The force of the Internet will unleash a new healthcare economy.
Up to now, much healthcare information has been collected and available only to health professionals and insurance providers for use in making decisions about patient care. This specialized approach has minimized the role that individuals play in their own healthcare and has reduced the overall value of that care. After all, if information is power, limited information is limited power.
The Internet fosters increased connectivity among multiple sources of information, leading to increased individual knowledge about healthcare.
Change is needed, if not overdue. Most consumers can better estimate the cost of a new Honda than they can the price of medical treatment. Without true knowledge of costs and access to information to understand the choices and benefits involved in various options, the consumer cannot effectively participate in a workable approach to his or her care.
Thankfully, healthcare information is slowly evolving from a background of scientific research designed for health professionals (or selected groups of professionals) to a consumer-directed resource for accessing information, making decisions, and directly connecting with providers.
This does not suggest that people will replace professionals and self-diagnose, but rather that they will become partners in managing their health. Healthcare databases for provider collaboration, social networks based on healthcare issues, and telemedicine applications, for instance, can help create a transparency that’s been lacking in healthcare information. In effect, the Internet can build bridges between information tools used by various participants in the healthcare economy -- doctors, pharmacies, hospitals, nurses, and other practitioners -- and the populations they serve.
There is a good reason for bringing healthcare information to the consumer level: Patients who do not understand their health conditions, their treatment, and the suggested course of action, are unlikely to follow the outlined steps for care and therapies, resulting in waste of resources and declining value of the care provided. When consumers have an information infrastructure that consistently provides reliable information, it enhances the quality of care.
Current trends are pointing toward more social networks that will significantly affect the way we access care and manage our own health, resulting in a new healthcare economy serving the individual and connecting members of society. The examples include the use of networks in providing information, sharing personal accounts, sharing effective ways to cope with disease, and social support Internet sites designed for patients with cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
The reality that we are discovering is that healthcare is co-created by the individual and his or her provider. To be effective requires the individual to be literate in healthcare terms, diagnoses, choices, and expected results -- i.e., information. It further requires commitment to those choices by those individuals in order to achieve the desired results.
The Internet does not replace the existing healthcare system, but enhances the delivery of healthcare in new ways that contribute to health. The Internet can and will help to promote more knowledgeable and, hopefully, effective health care for individuals. Patients who are aware of the options they need to look into and who can see outcome data about the relative merits of various approaches will help streamline a system that is currently complex.
The addition of a consumer-driven healthcare economy offers great promise for the future.
— Deborah R. Hagar consults on operational and business solutions for organizations in multiple industries, including the Healthcare Advisory Board and the National SubAcute Care Association.
The inner workings of the healthcare industry would scare the common man to death. Combine insurance with scientists and promotions people and what you get is a Freddie Kruger nightmare.
Take the case of St. Judes Childrens Research Hospital. They have been using metadata in all their on-line material for well over 10 years to customize content to each viewer in the hopes of garnering more revenue streams and a cohesive attitude from all sectors, public, private, individual and corporate. The scientists want straight facts posted with no warm-and-fuzzy. The fund raising arm wants warm-and-fuzzy so the majority will understand. The IT folks have to weight both sides input, cross reference, correlate and then try to make both sides happy and still get the biggest basket of dead presidents to help facilitate better medical treatment. But wait! The insurance industry has a say in all this too! Who pays for what? What is covered and what is not? Then there's the MIB (Medical Information Bureau) who also has a direct bearing on the way things are handled.
Pull up a patients medical history, check their insurance, look at the scheduled treatment plan, add, subtract, multiply, divide, then maybe, just maybe, the patient will get admitted, treated, released and all this without having to declare bankruptcy or sue someone for leaving a freaking sponge or something behind! You can educate the public all you want, supply them with all the information possible, but how does that qualify them to make a life sustaining decision when it takes doctors and the like many, many years to figure it out?
I overheard a judge once say that ignorance of the law is no excuse, but pardon me! There are over 1,000 unique laws per person in this country, and it takes dozens of lawyers, researchers, etc, months just to assist a traffic violator fighting a non-moving violation, so just what did that judge base his statement on? A point of personal reference which has nothing to do with the common mans reality.
We should have information available to help us with our medical issues and the decisions we make concerning them, but if we who are not in the medical profession are to properly handle our particular health needs (all of which are different), what else do we need? Who knows for sure. The one thing you WILL find amongst healthcare professionals in almost any field is a form of arrogance or self importance. They DO care, but ego still plays a part. Most of these well learned professionals will tell you bluntly that your opinion, no matter how well enlightened you are, is merely just that......an opinion. plain and simple....they're the ones who spent many years and lots of money to take care of your medical problems....so unless you know something they don't and can prove it, please leave them to their designated task.
Seems like the most logical solution to this dilemma would be to communicate effectively at all levels with everyone involved. Only problem is, this is not feasible. Every individual in the healthcare process has a different opinion and diagnosis based solely on the information they have at that moment, and as we all know, that information can and will change from minute to minute based on way too many variables.Outside the treatment center it all makes sense, but once you're in,....................
After all this infrastructure is in place all you have to do is add a "Rate my Provider" section and that will surely drive costs backup (for the more desirable providers) or highlight all the horror stories. Either case it should make for an interesting read.
I agree we can't all be smiling Bob, but the option to try is a nice one. I don't think false information is of any value whether commercially driven or not.
It would be nice to join the smilin' Bob group that has access to the accurate information that helps them medically without driving up the costs of already astronomical healthcare.
Another thing that I would like to add to is that in this new health care economy, standards set by the various medical boards are now being challenged by the growth of information on the Internet.
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There are many others but, the important thing, is that people have more choices and power in choosing the direction of their health.
“The crowd got a whiff
Of that crazy casbah jive.”
I and especially, my wife, is an avid user of the Internet as a medical resource.
Let’s face it. There are some bright doctors out there and there are some who are not that helpful.
It’s time for change where the patient takes more responsibility in acquiring the knowledge and resources to construct a health plan that is best for them.
The internet offers us a golden opportunity to view a range of health information.
The proliferation of support groups for variety of medical conditions is a great boon to patients as the more information that is shared the better the care that can be acquired for each participant.
Hopefully this "new healthcare economy" will provide more and better resources than things like WebMD. I can't even begin to think about how many illnesses I've diagnosed myself with because of that site.
Are you tired? Tall? Human? Occasionaly shy? Well... you've got death.
You are right about the remote healthcare initiatives of India and other countries. I would think that centralizing data for remote access would be tremendously helpful to the traveling doctors not just for individualized cases, but for group studies as well.
Your point about being able to translate and understand terms in other languages while working or traveling abroad is also a very valid point.
To be able to point a doctor in another country to an internet accessible repository of files on my medical history might not just make the doctors job easier, it may just save my life!
Information and access to it will help all those involved with healthcare to do a better job.
ThinkerNet Blog/InternetEvolution.com is a good place to debate these trends. No need to try to entice people elsewhere.
There is an inevitability about all this: It is going to happen, it is already happening. Through high quality discussion here we can help ensure that it evolves in the best possible way to benefit every human being on the planet.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
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