Envisioning 2.0

. . . at the Healthcare Economist.

A New York Times article focusing on the upcoming Wii Fit got it right. Seth Schiesel, author of the story, noted: “Wii Fit could be the right choice for exercise amateurs trying to get in shape in the living room.”

And that’s exactly the right message.  With millions of Americans struggling with obesity, Wii Fit (and gaming platforms like it) might be an answer to public health experts’ prayers.  If games help more people get moving, we might start to see health great benefits down the road.

Given the excitement about the Wii Fit, it is fitting that the Games for Health conference took place earlier this month.  A press release about the conference noted four trends that are helping health gaming enter the mainstream.  They are:

-Video games are helping people recover from physical and mental illnesses.

-Exergaming is kicking into high gear

-Major health care providers like Humana are focusing on games

-Medical professionals and first responders are using games for training.

All in all, this is very interesting stuff.  Learn more about the Games For Health conference by clicking here.

Some have said that until people in Congress really understand what it is like to be uninsured, they will not be inspired to get help more people get care.  Well, one Congressman, Steve Kagen has refused to enroll in Congress’ health insurance plan to draw attention to the uninsured.

Is this a stroke of genius or another political gimmick?  On the genius side, he correctly understands that getting everyone covered will lower insurance rates, thus spreading risk and cost. Or, it could be a gimmick because although he has forgone insurance, he is very well-off, guaranteeing that he will not suffer financially if he has to go in the hospital – unless he has a major event.  But, as a physician he is in a better position to understand how he can improve negotiate for the least expensive, highest quality care.

Whatever your opinion, Kagen certainly has generated lots of attention by deciding to become one of the 47 million uninsured.

at the Medical Humanities Blog.

In an interesting post, Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang recently focused on a study produced by his firm indicating that people trust their “peers or people” they know more than experts.  Over the past few years, people have used data like this to explain why online media generated by non-experts seems to carry a lot of weight.  What’s most intriguing about this new analysis is that generic “bloggers” don’t get a lot of credit, while friends, family and well-respected colleagues do.

While trusting “people like me” has certainly had a lot of benefits, it does have a dark side.  Take the debate over whether there is a link between vaccines and autism.  A growing body of parents have squared off against scientific experts who insist that vaccines do not cause autism.  Parents are not buying their arguments.

Commenting on a New York Times story about the vaccination debate, Amy Tuteur, MD discussed why she believes the anti-vaccination argument is so powerful.  She wrote:

“Vaccine rejectionism has been around for more than 200 years, almost as long as vaccines themselves. Over those two hundred years not one of the myriad claims of vaccine rejectionists have turned out to be true. . . . the cultural claims of vaccine rejectionists resonate with prevailing cultural assumptions. . . . Agreement with doctors is constructed as a negative and refusal to trust is constructed as a positive cultural attribute . . .”

Sound familiar?  We’ve seen these cultural trends played out again and again in the blogosphere, on social networks and other places where people gather online to discuss various topics, including health.  However, sometimes trusting “people like us” comes at a great cost.

Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that there has been an unprecedented explosion of measles cases in several states this year.  Parents who have refused to vaccinate their children are a major reason measles outbreaks have jumped this year.  According to the CDC:

“Of the 64 people infected by the measles virus, only 1 had documentation of prior vaccination. Among the other 63 case-patients were 14 infants who were too young to be vaccinated. Many of the cases among US children occurred in children whose parents claimed exemption from vaccination due to religious or personal beliefs, or in children too young to be vaccinated. Disease transmission occurred in a variety of community and healthcare settings, including homes, childcare centers, schools, hospitals, emergency rooms, and doctors’ offices.”

The measles outbreak is one example of how trusting our peers can sometimes have nasty public health consequences.  Perhaps this latest news will help people better weigh the currently unproven autism risks of vaccination against the very real chance that measles can lead to significant complications for vulnerable infant/child patients.