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Archives : Innovation
Top 10 creative souls in health care | Fast Company
We love creativity and innovation around here…and here we simply tip our hats to Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Creative People in Health Care. Keep a-changing the health care world as we know it fellas.
Congratulations, and thank you.
Vantage Clinical Solutions
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Tannus Quatre PT, MBA is a private practice consultant and principal with Vantage Clinical Solutions, Inc., a nationwide healthcare consulting and management firm located in Bend, OR and Denver, CO. Tannus specializes in the areas of healthcare marketing, strategy, and finance, and can be reached through the Vantage Clinical Solutions website.
“Virtualization” of physician communications
I’ve had the pleasure to speak with Jay Parkinson, MD about his innovative business model which takes a revolutionary approach to medical communications between physicians and patients through Myca, a company for which he is the Chief Medical Officer. I’m excited about the concept of “virtualizing” physician communication, and think the 5 minute video below does a great job of speaking to the benefits of such a world.
“Innovation through competition”
Those were the headlines in the New York Times News Service yesterday, which I found syndicated in my local newspaper. I couldn’t agree more.
As many are aware, Google is sponsoring a $20 million “race to the moon” for a commercial grade spacecraft that holds potential as a feasible vehicle for use by human passengers. The premise of course, is that despite the great body of knowledge we’ve developed throughout the world, a little competition lights the fire that will ultimately catapult innovation from mere concept to proven reality.
I feel the same way about healthcare. Now, it’s not too novel a concept to understand that innovation in the development and manufacturing of cardiac stents, hip prostheses, and endovascular coils is important…from all angles it clearly is. What’s a bit less understood is how innovation in the delivery of healthcare is of significant importance as well. Creating business models that place the incentives in such a way as to benefit the payer, the provider, and the patient – well that’s innovation too.
The great thing about innovation is that it is a product of competition, something that we’re all built to foster, breed, and execute. I worked for a hospital organization whose primary focus was fear of future competition. Strategies revolved around how to prevent competitive entry in lieu of a focus on how to remain competitive in the face of it. It’s not that barriers to entry aren’t important – they are. But recognizing that competition isn’t easy, and that from it comes adaptation, change, and improvement allows one’s focus to expand toward innovation which benefits all, rather than protection which benefits few.
The new models of healthcare that we’re seeing develop that are the outcome of increased competition for a shrinking dollar (the medical home, concierge medical services, conglomerate specialty practices, cash pay physical therapy services) aren’t all going to hit the nail on the head. Some are even going to fail miserably. I say, kudos for trying though, as it’s only when innovation is conceptualized and executed that our healthcare system and private practice have the chance to develop something that sticks…hopefully like commercial airlines to the moon.
The practice of medicine by instant message?
The practice of medicine has seen some significant changes in the last number of years…concierge practices, the medical home model, and…instant message?
A Brooklyn physician started a practice in 2007 with nothing more than a computer, an iPhone, and a couple of house calls per year. The cost? $500 per year. The target patient? The uninsured, young, and wired.
Whether the model is sustainable and the quality of care is of value remains to be seen. The innovative approach is worthy of comment though as we’re sure to see more and more of this type of creativity as the tech savvy of our new doctors increases with each graduating class.
Dr. Jay Parkinson launched his medical practice in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in late September with no waiting room, no fluorescent-lit exam rooms, and best of all, no overhead. Parkinson’s practice is online. Want to reach him? Try instant messenger or e-mail.
Parkinson’s medical practice combines quaint house calls of yore with decidedly 21st-century technology. For a yearly fee of $500, Parkinson makes an initial visit to his patients in their apartments and offers two additional visits as needed. But he is available to them any time between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays for unlimited consultation on IM or e-mail.
Prehabilitation becomes formal curriculum in physical therapy school
Prehabilitation is the focus on physical therapy services that prevent the need for extended rehabilitation services by approaching the preventative aspects of injury or illness. Physical therapists have acknowledged and used prehabilitation principles for years, but the addition of a “prehab” curriculum by this Canadian school will hopefully begin to frame the expectation for new professionals entering practice that prevention is the only way we will effectively change the state of healthcare.
…students in U of T’s program have the advantage of being in what he calls a “corridor of innovation” because of the university’s close proximity to the largest hospital network and rehabilitation hospital in Canada. While research is still being done to determine where prehab should fit into the healthcare delivery system, Landry says students need to be prepared now for
the future.“The more we can work with our students to understand and see a new perspective on the healthcare delivery system, the better, because they’re the champions who are going to go out there and make change.”
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