Not Your Mother’s Hospital
Click the image above to view the infographic
When reading over this post I noticed a couple of statements that hit home:
- More than half surveyed in a new Cisco Connected World Technology Report say the internet is more integral to their lives than cars, dating, and partying.
- More than one in four college students globally (27%) said staying updated on Facebook was more important than partying, dating, listening to music, or hanging out with friends.
- Two-thirds of students (66%) and more than half of employees (58%) cite a mobile device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) as “the most important technology in their lives.”
- 7/10 young professionals “friend” managers and coworkers on Facebook.
Imagine how this impacts hospitals today. Employees are entering the work force and expect to have technology a part of their daily lives. We in turn block the access to these daily information channels (or force them to a mobile device).
The bottom line is if an employee wants to check Facebook while at work they can and will find a way. Most likely on their mobile device.
The author makes an interesting statement at the end of the blog post:
For those of us in I.T., it’s up to us to plan our networks accordingly, to address the security and mobility demands that will be placed on our infrastructures.
We should be proactively addressing these technologies. In the end with the rise of mobile we are the ones that are losing out. By blocking social media access within our facilities we are only limiting the way we can communicate with those who work within our walls.
When given the option how would your hospital employees prefer to be communicated with?
Design Tips for the New Facebook Timeline for Business Pages
Recently Facebook announced and rolled out the updated design we have all gotten to know on our personal Facebook pages….Timeline. Below are just a few tips that might make your transition a bit quicker.
If you would like to see what you hospital’s page will look like simply navigate to the page and at the top you will see this:
Now simply click on the “preview” button and you will get a look at what your current design elements will look like translated into the new design. In short not so great.
So here are some tips/suggestions from recent migrations I have finished for clients.
The core elements you will most like need to create prior to the conversion are:
- A branded cover photo
- A new profile picture (thumbnail image)
- New images for applications installed on your page(s)
Cover Photo
- Optimal size is 851px x 315px (The minimum is 399px wide)
- There are many restrictions on the new format (ex: no call to action), you can learn more here.
Profile Picture (previously thumbnail image)
- Optimal size is 180px x 180px
Application Thumbnail Image
- Optional size is 111px x 74px
Renaming an application and swapping out the image
This option allows you to customize your Facebook Page to resemble a more traditional web presence. You could add sign up forms, blog postings, review applications, etc.
First you will need to add the application to your page. In this example I am using Wufoo Online Form Builder to add an eNews Sign Up form. (Wufoo has Facebook integration built in)
- This is the appearance after logging into my Wufoo account and adding the built in app to my Facebook page:
- Next by hovering over the application I can edit the settings, swap the location, uninstall, etc.
- After picking “Edit Settings” from the drop down menu I am able to rename the application (“Custom Tab Name”) for my page’s use as well as swap the image (“Custom Tab Image”) that is displayed.
Here is a finished product -
Will Hospitals Follow Johnson & Johnson’s Lead?
Yesterday, while on Twitter, I saw this post (and response) from Farris Timimi, MD, Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media:
I think Dr. Timimi makes a great point that I hope all of health care and specifically hospitals take into account. This is just one instance on one Facebook page at one company in one industry.
My fear is stories like this will add to the discomfort many hospitals have when participating in the social space.
On the complete flip side this is a great example for Facebook, Yelp, etc to better understand the complexity of healthcare and how hospitals, pharma, doctors, etc differ from other businesses.
I would love to hear your thoughts on how this impacts your world in healthcare.
Read the original J&J story here.
- Reed
Digital = Lazy?
Has the wave of digital technology made us lazy?
I wonder this as I see how instant information and instant feedback rules our lives (mine included.)
- I do not check for spelling unless I see a red wavy line.
- I hardly ever re-read a email prior to sending – although I have tried to get better about this.
- I can hardly read anything longer than 140 characters anymore.
- Give me pictures and videos vs words any day.
You get the idea.
Most of all if the content is not easily displayed on my iPhone then why bother?
What does this mean about how we communicate and how we should communicate?
How Do You Evaluate the Next Social Media Platform?
I just finished reading (OK… listening to) Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. I took a lot away from the book and it was very interesting to hear his life recounted by many who were close to him. Regardless of being a Apple fan or not it is an intriguing story.
I could go on and on about learnings from the book but something in the closing pages of the book caught my attention. Jobs was talking about creating a company with a legacy. He used phrases like, “…a deep current of humanity,” when talking about Apple.
I looked online and found this supporting quote by him in a 2011 Inc. article:
On selling your startup
“So when these people sell out, even though they get fabulously rich, they’re gypping themselves out of one of the potentially most rewarding experiences of their unfolding lives. Without it, they may never know their values or how to keep their newfound wealth in perspective.”
I see the number of startups and it seems that the end goal of most is to create something cool and then sell it to Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, etc…
So how do you create to last?
I think of Quint Studer who founded the Studer Group. Quint founded the Studer Group on a principle of making healthcare a better place… a better place to work, practice medicine, and of course be a patient.
The work the Studer Group is doing is something that will stand for generations to come. It is not a flashy gadget on your iPhone, it is not the new social media platform, and it is not something that is going away anytime soon. (I would encourage you to spend some time on their site and even pick up his book Hardwiring Excellence.)
In regards to where I spend my time:
- Can technology alter the way care is delivered? Yes
- Can technology alter the way we communicate? Yes
- Can technology alter the methods in which we serve? Yes
Are we focused on the right things? Are we creating systems, technology, and devices that make a difference and will stand for generations?
My thought is we should use the technologies we have to communicate the passion and life changing methods we know impact where we work, where we practice medicine, and how we serve patients.
Next time you evaluate a new app or platforms ask yourself:
“Does this have a positive impact on patient care, physician relations, or worksite improvement?”
How many of your current tactics would make the cut?
Are We Creating Left Handed Pencils?
Is it possible we are spending our time creating programs, communities, blogs, etc… that are just not needed?
I feel like we are still functioning inside a vacuum. If we look at the overall strategy of what a respective hospital is trying to accomplish are we adding value (in a digital way) to the overall strategy?
I wonder about this each time a new platform is launched. Some of these are great because the strategic objective is very clear:
- Facebook = critical mass, user base (for hospitals) is largely female, ads can be targeted and tracked.
- Pinterest = strong adoption rate, female user base, visual, time on site is very high (from what we can tell.)
In both of these examples (and others) I can see the case for spending time here and how they tie to a strategic objective of reaching women. Women are the heath care buyer and most hospitals have women’s health as a key objective.
There are on the other hand ideas I am not sure makes so much sense:
- Custom mobile apps for hospitals (there are obviously exceptions to every rule.)
- Twitter – great for customer service and even interval communications, but for most regional healthcare providers I am not sure the time/benefit equation works out.
- Message boards – should you have your own message boards? Or participate within existing communities?
I am kinda thinking out loud here… I would love your thoughts. When you think about this you have to use the 80% rule… disregard the 10% of top tier hospital brands and the bottom 10%. Look at the 80% in the middle most of which are regional providers without a national brand.
Thoughts?
Hospital Advertising on Pinterest
What does good hospital advertising look like? What does bad hospital advertising look like? I have started a board on Pinterest to help me identify both. I will be pinning both digital and traditional examples of hospital ads that I find relevant for one reason or another. Here is where you come in:
- You can comment on what I post and let me know if it is interesting or not… and why.
- You can contribute your own examples to the board for feedback from others.
I hope you will join me in this. I am always fascinated by design and the ideas around it. If you would like to be a contributor let me know and I will add you to the list.
- Follow me on
- Check out Hospital Advertising on Pinterest
Why Hospitals Block Employee’s Access to Social Media
I (Social Health Institute) recently had the chance to interview 25 of the best and brightest upcoming hospital administrators in the state of Texas. I asked them a series of questions to better help me understand where hospitals are in their social media journey. I plan to do a series of post on my findings but wanted to cover (briefly) some thoughts on one question up front…
“Does your organization block any access to social media outlets internally?”
Incase you were wondering purple = yes… The follow up question was, “if yes why?”
Here is where the light went off for me…
- 46% answered Productivity
- 31% answered Security
- 23% did not know why
At face value this is not overly shocking. The issue here is I did not prompt them. They simply filled in why they felt social media was blocked at their facility or organization.
To me what stands out is we as marketeers or social media “experts” have done a poor job educating senior leadership about social media. The majority of these leaders do not use the tools/platforms that the organization blocks so it is up to us to make sure they understand the business case of unblocking these mediums.
Those of us working in this space can defend the concerns of productivity and security in our sleep, but before you do try this…
I encourage you to setup a time where you can sit down with senior leaders and listen… don’t talk… listen. Understand their concerns and what about these technologies makes them uneasy. Resist the urge to jump in and defend every point. Let them talk…
In the end read back the key points to make sure you are on the same page. Then setup a follow up meeting where you can come back with data to support why you are right or they are right. Tell your leaders you want to keep this dialogue open and that you are not asking someone to flip the switch, on access, this afternoon but you do want to have he opportunity to make your case after you hear their concerns.
I think we worry about our defense too often without really hearing the concerns upfront.
Thoughts?
SXSW Interactive Accelerator – Health Technologies 2012 Finalists
The SXSW Interactive Festival has added a new wrinkle for 2012. They have added “Health Technologies” as a category in the 2012 SXSW Interactive Accelerator.
In total (all categories) more than 670 companies submitted their web-based products to the fourth-annual SXSW Accelerator Presented by Microsoft BizSpark. A special thanks to all health entries. This is the first year of “health” and we are really excited about the finalist for this category.
The Health Technology Interactive finalists who will be showcasing their products on Monday, March 12 and Tuesday, March 13 at the Hilton Hotel in downtown Austin are (via SXSW):
Medify
Seattle, WA
medify.com
Medify is a leading provider of data-driven consumer health solutions. The service mines hundreds of millions of real patient experiences from medical research and makes them discoverable, trackable, and shareable. Using Medify, patients and families can turn insight into action based on research they can trust.
Jiff
Palo Alto, CA
jiff.com
Jiff is the Facebook of Health. The company provides a cloud-based platform that hosts your Circle of Health as well as your health and wellness apps, elegantly connecting you to your loved ones, to doctors and to the health care system.
BodiMojo
Cambridge, MA
bodimojo.com
BodiMojo.com is an integrated health management platform for teenagers accessible via web or wireless devices. We use proprietary algorithms, assessments and games to personalize health strategies and leverage existing teen social behavior of sharing, comparing and caring to drive positive body image, self-care, and compassion. The evidence-based platform allows for interoperability with other technology-based vendors, health services, and mobile device manufacturers to drive behavior change in a safe wellness environment.
CellScope
San Francisco, CA
cellscope.com
CellScope builds systems for at-home disease diagnosis using mobile phone cameras. The company is developing smart phone attachments for diagnosis of pediatric ear and skin infections, which cause over 30 million doctor visits annually in the US. Future CellScope products will leverage the technology platform for consumer skin care and interactive microscopy.
Pipette
San Francisco, CA
usepipette.com
Pipette helps reduce complications and unplanned readmissions after surgeries. Preventable readmissions burden the healthcare system with an extra 4.4M hospital stays and cost $30B a year. Our mobile application monitors and educates patients during their recovery. Pipette uses proprietary algorithms to enable early intervention by identifying high-risk patients.
Simplee
Palo Alto, CA
simplee.com
Simplee is the best way to save money on medical expenses. Simplee connects directly with insurers to categorize and explain all medical, dental and HSA expenses in plain language, saving you time, money and stress. Simplee also offers benefit alerts, payment reminders, deductible updates, and electronic bill pay.
Beyond Lucid Technologies
Walnut Creek, CA
beyondlucid.com
Beyond Lucid Technologies is a health-tech startup that goes beyond the digitization of pre-hospital care records, offering First Responders situational awareness, robust logistical decision support, and real-time information for emergency incident management. BLT’s MediView™ platform is a cloud-and-client SaaS designed to make First Response safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective.
VitalClip
Pittsburgh, PA
vitalclip.com
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Health enthusiasts lack an easy and reliable way to manage their health. VitalClip is creating an iPhone accessory that measures vital signs and adds context to deliver an instant and meaningful view of your well-being.
Alternates:
Musical Health Technologies
iSingFit.com
Musical Health Technologies creates products that enable better care giving through music. SingFit debuted in the Apple App stores in December 2011 and features our patented Lyric Coach system so a participant does not need to be able to read or see to sing the words of a song perfectly.
Ginger.io
Cambridge, MA
ginger.io
An MIT Media Lab spinoff and TechStars alum, Ginger.io provides a behavior analytics platform that uses big data from mobile phones to model user behavior and make inferences about health and wellness.
Lumoback
Palo Alto, CA
lumoback.com
Lumoback is turning our bodies into the next platform for innovation, starting with a unique mobile solution for back health. We are committed to empowering people to live healthy lives.
For examples of past year’s SXSW Accelerator Video Presentations go here.
Also I want to give a special thanks to those who served on the advisory board and helped SXSW and myself recruit these great companies and many others for the Health Technologies category:
Brian Dolan
MobiHealthNews
Chris Hall
HealthCentral
David Goldsmith
Alliance Health Networks
Dermot Waters
Sharecare and DoctorOz.com
Mark Scimshire
HealthCamp Foundation
Nathan Gross
Doximity and Rock Health
Rick Anderson
Sharecare
Ron Gutman
HealthTap, Inc.
Unity Stoakes
Startup Health and OrganizedWisdom
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So who would you vote for?
- Reed
