Portals

In 2012, Leonard Kish, a health IT strategist, made a bold proclamation about a new “blockbuster drug of the century.”  The drug Kish was referring to can’t be found in stores or in a scientific laboratory. Instead, he said, it was something conceptual, adding that if healthcare organizations of all kinds made use of that “drug,” the results would be astounding.

This is part two of a two-part podcast interview with Dave deBronkart, also known as e-Patient Dave, as he continues his discussion with Associate Editor Gabriel Perna about the future opportunities as well as the past and current challenges of patient engagement. In it, he talks about where he has seen patient engagement in action, using a couple of personal examples to show how it can save a patient from harm.

In part 1 of this two-part podcast series, Healthcare Informatics Associate Editor Gabriel Perna speaks with Dave deBronkart, better known by his moniker e-Patient Dave, an industry leading expert on the subject of patient engagement. He discusses the upcoming patient engagement-related challenges this year in the industry, while mentioning the problems with a lot of patient portals’ user interface.

Stage 2 of meaningful use raises the bar in terms of how and when hospitals and physician groups must make patient data available.

A new survey from Wolters Kluwer Health, a Philadelphia-based provider of business intelligence services, has found that 80 percent of Americans feel the trend of people being involved with their healthcare from a consumer standpoint is a good and necessary change. Despite positive feelings on this “consumerization” of healthcare, only 19 percent of those people surveyed said they have a personal health record (PHR), and 86 percent admit they have to take a more proactive role in managing their own healthcare.