Health Care Strategist

Social Media for Non Profits View more presentations from Primal Media .

An article titled "What Experience Would You Like With That?" from Booz&Co's Strategy+Business caught my eye recently, reminding me as it did of an e-mail from a globe-trotting friend about South Africa's Kulula Airlines . It's all a joke, I thought at first.  Nobody's THAT zany.  Nobody has THAT much fun at work.  Apparently they do.  And if it's a hoax it's a darn good one. Here's a link to Kulula flight attendant humor, including this: "After a less than perfect of a landing on a Kulula flight to Johannesburg, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please remain in your seats until Captain Crash and the Crew have brought the aircraft to a screeching halt against the gate. And, once the tire smoke has cleared and the warning bells are silenced, we will open the door and you can pick your way through the wreckage to the terminal." And this: "In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop...

These days it's easy to generate buzz.  Just do something stupid. Drake University in Des Moines, IA set out to re-brand itself.  The result is over there to the left.  Apparently some faculty, students and alumni (read: donors) aren't impressed.  I don't blame them. Drake officials refer to the campaign as "intentionally edgy" and seem quite sure that those who are "Drake material" will understand.  Lest you think those of us NOT living in central Iowa are insufficiently edgy, we, too, get it.  Drake's name begins with a 'D' and adding the '+' sign is subtle and cool because Drake is a university with aspirations...what's not to get? Maybe we're better at ignoring the "even bad publicity is better than none at all" crowd.   Had this controversy not erupted, it's entirely probable that Drake's name would never have appeared in this modest little blog.  So should we say 'mission accomplished?...

Sign seen as I hurried through an airport last week.  A sign so startling I jumped over a barrier and off the moving sidewalk to take a photo. So the Top 20 Airlines (now THERE'S a club from which I'd be happily blackballed...) use Oracle software.  Great.  Now I have someone to blame. "They all use our software and they all suck, more or less."  Woo-Hoo!  I'm all over that!  I'm gonna get me some Oracle! I suspect the message is technically true, as it offers "Better Results..." not "World-Beating, Customer-Pleasing Results..." Still, is this something you'd flaunt, especially when your customers are not highly regarded by THEIR customers?

The Economist reviews “The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge” by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble.  The book addresses two broad subject areas: why innovators should pay more attention to established companies rather than start-ups and the implementation of new ideas rather than their generation. Out: thinking big thoughts (e.g. 3M), closing the loop between ideas and results (e.g. Nucor), skunk works, breaking the rules. In: since innovating is thought to be unnatural,  big companies should build something called a "dedicated innovation machine," making the machine part of the corporate structure...only different (e.g. Harley-Davidson, BMW, Allstate.) So another prescription for innovation.   Tired of it yet?  How is it that such prescriptions are NOT antithetical to the very notion of innovation?  Innovation is THIS, not THAT.  Do it THIS way, not THAT way.  Use THIS company as your role model, not THAT company....

mHealth: at the apex of the hype cycle?   Is it vague?  Utopian?  Too biased toward cell phones and cool gadgets for young people?  Probably, says Brian Dolan, writing in mobihealthnews . Meanwhile, research from Deloitte calls Mobile PHRs the "killer app."   They may be right, even as I grow increasingly weary of all things "killer."

The links between the two are more tenuous than the breathless headlines about some mega-deal would lead you to believe.  Commenting today on the spate of recently-announced acquisitions, a CNBC talking head called  acquisitions a better way to grow "...now that organic growth is suspect." Organic growth is suspect ?  Think about it. To me that's a thinly-disguised code for a leadership team saying "We're out of ideas to grow this company."  

From Becker's Hospital Review: "3 Ways Hospitals Unintentionally Waste Money."

...why not tip some of it your way?  Consumers are using less health care (WSJ) while MinuteClinic's volumes are jumping. What gives? Mark Perry sees a tipping point as consumers prefer convenience over established relationships and lower costs over high-tech. Some hospitals have chosen to compete with the trend by opening or acquiring their own retail clinics.  Few have done so without significant blow-back from their physicians, unhappy with the new competition.  What to do? If you still have an independent primary care base facing increased competition from retail clinics, my advice is to do what you can to teach your docs how to successfully compete with the retail model.  In short, turn each PCP office into its own "Minute Clinic." Start by building a shared vision with your docs that retail medicine taps into a growing and important consumer mindset, one that's unlikely to diminish any time soon.  Create a "Retail Manual" packed with advice, ...

MedCity News: What makes a good doctor ? Maybe not what you think. McKinsey Quarterly: Thinking strategically about the rapidly shifting technology environment. Booz&Co: The rise of "social apponomics" is transforming E-commerce.   From monetizing online traffic to customer life-cycle management, ease of use and brand trust.

New blog worth your time and attention: Dr. Stasia Sands-Kahn's EMR Survival .  Billed as "The Definitive Guide For A Digital Medical Practice," Dr. Kahn's latest post discusses reporting requirements for Clinical Quality Measures.  Excellent information, well presented.

From THE HILL'S Healthcare Blog, polls show that the majority of seniors are bewildered by the new healthcare reform law. "The survey, sponsored by the National Council on Aging (NCOA), an advocate for seniors, found that only 17 percent of respondents could answer even half of the 12 questions about key provisions in the law selected by the NCOA." Regardless of your personal opinions about health care reform, and though it's confusing and complicated, it's also now the law.  And it could be an opportunity for outreach-oriented hospitals to educate their community about reform's effect on consumers, an opportunity to be seen as the "go-to resource" for useful information and recommendations. Why wait for someone else to explain the law's many twists and turns?  They're YOUR audience, YOUR community.  The better educated they become, the more they'll have YOU to thank. Could you deploy your social media skills to begin the dialogue?  ...

The mind reels and the eyes spin after a 1,000 mile cross-country drive.  Why? Not for the traffic jams caused by Illinois' mind-numbingly stupid decision to waste "stimulus" dollars repaving an already perfectly-smooth I-55 from St. Louis to Joliet.  You expect idiocy from Illinois politicians.  And the paving contractor is probably some pol's brother-in-law. No, my allergic reaction stems more from the astounding numbers of bad, really, truly, horribly, miserably, wretched billboards devoted to hospital marketing messages.  C'mon people.  What are you THINKING? Dumb clients?  Clueless agencies?  One has to wonder. Copy that rambles on...and on...and on.   Can't ANYBODY get to the POINT in 6 words or less? Colors that wash out in the sun...and under sodium vapor lights...and at dawn...and dusk.  Isn't someone paying for these things DRIVING THE BOARD once in a while? Acronyms and buzzwords. Do you REALLY think a billboard is...

"There is really only one "critical success factor" for hospitals under reform, Kaufman said: Become a cost-focused organization. That means, among other things: improve efficiency, eliminate variability, collaborate with physicians to create value and develop a self-governing model for employing physicians." (Nathan Kaufman, speaking at the 18th Annual Health Forum/AHA Leadership Summit)

Medical venture entrepreneurs at Frisco conference say funding climate improving | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Dallas Business News

The bigger and richer they are, the further they have to fall, says this article from Yahoo! Finance . Challenged by recession economics and fed up with the spoiled, arrogant rich, consumers are turning against brand icons like Tiger Woods, LeBron James, bankers in general, even Warren Buffett (for his dalliances with Moody's and Goldman Sachs.) "Money can buy a lot of things, but it can't buy public opinion ," ... "Free will is going to be free will. That's endemic of a much larger shift for the economic social movement." As pessimism and distrust of public figures reach all-time highs and hypersensitive consumers parse  every word and action, forward-thinking health care organizations prize deep, reciprocal, trusting connections with customers. If fancy mission, vision and values statements mean anything, it's time to dust 'em off and start living 'em, every person, every shift, every day.  Say it, do it, live it.  While you're at ...

As much as I'm a fan of Apple Computer's products , their response to the iPhone 4 antenna problem is clumsy and misguided.  I don't want to hear Apple (or, frankly, anybody else) saying "our products are no worse than Brand X's..." I'm paying you, Apple, for products that are noticeably BETTER than Brand X, not just as bad. Nor do I want to hear that it's really the consumer's fault.  That's code for saying I'm an idiot. I'm paying you, Apple, for products that work so well I end up looking smarter than I really am.  Only my daughters get to call me an idiot. And, Steve, you ain't them so knock it off.  You need a better PR/crisis response team.  Call me.  I can help.  Really.  On my iPhone 3G, though.

From Roni Caryn Rabin writing in the NY Times Vital Signs column ; "One in three physicians say they do not believe they should always report an incompetent or significantly impaired colleague, a new study reports." I wonder, do physicians upset over their malpractice premiums ever examine their own attitudes toward reporting incompetent or impaired colleagues?  Do they connect their silence with the hidden costs of higher malpractice premiums for everybody? It's suggested that medical schools re-emphasize the importance of reporting.   And here I thought physicians were supposed to acquire a certain amount of common sense BEFORE arriving at medical school, not after. I know, I know, why rock the boat when good physicians get sued right along with the bozos?  And of course the main problem is really the cabal of rapacious insurers and venal trial lawyers, right?  Why do anything substantive when solutions are difficult and complaining makes for such great h...

"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have.  When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D.  It's not about money.  It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it." Steve Jobs (1955 - ), Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

You spend at least some money and effort convincing people to come to your corporate website, right?  Don't be too quick to send all that traffic away, even to support your social media strategy. From Jeremiah Owyang's blog "Web Strategy," here's an excellent matrix outlining the benefits and challenges of various website/social media integration strategies.   And, no, putting a few so-called Chiclets in your site's upper-right corner is NEITHER integration nor strategy. Above all, stay focused on porting those measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across the entire user experience. You have KPIs, don't you? Here's two more matrices from the same author with additional information on integration's features, benefits and risks, and who offers what .