yeah, another Guy K article, but this is a question pointed to the c:h team -which one sounds like the story line we are telling and does that sync with the story line that we should be telling about change:healthcare?

Read the full post here, and the outline is as follows:

1. Aspirations and beliefs. More than any other topic, people like to hear about aspirations and beliefs. (This may be why religion is the most popular word-of-mouth topic, ever.) …Aspirations are helpful because they help us connect emotionally to the speaker, the company, and the issues.
2. David vs. Goliath. …Rooting for the underdog grabs our emotions, creates meaning, and invokes passion. We like to listen to the little guy talk about how he’s going to win and why the world—or the industry—will be a better place for it.
3. Avalanche about to roll. …This theme taps into our desire to get the inside story before it’s widely known. It’s not only interesting to hear someone speak about these ideas, they have the ingredients for optimal viral and pass-along effect.
4. Contrarian/counterintuitive/challenging assumptions. These three themes are like first cousins, similar in many ways but slightly different. Contrarian perspectives defy conventional wisdom; they are positions that often are not in line with—or may even be directly opposite to—the wisdom of the crowd.
5. Counterintuitive ideas fight with what our intuition (as opposed to a majority of the public) says is true. When you introduce counterintuitive ideas, it takes people a minute to reconcile the objective truth with their gut assumption about the topic.
6. Challenging widely-held assumptions means that when everyone else says the reason for an event is X, you show that it’s actually Y.
7. Anxieties. Anxiety is a cousin of the avalanche about to roll, but it is more about uncertainty than an emerging, disruptive trend. Examples of anxiety themes abound: (1) Financial services companies urging baby boomers to hurry up and invest more for retirement
8. Personalities and personal stories. There’s nothing more interesting than a personal story with some life lessons to help us understand what makes executives tick and what they value the most.
9. How-to stories and advice. Theoretical and thought-provoking ideas are nice, but people love pragmatic how-to advice: how to solve problems, find next practices, and overcome common obstacles.
10. Glitz and glam. … Our society is more addicted to glamour and celebrity. Finding a way to logically link to something glitzy and glamorous is a surefire conversation starter.
11. Seasonal/event-related. Last, and least interesting but seems to resonate, is tying your topic into seasonal or major events.

ok… so the chain of linkage goes like this: I just read a post on Guy Kawasaki’s blog that re-published a “response” post by Glenn Kelman (CEO of Redfin) that was a proposed revision of one of Guy’s articles about PR. Whew!

The point is that i like Glenn’s post so much so because it mirror’s my feeling as we (change:healthcare) prepare to make a multitude of announcements. So, as the news starts to fly about us… you’ll know what i’ll be doing over the next several weeks.

Here are the points that really jumped out at me:

…So what I am recommending is not howto manage an agency, but something more radical: not hiring an agency at all. Here are ten reasons why.

1. The truth will set you free. Over and over, publicists tell their clients to stick to the agreed-upon message to avoid mistakes but this guarantees you’ll never say anything thoughtful or spontaneous. Maybe your company has two and a half customers. So what? If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably not dumping toxins into a river or selling cigarettes to teenagers. Let GE and Philip Morris retain agencies. [cparks says: i live this next sentence] If you were stripped absolutely naked for the world to see, a few warts might show up, but more people would do business with you. Once you get comfortable with that, you’re ready to deal with the press on your own.
2. The rolodex is already online.
3. You don’t have to seem all grown-up and boring. … There are enough stuffed suits in this world to fill fifteen Wall Street Journals a day. As anyone who watches American Idol will tell you, what this spun-out, over-hyped world is absolutely famished for is a little genuine personality. And, outside of your technology, it’s probably the only thing you have. So stop trying to be like IBM and just be yourself.
4. Ideas are the precious things.
5. Let the fur fly. … If there’s no drama, there’s no story. …. As an entrepreneur, you’re going to be more comfortable with risk than a publicist. And you won’t win as a start-up without taking risks, over and over again.
6. Nerd-to-nerd networks are where it all happens—and value speed in everything you do.
7. Even bad coverage isn’t so bad. I was once profiled in a national business magazine doing odd things in my underwear. It was terrible; I lay face down on a couch for an hour after reading it. And you know what? It wasn’t that bad. Never whine to the journalist about coverage, avoid narcissistic story-lines, and don’t worry if you make a few mistakes.
8. Go in alone. …It’s just as hard to connect with a journalist when a publicist is always at your side. You often need a candid space in which you can say what you really think. Just bring a notebook so you can jot down any follow-up items and you’ll be fine.
9. Passion + expertise = credibility.
10. Make time. … Focus on a few big ideas, and you can tell them yourself. …Conveying your company’s story in a personable, compelling way is one of your most important jobs.
11. (Who’s counting?) Hire an employee, not an agency. When you need help, hire a person, not an agency.

See what i mean?! I just snagged a couple of highlights, so go read the whole story as it is well worth the read. Jeez, simply reading Glenn’s thoughts makes me wish i could meet the man. Honesty and forwardness are two traits that i truly value.

When i embarked on this “I’m gonna change healthcare!” little did i know just how much of a tidal wave was brewing and that my own sentiments were slamming across America. I know that Revolution Health and Intuit were ramping up for good things (yes, i did complement them… anyone attempting to do good is worthy of a mention in my perspective). Also, i knew that the good people at Google were hard at work trying to figure out their next move.

Yet, how little did i realize just how much a passionate perspective and deep-rooted conviction would carry me. I will be the first one to tell you that i’m not that smart. I’m merely doggedly persistent (almost OCD-like as my wife likes to remind me) when i get a “bee in my bonnet”. Fortunately, i have been blessed to have found a multitude of friends, partners, and companies that believe in the vision of our combined company… change:healthcare. Yes, change:healthcare is now a real company, funded, with a team of individuals, revenues, clients, and Users with an astounding wave of UI changes forthcoming for MedBillManager and then shortly thereafter for FindYourDoc.

I am so pleased to be part of a team of people that care so deeply about making a difference in healthcare and who are willing to join me on this roller coaster ride of a start-up. My co-founder Robert and I, as well as MattM, MattB, Jakob, Katrina and our growing team will have several announcements hitting the wires about national partnerships and new tools that reinforce our commitment to following through on my convictions that resulted from both of my parents passing away. Healthcare can and must be made easier for consumers. It doesn’t have to be confusing. You should need a slide ruler to figure out your bills and people should be able to compare their costs anonymously, yet easily against others. Healthcare pricing information should and must be transparent. It’s not only coming, it’s here. Now. Go look on findyourdoc and see what hospitals in CA and TN not only charge, but get reimbursed, and their costs are. And over the next 60 days, MedBillManager and FindYourDoc are getting completely updated with new features, improved User Interfaces, and a crap-load of data for every state in the U.S.

I know that many huge organizations like Google are focused on clinical and disease-based informatics systems and communities, like Roni Zeiger, M.D., Product Manager, Google:

I believe patients should also have access to these kinds of systems so that they can help make sure they are getting the best care. If you search online to learn more about diabetes, it should be easy to find out what the generally recommended treatments and tests are.

Now I’m part of the team here working on health and we’re trying to do something about this problem. Adam Bosworth, who is leading our team, has alluded to this in previous posts such as this one as well as in some speeches he has made at healthcare conferences.

Roni and Adam’s efforts will have a significant impact on the medical community and consumers as well, for without the influence of such public swayers of technological opinion, we (consumers) would only see trivial and incremental nudges of improvement. Additionally, the announcement of the clinical and executive thought-leaders that Google has assembled, certain has raised many an eyebrow of the “old-school” powers-that-be… but i wonder if more importantly, if Google would consider allowing our team help Google’s own employees deal with the issues that get most people’s attention… the less esoteric issue of… was what i paid fair?! What other type of providers, services are people in my zip code with my health issues paying?

I would strongly encourage Google’s team to utilize and learn from MedBillManager (heck even leverage for their own employees) and it’s healthcare cost reconciliation tool-set and alternative provider recommendation engine. I only make this point because of Missy Krasner, Product Marketing Manager’s recent blog post which illustrated Google’s forward-thinking healthcare initiatives:

In the meantime, we have taken steps on our own to address the failures we see in our health care system. In our case, the menu of health care options that we offer our employees includes both direct services (for example, on-site medical and dental professionals in certain locations) as well as a range of preventive care programs. It’s one of the ways we’re attempting to demonstrate corporate responsibility on a major issue of our time.

So why the picture of Mr. Moore? Well, because as i mulled over the significant information, ideas, and political positions that we all have, it became apparent that Michael’s movie SICKO, regardless of whether you think it was on target or completely missed the mark , is helping to force a conversation that nobody has been willing to engage in. That people are beginning to rally behind the notion of “less talk, and more action”. Making a change is not easy and there has never been a change that people have willingly embraced. Humans just don’t like change. But change is coming as evidenced by the positive and negative dialog that SICKO has stirred up.

Are you ready for a change? Probably not, but change must and will happen. It will be awkward, clunky, confusing. Change will not happen as any one person envisions, myself included. But i think that if consumers begin to take personal accountability (or at least understand that they will ultimately have to assume some responsibility) that we all will realize that we have the ability and power to influence change in a positive way.

Social networking…

Could there be a more abused buzzword? (ahem, that was a rhetorical question as i am sure there are many more out there). From Facebook to MySpace to a variety of other social networks (heck let’s throw in Health 2.0’s OrganizedWisdom, Patient’s Like Me, and DailyStrength just for good measure) recently it has become apparent that people like to share with other people. I came across a great blog post by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of iHealthbeat titled Drug Companies Lag in Adopting Social Media To Communicate With Consumers.

First a big hat-tip and thanks to Matthew Holt’s and John Sharp’s blogs:

John’s succintly points out…

the companies could learn much from their patients using this medium. There is also potential to enhance compliance – perhaps patients could learn from each other more about how to manage a chronic condition like diabetes.

Matthew also pontificates…

These BTW are good things for drug companies and patients

Let’s get into the meat of things though, Jane (who knows how to craft an article!) leads off with a true “head-scratcher” …

As many as one in three U.S. residents with diabetes were taking Avandia in May 2007. That translates to somewhere between four and five million U.S. residents who might have been Avandia consumers at the time when Steven Nissen’s study linking Avandia to risk of heart disease was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After the study came out, FDA, GlaxoSmithKline — Avandia’s manufacturer — mainstream media and television lawyers created a cacophony of conflicting information. However, a significant number of patients found information solace in blogs, wikizines and other consumer-generated media.

And i especially liked here interview quote from Grant Bruce…

It appears that in the current environment, drug companies are throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater when it comes to using social media to impact patient health behaviors. “The risk for the industry [in not taking advantage of social media] is that there is a baby in that bathwater,” Grant said, adding, “Pharmaceutical marketers need to understand this new environment and be aware of the ongoing discourse that’s out there” among consumers, providers and analysts.

But the real nugget that jumped out to me was this…

Patients today have lower regard for content created by pharmaceutical companies than they do for information generated by advocacy groups, physicians and fellow consumers. A Kaiser Family Foundation report found that 18% of consumers “most of the time” trust what pharmaceutical companies say in their ads — a much smaller share than in 1997, when 33% said they could trust drug company ads “most of the time.”

HOLY COW!! I understand the fear of litigious patients and the nature of informality that is often persistent in social-networks, but come on guys… it would appear that when embraced – these networked forums (if you will) have the potential to provide tremendous benefit and reinforcement of behavioral changes and prescriptive compliance.

Can someone send a copy of the Cluetrain Manifesto to the Pharma gang?! “…enables people [patients] to have “human to human” conversations, which have the potential to transform traditional business [pharma] practices radically.”

Jane – great article, well put together, and well worth the time to read.

Across the Web is simply a way for me to bookmark and save websites of interest to me and our team about healthcare and technology…

Greying, but not gone: ELDR.com website with an editorial mandate to change the perception of aging. ELDR is the first media company specifically targeting the affluent and influential 60-plus demographic. It gives readers a dual-media approach and targeted options for advertisers. “Every day, about 13,000 Americans turn 60. They are much younger in attitude than their parent’s generation and have a profound impact on everyone they touch,” says Chad Lewis, founder, president and publisher. “They are affluent and self-motivated. They are the doers and the movers; the leaders, not the followers.”

Nick Stakenburg has written a nice simple tooltip: built on Script.aculo.us called Effect.Tooltip

Michael Mahemoff: I’ve written some notes on the Google Gadget API and how to write a gadget, targeted at developers who already know Ajax.

Yahoo’s New SmartAds: Yahoo announced SmartAds today, a new graphical ad system to improve display ads’ targeting and relevance. Basically, according to the demo, the system “learns” what individual searchers want based on their location and their search histories. Then is serves customized display ads to appeal directly to a searchers’ interests. Apparently, the text in display ads is changed based on the user’s profile. No wonder Yahoo’s been so interested in personalization.

So what should you do if you do raise a lot of money?Marc Andreessen: As my old boss Jim Barksdale used to say, the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing — be just as focused on product and customers when you raise a lot of money as you would be if you hadn’t raised a lot of money. Easy to say, hard to do, but worth it. Continue to run as lean as you can, bank as much of the money as possible, and save it for a rainy day — or a nuclear winter.

Tutorial on developing a Facebook platform application with Ruby On Rails: Facebook has provided many different integration points and different APIs to an application so it is worth reading Anatomy of a Facebook Application first which will explain the areas an application can affect for a user. Nice post by Liverail.

Web 2.0 in Healthcare: John Sharp of eHealth
“On Friday I presented at the conference of Northern Ohio Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society in Cleveland. The powerpoint is posted here. There was a positive response with lots of interest in hearing more. There is also an initiative to do more with SecondLife as the activity on the Cleveland Island grows.”

From the presentation slides:

Hospital of the Future: The Super-Informed Patient: Jen writes a great post that cut down to the point that…

There’s no doubt in my mind that current patient education efforts fall woefully short. Our system does not teach patients to self-advocate or be knowledgeable about care.
And even in instances where we want to be involved in the care process, the purchasing, decision-making, and payment/reimbursement minutiae make individual involvement largely prohibitive in terms of personal ROI.

Our system also doesn’t teach us about the large role we can play in improving patient safety by taking some level of responsibility for informed involvement.

“Prepare Yourself Now To Help Care for Parents Later“: Adult children who currently do not care for an elderly parent should “consider some specific actions now to prepare” financially in the event that they have to care for an elderly parent in the future, USA Today reports (Fetterman, USA Today, 6/29)

and insightful, and good-looking, and well mannered… [ok, enough kissing up]

Really appreciated Hank of InsureBlog posting an unsolicited mention about FindYourDoc. People doen’t realize that it has free info (ahem… let me say that again… no charge, zip, nada, doesn’t cost a dime) such as where your physician graduated from, where they did their residency, what specialities they are board certified in…

But what REALLY gets interesting is the hospital data… inpatient and outpatient charges, negotiated rates, and costs… what zip codes patients are coming from to use that hospital. Yeah, we could make up something to make it seem super secret or psuedo-insider only info (think of it that way if it makes you feel better) but really – and be honest – wouldn’t you want, wouldn’t expect to know that information about your doctor or hospital BEFORE you got your bill.

Transparency is coming and it ain’t perfect but it’s coming nonetheless. Hang on.

Heck, if you use FindYourDoc to look up a physician or hospital, send us an email of why or how you used the information and we’ll post the top 5 stories… also, in the next 60 days FYD will get a new look and more quality data.

I’ve become an avid reader of many blogs and happened upon an interesting post by jeremy garlington on Found+Read titled “Curing the Founder’s Syndrome” which i pray that i do not follow in the footsteps of the following parody:

…a typical founder during a sales call with a prospective client of his early-stage business.

Founder: “Hi, this is John Doe. I’m the founder of Daytime Dummies and would like to introduce an innovative new business concept to you.”

Potential buyer: “Ok, what is Daytime Dummies?”

Founder: “Thanks for your time! Daytime Dummies is a first-of-its-kind approach to outsourcing all of those office hour non-essential tasks. Such as refilling the water cooler, picking up the dry cleaning and re-stocking the copier.”

Potential buyer: “Hmmm, how does it work?”

Founder: “Well, for starters, I’m the founder. So let me begin by telling you where this unique concept originated…”

Buyer: Sound of keyboard typing overheard

Founder: “Are you still there?”

Click! End of call.

Every founder has been in a similar situation at one time or another. In the early stages of a company, it’s all about our vision, executing the business plan, finding investors and customers. Not necessarily in that order. Whether you’re trying to sell the newest widget or tailored service, what I call the Founder’s Syndrome is all too common. By this I mean that singular, almost narcissistic focus on our idea and our responsibility for making it fly. And who can blame us? We must be this focused to succeed, right? In a sense it is all about us and our vision. But here’s a newsflash.

Visions are useless unless transferred to those paying the bills or those who can help you generate customers who will pay the bills. The ability to craft a commercial vision is what makes a founder, a founder. The ability to promote the vision and transfer it to others–to make it grow into a commercial value proposition–is what defines a good leader. The balance between founder and leader is often so out of kilter that it’s hard to distinguish where the vision-concept ends and vision-value proposition begins.

…

Another timely example is Jerry Yang at Yahoo!. Can this founder return to being a leader? Only time will tell. Perhaps the hippest and most famous co-founders, the Google guys, had this balance down awhile back when they brought in Eric Schmidt to help run things. They let go of the me-driven vision enough to allow a professional manager in to help realize the value proposition. Never hurts to have a truly experienced hand on board.

Mere mortal founders need to straddle the fence between our own vision and promoting it, spreading it in the form of something that the marketplace will value. Jobs figured this out eventually, making him one of the most iconic business leaders in history.

Please, oh please… i hope that i can be a good leader!

It ain’t purty, but it sure do work Dept.

Also, came across a non-sexy, yet information rich example of a group of Providers (healthcare organizations) collaborating to offer consumers some fantastic, peer-reviewed clinical information. Nice job and a hat-tip to the leaders at University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University, The Ohio State University. I was (as you will be) pretty impressed by this group’s netwellness.org offering. I didn’t say it was pretty, nor easy to wade thru and find relevant information – but the quality of the information and resources was first-class.

change:healthcare’s FindYourDoc is named as one of KillerStartups May 2007 Hot Start-up… gosh, we’re blushing! Also, we’re linked to by CenterNetworks [a blog that has some great content like KillerStartups] and it all originated with our friends at StartupSquad who have been terrific and who also did a great and yet unexpected review

Guys, thanks for the links and reviews. We really appreciate it, but we’re only just getting started (vroom vroom!). Just you wait until you see the new UI on MedBillManager and then we’re tackling FYD to improve the features and usability. It’s gonna be a busy July.

Here are some of the other companies mentioned as “Hot”:

RunnerPlus.com – Join the Running Revolution

Runner+ is the social network for runners. There are all kinds of tools to help you track and improve your running. You can log in your stats and they can be downloaded in Excel format, or you can see them in a bunch of different charts, or you can compare them to the stats of your friends for a little friendly competition. read more »

LicketyShip.com – Online delivery service

Are you to busy to delivery a package, or pick up your clothes from the cleaners? Well, now there is a service that can take care of all your delivery and pick-up needs. LicketyShip is a same day, online delivery service within your city. Currently, it is only available in San Francisco. All you need to do is tell them what to pick up and where, and they will find the best deal possible by searching a network of courier services. read more »

GreenDOC.net – Online word processing

Save the environment! Type your text on GreenDOC’s site instead of in your PC’s word processor! Well, I am not sure exactly how using an online word processor saves the environment, or how it’s better in any way than your PC’s word program. However, what GreenDOC offers is a nice, complete word processing program right in the website. read more »

FindYourDoc.com – Search for your Next Doctor

Having trouble finding your perfect Dr. McDreamy? FindYourDoc promises for find the most professional, cost efficient medical professionals in your area, though they can´t promise they´ll be cute. Search according to name, location, specialty, and their simple search interface will guide you to the doctor you need. read more »

Uniteddogs.com – Dogs’ Home on the Web

Want a place to bond with other dog lovers and owners outside of the doggie park? Uniteddogs is the place for dog owners and lovers to hang out. If you own a dog, you can create a page for your pup, including things like their breed, nicknames, gender, color, birthday, location, lifestyle, weight, and more. You can even add other dog friends to your dog’s social network and they can leave comments for each other. A fun part of the site is the hot-or-not feature that lets you rate dogs’ pictures. read more »