Studies have shown that happiness is tied to six key personal factors: mental health, physical health, family experience, education, gender and age.1 Health is such an integral part of our happiness yet, paradoxically, healthcare is one area in which Americans have been highly complacent consumers. We spend more on healthcare than any other nation in the world, yet the outcomes we experience aren't commensurate.
Consumer mandates might be more effective than government mandates. It's time that we hold healthcare to the same standard we have come to expect of our communications, online banking and entertainment providers. We should have virtually anywhere, highly secure access, personalized guides and powerful tools that help us navigate our healthcare system. And we, as consumers, can compel change by choosing providers that empower us to improve our health and our happiness.
Healthcare startups received more venture capital funding in 4Q12 than any other industry, because there are so many exciting tools in development and there is an amazing opportunity for improvement. One in five diagnoses are incorrect or incomplete and nearly 1.5 million medication errors are made in the U.S. every year. Tools such as Grand Round Table and Zynx Health are designed to address such issues2. A recent study reports that as many as one-in-six patients are readmitted into the hospital within 30 days of discharge due (in part) to poor communication of post-operative care requirements, something that Wellframe is looking to address.
The tool that has the potential to bridge patients, applications and knowledge, and to create intelligence both from an individual and general population standpoint, is our electronic or personal health information (PHI) records. Imagine if you could schedule an appointment with the top-rated sports medicine surgeon, share your comprehensive electronic health record, get reminded through text of any pre-op requirements, monitor your vitals through your smart phone during surgery, and get day-by-day instructions on post-op care. You could even log onto your patient portal chat group to share your recovery experience with other patients who had similar surgery and could offer support. Well, all of these tools are available, yet they aren't really being leveraged, in part, because we as consumers aren't demanding they be used.
Demand more from your doctors and your healthcare facilities, because as they say, "Without your health, you have nothing." And just as there are cutting edge tools to find the best sushi restaurant within 5 miles, there are tools that create personalized health plans based on your profile. The first step is to coordinate and make your PHI available to you, through a secure, comprehensive and electronic personal health record (EHR).
Don't wait for your healthcare provider to catch up with advancing technology, demand it now. It's your health and happiness, why wait?
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- World Happiness Report, The Earth Institute, Columbia University
- “Medication Errors Injure 1.5 Million People and Cost Billions of Dollars Annually”. The National Academy of Science. 2006.
The post Health = Happiness, So Why Don't We Demand Better Care? appeared first on Beyond Bandwidth.
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