First Blogpost: Patient Engagement and Innovation

Patient engagement, patient centered care and innovation are hot topics in healthcare. Almost every health delivery organization is looking for ways to involve patients in their care decisions and to help patients understand the connection between daily health choices and our overall health and wellness.

This blog will review the exciting and innovative solutions being designed, developed and implemented intended to help patients and caregivers be better informed, better connected, and more motivated to take positive health behaviors.

The world of healthcare is changing rapidly with the use of electronic health records, e-prescribing and other tools that facilitate the capture and sharing of data for physicians, hospitals and other providers. Health IT is touching providers, payers, and to some extent patients. Yes, technology allows for information to be instantly delivered to your phone and computer, but access alone is not sufficient: we know that people don’t change behaviors just because they have access to data. For healthcare companies to create disruptive technologies that will help patients take and maintain action, companies need to offer tools that transform data into motivational and decisional tools that patients and caregivers can really use. That means that we need to give people things that they find interesting, fun and motivational. We need to design tools geared to varying levels of health literacy, different languages, and differing levels of technology comfort. Innovators…good innovators working in the world of healthcare need to consider what patients really want and help people understand the connection between behaviors and the consumption of healthcare resources.

This is going to be a fun ride. Hope you enjoy.