[Report] Most Consumers Encounter Challenges Using New Types of High Tech Devices, Accenture Survey Finds | Full Text Reports…

Most Consumers Encounter Challenges Using New Types of High Tech Devices, Accenture Survey Finds | Full Text Reports….

From the press release

NEW YORK; Jan. 5, 2015 – Most consumers experience challenges using several new types of smart high tech devices, according to a new report from Accenture titled Engaging the Digital Consumer in the New Connected World.

Overall, 83 percent report various problems when they use new device types such as wearable fitness monitors, smart watches, smart home thermostats, in-vehicle entertainment systems, home connected surveillance cameras and security systems, and wearable health products.

The biggest challenges consumers face are that the smart devices are “too complicated to use” (21 percent), “set-up did not proceed properly” (19 percent), and “did not work as advertised” (19 percent).

“For these new connected device categories, high tech companies need to go back to the drawing board and rethink their product development approaches to focus on the entire customer experience,” said Sami Luukkonen, managing director for Accenture’s Electronics and High Tech group. “They should make fundamental strategic changes that no longer focus on product feature differentiation but rather holistic, digital experience differentiation.”

 

Related resources

• How to Choose A Better Health App (by LEXANDER V. PROKHOROV, MD, PHD  at KevinMD.com on August 8, 2011) contains advice in the following areas

• Set realistic expectations
• Avoid apps that promise too much
• Research the developers
• Choose apps that use techniques you’ve heard of
• See what other users say
• Test apps before committing

• Sources of Trusted, Reviewed and Evaluated Apps
  iMedical Apps   –Mobile medical app reviews, commentary by medical professionals
  Gallery of Mobile Apps and Sites – from the US National Library of Medicine
  Mobile Resources Selected by the MSKCC Library for Patients and Families   from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center LibraryInformation For Patients from the University of Michigan LibraryGuide-Health Sciences Mobile Device Resources – Resources by Subject
   Scroll down in the right column of this guide until you get to Information for Patients

   

[Website] Social Impact Calculator

The Social Impact Calculator is “a new tool that allows you to put a dollar value on the benefits of things like an affordable home, a great school or access to transit.”

From the 13 January 2015 blog post at Investing in Community Change

The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has created the Social Impact Calculator – a tool that allows you to put a dollar value to the impact of capital investments.

LIIF is a community development financial institution (CDFI) that invests in capital projects in low income communities in an effort to provide families with access to healthy, green and economically strong places to live. Using the Social Impact Calculator, LIIF is able to monetize the impact of capital investments in communities — such as funding for housing, child care centers and charter schools — and assess how well its investments are creating opportunities and reducing inequities in communities.

How does it work? The Social Impact Calculator estimates social returns using research and translating data into monetary values. For example, investments in affordable housing can create discretionary income for families by reducing the burden of housing costs. Those savings can be used by families to cover additional needs, such as food and healthcare. Similarly, as suggested by research, investing in high-performing schools can increase a child’s lifetime earnings while also reducing costs associated with incarceration.

LIIF has made the Social Impact Calculator available to the public and invites communities to explore how they might use the calculator to assess their own efforts. In addition, LIIF invites you to provide feedback about the Social Impact Calculator.

 

 

[Calendar] National Health Observances

 

Looking to promote prevention of a particular disease or condition this coming year? Or bring awareness to a population need?
Consider tying in your program with a US based national observance.
This guide is also great for the curious!

Each site has a related Web site (usually the sponsoring organization) and contact information.

 

 

National Health Observances – 2015 at a Glance

 

 

[Reblog] How the discussion on dying has changed over 40 years: A conversation with Nancy Berlinger | Association of Health Care Journalists

How the discussion on dying has changed over 40 years: A conversation with Nancy Berlinger | Association of Health Care Journalists.

From the 18 February 2015 post

If you want a refresher on how far society has come on dealing with end-of-life care issues — and what issues are still to be resolved — then this retrospective article in the Feb 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine from experts at The Hastings Center is a great place to begin. It reviews the history of the end-of-life care movement in the U.S., takes a look at the integration of palliative care into health care delivery, discusses the still controversial “death with dignity” laws and ethical issues like removal of feeding and hydration tubes.

I recently spoke with co-author Nancy Berlinger, Ph.D., a research scholar at Hastings, about how the conversation on death and dying has changed over four decades.

Q: Why did you and your colleagues develop this retrospective for publication in a medical journal?

NB: It stemmed from a recent revision of The Hastings Center Guidelines [for Decisions on Life-Sustaining Treatment and Care Near the End of Life].

…

We see lots of ads from hospitals advertising their standards of excellence and their programs. None of them ever advertise their end of life care.

…

it’s clear that financial incentives are very misaligned with what people need, what they want, what would be medically appropriate. This is a very complex issue – it can’t be undone by a patient, or by an individual doctor or nurse. This has to be the focus of very high-level attention.

…

Q: What should journalists be focusing on?

NB: Even if they don’t cover the deep medical end of things, they can still ask questions in the context of health and wellness, such as:

• How much power does a sick person have?
• How much power does a really stressed out family have?
• How much power does a doctor, seeing X number of patients, really have?
• And, what still do we want to try to help these people to do? To understand we’re all connected in these efforts.

  …

[Reblog] Helpful things to say to someone who’s sick

Helpful things to say to someone who’s sick.

From the 22 August 2012 post at KevinMD.com

t’s easy for those with health problems to complain about what we don’t want to hear others say to us, but I thought it might be helpful to let others know what we wish they would say to us.

“You look so good, but how are you really feeling?”

It’s hard for us to respond to comments like, “You look so good” (or the always dreaded, “But you don’t look sick”) because we know that you’re just trying to be nice. If we respond truthfully with, “Thanks, but I feel awful,” you might be embarrassed or think we’re being ungrateful. It would be such a relief to be asked a question that goes to the heart of the matter: “How are you really feeling?”

“I’m going to the grocery store, can I pick anything up for you?”

….

[Press release] More women now using compounded hormones without understanding the risks — ScienceDaily

More women now using compounded hormones without understanding the risks — North America Menopause Society

From the 28 February 2015 press release

From 28% to 68% of women using hormones at menopause take compounded, so-called “bioidentical” hormones, but women don’t understand the risks of these unapproved, untested treatments, shows an analysis of two large surveys, which was published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society.

Prescriptions of compounded hormones aren’t systematically tracked the way those for FDA-approved drugs are, so the analysts used two large internet surveys of middle-aged and older US women to gauge how commonly they use approved hormone therapy and compounded hormone therapy at menopause. Nearly 3,000 women completed the Harris Interactive Inc and Rose Research LLC surveys, and the researchers used their feedback and US Census data to estimate national use.

They calculated that each year 57 to 75 million prescriptions for all menopausal hormone therapies are filled. Thirty-six million prescriptions are written for FDA-approved hormone therapy, so the remaining 28 to 39 million prescriptions are likely for compounded hormones.

But it seems that women who take them don’t know what they’re getting into. One survey asked women “Do you believe that bioidentical hormone therapies compounded at a specialty pharmacy are FDA-approved?” Only 14% correctly answered “no.” Most–76%–weren’t sure, and 10% incorrectly answered “yes

[Reblog] My Doctor Just Gave Me His Cell Phone Number … | The Health Care Blog

My Doctor Just Gave Me His Cell Phone Number … | The Health Care Blog.

From the 17 February 2015 post

That’s right…it really happened.

At the conclusion of a recent doctor visit, he gave me his cell phone number saying, “Call me anytime if you need anything or have questions.”

In disbelief, I wondered if this was a generational thing – and whether physicians in their late thirties had now ‘gone digital’.

My only other data point was our family pediatrician, who is also in her late thirties. Our experience with her dates back nearly seven years when my wife and I were expecting twins.  A few pediatricians we met with mentioned their willingness to correspond with patients’ families via email as a convenience to parents.  The pediatrician we ultimately selected wasn’t connected with patients outside of the office at that time, but now will exchange emails.

…

[Reblog] Four insurers reveal what they pay for 70 health care services

Four insurers reveal what they pay for 70 health care services | Association of Health Care Journalists.

From the 26 February 2015 article at Covering Health

Health insurers are taking incremental steps to release information on what they pay to health care providers. Each month, they reveal just a bit more.

This week, Aetna, Assurant Health, Humana and UnitedHealthcare released state and local cost information through the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) on a consumer site called Guroo.com. The data show the costs for about 70 common health conditions and services and are based on claims from more than 40 million insured individuals, HCCI announced.

No other organization has made these data available, HCCI said. In that way, this release is significant. Or, as the Guroo site says of the data: “The biggest collection of cost information is now at your fingertips, so you know what care really costs.”

Well, not exactly. The data show what insurers paid. Or, as Jason Millman pointed out in The Washington Post, “The site doesn’t break down what a consumer pays for services versus what the insurer pays.”

…

The release of cost-transparency data seems to be gaining some momentum. Last month, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services published what it said was “the most current price information” from hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. In so doing, North Carolina joined Maine and Massachusetts as the only states that publish price data on the web, according to last year’s Report Card on State Transparency Laws  from the Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute.

Within days of the publication of the state data, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina published data on what it pays hospitals and physicians. In an earlier blog post we covered those events in North Carolina.