More Information Is Not Always Better: Pulling Consumers Into Active Choices About Testing (posted 05/01/12)
Activating Consumers with Financial Control: Lessons from Health Savings Accounts (posted 03/06/12)
Are Consumers Ready to Transform Health Care? If Not Now, When? (posted 01/26/12)
Most Consumers Don't Ask About the Price of Health Care Services (posted 01/06/12)
Paying Patients to Take Drugs or Helping Them Make Informed Choices? (posted 12/15/11)
While there is certainly evidence that cost influences a person’s likelihood of refilling medications, price is only one of many factors. It’s not a single conscious choice between taking a pill or not; it is ongoing management of a complex array of daily and weekly activities. Read full post
The Biggest Health Disparity of All: Control (Part 2) (posted 11/10/11)
In many cases the health care system has determined that certain people are incapable of understanding their health issues and making their own decisions. Read full post
The Biggest Health Disparity of All: Control (Part 1) (posted 11/08/11)
In many cases the health care system has determined that certain people are incapable of understanding their health issues and making their own decisions. Read full post
Note to Consumers: The Rules in Health Care Are a Little Different (posted 10/13/11)
Because consumers don’t realize that the price of health care products and services is set very differently than prices in other markets, it leads to perceptions and behaviors that can be expensive and even dangerous. Read full post
Why Advocate for Consumer Choice in Health Care? (posted 09/27/11)
Providers deliver care of ever-increasing complexity within brief, often-rushed encounters, leaving limited time for dialog. So, why invest resources and attention on an individual’s preferences about treatment? Read full post
Social Media’s Evolving Role in Health Care (posted 09/08/11)
On August 23, 2011, some people in New York knew an earthquake was coming before it happened. They weren’t psychic (as far as I know), but digital tweets from their friends in Washington, DC arrived 30 seconds before any seismic rumbles began Read full post
Informed Choices: A Critical Responsibility for Health Care Consumers (posted 07/07/11)
Did you know that doctors make different treatment choices for themselves than they recommend to their patients? A recent study found that doctors are more likely to take on the risk of death to avoid serious complications than they recommend to patients. Read full post
Being a Consumer Isn’t Just About Money, It’s About Choice (posted 05/05/11)
In a system that generates income by providing more and more services, the only party currently paying attention to the necessary care question is the government and employers. Read full post
ACOs: Missing Accountability from a Very Critical Stakeholder (posted 03/10/11)
Imagine that you decided to run an Accountable Car-Care Organization. The government announces that you would no longer be paid on repairs alone, but for keeping cars on the road and out of the garage. Read full post
Is a Good Education the Best Medicine of All? (posted 01/06/11)
"Junior, do your homework so you can grow up to be big and strong". There is an undeniable link between education and health, even as we age. Read full post
Sending Innovations Abroad. Only a Change in Incentives Will Bring Them Back. (posted 09/21/10)
Innovation requires several things. Certainly, it needs new discovery, but in business it also implies market adoption. In most U.S. industries, this happens through pressure from one (or both) of the following dimensions: 1) improved quality or utility of a product and 2) the price of the product. Read full post