Steve Pavlina On Leaving Facebook

"So I’ve crossed the threshold where Facebook’s value isn’t worth the hassle to use it. I concluded that the best choice was to simply drop the service altogether and invest my time elsewhere....

...From a subjective perspective, I’m not particularly disappointed. I’ve been wanting to spend less time online and more time connecting with people in person, so these problems may simply be part of the way that desire manifested."

-Steve Pavlina on Leaving Facebook

Steve's eloquent reasoning for leaving Facebook echoes my sentiments exactly. It's a clunky time-suck that doesn't add to the strong friendships I already have and creates an awkward resentment towards prior friends who I believe should have called when they got married, had a baby, moved and so on.

Hellooooo Health!

Jay Parkinson to me is the definition of a brazen careerist. Health care is a very conservative sector that's eons behind in technology, rife with political machinations and just filled with complexity on all ends. Dr. Parkinson has single-handedly taken on the industry and changed the paradigm from health care to patient care in less than a year. There's a lot of history behind this, and rather than rehash it in prose, I'll hyperlink to milestones that have led to the launch of Hello Health, Jay's company. Safe to say, this model of care delivery is not going anywhere and may spark a revolution in the years to come.

• Original Website & Philosophy - In a nutshell, doctors making house calls like the old days with an iPhone packing in the patient records instead of a briefcase.
  

• The Video Brief - Think medical Facebook. Why not just add your doctor as a "friend" on a privatized network and message him with a problem?
  

• Summary Article on Hello Health Launch - Scalability is occurring one doctor at a time and I only foresee trailblazing growth in the future.

Bottomline: While most of us are used to email, IM, Facebook, iPhone, Google and overall internet-based communication, health care has only just turned on the computer. Jay Parkinson has skipped decades by providing patients real-time access to primary care services. The progress is exponential considering the industry context. The start-up's in Brooklyn, but at this rate Hello Health might be in your neighborhood sooner than you think.

Your Future Doctor will see you Now

I wrote a post recently on needing a medical facebook (and medical twitter) to improve communication between patients and physicians. Jay Parkinson not only does this real-time for his patients, but he also sees them in their home, face-to-face for as much time as deemed mutually necessary. I wonder if the time saved from ridding himself of inefficiencies in communication has something to do with it.

"On the doctor side, I have a facebook-like platform that allows me to see and receive client updates and communicate via email, IM, video, and SMS with my clients and colleagues. We don’t do eVisits — we simply communicate normally via a whole range of communication options to help streamline healthcare delivery."

Hello Health!

We need a Medical Facebook

Deloitte's Health Care Consumerism Survey has some pretty interesting results. I think it attracted a biased sample of consumers though, mainly because of this finding: 1 in 4 consumers maintain a personal health record. I find that very hard to believe, especially when the word, "maintain", is used. "Started", "created but never used" would be more fitting.

PHRs are ubiquitous - hospitals, insurers, popular medical websites all provide them - but people rarely use or update them. You put your information in, register a login and never look at it again. Why? Because its not connected to anyone. Even with all your medical info in one place, you don't have the ability to share that information very easily. Docs have to know about it, support it and use it in order for it to work. Otherwise, its just a Facebook profile without any friends!

Here's another reason why PHRs won't take off any time soon:

"Tethered" means linked only to a provider or a hospital and "standalone" refers to a web-based service like WebMD or Microsoft's HealthVault. Its hard to build a Facebook, let alone a medically-based version with all the privacy/security issues involved. The need is obviously there. PHRs won't take off without it.

EDIT: Doctors don't trust PHRs because they don't link to anything they use on a regular basis. Get connected!