Exclusive posts, articles, and infographics

Digital health / shutterstock

Fard Johnmar, a digital health futurist, and I came up with an interesting idea: why not hold a public conversation focused around the following, provocative question: Is digital health helping or failing patients? It would be interesting to see the differences and similarities between how an ePatient (me) and health futurist (Fard) respond this question.[read more]

Beyond the Buzz

Would you know what to do if your reputation was damaged online? Knowing how to maintain your online reputation is an essential component of healthcare marketing. This installment of Beyond the Buzz takes you through the steps needed to help your healthcare organization handle a social media crisis.[read more]

Big Data in healthcare

Today, as digitized healthcare brings Big Data analytics platforms into the equation, the goal of healthcare is being more fully realized through improved patient outcomes. Though many of the benefits of big data analytics in healthcare are yet to be realized, here’s a look at 5 ways big data is improving patient outcomes now.[read more]

PharmaPhorum with Paul Tunnah

My cynical side feels that the LinkedIn Influencer program was initially skewed by the desire to get more C-level exec profiles created and give a podium to those who, ultimately, are the decision-makers at LinkedIn’s biggest corporate clients. But there is a happy(ish) ending to this story.[read more]

health IT training / shutterstock

Healthcare CEOs recognize that they need to build a bigger and better IT workforce this year. In fact, 53 percent of the CEOs surveyed want to hire more people immediately. But 63 percent say they are concerned about finding people with the right skills.[read more]

BioPharma Beat

There are many things companies can do to facilitate disruptive discovery, design, development and marketing of new products and services; however, not much is said about market readiness as a success factor for these disruptions. Here are 7 ways to make it very attractive to introduce change and innovation.[read more]

cost of drugs / shutterstock

Patients are struggling. Costs are exorbitant for some cancer drugs. Many patients bankrupt themselves trying to pay, and many just go without. Some insurance companies pay for these medications, but many only pay for a percentage of the total. For some patients, the co-pays and deductibles are extremely high. However, there is help.[read more]

Security and ICD-10 / shutterstock

Although Health and Human Services has delayed compliance with the International Classification of Diseases 10 (ICD-10) codes until October 1, 2014, medical practices and hospitals are gearing up to incorporate and manage the expanded new ICD-10 codes in order to comply with HIPAA, Medicare and Medicaid.[read more]

Beyond the Buzz

Are you on LinkedIn? Would you like to take your LinkedIn marketing to another level? If you answered yes, then today’s article is for you. I am going to show you how to build your healthcare brand on LinkedIn and become an influencer through content publishing.[read more]

Pagers? In 2014?

Health care has been slow to adopt certain technologies. The field is 10 to 15 years behind other industries in establishing electronic record-keeping. It also lags in the move to cloud computing. In some respects, health care is out of date on mobile communications, too. How else to explain why pagers are still so common?[read more]

telemedicine (photo: InTouch Health, RP-7i ROBOT)

Remote presence robots are allowing physicians to “beam” themselves into hospitals to diagnose patients and offer medical advice during emergencies. These telepresence robots are expanding access to medical specialists, which has been a real advantage in rural areas where there is often a shortage of doctors.[read more]

diagnosing cash flow issues / shutterstock

Most small and mid-sized medical practices operate in a difficult environment. Under these conditions, it’s easy for medical practices to experience financial problems. Fortunately, cash flow problems themselves are not hard to diagnose. Here are five common problems that can affect cash flow.[read more]

personalized healthcare

Personalized healthcare changes the healthcare industry for the better because patients receive care tailored to their unique genetic makeup. There's still a lot of research that needs to be done, but take a look at these seven personalized healthcare tests that are currently being researched and developed.[read more]

patient survey

A recent survey of cancer patients by Patient Power yielded amazingly powerful results. Almost 1300 patients responded to the survey, 72% from the US and the rest from Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Patients surveyed noted that they checked for online updates surprisingly often.[read more]

The Baton Pass

March 19th marked the national kick-off of The Baton Pass, a grassroots fundraising campaign launched jointly by Siemens and Stand Up To Cancer to support its innovative cancer research. At all events, what the campaign organizers emphasized repeatedly was the importance of community in the fight against cancer.[read more]

healthcare tech initiatives

Rapidly advancing technology in the healthcare industry is changing the way patients approach everything. From a bionic suit that eases the workload of physical therapists, to needle-free glucose monitors that transmit data wirelessly, these cool technologies are helping patients and doctors alike to approach healthcare in a whole new way.[read more]

clinical trial recruitment

Clinical trials for cancer patients can be a life-saving opportunity. But most clinical trials do not even finish due to lack of patient participation. Why is this? I asked Andrew Schorr, two-time cancer patient and founder of PatientPower.info, why he thought that more patients don’t know about clinical trials when they are first diagnosed with cancer.[read more]

Beyond the Buzz

Getty Images, a premier supplier of stock images, has announced a new embed feature which makes it easy, legal, and free to add its images to websites, blogs, and social media platforms. This move is a welcome one for those who own a healthcare blog but have a limited budget to commission or buy photographs.[read more]

healthcare tools for patient relationships

To help patients reach and maintain their optimum level of health, healthcare professionals need to support and utilize the tools gaining prominence in our tech-savvy society. More importantly, they need to become primary motivators in healthy living, not just advisors in times of need.[read more]

Jonny Imerman of Imermans Angels

“I've been there. I beat it. And so will you," says Jonny Imerman, cancer survivor and founder of Imerman Angels, a cancer support group that matches cancer survivors to cancer patients on a one-to-one basis. Started in 2006, Imerman Angels now has a roster of over 6,000 cancer survivor mentors and caregivers.[read more]