John Poikonen, Pharm.D.
Medical Informaticist and Pharmacist
http://rxinformatics.wordpress.com
To follow up on Joe Lassiter's post from http://rxinformatics.com/content/can-texting-improve-care-patients
Here is a innovative service from an old buddy of mine. Check it out, while focused at Pharma, it was some lessons to learn.
Somewhere between, or beyond, these two items lies Pharmacy Practice & Education.
Here is a link to a interesting blog post on the use of the HL7 Standard, known as InfoButton.
http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/the_health_care_blog/2010/01/the-infobutton-standard-bringing-meaningful-use-to-the-patient.html
Personal Technology from The Wall Street Journal
Kevin Clauson mentioned EverNote in his presentation at the MCM in Las Vegas in December. Here is a review from a noted tech commentator.
This software is terrific. I even pay for the premium version even though I do not use 500MB per month. It is THAT good.
The New feed section of this blog is my RSS feed from what I post to a public Pharmacy Informatics EverNote page.
http://www.evernote.com/pub/poikonen/PublicPharmacoinformatics
In my interaction with students and residents, I instruct them to go to this site for reference material.
My perspective is that California can not afford not to do this.....
California Senate passes single-payer health plan.
The AP (1/29, Thompson) reports that the California Senate has passed a bill establishing a single-payer healthcare system. "Supporters said it is time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration's national healthcare proposal falters in Congress." But, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) "promised to veto the proposal, as he has two similar plans that previously reached his desk. Spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola cited the state's massive budget cuts and looming $20 billion deficit in arguing the state cannot afford to shift to a single-payer healthcare system."
Information Exchange Workgroup Meetings: January 2010. Focus on ePrescribing
For anyone interested in ePrecribing these presentations and write ups in the links below are very good. There is even is an MP3 file to listen to on your way home form work. The input from Virginia Halsey, from FirstDataBank, is excellent. I wish I could say the same for the input from the NCPA [link]. The National Community Pharmaicsts Assoc seemed to spend a lot of time on complaining on the overall funding, instead of solution orientated interoperability and RxNorm issues, that the Walgreens representative and Virginia did mention.
· Presenter Biographical Sketches [PDF - 614 KB]
· ePrescribing Today: Adoption Successes & Challenges - Part 1
· ePrescribing Today: Adoption Successes & Challenges - Part 2
· ePrescribing and Meaningful Use
· Meeting Audio [MP3 - 28.4 MB]
John@Poikonen.NET orCMIO is a relatively new 'throw away' journal. It is worth a look. I have read it for the last few months and really like it. It is not a heavy scientific read. Most of the articles I have read are reasonable reviews with a good balance. For example, the current story may be of interest.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
My picks for the top 10 e-Patients you should be following on Twitter
In no particular order:
If you aren't familiar with the term "e-Patient" then http://e-patients.net/ has a lot of wonderful information. The wikipedia definition says, "e-patients are increasingly active in their care and are demonstrating the power of the Participatory Medicine or Health 2.0 / Medicine 2.0[1]. model of care. They are equipped, enabled, empowered, engaged, equals, emancipated and experts." My favorite definition comes from @gfry, though:
- @ePatientDave: Dave deBronkart said "Gimme my damn data" and hasn't shut up since. Seriously, he was talking a long time before that, but for some reason, folks really listened when he posted about his experience trying to get his own data. (He's also on the editorial team for the new Journal of Participatory Medicine)
- @TrishaTorrey: Every patient's advocate, she has written a new book entitled "You Bet Your Life! The 10 MistakesEvery Patient Makes" which you can find on her blog. Trisha's story about her own experiences echo so many.
- @thyroidmary: Mary Shomon is THE foremost patient advocate for those of us with thyroid problems. She has kept all of us who use the dessicated T3/T4 combos for thyroid replacement in the loop with the shortages and how to find/get it.
- @accarmichael: Co-founder of Cure Together and a chronic pain survivor, Alexandra Carmichael and her partners are making huge strides documenting patient data and tying it all together. YOU can make a difference by joining and entering your data. And you will learn something from it, too, I promise.
- @cushings: If you want to keep up with what is happening in the "Cushing's Help" world, and with everything anyone is doing related to Cushing's, Mary O'Connor is the woman to follow. Founder and owner of the cushings-help.com website and message boards, this woman has done more for Cushing's awareness, support, and education than anyone.
- @SusannahFox: Susannah keeps up with what is happening with technology and healthcare. A PewInternet researcher, she tweets very valuable information. I'm not sure she is technically an e-patient, but close enough! Everyone is at some point in life.
- @gfry: Gilles Frydman is not a prolific tweeter. But boy, when he has something to say, it's worth hearing. ACOR founder and on the editorial board of the new Journal of Participatory Medicine, he is a strong advocate for patients.
- @jensmccabe: I can't keep up with her because she runs circles around the rest of us, but Jen is an up-and-coming entrepreneur/e-patient eager to solve new problems that we deal with as patients, and taking a new look at old problems. She also has an interesting perspective on numerous health issues. Although I give her a hard time on her numerous blogs/posts, I have the utmost admiration and respect for her. Keep an eye on her. She's going to effect change.
- @ReginaHolliday: Regina's bio on twitter "Regina Holliday is a medical advocate muralist. She is using paint and brushes to promote health reform and patient's rights" does not do justice to who she really is. To really understand, read her story. I hope to meet her some day. She is telling the world how it really is.
- @carlosrizo: MD turned e-patient and entrepreneur, Carlos is first and foremost an e-patient. In fact, I often forget he is a doctor. I think he does, too, when tweeting things such as "Rehearsing my health's "elevator pitch" for my doctor's appointment today. When 15 min is all I have (sadly) every minute counts." He gets it.
Great List -- following all of them now!
Here is a really good book review with alternative views. I tend to lean to the side of Marcia Angell, living in a socialist dream world in the confines of Havid Yaad.
SUMMARY
You can't go to a pharma industry conference these days without hearing at least one expert speaker recommending that pharma executives read the book "The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It," written by Marcia Angell, MD, former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. It's not often that you see pro-industry pundits recommend a book that "tears pharma a new one," as some would say.Richard Vanderveer, Chairman & CEO, V2 GfK and an advisory board member of this newsletter said "This book has a lot of buzz going for it. Industry executives should read it defensively and be ready to answer questions at cocktail parties. I am a firm believer in counteracting bad press."
This review includes several point-counter point views regarding Angell's arguments by pharmaceutical and healthcare experts, including members of the PHARMA-MKTING online discussion group.
The article includes the following sections:
- Kudos from Pundits
- What Are Her Points?
- Research vs. Marketing
- Education vs. Marketing
- Tough Years Ahead?
