Several years ago both Microsoft and Google invested millions of dollars on a flawed assumption: If they built a useful and free healthcare application, people would flock to it. In both cases, the effort failed. At its peak Microsoft HealthVault was only able to enroll a few thousand—largely inactive—users. Google Health was discontinued after a […]
healthcare technology
Confession of a Technophile
At times in my career as a neuroradiologist and clinical informaticist, you might say I’ve bordered on technophilia. Like Mikey, the little boy from the Life Cereal Commercials, I’d eat/try/use anything new, bright, or shiny. But I’m here to confess. I’ve come to realize that with the opportunities of innovation comes responsibility. Technology has a […]
Doctors and Data: Numbers Alone Will Not Transform Healthcare
I began my medical career on yellow paper. At the time, the patient’s record consisted of a page in a large 3-ring binder. Good times perhaps, but such a system felt more like one for the storage of ancient texts—difficult to decipher and almost inaccessible by all but a few. As a result, doctors’ orders […]
A Blue Ocean Strategy for the Medical Mall
Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, is one of my favorite books, and one that has become a global phenomenon. Given that the strategy it introduces is so powerful, I have wondered why healthcare has been so slow to adopt it. To recall the ocean metaphor at the heart of […]
A Mint for Healthcare
Don’t you want more than a “porthole” view of your healthcare? At times over the years I’ve been surprised to see patients arrive for their appointments carrying a shoebox. Inside the box are piles of paper, old doctors’ notes and CDs for images. Typically these folks have been so frustrated by the system that they’ve […]
Obamacare: Healthcare’s Own Journey Through Wonderland (Part 3 of 3, Technology Roadmap)
Change is hard. Those vested in the status quo have a lot to lose from progress. However, healthcare change is upon us. Value-based healthcare isn’t going away; providers and hospitals need solutions in order to survive. In part 1 of this series, I outlined some reasons for the imperatives. In part 2, I discussed some […]