Healthcare communications and marketing news and information

Over the July 4th weekend, expect to see fireworks in a town near you and on your television.  Today, a bill that was supposed to institute a 10.6% cut in Medicare payments for doctors was supposed to go into effect.  However, after significant opposition from physicians -- and  health plans (which oppose cuts in reimbursements for privately managed Medicare advantage plans) -- Congress is set to find a way to restore the cuts.  

However, both American Medical Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans plan to launch a series of advertisements opposing the bill that will air over the holiday break.  

While these moves by major advocacy organizations are expected, what’s more surprising is that physicians -- without official support from the American Medical Association –- have taken matters into their own hands.  Today, Sermo the physician-only social network announced what it is calling a historic campaign designed to raise “national awareness about the real healthcare issues” facing doctors.  

More than 5,000 physicians have signed an open letter that highlights the “challenges physicians face in delivering appropriate patient care.”  The letter targets three industry players physicians are saying keep them from delivering care to patients: insurance companies, government and malpractice lawyers.  You can read the full text of the letter here.

Earlier this month, the blogosphere – and to a lesser extent the Twittersphere – was blazing with news that the Associated Press was pressing bloggers to take down content it felt was in violation of copyright law.  Not only were bloggers annoyed that the Associated Press made this request, but they contended that AP routinely cribbed content from bloggers, but failed to credit them for their work.

The Associated Press soon backed down, but the AP-blogosphere flap is only a taste of what some are saying will be a war between producers of user-generated content and the mainstream media.  According to BusinessWeek:

“The dustup between the AP and bloggers was just an early skirmish in what's likely to become a protracted war over how and where media content is published online. On one side are bloggers and other Web sites eager to ensure continued access to information. On the other are media companies intent on controlling or cashing in on the dissemination of their stories, videos, and other digital media.”

Although the latest skirmish has received a lot of attention, the content wars have been going on for a long time – but in a more subdued form.  Currently, bloggers, online video users and companies like Google are winning.  However, faced with declining ad revenues media companies are actively looking for ways to make money on online content people are used to getting for free.

The battle over content coupled with efforts to begin charging Internet users by the megabyte may transform the Internet in profound ways depending on how these trends play out.  Will we continue to see information exchanged freely and people using the Internet whenever and however they want?  The answer to that question will be determined by all those who have heavily invested in the status quo.  Because they will do anything to ensure the online party continues, I’m not sure if things will change that dramatically.  However, I could be wrong.

Much has been made lately about the poor sales of GlaxoSmithKline’s over the counter (OTC) weight loss medication Alli.  The company famously relaunched a low-dose OTC version of its prescription medication Xenical with a snazzy advertising campaign and a branded blog and message board.  

What surprised many people is that the company freely acknowledged the drug’s messy side effects on the Alli blog.  GSK’s hope was that it could get people to make a commitment to changing their dietary habits in order to lose weight and avoid an “oops” moment.  

Recently, it has become clear that Alli is not doing as well as analysts expected.  The problem may be the company’s marketing message.  Those willing to make lifestyle modifications may be less inclined to take a pill – especially one like Alli.

Recently, because my blog has been listed on a few lists compiled by public relations professionals, I’ve been getting lots and lots of pitches about various health-related products, services and issues.  I’d say that 99% of them are not relevant and indicate that the person sending the pitch has no idea about I write about on a regular basis.  

I’ve been thinking about writing a post about this for a while now, but didn’t want to whine about getting irrelevant pitches.  However, I came across a great article by my friend Toby Bloomberg that I just had to pass along.  It’s titled: “Blogger Relations: I Don't Need A New Best Friend.”  Bloomberg writes:

“Lead with what is most valuable to me and my community. Help me understand why I should not only care about the nifty new product or service or book or conference or cruise .. but why I should take the time to write and research the post and dedicate space to promote your client.”

Her post is filled with great advice for PR pros and lots of links to resources that will help increase the odds of successfully working with bloggers.  

For those of you who have me on your blogger outreach lists, I have one piece of advice:  Please take the time to read my blog (I have nearly 2 years of posts) and understand what I focus on.  If your pitch is relevant to what I write about, you’ll get my attention.  If not, it’s going to be immediately deleted.

Image Source: MIT  

Response From Microsoft Added, Please See Below

For the moment, Microsoft may have the edge in the personal health record (PHR) wars.  Yesterday, the company announced that it has initiated a partnership with managed care company Kaiser Permanente.  Kaiser will link its PHR system, My Health Record, with Microsoft’s HealthVault.  One hundred fifty-six thousand Kaiser employees will participate in the pilot program.  

What intrigued me about this newest development was the connection Microsoft and Kaiser are making between patients’ health information and physician feedback.  HealthVault will provide patients with valuable information about what their medical information means.  According to the Microsoft press release:

“A distinction between Kaiser Permanente’s online health tool and others offered by insurers is the range and relevance of the information itself:  In addition to containing benefits and eligibility information, My Health Manager also is powered by both clinical data entered by physicians, going much deeper than the standard claims-based PHRs on the market.  For example, consumers can not only see a record of a test that they had, but also the result of that test and in some cases, direct feedback from their doctors about the result. Since both the patient and physician use the data in My Health Manager, consumers are actively using their Kaiser Permanente PHR to communicate with their physician and support their health goals.”

This is why I think Microsoft now has a leg up in the PHR arena.  Linking clinical information to advice from a physician makes the PHR much more valuable to patients.

However, there is one thing that still bothers me about the Kaiser/Microsoft effort: portability.  What happens to all of that wonderful information when someone leaves the Kaiser family?  I know of some people who switch providers on a regular basis, so all of this valuable information may be unavailable to them.  I’m sure the folks at Microsoft have thought about this, so I’d love to hear from them about this issue.

Update: Microsoft spokeswoman Sarah Johnson sent me an answer to my question re: portability.  She writes: "Users will be able to store information from their My Health Manager personal health record in their HealthVault record, and have the ability to share it with providers outside of the Kaiser network.  And if a patient leaves Kaiser, their health information is in HealthVault and can be taken wherever they go. In addition, users will be able to combine info from the MHM PHR with information from health & wellness devices, like a home BP monitor, for a better picture of their health."

Believers in the ability of the Internet to improve the health of people from all socioeconomic backgrounds have reason to worry.  This week Time Warner announced that it would start offering metered plans designed to charge higher prices for individuals who are heavy users of broadband services.  According to MediaPost:

“Time Warner this week said it would start a test of metered pricing in Beaumont, Tex. For the Time Warner test, consumers will be able to choose from a range of plans, with prices starting at $29.95 a month for speeds of 768 Kpbs and a 5GB bandwidth cap. The most expensive is $54.90 for speeds of 15 MBps and a monthly cap of 40GB. Customers who exceed their limits will be charged $1 for each extra GB.”

This trend has serious ramifications for people who rely on the Internet to find health information.  Studies from Pew and other research organizations indicate that low-income Americans are less likely to have Internet access.  Yet, the California Healthcare Foundation has reported that “these segments of the public have the greatest need for information that can help them manage their health.”  

In addition, many of the most robust and useful online technologies (like online video) require reliable high-speed Internet connections.  Will the advent of the metered Internet put a damper on efforts to ensure that people with the greatest need have access to the best online health information?  

Only time will tell.  However, this trend is well worth watching and being concerned about.  

I’m back from my time off and have been slowly catching up with non-urgent e-mail and news.  One item caught my eye from the e-patients blog focusing on two new studies produced by the social network PatientsLikeMe. This site differs from many others health-social networks because it enables users to input detailed information about their care and share it with others.  PatientsLikeMe was featured in a recent New York Times magazine article that you can find here. 

What’s most interesting about these two studies (focusing on ALS) is that they help to address the unmet need for more data on why health social networks are useful to patients and whether we can learn about health outcomes by mining user-generated information.  However, we must also be aware that some patients can quickly become burned out because of the work required to input data about their condition on a regular basis.  One former PatientsLikeMe user wrote a letter to the New York Times about the site, saying:

“I had decided to delete my profile from the PatientsLikeMe Web site. More than anything, I found it to be a hypochondriac's virtual theme park.  Tracking symptoms and entering the information is time consuming and tedious. I just cannot maintain that level of interest in myself. If I ‘fell behind,’ I would routinely receive e-mail messages admonishing me to keep up my data for the good of the community. I do not need that kind of aggravation.

I hate being a patient, so I have never been fond of the name.” 

PatientsLikeMe: The Only “Real” Health Social Network?

In a post published on the e-patients blog John Grohol described PatientsLikeMe as “arguably the only ‘real’ health social network online today, because it lets patients share actual data that matters with one another -- their personal health data. (Other supposed health social networks seem more focused on the 'social' than the "health," allowing for little integrated data sharing.)”

I’m not sure I agree with Grohol’s point about other health-focused social networks.  However, I do think the new PatientsLikeMe studies are groundbreaking and provide important evidence that social networks can have significant clinical, psychological and societal benefits. 

"We're not a healthcare company, nor do we aspire to be one. But, there are lots of companies out there that are vertical domain experts. All of these company's will be able to integrate their platforms, applications and services with Google Health."

-Missy Krasner, product marketing manager for Google Health

After much fanfare, Google Health was officially launched this week. Michael McBride of Red Orbit is very excited about Google’s latest initiative, saying: “Why does Google Health have the industry all a-twitter? Because, it's the Internet, and if ever there was an invention that appealed to the majority of people, this is it. Studies repeatedly show that the portion of the population using the Internet to research medical conditions and medications is growing rapidly and shows no indication of slowing down.”

Although Google has the size and strength to make Google Health a viable tool, it will still have to overcome the obstacles that have prevented personal health records from becoming widely popular including:

1.    Inertia:  Will people be interested in using a personal health record from Google if their managed care provider is offering them already?

2.    Trust: Who will protect your health information?

3.    Fear of Marketing: Although Google is not selling advertising, it reserves the right to do so in the future.  How will this stance influence those who are afraid Google will use their information to generate ad revenue?

I’ll be looking to see how Google and other companies overcome these problems and will report on my observations in the coming months.

In the meantime, explore Google Health by clicking here. It's a bit sparse right now, but Google plans to add new features and partners over the coming months.  

Brief Blogging Break: As an aside, I'll be taking a brief break from blogging until late next week.  Have a happy and healthy Memorial Day weekend! 

The social network universe is fragmenting – and has been for a long time. Clearly, MySpace and Facebook will continue to receive lots of attention from the mainstream media, bloggers and ordinary Americans.  However, niche social networks (including lots in health) have been popping up all over the place.  Why?  There are two reasons:

1.    New tools are helping people who do not have lots of technical skills to develop social networks.

Ning has been the poster child for do it yourself social networking. Lots of people are using Ning-based social networks. A few sites are doing quite well.  For example, TuDiabetes.com, a social network for diabetics, is growing rapidly.

2.    In health, social networks are recognizing they must specialize in order to better satisfy the major needs of Internet users.  

For example, people are always interested in finding out which drugs are truly safe and effective and want unbiased information.  Recently a few social networks have popped up that are designed to meet this need.  One interesting site is iGuard, which uses the wisdom of its online community to help users better understand the real-world safety and efficacy of prescription medications.