In a recent email exchange, the physician I was corresponding with wrote “many people [that] go to see doctors are not engaged in their health.” My normal reply would have been “what do you mean not engaged…these people wouldn’t be in the doctor’s office if they weren’t engaged.” Instead, I thought about what is that […]
Yet another in a seemingly endless series of articles blaming patients for all that’s wrong in health care is running in Modern Healthcare. The 3-part series entitled Channeling Choice looks at how patients (people like you and I) just aren’t making the kinds of choices and engaging in the kinds of behaviors experts think we […]
Not long ago Nick Dawson, a friend and fellow blogger, paid me the compliment of saying I had inspired a post of his. Well Nick now you have inspired me…and this post is the result. Regarding the February Health Affairs edition on Patient Engagement the and follow-on Washington D.C. briefing, Nick writes: Personally, I was […]
Electronic medical records (EMRs) make a lot of sense. Ideally they capture, store, and report on all the pertinent information that’s floating around out there concerning your health. One of the supposed advantages of EMRs is their ability to sort through vast quantities of health data to “alert” physicians to important gaps in your care. […]
Each of us wears many different “hats” throughout the course of the day. We are an employee, a wife, a father, a club member, a consumer and so on. It comes as no surprise that our thinking, what we say, and how we say it at any particular time coincides with the hat we are […]
One of the biggest problems with health care today is that there is way too much information and way too little communications going on between providers and patients. Here’s a great quote that explains what I mean: The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is […]
Check out other recent posts on the topic of Patient Engagement: Patient Engagement Is Very Important – It’s Just That No One Agrees On What It Is…Or How To Do It – Infographic Patient Engagement From The Patient’s Perspective Patient Engagement Versus Physician Engagement – Which Comes First? Patient Engagement – Here’s The Key To Success
I apologize for my absence over the past month. I was side-lined with two detached retinas in December both of which required major eye surgeries and downtime. For health care professionals, patient engagement is the holy grail of health care. It is the key to patient adherence – a prerequisite to achieving better outcomes, […]
I may not know how to tell the difference between an empowered patient, an engaged patient, or an activated patient. But I do know that fastest way to disempower, disengage, and de-activate any patient is a trip to the doctor’s office or the hospital. A visit to an average primary care physician (or specialist) is […]
[tweetmeme source="Healthmessaging" only_single=false]Irrational exuberance was a term once used to describe the stock market before the last crash. It also seems an apt description for much of the talk these days about empowered health consumers. To be sure, patients today have unprecedented access to health information. Patient decision-support tool can be found on just about […]