OrganizedWisdom Launches WisdomCard Alert Service Via Email, RSS and Twitter for 100 Health Categories

“We have an exciting new site feature to share and get your feedback on and to be honest I think it’s a game changer for OrganizedWisdom: we’ve just launched WisdomCard Alerts, an innovative new service that makes it easy for anyone to subscribe to our WisdomCard health updates via Email, RSS feeds, and Twitter on over 100 Health Categories.”
Article
Unity Stoakes, Organized Wisdom Blog, 18 November 2008

Spanish hospital drives efficiency, profit with SMS communication IT

“A recently-built hospital in Valencia, Spain attributes its profit margin and efficient care management to a communications platform its doctors and nurses can access from their mobile phones.
Hospital de Torrevieja uses a remote care managing tool that facilitates SMS-based communication and reporting, allowing doctors and managers to receive updates on patient care and business activity.”
Article
Chip Means, Healthcare IT News.eu, 5 November 2008

The real health care change we need

“Simple stuff like e-mail. Whether from a fear of lawsuits, privacy concerns, or mere Luddism the medical profession’s use of basic technology tools still lags badly.
This is not just an American problem. The King’s Fund, a UK think tank,  is out today with a report saying that country’s National Health Service can dramatically improve service through the use of day-to-day technology.”
Article
Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNet Healthcare, 29 October 2008

NHS not making enough use of technology

“The NHS is failing to make use of everyday technology such as email to deliver reponsive and convenient patient services.
A new report by the King’s Fund health think tank says the health service must be more innovative in its use of everyday technology to improve care for patients.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 24 October 2008

EHR Face-Off: What’s Easy, Hard

“Four years after work began, Kaiser Permanente announced in May the completion of a national rollout of electronic health records systems across ambulatory facilities.
The milestone is part of Kaiser’s initiative to adopt a wide range of information technology applications across its provider network. Its Kensington (Md.) Center of more than 40 physicians was one of the earlier sites, going live about three years ago.”
Article
Joseph Goedert, Health Data Management, 1 October 2008

Informed Patients are Bad Patients?

“I’ve known several doctors who refused to read e-mail from patients. They said it was simply a bad use of their time.
I also used to have a doctor who hated it whenever you came in and asked questions about some article you’d read in The Times about Lyme disease or some such. He’d get a pained look on his face - here we go again; patients pretending to be doctors - and then ignore the question.
But surely it’s in everyone’s best interest for patients to stay informed, right? For patients to do their own research, to ask lots of questions - especially of their own doctors - and so forth, right? Right?”
Article
Stephen J. Dubner, EconTech, 26 September 2008

Online doctors make house calls again

“The digital doctor will see you anytime you want.
And that’s one reason Devon Herrick, an analyst with the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis, says more doctors need to embrace technology and go online to give patients more access to health care.
The study, released Thursday, found not only are some doctors answering questions via e-mail, but they are also treating patients over the Internet. But Internet doctoring faces a mountain of questions about quality, liability, regulatory control and security before it becomes more accepted, according to a Connecticut-based patient advocate and the executive director of the Fairfield County Medical Association.”
Article
Rob Varnon, Connecticut Post, 22 August 2008

A second opinion, available from afar

“Although he had never met her, Dr. William Marshall knew a lot about Paulette Schlander.
He knew that Schlander, who lives in Duluth, had gone to Africa on safari with her husband last fall.
He knew, too, that the 58-year-old dental assistant started experiencing strange muscle pains about a month later.
Now he was trying to figure out whether the two events were connected.
In the past, Marshall, an infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic, would have invited her to Rochester for a full exam. This time, he didn’t have to.
For the past year, he and other Mayo physicians have been offering “virtual consults,” or second opinions by e-mail, to a Duluth clinic, SuperiorHealth Center, where Schlander is a patient.”
Article
Maura Lerner, Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul), 8 June 2008

Group Health trolling cyberspace to learn what patients think

“E-mails between doctors and patients are de rigueur at Group Health Cooperative.
But there’s another way the two sides keep in touch: via blogs and online forums.
Whether people are raving or ranting about Group Health in cyberspace, chances are the Seattle health co-op will know about it - and sometimes even respond.
When one member fumed in an online newspaper forum that Group Health wouldn’t authorize a colonoscopy, Dr. David Grossman, its director of cancer screening, supplied a phone number to schedule an appointment.”
Article
Kyung M. Song, Seattle Times, 11 May 2008

Reactions:
Ted Eytan: In the Seattle Times talking about Web 2.0 and Health Care.
Eagle Dawg Blog: Probably not even worthy of the C list: HMO searching for Web 2.0 mentions and responding.

What we have in health care today is a failure to communicate

“Communication in medicine grows worse by the day. What should be a pillar of quality health care is instead a resounding failure.
Patients are rushed through office visits and often leave without having their questions answered. Labyrinthine barriers have to be overcome before speaking with a physician. Reaching a medical provider via the Internet is an impossibly daunting task. Doctors rarely talk to each other to coordinate treatment plans.”
Article
Kevin Phon, Nashua Telegraph, 4 May 2008

Only 1 in 3 doctors use e-mail with patients

“Suzanne Kreuziger is a registered nurse who uses e-mail almost exclusively to communicate with friends. But when it comes to reaching her doctor, there’s a frustrating firewall.
The barrier is her doctor’s own reluctance to talk to patients through e-mail.”
Article
The Associated Press, 22 April 2008

e-Visit Data

“Patient online e-visits, introduced at the start of this decade, continue to gain momentum as technologies improve, consumer demand increases, experience from prior pilot studies becomes more widespread and major health plans advance and adopt e-visit initiatives. Here’s a collection of some recent data on e-visits, compiled in MCOL’s March @How-TO newsletter.”
Article
MCOL Blog, 31 March 2008

The State of Health Information Technology in California: Consumer Perspective

“Although consumers frequently use and seek out health information online, most are ambivalent about using health information technology (HIT), such as personal health records, due to concerns about privacy and confidentiality.
A recent survey, which is summarized in this snapshot, provides a comprehensive overview of California consumers’ adoption, use, and perception of HIT. The findings reveal that most consumers are not actively using online tools, including electronic health records, email with their health professionals, and online appointment scheduling.”
Report
Californian Healthcare Foundation,

Impact of Research-based Synopses Delivered as Daily E-mail: A Prospective Observational Study

“We conducted a prospective observational study to (1) determine usage and construct validity of a method to gauge the cognitive impact of information derived from daily e-mail, and (2) describe self-reported impacts of research-based synopses (InfoPOEMs) delivered as e-mail. Ratings of InfoPOEMs using an Impact assessment scale provided (a) data on usage of the impact assessment method, (b) reports of impact by InfoPOEM and by doctor and (c) data for analysis of construct validity of the scale. Participants were family physicians or general practitioners who rated at least five InfoPOEMs delivered on e-mail. For each InfoPOEM rated, 0.1 continuing education credit was awarded by the College of Family Physicians of Canada.
Use of the impact assessment scale linked to a daily InfoPOEM was sustained during the 150-day study period. 1,007 participants submitted 61,493 reports of ‘cognitive impact’ by rating on average 61 InfoPOEMs (range 5-111). ‘I learned something new‘ was most frequently reported. ‘I was frustrated as there was not enough information or nothing useful’ was the most frequently reported negative type of impact. The proportion of reports of ‘No Impact’ varied substantially across individual InfoPOEMs. Impact patterns suggested an 8 or 9-factor solution.
Our Impact assessment method facilitates knowledge transfer by promoting two-way exchange between providers of health information and family doctors. Providers of health information can use this method to better understand the impact of research-based synopses. Sustaining current practice and increasing knowledge about new developments in medicine are important outcomes arising from research-based synopses delivered as e-mail, in addition to practice change.”
Abstract
Roland M. Grad, Pierre Pluye, Jay Mercer, Bernard Marlow, Marie-Eve Beauchamp, Michael Shulha, Janique Johnson-Lafleur and Sharon Wood-Dauphinee, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 15, Issue 2, March-April 2008, Pages 240-245, doi:10.1197/jamia.M2563

Characteristics of Effective Electronic Mail Messages Distributed to Healthcare Professionals in a Hospital Setting

“Electronic mailing systems (e-mail) are an important means to disseminate information within electronic networks. However, in large business communities including the hectic environment of hospitals it may be difficult to induce account holders to read the e-mail. In two mailings disseminated in a large university hospital we evaluated the impact of e-mail layout (three e-mail text versions, two e-mails with graphics) on the willingness of its 6500 recipients to seek additional electronic information and open an integrated link. Overall access rates after 90 days were 21.1 and 23.5% with more than 70% of the respondents opening the link within 3 days. Differences between different layouts were large and artwork text, HTML text, animated GIF, and static image prompted 1.2, 1.7, 1.8, and 2.3 times more often access than the courier plain text message (p ? 0.001). This study revealed that layout is a major determinant of the success of an information campaign.”
Abstract
Jens Kaltschmidt, Simon P.W. Schmitt, Markus G. Pruszydlo and Walter E. Haefeli, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, Volume 15, Issue 2, March-April 2008, Pages 235-239, doi:10.1197/jamia.M2503

E-mails Improve Patient-Surgeon Communication

“Providing patients with e-mail access to their surgeon appears to improve communication, a new report shows.
“People who use e-mail certainly would like to have e-mail access to their physicians,” concluded the authors of the study, published in the February issue of theArchives of Surgery. “Despite the many concerns, we believe that this study shows that the provision to patients of readily available e-mail access to their surgeon provides a very effective means of improving communication prior to patients undergoing elective surgery.”
Article
The Washington Post, 18 February 2008

Take two aspirin and e-mail me in the morning

“Dr. Joseph Scherger flew to Minnesota from his home in California, checked into a hotel in Brooklyn Park, and took care of 12 of his patients. All by e-mail.
That is the future of medicine, he told hundreds of doctors from Park Nicollet Clinic last week: Caring for patients without face-to-face visits.”
Article
Maura Lerner, Start Tribune, 17 January 2008

For what purpose and reasons do doctors use the Internet: A systematic review

“Objectives
To determine doctors’ reasons for using the Internet, and the factors that influence their usage.
Data sources
A systematic review of 38 studies, from 1994 to 2004, describing surveys of doctors’ Internet usage.ResultsAll of the studies were in the developed world, primarily in North America. Approximately 60-70% of doctors have access to the Internet, but in several studies access is more than 90%. Access is steadily increasing. Most Internet activity focuses on email and searching in journals and databases, but there is a very wide range of activities. Professional email with colleagues and patients is low, but increasing. The major factors discouraging usage are time, workload and cost, while too much information, liability issues and lack of skills also feature as discouraging factors. Factors encouraging use are unclear, but overall patient satisfaction and belief in improved service delivery, time saving and demand from patients are factors. There is a trend that males use the Internet more than females, young more than old, and specialists more than generalists, but these differences are not across the board, and show variations between studies.
Conclusion
In spite of the limitations, it is clear that doctors are highly connected to the Internet, and their professional usage is increasing. Factors encouraging and discouraging usage are more complex than simple connectivity. Usage differences between demographic groups do exist, but are equalising. More and consistent research is required in this area.”
Article
Ken Masters, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 77, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 4-16, doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2006.10.002

Online with your doctor

“Can you e-mail your MD? Check lab results online? Some lucky patients say ‘Yes!’ — and maybe you can too”
Article
Julie Deardorff, Chicago Tribune, 2 December 2007

Consumers Receive Health Information Via Text Messaging

“Text messaging is becoming a popular method to provide consumers with health care information, the Wall Street Journal reports.”
Article
iHealthBeat, 20 November 2007

Why I love using email with the parents of my pediatric patients

“My name is Mark Groshek. I am a pediatrician with Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, and I am the lead physician in our organization for eHealth. Like all the Kaiser Permanente regions, KP Colorado uses an electronic health record from Epic Systems. In May of 2006, we launched on-line access for our adult members to much of their charts, including Email My Doctor, My Test Results, My Allergies, My Immunizations, and My Ongoing Health Conditions. I even sent the first email as a patient to find out when my next checkup was due!”
Article
Mark Groshek, PCHIT, 15 November 2007

Success for e-mail eye diagnosis

“A pilot scheme which involves eye patients being diagnosed by e-mail has been given a top industry award.”
Article
BBC News, 12 November 2007

Patient-Physician E-mail: An Opportunity to Transform Pediatric Health Care Delivery

“OBJECTIVE. The objectives of this study were to assess the patterns of patients who use a patient-physician e-mail service, measure physician time required to answer a patient question via e-mail compared with that via telephone, and determine the satisfaction of families who are provided e-mail access to their child’s rheumatologist.
CONCLUSIONS. Patient-physician e-mail is a service that patients will use given the opportunity. The e-mail service enables physicians to answer medical questions with less time spent compared with telephone messaging. In our experience in an academic pediatric subspecialty practice, patients reported enhanced communication and access with the e-mail service.”
Abstract
Paul Rosen, C. Kent Kwoh, Pediatrics Vol. 120 No. 4 October 2007, pp. 701-706