Envisioning 2.0

As previously discussed on this blog, yesterday my firm Envision Solutions released an extensive report and produced an in-depth Webinar focusing on health social network communications.  The session and report (Achieving Openness: The Art Of Listening, Learning & Communicating With People Using Social Networks For Health & Wellness ) are now available for download.

This extensive (60 + page) free publication features:

– Information about four major communications strategies health
organizations are currently using to engage with social networkers.

– New data that will help health industry executives predict the impact
of two-way dialogue with social network users.

I want to take a moment to thank Inspire, CDC, TNS Media Intelligence Cymfony, Sermo, PatientsLikeMe and Ignite Health for participating in the Webinar and providing commentary for the report.  To listen to the Webinar and download the publication, please click here.

Image Source: The New York Times

Image Source: The New Yorker Magazine

This morning on my train ride into the city, I read an excellent essay by Atul Gawande focusing on health reform that was published in the current edition of The New Yorker.  He rightly suggests that health reform is going to ultimately build on the system we currently have – even though it is far from perfect.  He writes:

“Many would-be reformers hold that “true” reform must simply override those fears. They believe that a new system will be far better for most people, and that those who would hang on to the old do so out of either lack of imagination or narrow self-interest. On the left, then, single-payer enthusiasts argue that the only coherent solution is to end private health insurance and replace it with a national insurance program. And, on the right, the free marketeers argue that the only coherent solution is to end public insurance and employer-controlled health benefits so that we can all buy our own coverage and put market forces to work.

Neither side can stand the other. But both reserve special contempt for the pragmatists, who would build around the mess we have. The country has this one chance, the idealist maintains, to sweep away our inhumane, wasteful patchwork system and replace it with something new and more rational. So we should prepare for a bold overhaul, just as every other Western democracy has. True reform requires transformation at a stroke. But is this really the way it has occurred in other countries? The answer is no. And the reality of how health reform has come about elsewhere is both surprising and instructive.”

This article is wonderful because it is pragmatic and it relies on a nuanced and informed grasp of history to inform predictions about the future.  This is a must-read for anyone interested in pragmatic, doable health reform.

According to the National Alliance for Caregiving and Caring.com, 50 million Americans are providing unpaid health care to family members and other loved ones.  Given this, they have asked President-elect Obama to direct 1 percent of dollars from the economic stimulus package now being debated in Congress to these individuals.  A press release distributed by both organizations notes:

“While the deteriorating economy has hit all Americans hard, it has hit these Americans even harder. Family caregivers are struggling to pay their own bills and, increasingly, those of their loved ones as well; expenses continue to rise and the hours of care they provide each day continue to go uncompensated. The average caregiver spends $5,534 per year out-of-pocket for caregiving expenses.  Like Wall Street, the auto industry, and homeowners, family caregivers need help from Congress to make it through 2009.”

Both organizations have developed five priorities they would like federal elected officials to act on, including increasing funding for the National Family Caregiver Support Program and developing a national paid family medical leave program.

For more information about the campaign and to provide suggestions on how to improve support for caregivers, please click here.

Late last year, BusinessWeek published a major article focusing on how social networks are helping patients partner with health professionals more effectively.  It outlined how sites like PatientsLikeMe are improving medical care and accelerating research.  Other Web properties, such as Sermo and the drug safety online community iGuard, have been receiving significant attention as well.

As these social networks have grown in popularity, corporations, non-profit groups and government agencies in the health industry have begun to use them to communicate with and educate their customers and other stakeholders.  Despite this, the knowledge gained by these organizations has not yet been organized and shared with a wide audience.

This is why I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting a Webinar, Achieving Openness: Communicating With People Using Social Networks For Health & Wellness, on January 29 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. (Eastern).  During this event, I will introduce a new report from my firm Envision Solutions designed to help health organizations communicate effectively with social networkers.  The publication, which will be released on the day of the Webinar, features:

• Information about four major communications strategies health organizations are currently using to engage with social networkers

• Commentary from social networking experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony, PatientsLikeMe, Sermo and others

• New data that will help you predict the impact of two-way dialogue with social network users

The Webinar will also feature a panel discussion and Q&A with six social networking experts:

• Gina Ashe, Sermo
• Erin Edgerton, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Fabio Gratton, Ignite Health
• Benjamin Heywood, PatientsLikeMe
• Brian Loew, Inspire
• Jim Nail, TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony

I hope many of you (and your colleagues) will be able to join me for this special event.  Please click here to register.

P.S.: Please spread the word

Yesterday the world learned that President-elect Barack Obama is thinking about naming CNN journalist and neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta to the post of U.S. Surgeon General.   Overall, the reaction to his pick has not been positive.  I’m a regular user of the microblogging platform Twitter and one of my colleagues said (about the post): “Are you ____ kidding me?”

There are many objections to Gupta’s potential appointment, and many of them have to do with his public health qualifications.  In short, he has none.  Gerard M. Farrell, who serves as executive director of the Commissioned Officers Association told the Washington Post “I am unaware of any public health experience or qualifications he has to be the leader of the nation’s public health service . . . This would be akin to appointing the Army chief of staff from the city council of Hoboken.”

Harsh words.  But others believe that the Surgeon General plays a very important role as a communicator.  Many of us remember how former Surgeon General C Everret Koop, the nation’s first “celebrity” Surgeon General transformed how the nation discussed tobacco and viewed HIV/AIDS.  Given Gupta’s high profile,  he could greatly aid public health efforts to reduce obesity and help Americans accept the incoming administration’s health reform proposals.

Although Gupta’s celebrity status could be helpful for health communication and education efforts, there is much to the Surgeon General’s job that takes place behind the scenes.  The Surgeon General plays a key role in setting the nation’s public health agenda and needs the respect and support of the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and people at the CDC.  Will he be viewed as a lightweight by people within both organizations and spend more time getting up to speed rather than setting the agenda?  Only time will tell.

Regardless of whether Obama ultimately selects Gupta for the post, this it yet another interesting choice in what is shaping up to be a very celebrity heavy administration.