This week I'm at the Information Therapy conference in Park City, Utah. There's been a lot of talk about getting the right information to patients at the right time, but there's also clear evidence that medical errors are still being covered up, patients are leaving the physician's office not having their questions answered, and most of the information they heard there they've forgotten shortly afterward. Many big organizations like Kaiser Permanente and United Healthcare are coming to grips with this. But it's a real struggle both selling the idea of prescribing information to busy physicians, and providing the right tools to consumers. And the right tool may be very different based on different types of patients.
But the logic is obvious. What patients do outside the office changes their health and their health care costs, yet patients remain poorly informed. The health care system needs to do much better in recognizing that this needs to improve.
- Matthew