tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73449236546109576902024-03-12T21:32:25.188-04:00Health JAMSpreading the word about health care, communication and social mediaAbout JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-74528443205774342462013-03-03T09:03:00.000-05:002014-02-28T09:08:38.708-05:00Social Media Transforming Care for Patients with Rare Diseases<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorksCollective</a>,
an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in
health care. - See more at:
http://www.healthjam.net/#sthash.FDidkt9B.dpuf</div>
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This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorksCollective</a>,
an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in
health care. - See more at:
http://www.healthjam.net/#sthash.FDidkt9B.dpuf</div>
<i>This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorksCollective</a>, an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in health care.</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
Several years ago a member of my family was diagnosed with a rare
disorder. After numerous doctor visits and a multitude of tests, we
finally received a diagnosis and were able to schedule surgery to
address the condition.<br />
<b> </b> <br />
Among rare disease patients, my family was lucky.
A diagnosis was made relatively quickly and a treatment was available.
For many rare disease patients and their families, finding a diagnosis
can take years, not months, and few treatments, if any, are available.<br />
<br />
Looking
back on my experience, I’ve often wondered how social media tools might
have hastened the diagnosis and improved access to treatment for my
family. In fact, today, we are seeing social media transform care for
rare disease patients in several ways.<br />
<br />
<i><b>Facilitating Diagnosis</b></i><br />
<b> </b><br />
Though
the symptoms of my family member were textbook for a particular rare
disorder, our primary care physician never made the connection because
he had never seen this condition in his decades of practice. But what if
our primary care provider could have shared the details of the case
with a large network of physicians, from a wide range of specialties?
Would someone have recognized the condition because of professional
experience or specialized expertise, helping us find the appropriate
specialist more quickly?<br />
<br />
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst">
Closed social networks such as <a data-mce-href="http://www.sermo.com/" href="http://www.sermo.com/">Sermo</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://www.doximity.com/index1" href="https://www.doximity.com/index1">Doximity</a> have helped some physicians <a data-mce-href="http://news.investors.com/technology/081412-622143-medical-doctors-communicate-via-own-social-networks.htm?goback=.gna_4521510.gde_4521510_member_158353524&p=2" href="http://news.investors.com/technology/081412-622143-medical-doctors-communicate-via-own-social-networks.htm?goback=.gna_4521510.gde_4521510_member_158353524&p=2">crowdsource a diagnosis</a>
for difficult cases. Because they are open only to physicians, these
social networks can overcome some of the privacy concerns that arise in
an open social network. The limited access also ensures greater
credibility.</div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<br /></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Nonetheless, open
social communities, which allow anyone to weigh in, may also be useful
in facilitating a diagnosis. For example, a <a data-mce-href="http://www.wired.com/business/2013/02/how-facebook-is-changing-science-and-health-care/" href="http://www.wired.com/business/2013/02/how-facebook-is-changing-science-and-health-care/">recent article in Wired magazine</a> describes the case of a mother whose child was accurately diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder by her Facebook network. </div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast">
Though
information sharing on all social networks has potential to hasten
diagnosis, patient privacy issues continue to be an important concern.</div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast">
</div>
<i><b>Connecting Patients with Treatment, Support, Resources</b></i><br />
<b> </b><br />
The pharmaceutical industry has become increasingly interested in <a data-mce-href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323926104578273900197322758.html" href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323926104578273900197322758.html">developing drugs to treat rare diseases</a>,
thanks in part to incentives created by the Orphan Drug Act passed
thirty years ago. The incentives extended to firms by the Orphan Drug
Act include expedited approval, tax benefits and seven years of market
exclusivity. In 2012, the FDA approved 39 products and approximately <a data-mce-href="http://www.mmm-online.com/therapeutic-focus-rare-diseases/article/277385/" href="http://www.mmm-online.com/therapeutic-focus-rare-diseases/article/277385/">one-third of those approvals were orphan drugs</a>.<br />
<br />
After
an orphan drug is approved, the pharmaceutical industry faces a
challenge in communicating to patients and physicians about the drug.
Using traditional communication channels, such as mainstream media or
personal sales calls, is not practical or efficient as patients and
specialists are few in number and widely dispersed.<br />
<br />
However, the <a data-mce-href="http://google.about.com/od/googleforbusiness/f/longtailfaq.htm" href="http://google.about.com/od/googleforbusiness/f/longtailfaq.htm">long tail</a>
qualities of the internet make it an ideal way for pharmaceutical firms
to precisely target communications to rare disease patients and
specialists. The <a data-mce-href="http://www.rarediseases.org/" href="http://www.rarediseases.org/">National Organization of Rare Disorders</a> (NORD) has links to 180 patient organizations, many of whom have active social communities on a variety of social platforms.<br />
<br />
One example of how a firm has leveraged social communities to reach patients is <a data-mce-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/business/orphan-drugs-for-rare-diseases-gain-popularity-with-pharmaceutical-companies.html?_r=0" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/business/orphan-drugs-for-rare-diseases-gain-popularity-with-pharmaceutical-companies.html?_r=0">NPS Pharmaceuticals</a>,
which has recently received approval for its drug for short bowel
syndrome. NPS is working with a patient advocate to help connect with
potential patients via his social network of 1,000 patients and
caregivers.<br />
<br />
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<i><b>Collaborating in Development and Funding of New Treatments</b></i><br />
<b> </b></div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
Though
there is increased interest in developing treatments for rare diseases
within the pharmaceutical industry, only 200 orphan drugs enter
development each year according to the FDA. Yet there are nearly 7000
rare diseases. Thus, support and funding for many rare diseases may
require more than just the support of the pharmaceutical industry.
Crowdfunding may offer an option for additional financing of rare
disease research. </div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
</div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast">
According to <a data-mce-href="http://mashable.com/category/crowdfunding/" href="http://mashable.com/category/crowdfunding/">Mashable</a>,
crowdfunding, “describes the collective effort of individuals who
network and pool their resources, usually via the Internet, to support
efforts initiated by other people or organizations.” A recent story on <a data-mce-href="http://www.npr.org/2013/02/15/172078619/scientists-look-to-the-internet-to-raise-research-funds" href="http://www.npr.org/2013/02/15/172078619/scientists-look-to-the-internet-to-raise-research-funds">National Public Radio</a>,
explored how crowdfunding has been successfully used to raise money for
a wide range of scientific research. Now, the nonprofit organization, <a data-mce-href="http://www.raregenomics.org/" href="http://www.raregenomics.org/">Rare Genomics Institute</a>
is using crowdfunding to gather genetic information from rare disease
patients that will help lead to the development of new therapies. </div>
<div class="ListParagraphCxSpLast">
</div>
<div class="paragraphstyle">
Others
are using crowdfunding to promote greater awareness and interest in
individual rare diseases. For example, filmmaker Joey Howell used the
crowdfunding platform <a data-mce-href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howellmedia/boys-with-bigger-hearts-bwbh-documentary?ref=email" href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/howellmedia/boys-with-bigger-hearts-bwbh-documentary?ref=email" target="_blank">kickstarter </a>to raise over $30,000 to produce <a data-mce-href="http://www.raredr.com/advocacy/articles/rare-disease-documentarian-using-crowdfunding-complete-mps-ii-film" href="http://www.raredr.com/advocacy/articles/rare-disease-documentarian-using-crowdfunding-complete-mps-ii-film">a documentary about the rare degenerative disease MPS II</a>, a lysosomal disorder.</div>
While
therapies for many rare diseases have yet to be discovered, new tools
for sharing information, such as social media, provide new hope for rare
disease patients and their families. To learn more about rare diseases
and how you can get involved visit these organizations:<br />
<ul>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.rarediseases.org/" href="http://www.rarediseases.org/">National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)</a></li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/" href="http://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/">Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR)</a>, National Institutes of Health</li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://rarediseaseday.us/" href="http://www.rarediseaseday.org/">Rare Disease Day USA</a>, February 28, 2014</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a class="twitter-follow-button" data-mce-href="https://twitter.com/jamierauscher" data-show-count="false" href="https://twitter.com/jamierauscher">Follow @jamierauscher</a>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-62951143539676282892012-11-21T17:24:00.001-05:002012-11-21T17:24:42.641-05:00Engage with Grace Blog Rally 2012<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-style: italic;">This year I'm again pleased to participate in the Engage with Grace blog rally. </span><i>This
post was written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team. The
goal of blog rally is to get people talking about end of life issues
with family members while they are still healthy, when it is easier to
think through these issues more rationally and carefully. </i><br />
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<i>As physician author <a href="http://www.gawande.com/about">Atul Gawande, MD, MPH</a> noted in a November 2012 lecture at the Harvard Medical School, such discussions are about more than just end of life planning. They represent, he observed, goals of life--a framework for life planning. This Thanksgiving let's start planning. </i><br />
<br />
One of our favorite things we ever heard <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA">Steve Jobs</a> say is, "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."<i> </i><br />
<br />
We love it for three reasons:</div>
1) It reminds all of us that living with intention is one of the most important things we can do.
<br />
<br />
2) It reminds all of us that one day will be our last.
<br />
<br />
3) It’s a great example of how Steve Jobs just made most things (even things about death – even things he was quoting) sound better.<br />
<br />
Most of us do pretty well with the living with intention part – but the dying thing? Not so much.<br />
<br />
And maybe that doesn’t bother us so much as individuals because heck, we’re not going to die anyway!! That’s one of those things that happens to other people….<br />
Then one day it does – happen to someone else. But it’s someone that we love. And everything about our perspective on end of life changes.<br />
<br />
If you haven’t personally had the experience of seeing or helping a loved one navigate the incredible complexities of terminal illness, then just ask someone who has. Chances are nearly 3 out of 4 of those stories will be bad ones – involving actions and decisions that were at odds with that person’s values. And the worst part about it? Most of this mess is unintentional – no one is deliberately trying to make anyone else suffer – it’s just that few of us are taking the time to figure out our own preferences for what we’d like when our time is near, making sure those preferences are known, and appointing someone to advocate on our behalf.<br />
<br />
Goodness, you might be wondering, just what are we getting at and why are we keeping you from stretching out on the couch preparing your belly for onslaught?<br />
<br />
Thanksgiving is a time for gathering, for communing, and for thinking hard together with friends and family about the things that matter. Here’s the crazy thing - in the wake of one of the most intense political seasons in recent history, one of the safest topics to debate around the table this year might just be that one last taboo: end of life planning. And you know what? It’s also one of the most important.<br />
<br />
Here’s one debate nobody wants to have – deciding on behalf of a loved one how to handle tough decisions at the end of their life. And there is no greater gift you can give your loved ones than saving them from that agony. So let’s take that off the table right now, this weekend. Know what you want at the end of your life; know the preferences of your loved ones.<br />
<br />
Print out this <a href="http://engagewithgrace.org/Questions.aspx">one slide</a> with just these five questions on it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizablog/8205722721/" title="theoneslide by ElizaBlog, on Flickr"><img alt="theoneslide" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8479/8205722721_86b133b7ba.jpg" width="500" /></a>
Have the conversation with your family. Now. Not a year from now, not when you or a loved one are diagnosed with something, not at the bedside of a mother or a father or a sibling or a life-long partner…but NOW. Have it this Thanksgiving when you are gathered together as a family, with your loved ones. Why? Because now is when it matters. This is the conversation to have when you don’t need to have it. And, believe it or not, when it’s a hypothetical conversation – you might even find it fascinating. We find sharing almost everything else about ourselves fascinating – why not this, too? And then, one day, when the real stuff happens? You’ll be ready.<br />
<br />
Doing end of life better is important for all of us. And the good news is that for all the squeamishness we think people have around this issue, the tide is changing, and more and more people are realizing that as a country dedicated to living with great intention – we need to apply that same sense of purpose and honor to how we die.<br />
<br />
One day, Rosa Parks refused to move her seat on a bus in Montgomery County, Alabama. Others had before. Why was this day different? Because her story tapped into a million other stories that together sparked a revolution that changed the course of history. <br />
Each of us has a story – it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. We work so hard to design a beautiful life – spend the time to design a beautiful end, too. Know the answers to just these five questions for yourself, and for your loved ones. Commit to advocating for each other. Then pass it on. Let’s start a revolution. <br />
Engage with Grace.<br />
<br />
<i>To learn more please go to <a href="http://www.engagewithgrace.org/">www.engagewithgrace.org</a>. This post was written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team.</i>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-34526942176117856602012-08-08T06:30:00.000-04:002012-08-16T14:26:25.222-04:00Health Care Social Media Review, 10th Edition: Social Media and Chronic Disease<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to the tenth edition of
<a href="http://healthworkscollective.com/health-care-social-media-review">Health Care Social Media Review.</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
week’s theme is the role of social media in addressing, managing and preventing
chronic diseases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs355/en/index.html">World Health Organization</a>
(WHO), chronic diseases, also known as noncommunicable diseases (NCD), are a
leading cause of death worldwide. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>NCDs encompass
four main groups:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cancer, cardiovascular
disease, respiratory disorders and diabetes; these diseases can affect people
of any age and socioeconomic group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As
<a href="http://healthworkscollective.com/kenneththorpe/39166/integrating-chronic-disease-management-new-health-delivery-mechanisms">Kenneth Thorpe</a> observed on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorks Collective</a>, “the key to addressing our
greatest 21<sup>st</sup> century health care challenges—controlling costs while
achieving improved health outcomes—lies in attacking chronic disease.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<i><b>Beyond patient communities</b></i><br />
<br />
Social media can be a powerful tool in addressing the challenges created by chronic diseases. A report produced by <a href="http://www.nehi.net/publications/72/getting_to_value_eleven_chronic_disease_technologies_to_watch">NEHI</a> notes that "social media sites engage and educate patients in personal health care, connect patients with their peers, implement evidence-based interventions and change behavior over time."<br />
<br />
Writing on the <span id="goog_1475439279"></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">HealthyComms blog<span id="goog_1475439280"></span></a> for Shift Communications, Amanda Guisbond notes that our view of health care social media is often limited to patient communities that cater to those who have been diagnosed with a particular illness. However, Amanda continues, the boundaries of health care social media are expanding. New communities such as <a href="http://www.meyouhealth.com/">MeYouHealth</a> seek to influence people before they become sick by promoting healthy lifestyles. Amanda writes, "I love the idea that social media influences us to see health in a broader context and not as something we have to attend to once we've been dealt some bad news." I love the idea too. <br />
<br />
The influence of social media is also expanding beyond patient communities organized around those with specific diseases. The <a href="http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2012/07/31/youth-speaks-against-diabetes/">State of Health blog</a> recently profiled a new initiative targeted at youth in the San Francisco Bay area. <a href="http://youthspeaks.org/thebiggerpicture/">The Bigger Picture</a> is a collaboration between Youth Speaks, a spoken word poetry organization, and the University of California San Francisco. Through the program, twenty poet mentors are turning online peoms into videos to educate high school students on Type 2 diabetes and encourage them to lobby their communities to make neighborhoods healthier. As one poet stated in the Bigger Picture introductory video, Type 2 diabetes is "no longer our grandparents' disease." <br />
<br />
<i><b>Improving the quality of health care</b></i><br />
<br />
There is also a movement to broaden the audiences of patient communities by including health care providers. <a href="http://www.wegohealth.com/">WEGO Health</a> invited <a href="http://rawarrior.com/">Kelly Young</a>, founder of the first non-profit advocacy group for rheumatoid arthritis patients in the US, to attend the Annual National Conference of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Kelly, writing about her experiences on the <a href="http://blog.wegohealth.com/2012/07/25/patient-advocates-attend-american-academy-of-nurse-practitioners-conference/">WEGO Health blog, </a>noted that the experience was valuable in helping build alliances between health activists and health care providers. Increased participation in patient communities by health care providers can help improve the quality of information found in these communities. <br />
<br />
Participation in social media by health care providers can also provide them with important patient insights. On the <a href="http://www.hivestrategies.com/2012/07/the-intimate-public-extending-the-benefit-of-healthcares-online-communities/">Hive Strategies blog</a>, Jean Kelso Sandlin writes that social communities can provide patients with a sense of belonging and the ability to cope with the challenges of their disease. However, she continues, the benefits of social communities go beyond patient support. Interactions in social communities may reveal information that may not be addressed in face to face interactions. <br />
<br />
At the <a href="http://smhcop.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/family-medicine-should-be-a-prominent-voice-in-social-media/">Social Media Healthcare blog</a>, Dr. Mark Ryan also makes the case for participation in social media by primary care physicians. He writes, "Family medicine's bio-psycho-social approach to care, which enables us to provide capable and effective care for patients with chronic illness, would also be valuable in discussions with engaged and empowered patients who are seeking to improve their own health statuses."<br />
<br />
<i><b>Measuring impact and outcomes</b></i><br />
<br />
Given the public health priority of addressing chronic diseases, we are beginning to see more interest in measuring the effectiveness of social media's ability to improve health outcomes. In an interview with Jean Kelso Sandlin, also published on the <a href="http://www.hivestrategies.com/2012/08/from-tragedy-to-trials-one-caregivers-story/">Hive Strategies blog</a>, Naser Partovi, the founder of <a href="https://wellaho-sanitas.appspot.com/">Wellaho</a>, noted that his firm has studied the use of the social network in patients with congestive heart failure, obesity and asthma. In July, 2012, the <a href="http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/social_networking_evaluated_to_improve_diabetes_management#.UCHd_fVXfzF">University of California San Diego</a> announced that it will conduct a clinical trial to determine whether the use of Wellaho improves doctor-patient interactions and health outcomes in diabetic patients. <br />
<br />
<i><b>Connecting more than patients</b></i><br />
<br />
Patients aren't the only ones using health care social media. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has created several <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/socialmedia.htm">social communities</a> to enable public health professionals to discuss chronic disease prevention and health promotion, including the blog, <a href="http://blogs.cdc.gov/pcd/">Preventing Chronic Disease Dialogue</a>. <br />
<br />
The emergence of crowdfunding means that programs and products addressing chronic diseases may originate outside the research community. Recently, the found of <a href="http://www.medstartr.com/">Medstartr</a>, Alex Fair, spoke with Matthew Holt at the <a href="http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/07/11/alex-b-fair-talks-medstartr/">The Health Care Blog</a>. Medstartr is a way to build support among patients, physicians, and providers for innovative new health care programs or products. Projects with demonstrated support can draw attention and funding from commercial partners.<br />
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Thank you for visiting this week's edition of Health Care Social Media Review. Our next host is Barbara Ficarra at <a href="http://healthin30.com/">Health in 30</a>. Follow the blog carnival on <a href="https://twitter.com/hcsmreview">Twitter</a> for the latest news and information, including how to host or participate. We look forward to hearing from you. <br />
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</script>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-76277801297203956652012-07-31T20:56:00.000-04:002012-08-04T10:01:10.179-04:00Submit Your Posts: Health Care Social Media Review, 10th edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj23xoAc-r_4dST6GFvbrWoDt-hqhhSv2N0PhNOlecpskasEyt0PVxnP8jrbJ46OE2CyVUb8FZUON-8PFve63u9dLWYDjayZ5OrMp0wssTjsf00IOHF8GFKWMJuVEXyv3PBVbVyfM-rn8Y/s1600/shutterstock_101558422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj23xoAc-r_4dST6GFvbrWoDt-hqhhSv2N0PhNOlecpskasEyt0PVxnP8jrbJ46OE2CyVUb8FZUON-8PFve63u9dLWYDjayZ5OrMp0wssTjsf00IOHF8GFKWMJuVEXyv3PBVbVyfM-rn8Y/s320/shutterstock_101558422.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
After a brief blogging sabbatical, I’m pleased to jump back in by hosting the tenth edition of the <a href="http://healthworkscollective.com/health-care-social-media-review">Health Care Social Media Review</a> (HCSM Review) on Wednesday, August 8. HCSM Review is a bi-weekly blog carnival that features posts about the use of social media in health care, including best practices, case studies, resources, social media communities and tools.<br />
<br />
The theme of the upcoming edition of HCSM Review will focus on the use of social media by caregivers, providers or health care firms to help patients manage and cope with chronic illnesses. I was inspired by a <a href="http://www.wbur.org/2011/10/21/alzheimers-twitter">story</a> which aired on my local public radio station last fall, profiling a woman who tweets on behalf of her mother who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. This example is especially relevant since next week is Alzheimer's Awareness Week. (Please note: submissions may address the use of social media in managing any chronic illness, not just Alzheimer’s disease.)<br />
<br />
To submit a post for potential inclusion in the next edition, please send an e-mail to jamierauscher AT gmail.com with the following information:<br />
<ul>
<li>Email Subject Line: HealthCare SocialMedia Review</li>
<li>Blog Title: </li>
<li> Blog URL: </li>
<li>Post Headline: </li>
<li>Permanent link to post: </li>
<li>Your Name: Name, Username, Nickname, or Pseudonym </li>
<li>Description or brief excerpt </li>
</ul>
Submissions are due by 6 pm ET Monday, August 6.
I look forward to receiving your posts.About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-82311750575410744262012-03-29T23:39:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:42:28.290-04:00Six Ways to Promote Your Health Care Blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorksCollective</a>, an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in health care.</i></div>
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In March 2012 the <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2012/03/13/happy-birthday-health-blog/">Wall
Street Journal’s Health Blog</a> marked its fifth anniversary. With more than 7,300 posts and 118,000
comments to date, the blog’s birthday is significant because it demonstrates
that interest in health care blogs continues to grow. Creating interesting, high quality content
is essential in becoming a successful health care blogger; however, even the best content needs promotional
help to gain visibility and readership. </div>
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Here are six strategies to effectively promote your health
care blog to build readership and traffic:</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Optimize for search.</b> Search
engine optimization techniques work for blogs too. Selecting relevant keywords and placing them
thoughtfully in the titles and body of your blog text are important first steps
in optimizing your blog content for search.
And don’t forget to <a href="http://seoyourblog.com/seo-tips/submit-url-to-search-engines-like-google-bing-yahoo-and-ask-957/">register
your blog</a> on Google, Bing and <a href="http://www.technorati.com/">Technorati</a>,
a specialized search engine focused on blogs. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Syndicate to maximize exposure.</b>
Your original content can be published on your blog’s site as well as health
care portals that aggregate content from multiple health care blogs. Each
portal has specific directions on submitting posts for publication on their
sites. Choose a portal whose target
audience or theme most closely matches your blog. Some health portals to consider:</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<a href="http://www.disruptivewomen.net/">Disruptive Women in Health Care</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorks Collective</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/heard-social-medias-leading-physician-voice">KevinMD</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<a href="http://www.medcitynews.com/">MedCity
News</a></div>
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<a href="http://blog.preparedpatientforum.org/blog/">Prepared Patient Forum</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<a href="http://thehealthcareblog.com/">The Health Care Blog</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Participate in blog carnivals. </b>A
blog carnival is an event in which bloggers submit posts to a host blog for
inclusion in a themed blog post which summarizes the work of contributing
bloggers. Bloggers take turns hosting
the carnival on their site.
Participation in blog carnivals, as both a host and a contributor, is an
excellent way to gain visibility and cultivate relationships with other bloggers. Well known health care blog carnivals
include:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="http://getbetterhealth.com/grand-rounds">Better Health Grand Rounds</a></div>
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<a href="http://cavrisk.blogspot.com/">Cavalcade of Risk</a></div>
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<a href="http://healthworkscollective.com/health-care-social-media-review">Health
Care Social Media Review</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.healthwonkreview.com/mt/">Health Wonk Review</a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Post responses on influential health care blogs.</b> Leaving comments on other blogs allows you to
establish relationships with influential bloggers and create visibility for
your own blog. However, as <a href="http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/">David Meerman Scott</a> writes in The
New Rules of Marketing and PR, it requires skill and finesse to execute this
strategy. The key, Scott advises, is to
focus your response on the issues raised by the blog post, not to write about
yourself; though he notes it is
perfectly acceptable to provide a link to your blog’s URL within your response.</div>
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To effectively use this strategy you will also want to comment on
well-known blogs written by health care thought leaders whose topics are
relevant to yours. To identify
influential bloggers you may want to use Technorati, a blog search engine, or
consult a service such as <a href="http://www.klout.com/">Klout</a> which
identifies influential people and organizations by topic. (Note you will need to set up an account to
access Klout.) The health care blog
portals and carnivals mentioned above are also excellent sources for
identifying influential health care blogs.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Here is a small sampling of some respected, independent health care bloggers
whose blogs you may want to follow:<br />
</div>
<i><b></b></i>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Physician Authored Blogs:</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://drwes.blogspot.com/"> Westby
Fisher</a> (Dr. Wes)</div>
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<a href="http://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/"> Kenneth
Lin</a> (Common Sense Family Doctor)</div>
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<a href="http://www.medicallessons.net/"> Elaine
Schattner</a> (Medical Lessons)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://www.familymedicinerocks.com/family-medicine-rocks-blog/"> Mike
Sevilla</a> (Family Medicine Rocks)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Patient Authored Blogs:</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://epatientdave.com/"> Dave
deBronkart</a> (ePatientDave)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://secondbasedispatch.com/author/jfox12/"> Jackie Fox</a> (Dispatch
from Second Base)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://sixuntilme.com/"> Kerri
Morrone Sparling</a> (Six Until Me)</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Policy and General Health Care Issues:</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://healthblawg.typepad.com/"> David
Harlow</a> (HealthBlawg)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/"> Paul Levy</a> (Not Running a
Hospital)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://www.healthbusinessblog.com/"> David
Williams</a> (Health Business Blog)</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Health Care Social Media:</i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://healthin30.com/"> Barbara
Ficarra</a> (Health in 30)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="http://nicolaziady.com/"> Nicola
Ziady</a> (BSocial)<br />
</div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<i><b>Pharmaceutical Industry </b></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst">
<a href="http://pharmastrategyblog.com/"> Sally
Church</a> (Pharma Strategy Blog)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://pipeline.corante.com/"> Derek
Lowe</a> (In the Pipeline)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<a href="http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/"> John
Mack</a> (Pharma Marketing Blog)</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<a href="http://www.pharmalot.com/"> Ed
Silverman</a> (Pharmalot)</div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Host a guest blogger. </b>Capitalize
on the name recognition of thought leaders and other well known bloggers (see
above) by asking them to write a guest post for your blog. </div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Leverage your social networks. </b>Posting
a link to your blog posts across social networks can increase visibility and
search engine ranking. This includes posting
links on your Facebook and Linkedin updates, in relevant Linkedin discussion
groups, and sharing on Google+. Links to
blog posts should also be tweeted a couple times a day for several days after
publication to ensure that post links don’t get lost in your Twitter
stream. Again, this strategy requires
some finesse and judgment to ensure you don’t cross the line from a reasonable
level of promotion to spamming. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Finally, you will want to measure the effectiveness of your
blog promotion efforts by using analytics tools to monitor statistics such as
number of visits, traffic sources and time spent on your blog. Several free options such as Google Analytics,
Site Meter and Stat Counter are available. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Creating blog content can require a significant investment
of time. It’s important spend time
promoting content as well as creating it to maximize the return on your investment. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What strategies have you found effective in promoting your health care
blog?</i></b></div>
About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-88998792782848634922012-02-20T21:54:00.000-05:002013-03-17T08:42:48.314-04:00The Future of Innovation in Health Care<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZ6zla5McHWIkBsuDHzQ5j6UHXs1Pcc-MmT9WDwiAZ9Y8Esayk2juJkzAJp1A-pZAl-jqBCvVMpvcAtKhbevEWh3Wba5y25JcjgHC00QEa1hWcEJCoZbZCcXHWhaFgDXhd4Qma2KCCf8/s1600/shutterstock_95311084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFZ6zla5McHWIkBsuDHzQ5j6UHXs1Pcc-MmT9WDwiAZ9Y8Esayk2juJkzAJp1A-pZAl-jqBCvVMpvcAtKhbevEWh3Wba5y25JcjgHC00QEa1hWcEJCoZbZCcXHWhaFgDXhd4Qma2KCCf8/s320/shutterstock_95311084.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<i>Is innovation a necessity or a luxury that
our financially strained health care system can no longer afford? </i><br />
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In February
2012, panelists representing a range of organizations debated the role of innovation at the 9<sup>th</sup> <a href="http://hbs.campusgroups.com/health2012/about/">Annual Health Care
Conference</a>, hosted by the Healthcare Club of the Harvard Business
School. The consensus among panelists was
that innovation will remain an essential element of our health care system but
only in the context of the economic and clinical value it brings to patient
care. Key insights are summarized here. </div>
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<b><i>Innovating in the context of rising costs</i></b></div>
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</div>
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Keynote presentation
by Karen Ignagni, CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans </div>
<ol>
<li><b>Why costs matter.</b> Ignagni quoted a December 2011 report by <a href="http://healthreform.mckinsey.com/Home/Insights/Latest_thinking/Accounting_for_the_cost_of_US_health_care.aspx">McKinsey</a>
which found, adjusting for inflation and population growth, that health
spending has grown 5 times faster than the gross domestic product since 1960. Health care costs, she continued, are the
primary driver of our national debt. She
questioned how we sustain this growth yet meet the needs of patients.</li>
<li><b>Shift the conversation to value.</b> Ignagni suggested we must evaluate whether
technological innovation is being used appropriately. She cited a 2006 study in <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/25/2/w34.full">Health Affairs</a>
which considered how to integrate value and technology in making treatment
decisions.</li>
<li><b>Re-engineer payment models.</b> If prospective payment models like
accountable care organizations are to succeed, she noted that hospitals, health
plans and physicians must collaborate in goal setting and share responsibility
for managing costs. </li>
<li><b>Re-orient benefit plans.</b> Ignagni acknowledged that benefit plans need
to focus more on prevention and improving care coordination, especially for
patients with co-morbidities. </li>
</ol>
<ol>
</ol>
<b><i>Enabling
the development of new treatment paradigms </i></b><br />
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Discussion
moderated by Stan Lapidus, SynapDx with panelists Rick
Schatzberg, Generation Health; Wei-Lio Shao, Eli Lilly; Katie Szyman,
Medtronic</div>
<ol>
<li><b>Balance regulatory rigor with innovation</b>. While regulation is important to ensure patient
safety it can also slow innovation.
Szyman noted that the premarket approval process for Medtronic has
increased from 3 to 7 years and costs have increased from $10-20 million
to $200 million.</li>
<li><b>Demonstrate economic value earlier.</b> In response to concerns about the cost of new
treatments, Shao noted that there has been a movement to generate health
outcomes and economic data in parallel with the clinical development
process. </li>
<li><b>Social media can influence regulatory
approval</b>. Szyman recounted the
impact of patients and health care organizations on the approval of Medtronic’s
Veo insulin pump. The <a href="http://www.jdrf.org/index.cfm?page_id=116667">Veo</a> pump, also
known as an artificial pancreas, represents an improvement in management of Type
1 diabetics because it automatically adjusts insulin levels, helping them avoid
hypoglycemia. Despite its use in
70,000 patients worldwide, the FDA had been slow to issue guidance on the
clinical approval process for the artificial pancreas. In response, the <a href="http://takeaction.jdrf.org/site/PageNavigator/APAC.html">Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation</a> gathered 100,000 signatures online, motivating
the FDA to issue draft guidance in December 2011.</li>
</ol>
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<b><i>Bringing
consumer centricity to healthcare</i></b></div>
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</div>
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Discussion
moderated by Bob Higgins, Highland Capital Partners with panelists Ambar
Bhattacharyya, Bessemer Venture Partners;
Jordan Goldberg, stickK; Michael Laskoff, AbilTo</div>
<ol>
<li><b>Wellness is a behavior problem, not an
information problem</b>. Panelists noted
that we need to use technology in a way that gives individuals the feedback
they need to accomplish behavioral change.
Novel new products such as <a href="http://www.stickk.com/">stickK</a>
or <a href="http://abilto.com/">AbilTo</a> help people remain engaged and
compliant.</li>
<li><b>Employers are target customers for wellness programs</b>. Both StickK and AbilTo have pivoted their
strategies to focus on businesses versus individuals. However Goldberg and Laskoff cautioned that those
marketing wellness programs to businesses need to demonstrate why changing
behavior is important and how their programs will save money. For example, since
post cardiac-event patients may be vulnerable to experiencing mental health
issues that can affect their recovery, AbilTo contracted with Aetna to proactively
reach out to plan members who had suffered these events. </li>
</ol>
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<b><i>Redefining
the role of venture capital</i></b></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Discussion
moderated by Terry McGuire, Polaris Ventures with panelists Alexis Borisy,
Third Rock Ventures; Chip Clark, Genocea BioSciences; David Schenkein, Agios. </div>
<ol>
<li><b>Consider unconventional funding models</b>. The panel noted that less venture capital is
being invested in early stage life science companies because returns have been
challenging. As a result, firms like
Genocea are turning to nontraditional sources of funding such as the Gates
Foundation. Schenkein observed that
another alternative source of funding is to consider a corporate partnership
early in the development process; however he acknowledged that this strategy
can mean a loss of management control. <b> </b></li>
<li><b>Opportunities remain</b>. According to Borisy the contraction in venture
capital has focused venture investment on transformative ideas versus lower
risk, less novel ones. </li>
<li><b>Customers are not looking for marginal
changes. </b>As public payers assume greater financial responsibility, Borisy
noted that it’s incumbent on firms to create products that produce significant
improvements in efficacy or cost effectiveness. </li>
</ol>
<i><b>The future is affordable innovation</b></i><br />
<br />
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Despite the
pressures to keep costs in check, panelists were generally positive about
the role of innovation in health care, concurring that advances in technology
will help firms accelerate product development, demonstrate value and improve
decision making by health care providers and patients.<br />
</div>
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</div>
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</script>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-8596915999993964482012-01-10T20:25:00.001-05:002013-03-17T08:43:19.268-04:003 Factors Fueling Growth in Mobile Health Apps<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3m34OGkCCq0vE5evbZtjkGgm62uaVHuCChxTRcTQkarBxO7vWv3do1m-whvlQmwPVTHkFTR2nA952bhyyLW-3miOSiVN9faX1oAqV9vWHeFl4TPevGdELHstO3SHHlmZRDcTqIR1xos/s1600/2293963034_e11e4bc763.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3m34OGkCCq0vE5evbZtjkGgm62uaVHuCChxTRcTQkarBxO7vWv3do1m-whvlQmwPVTHkFTR2nA952bhyyLW-3miOSiVN9faX1oAqV9vWHeFl4TPevGdELHstO3SHHlmZRDcTqIR1xos/s320/2293963034_e11e4bc763.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The market for mobile health apps is <a href="http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/report-mobile-app-market-grow-70-or-more-five-years/2012-01-10">forecast</a> to grow 70% over the next five years, to $392 million. Beyond improvements in technology there are several factors fueling this blistering growth. <br />
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<ul>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Increased incidence of chronic diseases</i></b>. According to the <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-11-23/unitedhealth-says-diabetes-will-cost-3-4-trillion-over-the-next-decade.html">CDC</a>
“chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and
arthritis – are among the most common, costly and preventable of all health
problems in the US.” Among these, diabetes
is particularly significant. According the CDC’s <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf">2011 National Diabetes FactSheet</a> approximately 26 million or 8.3% of Americans have diabetes. As reported in the January 2012 edition of <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/1/6.full">Health Affairs</a>, an issue devoted entirely to diabetes,
an additional 79 million Americans are at high risk of developing the disease over the
next 10 years. The cost to treat and
manage these patients is enormous. Health
Affairs notes that $1 out of every $3 in Medicare
is spent on the disease. <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2010-11-23/unitedhealth-says-diabetes-will-cost-3-4-trillion-over-the-next-decade.html">UnitedHealth</a>,
one of the nation’s largest health insurers, estimates that treating diabetes
in the US will cost $3.4 trillion from 2010 through 2020. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Proven benefits of self-monitoring, communicating & collaborating</i></b>. A <a href="http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-253680/PhysicianPatient-Email-Improves-Quality-Study-Finds">study</a>
at Kaiser Permanente studied nearly 35,000 patients with chronic health
conditions, including diabetes over a two month period. The study found that those patients who used
email to communicate with their doctors saw a statistically significant
improvement in various health measures. Mobile
health apps are powerful because they facilitate more frequent communication
and allow patients to more actively participate in disease management. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shift in how patients access health information. </i></b>A <a href="http://www.imedicalapps.com/2010/10/cell-phones-track-manage-health/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+iMedicalApps+%28iMedicalApps%29">survey</a>
conducted by the Pew Internet project found that 9 percent of cell phone owners
have apps that they use to manage their health. The survey also found African Americans and
Latinos were more likely to use mobile health apps. This is significant since, as reported by the
CDC, these <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf">populations</a>
are at increased risk of developing chronic illnesses such as diabetes. </li>
</ul>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A sampling of mobile health apps for diabetes</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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Given the market size and the importance of
disease monitoring and management, health apps for diabetics are among the most
important being developed. The popular <a href="http://www.diabetesmine.com/category/products/mobile-apps">DiabetesMine</a>
blog does a nice job profiling the dozens of options available to
patients. Some apps that have garnered
significant attention include the following: </div>
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In 2010 WellDoc received <a href="http://mobihealthnews.com/8539/fda-clears-welldoc-for-diabetes-management/">FDA
clearance</a> to market its DiabetesManager. The software based app includes a medication
adherence program and real-time transmission of blood glucose data to physicians.
In a 12-month randomized controlled
trial, whose results were published in the September 2011 issue of <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21788632/">Diabetes Care</a>, patients
using the WellDoc app in addition to their usual care recorded a statistically
significant decline in their glycated hemoglobin levels during the study
period. Patients must use this phone-based
system in partnership with their healthcare providers.</div>
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The <a href="http://www.glooko.com/product/logbook/">Glooko</a> iPhone
app introduced late last fall, enables patients to more easily record and report
their blood glucose readings. By connecting their existing blood glucose monitor
to an iPhone via a cable patients can use the app to send their readings to physicians by email or fax. The <a href="http://www.diabetesmine.com/2011/12/newsflash-fda-approves-the-ibgstar-meter-for-iphoneipod-touch.html">iBG
Star</a> blood glucose monitor from Sanofi-Aventis cuts the cable by plugging
directly into a patient’s iPhone. The monitor also received FDA clearance in December 2011.</div>
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Another high tech solution to blood glucose monitoring was
reported last week by <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20120104/diabetic-tester-that-talksto-iphones-and-doctors/?mod=tweet">Walter
Mossberg</a> , a technology columnist for
the Wall Street Journal, who is also a Type 2 diabetic. Mossberg reviewed the Telcare blood glucose
meter which wirelessly transmits readings to a patient’s iPhone and a secure
database that can be accessed by a patient’s physician. The <a href="http://telcare.com/">Telcare</a>
meter has been also been cleared by the FDA. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Beyond smartphones</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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A lot of attention has been focused on using smart
phones to manage diseases but not all patients have them. Text messaging has also been successfully
used to send patients important health messages and reminders, as demonstrated
by the <a href="http://www.text4baby.org/index.php/news/180-sdpressrelease">Text4Baby</a>
campaign, a program for expectant mothers. More recently the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/he%20Beacon%20Community%20Cooperative%20Agreement%20Program%20provides%20funding%20to%2017%20selected%20communities%20throughout%20the%20United%20States%20that%20have%20already%20made%20inroads%20in%20the%20development%20of%20secure,%20private,%20and%20accurate%20systems%20of%20electronic%20health%20record%20%28EHR%29%20adoption">Beacon
Community</a> health program announced the development of an <a href="http://www.healthit.gov/buzz-blog/beacon-community-program/mobile-app-texting-diabetes-management/">initiative</a>
for diabetes management using text messaging at its sites located in Louisiana
and Michigan, areas where the impact of diabetes has been particularly
significant. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">What’s next?</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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We can expect to see continued development of mobile devices
to allow patient self-monitoring for chronic conditions. Increasingly, these devices will facilitate
sharing of patient level data with health care providers and communication
between patients and providers in response to these data.</div>
About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-49856727251184427382011-12-13T11:39:00.002-05:002013-03-17T08:44:02.798-04:005 Reasons Why Physicians Should Use Social Media<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPOWop-rgY1gXn3YmujCa-4cwdAwvfLmJZpepEh-iFPc4cYcWzo4vlrtCwqBJ484-Pf21jZqHE3gCnaNUxdj7aMJIv7k_pm3vS7VTiXJ858MxAFpaU1NG3Ok2JvDh-mesIpqpxNw8w0s/s1600/4881411699_d0145d7ff7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinPOWop-rgY1gXn3YmujCa-4cwdAwvfLmJZpepEh-iFPc4cYcWzo4vlrtCwqBJ484-Pf21jZqHE3gCnaNUxdj7aMJIv7k_pm3vS7VTiXJ858MxAFpaU1NG3Ok2JvDh-mesIpqpxNw8w0s/s1600/4881411699_d0145d7ff7.jpg" /></a><i>This post was originally published on <a href="http://www.healthworkscollective.com/">HealthWorksCollective</a>, an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in health care.</i> </div>
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Physician
participation in social media is a health care imperative according to Dr.
Kevin Pho, a practicing internist and the founder of <a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/">KevinMD.com</a>, a leading online health portal;
however, many physicians remain skeptical about the value of social media. At an Ethics Forum hosted by the <a href="http://blog.massmed.org/index.php/2011/12/2011-ethics-forum-social-media-and-physicians/">Massachusetts
Medical Society</a> on December 2, 2011, Pho suggested several reasons why
physicians need to embrace new ways to communicate. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A
social media epiphany</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><br />
</i></b>Pho began blogging in May, 2004 as a way to share links to health care
resources and talk about health care reform.
In the fall of 2004, when the Merck drug Vioxx was recalled, Pho’s
office was flooded with patient phone calls.
In response Pho decided to write a blog post about the recall. When one of his patients mentioned that the blog
post had reassured and comforted him, Pho recognized the tremendous potential
of social media. He
realized that patients want health information but are overwhelmed, frustrated,
confused and even frightened by what they find online. Health care professionals, Pho noted, can
play an important role by becoming a reputable source of online information or
by directing patients to reliable sources.
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Making
the case for social media participation</i></b></div>
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Pho offered
five reasons doctors should participate in social media:</div>
<ol>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Provide context</b>. Pho pointed out that every day new health
stories are published. Social media is a
powerful way for physicians to provide context and meaning to the news items that
patients read and view. </li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dispel myths</b>. Online health information can be medically
and factually inaccurate. To maintain
physicians’ standing as health care authorities, Pho emphasized that it is
critical for doctors to use social media to counter myths perpetuated by
inaccurate health information. </li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Influence the health care debate</b>. Pho cited the results of a Gallup survey
which concluded that patients trust physicians regarding health care policy.
Participation in social media gives physicians a way to express their views and
influence the formulation of policies that will shape how medicine is practiced.
</li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Connect with mainstream media</b>. Experience with social media can provide
physicians with the skills they need to connect with mainstream media. For example, Pho noted that writing his blog gave
him the confidence to write op-eds for mainstream news publications. </li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Provide patient insights. </b>Social media gives patients a place to
express their frustrations and concerns about health care. By listening to patient feedback on his blog,
Pho has changed the way he practices medicine.
He now offers same day appointments, doesn’t take his laptop into the
exam room and makes sure patients receive their test results. </li>
</ol>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rules
of engagement</i></b></div>
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Prior to
using social media, Pho suggested that physicians consult guidelines, such as
those prepared by <a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/meeting/professionalism-social-media.shtml">the
American Medical Association</a> or the <a href="http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Legal_and_Regulatory&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=55126">Massachusetts
Medical Society</a>. He emphasized
that patient privacy always comes first.
He also offered these pointers:</div>
<ol>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tiptoe into social media. </b>Start small by establishing a presence in
a single social media community. Expand
your presence as you get more comfortable. </li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stay professional.</b> Pho advised that rules for online and offline
professional behavior are identical: behavior
on the web is no different from behavior in the exam room.</li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Think twice before you hit enter.</b> Pho reminded attendees that what you post on
the web is permanently indexed by search engines<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>so post thoughtfully not impulsively.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Manage your online reputation</b>. According to Pho you can’t get delete a
negative online review but you can downplay its significance by creating a
healthy online presence. He noted that any
page you put in your own name such as websites, blogs or social profiles on
Linkedin, Twitter or Facebook, will rank more highly in search results than
reviews on third party rating sites.
Additionally, he suggested being proactive by asking patients to submit
reviews. He noted that most reviews are positive. He also encourages doctors to Google their
name at least once a week to continually monitor and protect their reputations.</li>
</ol>
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Pho closed
by noting that the true value of social media for physicians may be its ability
to strengthen and preserve relationships with patients. </div>
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-38333163426227108182011-12-05T06:55:00.001-05:002013-03-17T08:44:41.686-04:00Limits of Health Care Social Communities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5JXCnaRC7xCVcOAnuDgZ_ozk_Bygj_1dxXdiv-Z4a2F6iaswP8s-veQBxyfU6-AI6900aFtJu9SkaPXcWIWgYqXy58WLQKzFLOziT-4v3KtiFE24KPYCAMhbwL9Rxz2inP2A7LHip-s/s1600/4332083869_d0bb3af720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu5JXCnaRC7xCVcOAnuDgZ_ozk_Bygj_1dxXdiv-Z4a2F6iaswP8s-veQBxyfU6-AI6900aFtJu9SkaPXcWIWgYqXy58WLQKzFLOziT-4v3KtiFE24KPYCAMhbwL9Rxz2inP2A7LHip-s/s200/4332083869_d0bb3af720.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>This post was originally published on <a href="http://healthworkscollective.com/jamierauscher/26931/five-reasons-why-doctors-need-connect-patients-through-social-media">HealthWorksCollective</a>, an editorially independent, moderated community for thought leaders in health care. </i><br />
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Social
networks such as Facebook and YouTube include many disease specific communities.
Members may find valuable emotional support
and encouragement for managing their illnesses in these communities. However, questions about the reliability of
information in social communities have been raised in addition to concerns
about patient privacy. Until issues of
credibility and privacy in social communities are addressed, social networks
may fail to realize their full value to patients, physicians and health care
marketers.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">All health
care social communities are not created equally</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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In
evaluating healthcare social networks, researchers have found a wide range of
variability when it comes to authenticity, privacy, clinical oversight and
accuracy. The highlights of some
selected studies include the following findings: </div>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/752952">review</a> of 100 YouTube
videos on inflammatory bowel disease by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation rated the overall educational quality as poor.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Researchers
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard University and CVS Caremark <a href="http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/9/29/study-finds-variability-in-standards-for-social-media-sites-on-diabetes.aspx">surveyed</a>
the 15 largest social media sites dedicated to diabetes. The results of the survey were published in
Archives of Internal Medicine. (1)
Researchers found varying levels of oversight regarding the clinical
information provided: </li>
</ul>
<i>10 sites
(67%) required administrators to review posts</i><br />
<i> </i><br />
<i> 5 sites (33%)
had physicians available to answer questions </i><br />
<i> but only 7% of postings included a physician response </i><br />
<i> <br /> 8 sites
(53%) used diabetes educators to answer questions</i><br />
<i> <br /> 2 sites (13%)
did not appear to monitor information posted; </i><br />
<i> one of these sites has over
300,000 members</i><br />
<i> <br /> 3 sites had no industry sponsorship; two of those
without sponsorship </i><br />
<i> had neither a physician nor a diabetes educator available
to answer </i><br />
<i> questions. </i><br />
<ul>
<li>Another <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20945113">review</a> of Facebook sites
for diabetics found that more than 25% of posts directed members to products
not approved by the FDA. The researchers
also noted significant attempts to collect personal information from
participants.</li>
</ul>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Is the
Facebook exodus by pharma making things worse?</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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With its
clinical expertise, the pharmaceutical industry can clearly help play a role in
the credibility gap of disease specific social networks. However, lack of guidance from the FDA,
concerns about adverse event reporting and the elimination of the ability to
moderate comments has caused many pharma
firms to leave sites like Facebook.
According to the <a href="http://www.doseofdigital.com/healthcare-pharma-social-media-wiki/">Dose
of Digital Pharma and Healthcare Social Media Wiki</a>, 23 of 85 (27%) of
industry sponsored Facebook pages have been removed. Yet the exodus of pharma from Facebook may be
exacerbating the credibility gap. </div>
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In his blog, <a href="http://www.eyeonfda.com/eye_on_fda/2011/11/fda-needs-to-be-clear-about-social-media.html">Eye
on FDA</a>, Mark Senak, a lawyer at the
international communications firm Fleishman-Hillard noted , “the lack of
guidance from the FDA on social media doesn’t just affect the marketing and
education by medical product manufacturers but rather, has the potential to
cause harm when patients or caregivers rely on third party generated material
such as a Wiki, that might be incorrect. It’s not about marketing, it’s
about public health.” </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Privacy
concerns persist</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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Even with
clearer regulatory guidance and greater participation from pharma, concerns
about patient privacy may limit the usefulness of social networks in health
care. In a national survey of patients, the
<a href="http://community.pathoftheblueeye.com/Data/infographic-facebook-privacy-and-health">Path
of the Blue Eye Project</a> found that 68% of Facebook users have not and would
not share their personal health information on the site. Additionally 39% of non-sharers indicated
concerns about posting health information that could be found by others. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Can curation,
reputation and facilitation help?</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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In response
to the issues of credibility and privacy, some firms and organizations are
stepping in to vet existing social health communities or create more secure and
reputable ones. Some examples include:</div>
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<a href="http://www.webicina.com/">Webicina</a>:
Content curation is the process by which an organization or individual
reviews and filters the online content to create an edited list of resources
for a specific audience and purpose. Founded
by physician Bertalan Mesko, the goal of Webicina is to provide curated medical
social media resources in over 80 medical topics and over 17 languages. Webicina publishes curated social media
collections on specific diseases such as <a href="http://www.webicina.com/diabetes/" target="_blank">Diabetes 2.0</a> or <a href="http://www.webicina.com/neurology/" target="_blank">Neurology 2.0</a> ,
including blogs, community sites, podcasts or Youtube channels and others. These curated resources, reviewed by members
of Webicina’s advisory board, are targeted at both patients and
physicians. </div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://connect.mayoclinic.org/">Mayo Clinic Online Community</a>: Since
the Mayo Clinic has been a leader in the adoption of social media in health
care it seems logical that it would capitalize on its social media expertise as
well as its clinical reputation to build one of the first patient communities
created by a medical provider. The
online community is open to anyone; however, participants must create a profile
and login password. Members have access
to videos, discussion forums, news articles and blog posts. They can also “friend” other community
members with similar health interests.
One of the key features of the community is the ability of members to
control the privacy of the information shared.
While search engines can scan topics posted in the discussion boards,
the identity of individual members is not disclosed.</div>
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</div>
<a href="http://www.merckengage.com/">MerckEngage</a>: MerckEngage is a password-secured online site where patients can obtain information about certain disease conditions, set health goals and monitor progress. Personal information is protected and not shared without a member's permission. MerckEngage is not a true social community as members cannot interact with each other. However, a unique feature of the site is that it allows patients to connect with their physicians through the site, thereby facilitating cooperation and communication between patients and their physicians. This is especially important since most patients, acccording to a survey by the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Life-of-Health-Info.aspx">Pew Internet and American Life Project</a>, still turn to their physicians for information, care or support. <br />
<br />
Drs. Pamela Hartzbrand and Jerome Groopman noted in a 2010 <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0911938">New England Journal of Medicine article</a>, that the Internet offers patients unlimited amounts of information. However, they also cautioned that "falsehoods are easily and rapidly propagated" as well. To make the best use of the wealth of information available, patients and physicians should work together rather than independently to identify reputable and secure social communities to manage patient health most effectively and safely.<br />
<br />
Do you have examples of online health communities that have successfully addressed privacy and credibility issues? <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<i>(1)<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";">
</span>Shrank, William,
et al. "Variations in Structure and Content of Online Social Networks for
Patients with Diabetes." <u>Archives of Internal Medicine</u> 26 September
2011: 1589-1591.</i></div>
<i>
</i>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-39492398000640908292011-11-22T17:19:00.001-05:002011-11-23T09:20:42.874-05:00Occupy with Grace<span style="font-style: italic;">This year I'm pleased to participate in the Engage with Grace blog rally. </span><em>This post was written by Alexandra Drane and the Engage With Grace team. The goal of blog rally is to get people talking about end of life issues with family members while they are still healthy, when it is easier to think through these issues more rationally and carefully. </em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpAHheMmwceIEmU1wz9Y6cYZ-KBk-qjEiGeEgl-cD8UnxtY21OU83mZDHj7mhvHhllqG_CTsZNA936N7NMylver6tWm_jQro5bFpWAicKAHX9alse4KJe4uRseUvCuc5W8Z9l0tQ1BqlQ/s1600/occupy_with_grace_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpAHheMmwceIEmU1wz9Y6cYZ-KBk-qjEiGeEgl-cD8UnxtY21OU83mZDHj7mhvHhllqG_CTsZNA936N7NMylver6tWm_jQro5bFpWAicKAHX9alse4KJe4uRseUvCuc5W8Z9l0tQ1BqlQ/s200/occupy_with_grace_logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<br />
"Once again, this Thanksgiving we are grateful to all the
people who keep this mission alive day after day: to ensure that each and every one of us
understands, communicates, and has honored their end of life wishes. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Seems almost more fitting than usual this year – the year of
making change happen. 2011 gave us the
Arab Spring – people on the ground using social media to organize a real
political revolution. And now – love it or hate it – it’s the Occupy Wall
Street movement that’s got people talking. </div>
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</div>
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Smart people (like our
good friend <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/SusannahFox">Susannah Fox</a> have
made the point that unlike those political and economic movements, our mission
isn’t an issue we need to raise our
fists about…it’s an issue we have the luxury of being able to hold hands about.
</div>
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</div>
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It’s a mission that’s driven by all the personal stories
we’ve heard of people who’ve seen their loved ones suffer unnecessarily at the
end of their lives. </div>
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</div>
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It’s driven by that ripping-off-the-band-aid feeling of
relief you get when you’ve finally broached the subject of end of life wishes
with your family, free from the burden of just not knowing what they’d want for
themselves, and knowing you could advocate for these wishes if your loved one
weren’t able to speak up for themselves. </div>
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And it’s driven by knowing that this is a conversation that
needs to happen early, and often. One of
the greatest gifts you can give the ones you love is making sure you’re all on
the same page. In the words of the
amazing Atul Gawande – you only die once! Die the way you want. Make sure your loved
ones get that same gift. And there is a way to engage in this topic with
grace…</div>
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</div>
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Here are the five questions – read them, consider them,
answer them (you can securely save your answers the Engage with Grace site, <a href="http://www.engagewithgrace.org/">www.engagewithgrace.org</a>), share your
answers with your loved ones. It doesn’t matter what your answers are, it just
matters that you know them for yourself, and for your loved ones. And they for you. </div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc94jVMxWE2FMNzTRegiokkzSV7JSjrbwfFcMuHPu8n6rxtCgDMpJOKADthyphenhyphen19daIhAOT5YPmj2kq9v8V7YgQ-WVxj5YrTgkEGsDo8TPnoEjvSuHp4ppMbzB9huuXuB7igoD9Z4JFbJM/s1600/theoneslide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc94jVMxWE2FMNzTRegiokkzSV7JSjrbwfFcMuHPu8n6rxtCgDMpJOKADthyphenhyphen19daIhAOT5YPmj2kq9v8V7YgQ-WVxj5YrTgkEGsDo8TPnoEjvSuHp4ppMbzB9huuXuB7igoD9Z4JFbJM/s400/theoneslide.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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We all know the power of a group that decides to assemble.
In fact, we recently spent an amazing couple days with the members of the <a href="http://advancedcarecoalition.org/">Coalition to Transform Advanced Care </a> -- or C-TAC – working together to channel so
much of the extraordinary work that organizations are already doing to improve
the quality of care for our country’s sickest
and most vulnerable.</div>
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Noted journalist Eleanor Clift gave an amazing talk – finding
a way to weave humor and joy into her telling of the story she shared in this <a href="http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/8/1606.full">Health Affairs article</a>. She elegantly sums up (as only she can) the
reason that we have this blog rally ever y year: </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span lang="EN" style="color: #403838; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;">For too many physicians, that conversation is hard to
have, and families, too, are reluctant to initiate a discussion about what Mom
or Dad might want until they’re in a crisis, which isn’t the best time to make
these kinds of decisions. Ideally, that conversation should begin at the
kitchen table with family members, rather than in a doctor’s office.”</span></i></div>
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<i><span lang="EN" style="color: #403838; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></div>
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It’s a conversation you need to have wherever and whenever
you can – and the more people you can rope into it, the better!! Make
this conversation a part of your Thanksgiving weekend – there will be a right
moment – you just might not realize how right it was until you begin the
conversation. </div>
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This is a time to be inspired, informed…to tackle our
challenges in real, substantive, and scalable ways. Participating in this blog
rally is just one small – yet huge – way that we can each keep that fire
burning in our bellies, long after the turkey dinner is gone.</div>
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</div>
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Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. Let’s Engage with Grace together." </div>
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</div>
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<span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">To learn more please go
to <a href="http://www.engagewithgrace.org/">www.engagewithgrace.org</a>. </span></i></span></div>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-7717017650350145992011-11-14T07:13:00.000-05:002013-03-17T08:45:20.614-04:00Maps 2.0: Interacting with Our Health Care World<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3Ll-FkSPn2BuBbx1_XszurqNAoysG4Lk-ILZXO8QoHSAORiWWXqeGnzspGA4fvNq7HZr-ntZGF68WwtwH4MM9Gr0Nzts3BTmZXjw_MtsavOLojp5dgF0LKt33fe6l-uO_HNoQ8HUckI/s1600/3884623800_dee3978214_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil3Ll-FkSPn2BuBbx1_XszurqNAoysG4Lk-ILZXO8QoHSAORiWWXqeGnzspGA4fvNq7HZr-ntZGF68WwtwH4MM9Gr0Nzts3BTmZXjw_MtsavOLojp5dgF0LKt33fe6l-uO_HNoQ8HUckI/s320/3884623800_dee3978214_o.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<br />
Maps do more
than characterize our physical world, they also help us visualize information contained
within it. Thematic mapping has been applied to
many types of information, including health data. One of the earliest and best known examples
of health data mapping was done by Dr. John Snow in 1854. Snow was able to identify the source of a deadly cholera outbreak by marking the location of victims on a London street map. (1)
<br />
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Health maps
enter the 2.0 era</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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Maps today are
more than static depictions of information.
The integration of cartography with information technology has resulted
in the creation of maps which are dynamic and interactive, allowing users to
manipulate, analyze and manage geographically referenced data. These advanced mapping systems are known as <a href="http://www.gis.com/content/what-gis">geographic information systems</a>
(GIS). </div>
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</div>
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In health
care, GIS-based maps are being used to better understand a variety of issues
including:</div>
<ul>
<li>Tracking the
outbreak and distribution of disease </li>
<li>Characterizing
environmental factors that can impact health </li>
<li>Visualizing the
distribution and availability of health care resources</li>
</ul>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Visualizing
problems, finding solutions</i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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With over
one million visits a year, <a href="http://www.healthmap.org/about/">HealthMap</a>
is one of the best known and most widely used health maps. Created in 2006, HealthMap is produced by a
team of researchers, epidemiologists and software developers at <a href="http://www.childrenshospital.org/">Children's Hospital Boston</a>. HealthMap collects information about disease
outbreaks from various online sources including news aggregators, eyewitness
reports, online discussions and public health reports. The goal is to produce a comprehensive, real
time map that allows early detection of global public health threats. According to its website, HealthMap
identified and tracked H1N1 cases well in advance of traditional reporting methods in
the spring of 2009. Currently HealthMap
is tracking an average of 1000 events per day.</div>
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In May
2011, the Economic Research Service (ERS), a branch of the US Department of
Agriculture (USDA), introduced the <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/about.html">Food
Desert Locator</a>. This interactive tool is
designed to help policy makers and other public health professionals
identify the location of food deserts so that they can effectively focus their
efforts on <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/giving/a-mobile-food-pantry-in-a-food-desert.html?_r=1">expanding
access</a> to healthy foods. The ERS
also produces the <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas/about.htm">Food
Environment Atlas</a>, a mapping tool introduced in 2010, which
provides geographic depictions of data on food choices, indicators of health
and well being and community characteristics. </div>
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<br /></div>
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The newly created <a href="http://www.mobilehealthmap.org/index.php">Mobile Health Map</a> depicts the 2000+ mobile health clinics operating across the US. The goal of the project is to build support for such services by demonstrating their cost-effectiveness in providing health services. This map is being used as a data collection tool. Mobile clinics are encouraged to enter information about their services and costs. </div>
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More recently, social media has been incorporated into health mapping. In October, 2011, Marcel Salathe, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, found <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1002199">evidence</a> that sentiments about H1N1 vaccination among Twitter users were positively correlated with vaccination rates by geographic area. Salathe concluded that negative sentiments may lead to geographic clusters of unprotected individuals, increasing the likelihood of disease outbreaks. This information could potentially be used by public health officials to intensify educational campaigns in at risk geographic areas. </div>
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</div>
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Finally, health maps aren't just for public health professionals. A new mapping service called <a href="http://www.walkscore.com/about.shtml">Walk Score</a> helps apartment hunters identify walkable neighborhoods as a means to promote better health. </div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s an app for that</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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Using GIS
enabled mapping doesn’t require a major investment in information
technology. <a href="http://www.vertices.com/">Vertices</a> has developed a proprietary application called
<a href="http://www.mappler.com/">Mappler.com</a> which
enables community organizations to create
interactive maps without specialized knowledge of GIS. Examples of health related maps can be found
on their website. </div>
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<br />
What health data would you like to see
mapped? </div>
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<div class="MsoBibliography">
<i>(1) Aschengrau, Ann and George R Seage III. <u>Essentials
of Epidemiology in Public Health.</u> Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett, 2008. </i></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-30730231805701565412011-11-03T08:15:00.002-04:002016-06-03T04:45:37.504-04:00Is an Ounce of Prevention Worth a Pound of Cure?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJH0y9iuULZhWzKc_hN9K0Gg58gpPT1pD_cfNsuVAP7-ylB37Gt0Df6NRbqheHci4-5Tysk24TrvonA_o5XwW50491Hw9spxiyezvSh156vnEH8xaClsAvAH16j5lc53oeX24hdpr0t0/s1600/5550153831_43329dba6d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJH0y9iuULZhWzKc_hN9K0Gg58gpPT1pD_cfNsuVAP7-ylB37Gt0Df6NRbqheHci4-5Tysk24TrvonA_o5XwW50491Hw9spxiyezvSh156vnEH8xaClsAvAH16j5lc53oeX24hdpr0t0/s200/5550153831_43329dba6d.jpg" width="200" /></a><i>True or false:</i><i> </i>
</div>
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Earlier disease diagnosis leads to more effective treatment and better
outcomes. </div>
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</div>
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Most of us wouldn’t hesitate
in responding true and yet maybe we should.
Early diagnosis can carry risks as well as benefits. During the <a href="http://sph.bu.edu/Bicknell/2011-william-j-bicknell-lectureship-in-public-health/menu-id-617365.html">Bicknell
Lectureship in Public Health</a> at the BU School of Public Health, <a href="http://tdi.dartmouth.edu/faculty/details/119">Dr. H.Gilbert Welch</a>, a professor of medicine, practicing clinician and director of
the Center for Medicine and Media at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy
and Clinical Practice, was joined by a panel of health care professionals to discuss
whether we need to reevaluate the value of diagnostic screening.</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">How early is too early? </i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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Today, Dr. Welch noted, patients are often diagnosed long before
they become symptomatic. Fueled by
improvements in test sensitivity and the availability of new therapies, the diagnostic
threshold for many diseases has been lowered, increasing the number of people
who are classified as needing treatment. The problem with early diagnosis is that there
may be a significant number of these “patients” who may not actually develop health
problems. For this group significant
harm can result from unnecessary treatment.
These patients, according to Dr. Welch, are overdiagnosed. </div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The popularity paradox </i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of us can probably point to a friend or family member
whose life has been saved by early diagnosis and intervention. However, survivor stories, focusing only on
benefits, can lead to a popularity paradox, making screening appear more
valuable according to Dr. Welch. He
pointed out that it’s also important to look at screening value from a global perspective. Epidemiologists have suggested that even if a
screening test correctly identifies people with preclinical disease, its
effectiveness is measured by its ability to reduce disease related morbidity
and mortality. (1) Yet, according
to data presented by Dr. Welch, the increased incidence of many diseases, such
as thyroid cancer, has been associated with stable death rates. We may be suffering from a diagnosis epidemic not a disease related one. </div>
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In October 2011 the <a href="http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/index.html">US Preventive
Services Task Force</a> (USPSTF) proposed new
<a href="http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/draftrec3.htm">recommendations</a>
on PSA screening, advising against its use
in healthy men. Prostate cancer
screening is often cited as a prime example of the problems associated with
overdiagnosis. Writing in the New England
Journal of Medicine, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/opinion/10Ablin.html">Richard Ablin</a>,
developer of the prostate specific antigen test (PSA), noted that several
studies have found prostate screening did not reduce the death rate in men over
the long term. Ablin urged the medical
community to rethink the use of PSA screening to “rescue millions of men from
unnecessary, debilitating treatments.” Putting this in perspective, Dr. Welch
presented data on prostate cancer that found for every life due to screening, 30 to 100 patients are overdiagnosed. </div>
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</div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">It’s about better care, not denying care</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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<a href="http://commonsensemd.blogspot.com/">Dr. Kenneth Lin</a>,
a practicing clinician, Assistant Professor of Clinical Family Medicine at
Georgetown University School of Medicine and former medical officer for the
USPSTF, echoed Dr. Welch. He emphasized
that individual patients and emotional experience cannot be discounted in formulating
screening recommendations; however, this must be countered with evidence
that people can experience harm from overdiagnosis. It’s about striking a balance, he said,
between science and emotion. </div>
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</div>
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<a href="http://sph.bu.edu/index.php?option=com_sphdir&id=239&Itemid=340&INDEX=13905">Dr.
Deborah Bowen</a>, Chair of the Department of Community Health Sciences at the
Boston University School of Public Health, spoke about genetic screening
tests. She observed that patients may
have difficulty understanding what genetic test results, such “at risk”,
mean. She cited numerous studies which have shown
that patient misunderstanding can lead to anxiety, decreased quality of life,
false assurance and poor choices. In
these cases, she concluded, screening can create more harm than good. </div>
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<a href="http://www.bluecrossma.com/visitor/about-us/corporate-leadership/executive-management-team.html">Dr.
John Fallon</a>, Senior Vice President and Chief Physician Executive at Blue
Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, explained that employers want to be fair in
determining what screening tests to cover but they also want to see evidence
that screening has value. Furthermore, he emphasized that we need to have the
courage to change course when scientific data suggests clinical practices are
not helpful. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Time to shift priorities?</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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Dr. Welch and the panelists agreed that more thoughtful
consideration of the risks and benefits of screening is essential to providing
better care for individual patients. As
Dr. Welch noted, it’s important to tell both sides of the story. He added that we may also need to rethink our
health care priorities, focusing more on health promotion versus early
diagnosis. Early diagnosis
focuses on looking more closely for health problems, while health promotion focuses on good preventive
maintenance: eating healthier foods,
exercising regularly, using alcohol in moderation and smoking cessation. </div>
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In other words, "is an ounce of health <i><b>promotion</b></i> worth a pound of cure?" <br />
<br />
<i>You can read more about overdiagnosis in Dr. Welch's book, <u>Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health</u>. Profits from the book are donated to charity. </i></div>
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<i>(1) Aschengrau, Ann and George R Seage III. <u>Essentials
of Epidemiology in Public Health.</u> Sudbury: Jones and Bartlett, 2008. </i></div>
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-82277964493309063022011-09-27T11:27:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:47:16.792-04:00Best Practices During Product Recalls Include Social Media<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jUmD9uRl67qQdFIZwYpSK0XjxrwQkYn12-rvHMzZc-SvVDX3ddJZQCXJwENupQkpjTJbN4Q7FW1XU4FiRyGxo7VlerTm76KnMrGWkIiJ3gfFuGqLlue5AE-Z3EH-YoKQI67SGfxvG-w/s1600/4340167114_648ca73b42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0jUmD9uRl67qQdFIZwYpSK0XjxrwQkYn12-rvHMzZc-SvVDX3ddJZQCXJwENupQkpjTJbN4Q7FW1XU4FiRyGxo7VlerTm76KnMrGWkIiJ3gfFuGqLlue5AE-Z3EH-YoKQI67SGfxvG-w/s200/4340167114_648ca73b42.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Product recalls represent one of the most challenging public relations issues faced by health care firms. According to the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049070.htm">FDA</a>, Class I product recalls, the most serious level, can cause significant health problems or even death. In 2011 there have been <a href="http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugRecalls/default.htm">37 drug recalls</a> to date; most of these have been Class I recalls, requiring significant publicity. While no firm can be completely prepared for such unexpected events, some firms have managed these communication challenges more skillfully than others.<br />
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In September 2011 the Marketing and Communications Committee of the <a href="http://www.massbio.org/">Massachusetts Biotechnology Council</a> convened a group of media and public relations professionals, along with industry representatives, to discuss best practices during a product recall. The role of social media in crisis management was also explored.</div>
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The panel, moderated by Lisa Adler, VP Corporate Communications at <a href="http://www.millennium.com/">Millennium</a> included the following participants:</div>
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<li>Arlene Weintraub, NYC Bureau Chief, <a href="http://www.xconomy.com/">Xconomy</a></li>
<li>Adam Feuerstein, Senior Columnist, <a href="http://www.thestreet.com/">thestreet.com</a></li>
<li>Rob Weisman, Business and Technology Writer, <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/">The Boston Globe</a></li>
<li>Manisha Pai, Associate Director, Corporate Communications, Millennium</li>
<li>Todd Ringler, Managing Director Media Relations, <a href="http://www.edelman.com/">Edelman Public Relations</a></li>
<li>David Albaugh, Senior Manager Public Relations, Millennium </li>
</ul>
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<ul></ul>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Three simple rules</i></b></div>
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Adler opened the discussion by offering three simple rules that firms should follow during a product recall: </div>
<ul>
<li>Communicate and update</li>
<li>Be transparent and accessible</li>
<li>Provide a method for customers to communicate and ask questions</li>
</ul>
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Todd Ringler added that high profile product recalls in health care have changed the way they are managed. He observed that firms have become more willing to communicate proactively, motivated by both internal and external stakeholders. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Start by taking action</i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b></div>
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According to Ringler, firms that successfully manage crises such as product recalls are very good at quickly understanding what went wrong and initiating corrective action <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">before</i></b> communicating to the outside. He advised that explaining what happened and what's being done should be central to a firm's communications message. </div>
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David Albaugh recommended that a firm’s crisis management team include members that have responsibility for both internal and external audiences. He emphasized that the team also needs to include people who can take action within the company, such as a manufacturing representative who has the authority to stop production if necessary. This is critical in allowing firms to address the issue of what they’re doing to correct the situation. Albaugh also advised that communication across audiences be consistent. In addition to the media, he suggested that relevant audiences should include patient advocacy groups and FDA. </div>
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Rob Weisman observed that companies do best when they are open and transparent. He recommended taking the time to educate reporters on the background of a case so they can put the problem in context. He recounted his experience reporting contamination in a biologic manufacturing plant at Genzyme. Genzyme helped him understand what they were doing by giving him a tour of the plant and explaining the manufacturing process in detail. He found this especially helpful since he had limited knowledge about the challenges of manufacturing biologic products before the crisis. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Using social media during a product recall </i></b></div>
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During a product recall Lisa Adler noted that there is a need to communicate with many audiences utilizing a number of methods. Social media is one of these methods. Rob Weisman and Adam Feuerstein observed that tools like Twitter can be very useful as an alert mechanism. Manisha Pai concurred, adding that social media can help companies quickly create a link to more detailed information. David Albaugh pointed out that social media can help firms learn about potential problems more quickly by subscribing to FDA alerts (via <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/FDArecalls">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm049070.htm">RSS</a>).</div>
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In addition to giving firms an opportunity to proactively communicate, Todd Ringler observed that social media is especially useful in providing ongoing information which doesn’t need to be formally communicated. It’s also valuable when product recalls affect a small number of patients. Finally, he noted that social media allows firms to monitor what the market is saying about them or how patient advocacy groups are reacting. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Break the story before it breaks you</i></b></div>
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Both Todd Ringler and Arlene Weintraub agreed that giving reporters a heads up prior to communicating with the public is tremendously helpful in building trust and credibility among the media. This is especially critical during a product recall. Ringler agreed, emphasizing that this strategy has always been effective for his clients. </div>
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In closing, David Albaugh emphasized that putting the patient first is the best strategy for protecting the public's safety and preserving a firm’s reputation. </div>
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-81886869752037414962011-08-23T21:13:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:48:05.816-04:00Earthquake Underscores Value of Social Media During Emergencies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09f82R1zndJebzgh1OmfPROQYlTKZuO-mjW9j3IH4mGEJvNDMu8LvmTNe1NkMWVwAo_ZGgerdSleEMkyJN66glhG6PTO4N6gVzGRbji0yDqrEv_p8_n04YnZRVN2Kr3K9rNYNppe3F3k/s1600/4962228357_12720a1e64.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09f82R1zndJebzgh1OmfPROQYlTKZuO-mjW9j3IH4mGEJvNDMu8LvmTNe1NkMWVwAo_ZGgerdSleEMkyJN66glhG6PTO4N6gVzGRbji0yDqrEv_p8_n04YnZRVN2Kr3K9rNYNppe3F3k/s400/4962228357_12720a1e64.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
Talk about timing! On August 22, 2011 the US Department of Health and Human Services, <a href="http://www.phe.gov/about/Pages/default.aspx">Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response</a> (ASPR), issued a press release about its <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/08/20110822a.html">contest</a> for software developers to design Facebook applications which would help people communicate with friends and family after an emergency or disaster. If the $10,000 first prize didn’t grab the attention of the software community maybe the 5.8 magnitude <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24quake.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=us">earthquake</a>, which struck in Virginia just one day later, will. The earthquake also underscores the value of social media in such situations.<br />
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First, social media is an efficient broadcast mechanism, quickly alerting people to what is happening. Within minutes of the earthquake my Twitter stream was buzzing with reports of the quake from people located up and down the East Coast. Looking at my Facebook page I also saw numerous comments about the quake shortly after it occurred.<br />
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Social media is also a more reliable communication channel. During disasters cell phone lines can easily become overwhelmed with traffic, rendering them useless. The August 23 earthquake was no exception. When I tried calling my son in New Jersey I was unable to get through to his cell phone. I was not alone. Several <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20096170-266/cell-service-jammed-after-east-coast-earthquake/">cell phone carriers</a> reported disruptions in service due to heavy call volume. <br />
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With the average American spending more time on social networks, it makes sense to use these channels to communicate in emergency situations. <a href="http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/"> Nielsen</a> reported that Americans spend nearly a quarter of their online time using social networks and blogs. And the <a href="http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Technology-and-social-networks/Summary.aspx">Pew Internet and American Life Project</a> reported that 52% of Facebook users and 33% of Twitter users engage with the platform daily.<br />
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ASPR deserves praise for recognizing the value of social media in emergencies <b><i>AND</i></b> for making the development of a Facebook app a top priority. As the HHS press release notes, the first place winner will work with the government and Facebook to create an operational application <i><b>within weeks</b></i> of selection. I hope ASPR will expand its initiative to include other social media platforms such as Twitter too. Unfortunately these apps won't be available by the time the next disaster strikes the East Coast: the impending arrival of <a href="http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/good-odds-of-first-u-s-hurricane-strike-since-2008/?scp=1&sq=hurricane%20irene&st=cse">Hurricane Irene</a>. <br />
<br />About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-27725536605745376572011-08-22T07:15:00.005-04:002013-03-17T08:48:35.034-04:00Is Your Organization Making the Most of Twitter?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdDfVH5Kbe9pn4rrINnqeYxXhquhFTRZhfTSLGI-OrJ1RC0kjh_lOmuOuDceQC9OSVQPRfgIfj-5ukP6VSrKGqVODZuo8dNHeCZYtqvIsdtGwvbcpnGJ3eY9ziQeUh9DY0JuBI0EtiWI/s1600/5671574378_28aab06722_m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMdDfVH5Kbe9pn4rrINnqeYxXhquhFTRZhfTSLGI-OrJ1RC0kjh_lOmuOuDceQC9OSVQPRfgIfj-5ukP6VSrKGqVODZuo8dNHeCZYtqvIsdtGwvbcpnGJ3eY9ziQeUh9DY0JuBI0EtiWI/s1600/5671574378_28aab06722_m.jpg" /></a></div>
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Twitter can help organizations broaden their communications reach, share knowledge, develop relationships, grow their networks and gain visibility. But realizing Twitter’s full potential involves more than just tweeting, retweeting and following. Tools like <a href="http://www.business2community.com/social-media/how-to-participate-in-a-tweet-chat-048534">tweet chats</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitterview">twitterviews</a> can be used by organizations of all sizes to maximize their impact on Twitter. </div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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<b><i>Fostering engagement, keeping the conversation alive</i></b></div>
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<b><i> </i></b></div>
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At the CDC’s <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/NCHCMM/">National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media</a> in August 2011, representatives from the <a href="http://odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/">Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion</a> (ODPHP), <a href="http://www.healthliteracymissouri.org/">Health Literacy Missouri</a> (HLM) and the <a href="http://www.cdcnpin.org/">National Prevention Information Network</a> (NPIN) discussed how they have used tweet chats to grow their following and increase audience engagement. </div>
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<b>ODPHP</b>: A tweet chat held during Health Literacy Month, in October 2010, included one expert advisor and a panel of 11 key opinion leaders. A total of 160 individuals participated in the chat which yielded 1000 tweets and 360 uses of the chat’s hashtag. The chat also provided the impetus for ongoing discussion on the topic of health literacy.</div>
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<b>HLM</b>: In October 2010, HLM hosted its first tweet chat which drew 100 participants and resulted in 500 tweets. Since then HLM has hosted several successful tweet chats on a range of topics including Healthy People 2020, health reform, health literacy stories and how young people gather online health information. Since it began hosting the chats HLM has increased its network by 1000. According to the hashtag tool <a href="http://archivist.visitmix.com/">The Archivist</a> there have been over 8,300 tweets which have used the #healthlit hashtag since October 2010. </div>
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<b>NPIN</b>: For 2010 National HIV Testing Day NPIN held a tweet chat event that included representatives from 99 state and local health departments, community-based organizations and activists/influencers. Over 1000 tweets, representing 145 Twitter accounts, were tracked using the event hashtag (#NHTD). NPIN’s Twitter following increased by 10% during the week of the event.</div>
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<b><i>The four Ps of tweet chats: plan, prepare, promote, publish</i></b></div>
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The panelists suggested the following tips to successfully host a tweet chat:</div>
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<b>Prepare:</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Participate in existing tweet chats to understand and get comfortable with the format. Click <a href="http://www.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtags/tweet-chats/">here</a> for a description and schedule of health care tweetchats compiled by the <a href="http://www.foxepractice.com/about/about-the-fox-group-llc/">Fox Group</a>. A recent <a href="http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/How_to_participate_in_a_tweet_chat__43440.aspx">blog post</a> by social media coach <a href="http://janetfouts.com/">Jane Fouts</a> offers helpful advice on how to participate in a tweet chat. </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Choosing a topic for your chat is crucial. Find out what your audience is talking about by identifying, following and analyzing popular hashtags. (Click <a href="http://www.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtags/tweet-chats/">here</a> to view a list of health care hashtags, also compiled by the Fox Group.) </li>
</ul>
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<b>Plan:</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Know your goals: Determine what you are trying to accomplish, identify your target audience, understand what issues need to be a part of the conversation and why this topic is important to your audience, determine the main message you want people to remember.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Assemble a team to manage the chat and assign responsibilities. The size of the team will depend on your organization’s resources and the expected attendance.</li>
</ul>
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<i>Director:</i> oversees the overall operation of the chat; directs questions, watches the clock and makes decisions on how to respond to issues or questions that arise.</div>
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<i>Moderator:</i> responsible for sending out pre-written tweets and keeping the conversation moving along. </div>
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<i>Monitor:</i> keeps track of questions asked by participants and directs them to appropriate respondent. More than one monitor may be needed.</div>
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<i>Responder: </i>answers participants’ questions. Depending on the number of topics and participants, multiple responders may be needed. Try to anticipate questions and prepare responses ahead of time. </div>
<ul>
<li>Use tools like <a href="http://tweetchat.com/">TweetChat</a> to help manage the actual event and monitor the conversation.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Make your event timely by choosing a topic that people are actively talking about or plan your chat to coincide with national events.</li>
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<b>Promote:</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Start promoting well in advance of your chat date.</li>
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<ul>
<li>Identify a panel of influencers who are leading conversations about your topic (both online and offline) and invite them to participate. Hashtag tools like <a href="http://topsy.com/">Topsy</a>, <a href="http://www.hashtracking.com/">Hashtracking</a> and <a href="http://archivist.visitmix.com/">The Archivist</a> can help you identify top Twitter users for specific hashtags</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Make it easy for influencers and other supporters to promote your chat via their networks by offering them sample tweets.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Promote the chat via your own Twitter account and other communication channels such as e-newsletters, your blog or other networks.</li>
</ul>
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<ul>
<li>Invite relevant organizations as well as individuals.</li>
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<b>Publish:</b></div>
<ul>
<li>Summarize and archive the key points that came out of the chat including relevant resources related to the chat. Distribute the summary to your audiences. </li>
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The panelists acknowledged that planning and preparing for tweet chats requires a significant time commitment; however, the results they shared were impressive, even for a single chat. If you haven’t hosted a tweet chat you may be missing an opportunity to make the most of your Twitter account.<br />
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<i>Please consider retweeting this post or following me <a href="http://twitter.com/jamierauscher">@jamierauscher</a>.</i><br />
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-40527947041472852962011-07-28T12:17:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:49:12.190-04:00Who will Drive Social Media Use in Health Care? Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is the last of a three part series examining how various groups will drive social media use in health care. <a href="http://www.healthjam.net/2011/06/who-will-drive-social-media-use-in.html">Part one</a> considered the impact of physicians and <a href="http://www.healthjam.net/2011/07/who-will-drive-social-media-use-in.html">part two</a> discussed the role of the pharmaceutical industry. This week’s post examines the evolving and growing role of the federal government, particularly the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). </div>
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HHS has become an active participant in social media with its role extending well beyond regulation. As the <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/about/index.html">HHS Center for New Media</a> observed, social media tools enhance the government’s ability to share information with stakeholders, increase public engagement and participation and improve collaboration within and across departments and agencies. </div>
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<i><b>HHS: social media champion</b></i></div>
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HHS created its Center for New Media to actively promote and support social media adoption throughout the department. The site contains extensive <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/resources/index.html">information</a> for HHS agencies on why social media is important, how to get started, what tools are available and policies governing social media use. Agencies within HHS have responded enthusiastically. As of July 2011 there are 96 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/twitter.html">Twitter</a> accounts, 64 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/facebook.html">Facebook</a> accounts, 32 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/blogs.html">blogs</a>, 24 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/youtube.html">YouTube</a> channels, 9 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/flickr.html">Flickr</a> accounts and 41 <a href="http://newmedia.hhs.gov/tools/podcasts.html">podcasts</a>. These social media channels represent a wide range of agencies within the department, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Agency for Health care Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and others. </div>
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Some agencies within the department, such as the CDC, have developed considerable social media expertise. An excellent example of this expertise is the CDC’s publication, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthcommunication/ToolsTemplates/SocialMediaToolkit_BM.pdf">The Health Communicator’s Social Media Toolkit</a>. The CDC recently demonstrated its mastery of social media with the wildly popular <a href="http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp">Zombie Apocalypse</a> post on its Public Health Matters blog. The <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/19/zombie.warning/index.html">post</a>, written as a way to get the public interested in disaster preparedness, was so popular it ended up <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/19/zombie.warning/index.html">crashing</a> the CDC website. To date there have been 341 comments on the post.<br />
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<i><b>Promoting education, engagement and collaboration</b></i></div>
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As an authoritative source of health information, HHS is using social media to educate and engage patients and clinicians on a wide range of health issues. The <a href="http://www.flu.gov/">flu.gov</a> campaign is an outstanding example of how the federal government has used social media campaign to communicate with and engage the public about seasonal flu vaccination. In addition to providing information about the flu, HHS is also using crowd sourcing to create educational campaigns. The CDC’s <a href="http://fluapp.challenge.gov/#detailed_description">Flu App Challenge</a> recently awarded $35,000 to nine developers who created mobile and web apps, games and other tools designed to raise awareness and educate consumers about the flu. In 2009 HHS sponsored a <a class="APEdocument APEinternal" href="http://www.flu.gov/psa/psacontest1.html" title="">video PSA contest</a> on flu prevention. </div>
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Another interesting example of social media use by HHS is the <a href="http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/guides-for-patients-and-consumers/">AHRQ’s Effective Care Program</a>. This site is designed to help both patients and clinicians determine the best treatment options for a variety of diseases. Additionally, the AHRQ allows visitors to suggest topics for upcoming treatment guides. The AHRQ also encourages sharing and promotion of its clinical information. It has created widgets which allow clinicians and other professionals to embed links to AHRQ reports within their websites or blog. </div>
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HHS is also using social media to foster collaboration and encourage innovation among scientists and industry leaders in the public and private sectors. Through its <a href="http://www.iom.edu/Activities/PublicHealth/HealthData.aspx">Health Data Initiative</a>, HHS, in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine, is expanding public access to its abundant health data. Its stated goal is to “harness the power of data, technology and innovation to improve the health and welfare of the nation.” HHS has used social media tools, including a <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/open/discussion/blog.html">blog</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/healthdatagov">Twitter</a> account to promote awareness about the initiative. In June 2011 it sponsored the 2<sup>nd</sup> Annual Health Data Initiative. The event, attended by members of the scientific and business community, was <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/live/">streamed</a> and tweeted live (#healthapps). </div>
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<i><b>Promising signs</b></i></div>
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Finally, HHS is using social media tools to communicate directly with external audiences. On July 19, 2011 the FDA released its proposed regulation of mobile medical apps. That same day the FDA hosted a Twitter chat to answer questions related to the proposed regulation. As noted on the <a href="http://blog.wegohealth.com/2011/07/20/2596/">Wego Health Blog</a>, the use of a Twitter chat seems ironic given the FDA’s delay in issuing guidance on social media regulations for health care companies. Still, it is encouraging to see the FDA actively participating in social media, a medium which it will be monitoring and regulating. </div>
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At a time when the US faces rising health care expenditures and numerous public health challenges, the widespread adoption of social media by HHS is an unexpected bright spot in the health care landscape. </div>
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-61846955046680560462011-07-17T20:41:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:49:44.322-04:00Who will Drive Social Media Use in Health Care? Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is the second of a three part series examining how various groups will drive social media use in health care. <a href="http://www.healthjam.net/2011/06/who-will-drive-social-media-use-in.html">Part one</a> considered the impact of physicians. This week, I examine the evolving role of the pharmaceutical industry. Though pharmaceutical companies have been slow to embrace social media, their usage will accelerate as a result of increasing clarity in regulatory guidance, industry advocacy, the growing influence of online health information and changes in pharmaceutical marketing tactics.</div>
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<b><i>Lagging regulatory guidance, growing industry advocacy</i></b></div>
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Pharma’s lag in the adoption of social media has been due largely to a lack of guidance from the FDA. In November 2009 the FDA hosted a public hearing on social media use by pharma; however, it has delayed issuing final guidance several times. Most notably, the FDA just dropped social media from its 2011 guidance agenda. Despite the delays, <a href="http://blog.pharmexec.com/2011/06/22/dia-social-media-guidelines-are-ddmac%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98highest-priority%E2%80%99/">Tom Abrams</a>, director of FDA’s Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising & Communications (DDMAC), maintains that publishing guidelines is the highest priority. </div>
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In the absence of FDA guidance some firms are creating their own policies. In August 2010 <a href="http://www.roche.com/about_roche/at_a_glance/socialmedia.htm">Roche</a> disclosed its social media principles. <a href="http://www.astrazeneca-us.com/_mshost795281/content/media/AZ_Social_Media_White_Paper.pdf">AstraZeneca</a> followed in December 2010 with the publication of a white paper outlining its guidelines for social media use by the pharmaceutical industry. More recently, in May 2011, medical blogger Dr. Bertalan Mesko launched the <a href="http://www.webicina.com/solutions/pharmaSM/">Open Access Social Media Guide for Pharma</a>. The goal of the project is to allow collaborative creation of guidelines that pharmaceutical companies can use to develop and refine their own policies. Lack of FDA guidance may have slowed adoption of social media by pharmaceutical companies but it has not halted it. </div>
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<b><i>Social communities as a source of health information</i></b></div>
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According to the <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Life-of-Health-Info.aspx">Pew Internet and American Life Project</a>, patients are turning to online social communities for information on illnesses and therapy. As noted in the blog <a href="http://www.eyeonfda.com/eye_on_fda/2009/03/a-conversation-with-fdaddmac-about-pharma-social-media-and-web-20.html">eyeonfda</a>, if pharmaceutical companies do not participate in this space they will be allowing their brands to be shaped by outside forces. The use of branded social communities, executed responsibly, can be a win-win situation: social communities can provide patients with credible medical information about managing their health and pharmaceutical companies can build valuable relationships with patients; however, this potential has not been realized. Many firms do not currently allow unmoderated patient comments in their social communities due to regulatory and liability concerns.<br />
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In August 2011 pharmaceutical firms will be forced to address the issue of community moderation. Effective August 15, Facebook will require that unmoderated comments be allowed on all company pages, including those maintained by pharmaceutical firms. <a href="http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/06/will-drugmakers-abandon-facebook-some-might/">Some</a> predict pharmaceutical firms will abandon Facebook; however, there are signs that others will stay. <a href="http://creationhealthcare.com/articles/hes-psoriasis-360/">Janssen</a> already allows patient comments without pre-screening on its Psoriasis 360 Facebook page. In July 2011, at the <a href="http://www.cvent.com/events/social-communications-healthcare-2011-case-studies-roundtables/event-summary-de56ad1f04b547ee9ca40082f6370a8d.aspx">Social Communications & Healthcare Conference</a> in New York, Ray Kerins, VP, Worldwide Communications for Pfizer, commented that Pfizer is planning to maintain its Facebook presence and has developed a plan to deal with the new Facebook policies. While the August 2011 deadline only pertains to Facebook, it will certainly shape the industry's use of all social platforms. </div>
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Beyond patient engagement, the pharmaceutical industry may also turn to social media as a way to connect patients to clinical trials. A recent white paper by <a href="http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/social-media-shows-promise-clinical-trials">Blue Chip Patient Recruitment</a> addresses the use of social media in this area. Recently, <a href="http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/06/pfizer-and-a-clinical-trial-in-a-box-for-home-use/">Pfizer</a> announced it will use social media to engage patients during an upcoming clinical trial. </div>
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<b><i>Changes in promotional tactics</i></b></div>
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Pharmaceutical firms will expand their use of social media to communicate with physicians in response to marketing challenges. Physicians are becoming more difficult to see and the number of pharmaceutical sales representatives has declined over the past decade. Closed social communities offer pharmaceutical firms an alternative way to communicate with physicians. Some firms have engaged with physicians indirectly, such as Pfizer’s collaboration with <a href="http://www.sermo.com/news/pr/10/october/1/pfizer-engages-nation%E2%80%99s-physicians-through-sermo-improve-patient-care">Sermo</a>. Other firms are establishing their own communities. Consider <a href="https://www.ipractice.com/wps/portal/ipractice/home/%21ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjf3NnUycPc8eQsEBDA8_AQPMQR_MwAwMTM30_j_zcVP2CbEdFAI8K_k8%21/dl3/d3/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/">iPractice</a> by Sanofi-Aventis. According to the site: “iPractice was created by Sanofi-Aventis U.S. exclusively for doctors. It’s a hub of resources, tools and product support and information designed to help alleviate the burdens associated with running a practice.” With this site Sanofi-Aventis has combined both product promotion and value added services in a secure physician community. Of course, full access to the site requires physicians to register by providing information which will presumably be used by Sanofi-Aventis to target promotional activities. </div>
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Today’s modest use of social media by members of the pharmaceutical industry hints at its huge growth potential. As clearer guidelines emerge we should see realization of this potential. <br />
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In part three of this series I’ll consider the role of the federal government in driving social media use in health care. </div>
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-85270220759480275962011-06-30T11:18:00.000-04:002013-03-17T08:50:21.980-04:00Who will Drive Social Media Use in Health Care? Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In his blog post titled <i><b>Social Media in Health Care: Barriers and Future Trends</b></i>, author <a href="http://www.ihealthbeat.org/perspectives/2010/social-media-in-health-care-barriers-and-future-trends.aspx">John Sharp</a> notes that social media has invaded health care from at least three fronts: startups, patient communities and medical centers. These three groups will continue to drive and expand the use of social media in health care over the next five years. However, I believe other three other groups will also exert influence and expand use: physicians, pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, and the federal government. Over the next three weeks, I'll examine the impact of each of these groups on the future of health care social media.<br />
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This week I consider the evolving influence of physicians. Physicians have not been active in social media for several reasons: lack of clarity on appropriate use of social media, slow adoption of information technology, and payment schedules that don't reimburse for patient conversations. These factors are becoming less of a deterrent to the use of social media by physicians. </div>
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<i><b>Crystallizing professional guidance</b></i></div>
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Major organizations such as the <a href="http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/meeting/professionalism-social-media.shtml">American Medical Association</a> are issuing guidelines to help clarify the appropriate use of social media by physicians. Influential physicians who are active in social media, such as blogger Dr. Kevin Pho of <a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/06/google-doctors-physicians-careful.html">KevinMD</a> and Val Jones of <a href="http://getbetterhealth.com/healthyrt">Better Health</a>, also provide useful guidance and lead by example. The newly established <a href="http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/about-3/">Mayo Center for Social Media</a> also explores the appropriate use of social media by health care professionals in its blog series titled <a href="http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/2011/04/23/friday-faux-pas-physician-fired-for-facebook-posting/">Friday Faux Pas</a> and in its video project, <a href="http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org/2011/06/30/network-video-project-to-prod-discussion-on-physician-social-media-use/">The Doctor is Online: Physician Use, Responsibility, and Opportunity in the Time of Social Media</a>. <br />
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<i><b>Impact of telehealth</b></i></div>
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<span class="body">The <a href="http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1">American Telehealth Association</a> (ATA) defines telehealth as </span><span class="body">"remote healthcare that does not always involve clinical services. Videoconferencing, transmission of still images, e-health including patient portals, remote monitoring of vital signs, continuing medical education and nursing call centers are all considered part of telemedicine and telehealth."</span> According to a <a href="http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/press-releases/seven-percent-us-physicians-use-video-chat-communicate-patients-1">survey</a> of 2000 US physicians, 7% use online video conferencing to communicate with patients.<br />
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Use of telehealth technology is expected to grow because it provides a way to improve physician productivity and enhance the quality of care. A recent study by <a href="http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/QUA-253680/PhysicianPatient-Email-Improves-Quality-Study-Finds.html">Kaiser Permanente</a> found that among 35,423 patients with chronic health conditions, those that used email to communicate with their doctors saw a statistically significant improvement in health effectiveness measures. Dr. Ron Dixon, Director of the <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2010-08-16/lifestyle/29293207_1_health-care-patients-emergency-department">Virtual Practice Project</a> at Massachusetts General Hospital, also noted that information technology offers the ability to improve coordination of care among various providers.<br />
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<i><b>Expanded reimbursement</b></i><br />
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A nationwide phone survey of 72 programs offering telehealth services by <a href="http://www.amdtelemedicine.com/telemedicine-resources/reimbursement.html">AMD Global Telemedicine</a>, supplier of telemedicine technology found that more than half are currently receiving reimbursement from private payers. Private payers currently reimburse for telehealth programs in at least 25 states. According to the survey over 100 private payers currently reimburse for telemedicine services. <br />
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A survey conducted by the <a href="http://www.ctel.org/expertise/reimbursement/">Center for Telehealth & eHealth Law</a> found that 39 states have some reimbursement for telehealth services, though the extent of coverage depends on many factors. Similarly, the <span id="articleBody"><a href="http://www.cms.hhs.gov/">Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a> (CMS)</span> also provides limited coverage for telehealth services. Recently, however, the ATA sent a <a href="http://www.americantelemed.org/files/public/policy/ATA_ACOComments_4_25_2011.pdf">letter</a> to CMS Administrator Dr. Donald M. Berwick, asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, of which CMS is a part, to waive restrictions for telehealth services under Medicare Parts A and B.<br />
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Additionally, the increasing popularity of secure <a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/healthcare/patient/228000138">“communities”</a> where physicians can exchange clinical information will hasten adoption of information technology. Since its launch in 2006, 20% of all US physicians have become members of <a href="http://www.sermo.com/news/pr/02/february/3/sermo-named-fast-company-magazine%E2%80%99s-list-world%E2%80%99s-most-innovative-companies">Sermo</a>, an online community where practicing physicians discuss clinical issues and practice management. <a href="https://www.doximity.com/">Doximity</a> is another private network for physicians and other medical professionals.</div>
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<i><b>The rise of e-patients</b></i></div>
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The emergence of <a href="http://e-patients.net/about-e-patientsnet">e-patients</a>, patients who are engaged, empowered and active online, will also encourage physicians to use social media. <a href="http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Life-of-Health-Info/Summary-of-Findings/Section-1.aspx">The Pew Internet and American Life Project</a> found:</div>
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<li class="first">80% of internet users (or 59% of adults) have looked online for health information </li>
<li>34% of internet users (or 25% of adults) have read someone else’s comments about health or medical issues in an online news group, website, or blog.</li>
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If physicians are to remain a relevant source of medical information for patients, they will need to establish their presence online as well as offline. </div>
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Next week I'll look consider the factors influencing increased social media use by pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. </div>
About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-11417179364202148232011-06-22T16:09:00.001-04:002013-03-17T08:50:56.541-04:00Who's Responsible for Childhood Obesity?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The San Francisco City Council recently <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/us-toys-fastfood-idUSTRE75K6RZ20110622?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews&WT.tsrc=Social+Media&WT.z_smid=twtr-reuters_health&WT.z_smid_dest=Twitter">banned toys</a> in children’s fast food meals but the ban won’t fix the problem of childhood obesity because it doesn’t address its root causes. Childhood obesity, like adult obesity, is the result of numerous factors converging to create the perfect public health storm.</div>
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<i><b>Children are moving less </b></i></div>
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Children spend more time engaging in sedentary activities such as playing video games or spending time online. This is compounded by the fact that physical education programs and recess have been cut from many school programs. Yet numerous studies have shown that physical activity has a <a href="http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=125860">positive impact</a> on the academic performance of children. </div>
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<i><b>Children are eating fewer home cooked meals</b></i></div>
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Frequent family meals have been shown to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and reduce consumption of sugar sweetened beverages. (1) Yet away from home foods have been associated with foods that are less nutritious (higher in fat, lower in fiber) and have larger portion sizes. (2) Despite the unfavorable nutrition profile of away from home foods expenditures on these types of foods has been increasing. Nearly half of families have reported consuming restaurant food at least once weekly. (3) Furthermore, the amount of time spent preparing food among US households has decreased for two reasons: less time available for food preparation and lower time costs of food preparation. The Economic Research Service report <b><i><a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/ERR40/err40.pdf">Who has Time to Cook</a></i></b> found that the amount of time spent preparing food decreased as the number of hours worked increased.<br />
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<i><b>What are the implications?</b></i><br />
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Childhood obesity can be especially costly since it can lead to serious health conditions that have a lasting impact. Children who are overweight and obese are at increased risk for hypercholesteremia, dyslipidemia, hypertension, insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, Type 2 diabetes and depression. The likelihood that these health conditions persist is quite high since the probability of childhood obesity continuing through adulthood increases from 20% at age 4 to 80% in adolescence. (4)</div>
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The solution to childhood obesity will require the efforts of multiple stakeholders: schools need to serve better food and make physical activity a part of the daily curriculum, parents need to take the time to choose foods more carefully and make family meals a priority, even employers have a vested interest since the children of employees are covered by employer sponsored health plans. Finally the government, at state, local and federal levels, needs to continue to educate the public through programs such as <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/">Let’s Move</a> and create <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-04-12-editorial12_ST_N.htm">incentives</a> that encourage schools to serve healthy foods. </div>
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<b><i>Who’s responsible for addressing childhood obesity? </i></b></div>
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The answer is easy: everyone. The solution is not.</div>
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<i>Citations: </i> </div>
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<i><span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i>(1) Fulkerson, Jayne et. al. “Family meals: perceptions of benefits and challenges among parents of 8-10 year old children.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association (April 2008): 706-709.</i><i> </i></div>
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<i>(2) Greenwood, Jessica and Stanford, Joseph. “Preventing or Improving Obesity by Addressing Specific Eating Patterns.” Journal of American Board of Family Medicine ( March-April 2008): 135-140.</i></div>
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<i>(3) <span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"></span></i><i>Ayala, Guadalupe et. al. “Away from home food intake and risk for obesity: examining the influence of context.” Obesity (December 2008): 1002-1008.</i><i> </i></div>
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<i>(4) American Academy of Pediatrics, “Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and Obesity,” Pediatrics (August 2003): 424-430.</i><br />
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About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7344923654610957690.post-85264487595537654062011-06-20T10:39:00.000-04:002011-06-20T15:41:35.441-04:00Making Progress on Men's Health<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7YLMbtyq3AySpwCiedYoYKvf6sYlqSiLOQbF4rTw5N8Jqq-_y-4zv1mxGk7Of9utqpdkYLjYlp9v8S9Ci7MguNbY8kWSROQu_PLp80pmDfAo7TsQ7zNCyJSjfD8O7oPWb4b5U1Ofwy0/s1600/GettyImages_med041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7YLMbtyq3AySpwCiedYoYKvf6sYlqSiLOQbF4rTw5N8Jqq-_y-4zv1mxGk7Of9utqpdkYLjYlp9v8S9Ci7MguNbY8kWSROQu_PLp80pmDfAo7TsQ7zNCyJSjfD8O7oPWb4b5U1Ofwy0/s1600/GettyImages_med041.jpg" /></a></div>It's <a data-mce-href="http://www.menshealthmonth.org/" href="http://www.menshealthmonth.org/">Men's Health Month</a> and a good time to consider male health issues. <a data-mce-href="http://www.menshealthnetwork.org/library/silenthealthcrisis.pdf" href="http://www.menshealthnetwork.org/library/silenthealthcrisis.pdf">Men’s health</a> is frequently overlooked despite the fact that men die five years sooner than women and have higher mortality rates from the leading causes of death. Understanding the health seeking behavior of men, how they communicate and what influences them is key to eliminating the health gender gap.<br />
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<b><i>It's true: men go to the doctor less frequently</i></b><br />
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A recent <a data-mce-href="http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2010/menshealthpr.htm" href="http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2010/menshealthpr.htm">report</a> from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) found that men were 24% less likely to visit the doctor than women over the course of a year. Male cultural values may be a factor in whether men visit their doctors but <a data-mce-href="http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17141516" href="http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17141516">research</a> suggests patient dissatisfaction with the office visit may also play a role.<br />
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A study conducted by researchers at the <a data-mce-href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-african-american-men-doctor-bad.html" href="http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-african-american-men-doctor-bad.html">University of Michigan</a> found that a majority of African American men reported they didn’t go to the doctor because visits were stressful and physicians didn’t provide the information they needed to make lifestyle changes. Researchers suggested doctors offer more practical information to help <b><i>all</i></b> men follow physician recommendations. Some useful online resources which address men’s health include:<br />
<ul><li><a data-mce-href="http://www.blueprintformenshealth.com/" href="http://www.blueprintformenshealth.com/">Blueprint for Men’s Health</a></li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.cdc.gov/features/healthymen/" href="http://www.cdc.gov/features/healthymen/">CDC: Men’s Health</a></li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.menshealthnetwork.org/" href="http://www.menshealthnetwork.org/">Men’s Health Network</a></li>
<li><a data-mce-href="http://www.ahrq.gov/healthymen/watchvideos.htm" href="http://www.ahrq.gov/healthymen/watchvideos.htm">AHRQ: Healthy Men</a><b><i></i></b></li>
</ul><i><b>Talk like a man</b></i><br />
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Understanding the subtlety of male communication is also critical to improving men’s health. <a data-mce-href="http://www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/common/pdf/igs/reaching_the_male_population.pdf" href="http://www.idph.state.ia.us/hpcdp/common/pdf/igs/reaching_the_male_population.pdf">Joe Zoske</a>, a health communication instructor, suggests focusing on numbers and using metaphors that resonate with men.<br />
Additionally, Will Courtenay, PhD, a specialist in men’s behavioral health, has developed the following <a data-mce-href="http://www.mdbayarea.com/index.cfm/article_13.htm" href="http://www.mdbayarea.com/index.cfm/article_13.htm">6 Point HEALTH Plan</a> to guide clinician’s conversations with men:<br />
<ul><li><b>Humanize</b>: explain to men that their concerns are normal, not a sign of weakness</li>
<li><b>Educate</b>: take some time to explain; men may be less knowledgeable about health issues compared to your female patients.</li>
<li><b>Assume the Worst</b>: men tend to underestimate the severity of their symptoms; gently probe to gain an accurate assessment of their clinical condition</li>
<li><b>Locate Supports</b>: work with male patients to identify supportive individuals and groups who can help them manage their health issues</li>
<li><b>Tailor Plan</b>: work with patients to create a realistic health plan that focuses on a few achievable goals</li>
<li><b>Highlight Strengths</b>: take advantage of male patients’ competitive attitudes to help motivate them about their health</li>
</ul><i><b>Nagging works</b></i><br />
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<b><i></i></b>The influence of spouses on men’s health should not be overlooked. According to a survey of male patients from two primary care clinics, researchers concluded that targeting women is an effective way to change the health behavior of men. (1) This conclusion was validated by a second study which used patient reminder mailings from health insurers to encourage men to seek preventive health care. When reminders were also mailed to spouses or partners there was a significant increase in the number of men scheduling preventive care. (2)<br />
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<i><b>A national health priority</b></i><br />
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On June 16, 2011 the National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council announced the release of the <a data-mce-href="http://www.healthcare.gov/center/councils/nphpphc/strategy/report.pdf" href="http://www.healthcare.gov/center/councils/nphpphc/strategy/report.pdf">National Prevention Strategy</a> , a plan whose goal is improve the health of Americans by focusing on wellness. For this strategy to succeed, all of us, businesses, educators, health care providers, and individuals, must do a better job communicating with and motivating men about their health.<br />
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<i>Citations:</i><br />
<i>(1) Norcross, William, Carlos Ramirez and Lawrence Palinkas. "The influence of women on the health care-seeking behavior of men." <span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">Journal of Family Practice</span> (1996): 475.</i><br />
<i>(2) Holland, Denise, Don Bradley and Joseph Khoury. "Sending men the message about preventative care: an evaluation of communication strategies." <span data-mce-style="text-decoration: underline;" style="text-decoration: underline;">International Journal of Men's Health</span> (2005): 97.</i>About JAMie Rauscherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02640943255897655394noreply@blogger.com2