Chronic diseases cause 70 percent of deaths in the U.S., and hypertension is one of the most pervasive chronic diseases. “A third of all adults in the U.S. have it,” says Dr. Richard Milani, Ochsner Health’s Chief Clinical Transformation Officer. “Only half of adults with high blood pressure have it under control. It’s a big Read More
eHealthcare Pulse April 24 was a big day in the technology world. The Apple Watch was released. On the same day, Ochsner Health, the largest not-for-profit health system in Louisiana, announced that it was the first hospital in the nation to manage patients suffering from chronic diseases, using the new Apple Watch. “Chronic disease is Read More
The results of an Economist Intelligence Unit survey, commissioned by Marketo, indicate that 99% of marketers plan to invest in marketing technologies in the next year. Here are other key findings: Impact on Revenue Of the B2C marketers surveyed, more than half (55%) feel that their marketing departments are regarded as little more than a Read More
Pressures abound in healthcare, and for some young physicians, change can’t come soon enough. “I experienced the pains a lot of people are expressing with the healthcare system in terms of the inefficiencies, care delivery, time with patients, what it means to have the patient-physician relationship, and administrative burdens now as compared to 10 years Read More
Patient retention is one of the many things healthcare marketers need to stay on top of. Can your patient portal help you retain patients? Kaiser Permanente thinks so. “A 2012 Kaiser Permanente study published in the American Journal of Managed Care found that patients with online access to their patient information were 2.6 times more Read More
In a recent article, we presented a recap of the HIMSS15 Patient Engagement Symposium. One of the presentations during the daylong symposium got our attention and we wanted to take a closer look. Judy Derman, Director of Member Engagement at Kaiser Permanente, shared impressive statistics on Kaiser’s portal, and how patients and providers are using Read More
Wanted: Clinical Response Marketer. “This individual should have a strong grasp of consumer-friendly communications, be proficient in digital media including social media, and have the ability to lead the testing of different data collection and messaging approaches to find those that are most effective.” This is an excerpt from an actual job description posted by Read More
Seasoned tech entrepreneurs Dr. Philip Marshall and West Shell III founded Conversa Health, headquartered in San Francisco, in 2013. Conversa’s platform delivers automated digital checkups, helping physicians manage relationships with patients between office visits. A Shared Vision Early in 2014, Marshall and Shell met with Dr. Danny Sands, a leading figure in patient engagement, to Read More
MyDigitalLife Last year the digital seesaw tipped irrevocably in the direction of mobile. As of January 2014, online users spent more time per month accessing the Internet through mobile devices than desktop computers. And when using mobile devices, they were far more likely to engage with mobile content using apps, not their mobile browser. Health Read More
eHealthcare Pulse The HIMSS15 Patient Engagement Symposium, one of 10 all-day pre-conference sessions, featured an impressive—and passionate—lineup of leaders representing government, providers, technology innovators, patients, and caregivers. #givememydamndata The central theme of the symposium, stressed throughout the day, was that patients need access to their clinical records to actively participate in their own care. But Read More
Peter Hudson and Wayne Guerra, emergency room physicians at Centura Health in Denver, saw that patients would often show up with minor problems that could have been treated at another type of care setting, and at a lower cost. They were inspired to create a mobile app, iTriage to give people tools to understand their Read More
MyDigitalLife iTriage is a mobile health app for consumers gaining wide acceptance from providers as health systems move toward population health and value-based care. Created in 2008 by two Denver-based ER physicians, Peter Hudson and Wayne Guerra, iTriage has been downloaded by 14 million consumers from the iTunes and Google Play app stores, where it Read More
The cornerstones of healthcare transformation are patient engagement and coordinated care, facilitated by electronic health records (EHRs) that offer a comprehensive and shared view of patients. But who controls the information contained in EHRs—patients or providers? Patient privacy advocates believe patients should have control over who can access their EHRs, using the principles of Fair Read More
Getting patients engaged in their health is a priority of healthcare transformation, and the patient portal is a big part of the strategy. But the portal experience can leave you cold. Shawn Gross, Chief Digital Strategist at White Rhino shares, “I appreciate the communications I receive from my provider’s patient portal, but the interface experience Read More
Ask the Expert with Shawn Gross PwC’s healthcare group recently commented, “As patients behave more like consumers, healthcare organizations need to deliver a higher level of personalized service, satisfaction and overall experience—or risk losing business to the competition.” If you’re a healthcare marketer driven to deliver the best possible patient experience, wouldn’t you love to Read More
Patient engagement is the Holy Grail of healthcare. The theory is if patients take an active role in managing and maintaining their health, they will reap the benefits, staying healthier, spending less, and costing the system less. One way to get and keep patients engaged is through patient portals. But how do you get them Read More
eHealthcare Pulse In 2010, 100 primary care physicians affiliated with three health systems agreed to explore the impact of sharing clinical notes with patients in a project dubbed OpenNotes. The total panel for the initial trial was 20,000 patients from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Geisinger Health System in Pennsylvania, and Harborview Medical Read More
As if there weren’t enough pressures on providers and health systems, now they have to worry about competition from retail health clinics. Attention-grabbing headlines like this one from Forbes makes you wonder where all this is leading: “Healthcare for $4: Are You Ready For Wal-Mart To Be Your Doctor?” Health clinics operated by drugstore chains Read More
A growing percentage of the U.S. population does not speak English – greater than 35% in some states. How can hospitals and health systems cope with this potential safety issue? How does a teenager tell his doctor he has a “dolor de estómago” (stomach ache) if the doctor doesn’t speak Spanish? If an elderly woman Read More
By Lisa D. Ellis The latest technological approaches are helping healthcare facilities do their job better—and more efficiently—than ever before, right down to the very last detail. In fact, that’s where Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) comes in, offering on-demand video interpretation services to facilitate accurate communication for patients who are hearing impaired or have language Read More
by Joan Trezek “I changed doctors because we just weren’t communicating.” “I really like my doctor; I feel like I’m important and being listened to.” While phrases like patient engagement and shared decision making weren’t much in evidence a few years ago, they are very popular in today’s healthcare environment, where comments from both ends Read More
by Jennifer Busick In an episode of the TV series “Northern Exposure,” the fictional Alaskan hamlet of Cicely is tapped to participate in a drug trial. Residents line up to collect bottles of identical pills, one of which is an investigational new drug that may (or may not) prevent the common cold; the other, of Read More
by Lisa D. Ellis An innovative pairing of Google Glass and QR codes is transforming the way physicians “see” patients—and is ramping up the cutting-edge delivery of clinical care. Using technology in innovative ways Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), which is a major teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School in Boston, has long been Read More
by Brian O’Neill Healthcare providers and payers have intrinsically known for years the importance of effective communication to high-quality care. But, truth be told, the system hasn’t always worked as well as it should. Primary care physicians have their challenges in communicating with specialists (including hospitalists). Physicians and nurses don’t always talk to each other Read More
by Lisa D. Ellis In today’s fastpaced healthcare environment, two innovative hospitals are finding new and exciting ways to leverage web-based technologies—both to strengthen their own internal strategies and also as vehicles to share research, training, and lessons learned within the broader medical community. Nicholson Center’s commitment to education The Florida Hospital Nicholson Center in Read More