternative health.)

You may think this type of purchasing model couldn't change the health care space. But don't forget eBay, founded in 1995 selling office equipment and plane tickets; had 250,000 transactions in 1996; and by January 1997 the site hosted 2,000,000 auctions. Bottom line? We can’t rule anything out when it comes to which tech trends will shape the sector. Stay tuned.

Gartner has recently released its analysis of social media, with five predictions for where it is headed (see “Gartner Reveals Five Social Software Predictions for 2010 and Beyond”)—predictions that have implications for both organizational management and for marketing strategy in our field:

1. By 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.
2. By 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than 5 percent penetration.
3. Through 2012, over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.
4. Within five years, 70 percent of collaboration and communications applications designed on PCs will be modeled after user experience lessons from smartphone collaboration applications.
5. Through 2015, only 25 percent of enterprises will routinely utilize social network analysis to improve performance and productivity.

My takeaways of the management implications of these developments:

1. Your organization will need social media presence (however limited) to be included in all of the business networking discussions in your market space.
2. In planning your organization's use of social media, it's important to focus on the solution and not the technology. Executives will need to press tech departments into accepting a solution-based approach to their work—and participating in the evolution of social media's role in your organization.
3. The smart phone user interface will soon become our standard computer interface—it's not just the hardware that is merging.
4. Process analysis in your organization will need to include the social media-based interactions between team members and with customers.

Stay tuned for more coverage on the social media impact on the health and human service field.

After November’s election results, I’m left wondering…was it a referendum on the President? Where were all those young Obama supporters? Is the GOP dead of its own internal bickering? That independents would within one year swing from Obama enthusiasts to backing decent-to-weak Republicans in Virginia and New Jersey is “simply astonishing,” writes The Wall Street Journal opinion editor.

I don't think it's so astonishing. But, it means accepting the fact that technology has made both political parties—as they currently operate—irrelevant. The world of Internet information; web-based political advocacy groups; and flash mobs (e.g. ‘tea party’ folks) has changed the political landscape. Political parties no longer have coherent platforms that mean anything to anyone and they don't have the ‘member control’ that allows them to mobilize voters. In the future, the winning candidate (and the winning party) will be one who can engage the independent voter around specific issues by using technology to build candidate-specific coalitions of specific voter and interest groups.

For health care reform, both parties are at risk. For the Democratic Party, they're going to need to realize that Americans are skeptical about the operation of the current 'public options' (Medicare, Medicaid, IHS, TRICARE, VA) and don't want to abandon their perceived personal ability to pick a health plan or a professional. Republicans are going to have to go beyond the 'party of no' and "Kill the Bill" rhetoric. Americans know they’re in danger of losing health insurance when they lose their jobs; that many health insurance company policies are nightmares; and that most of us are one serious disease away from bankruptcy. The party that ignores the 'middle view' on health care reform will pay the political consequences for whatever happens with health care.

August 24, 2009

I just finished reading the briefing by Center for Technology and Aging (click to view) about the seven technologies that will improve chronic health care and increase independence. They
list these seven technologies as:

1. Medication Optimization. Technologies designed to help manage medication information, dispensing, adherence, and tracking.
2. Remote Patient Monitoring. Technologies designed to manage and monitor a range of health conditions
3. Assistive Technologies. Devices and equipment that help individuals perform a task or prevent injury.
4. Remote Training & Supervision. Technologies used to train and supervise health and long-term care workers, and the potential for continuing education and quality assurance.
5. Disease Management. Patient-centric, coordinated care processes for patients with chronic conditions and conditions that have a significant self-care component.
6. Cognitive Fitness & Assessment. Technologies that measure cognition or include cognitive practice regimens.
7. Social Networking. Technologies that enable the building of communities of interest that help older adults communicate, organize, and share with other older adults and care providers.

How will these technologies affect the consumers you serve? This is a great question for your next strategic plan...

Check out some tech-related resources from the OPEN MINDS Circle Industry Library:

• Expand Cognitive Functioning Via New Technologies: Key Considerations for Trying These 'New Wave' Technologies in Your Current Model
• The Role of Remote Patient Monitoring in Reducing Insurance Costs
• The Treatment Technology Showcase: Disruptive Innovation in the Behavioral Health Field
• Behavioral Health Opportunities in Chronic Disease Management
• Home and Community-Based Services: Examining the Evidence Base for State Policymakers - Symposium Proceedings of the Symposium