Physician Thought Leaders and Technology – and Remaining Relevant

Technology is not about replacing physicians  … instead, we must remember, change brings opportunity — and we must use these tumultuous times to scale great physician thought leaders!.

The secret is understanding what matters!

 

Physician thought leaders:

There has never been a greater need to identify, and engage the tech-savvy physician who understands and actively explores the emerging role of technology in medicine and healthcare.

As Bryan Vartabedian astutely pointed out… the role of the physician in medicine and healthcare is going to evolve.  That evolution is going to have to occur rapidly given the addition of 33+million newly insured that are going to seek care through a system that can not handle the current demand, can not control cost, and has poor abilities at best to measure quality.

Even without the additional burden of the  newly insured patient pool, with ever increasing pressures to improve the “quality” of care and the yet to be released (patient centric) MU 3 criteria it is imperative that physicians begin to pay far more attention to the impact that technology can have on every aspect of their profession — and their ability to care for patients, and remain a viable entity.  

For the average physician, the mere mention of “technology” will typically lead to apprehension, fear and little knowledge of where to turn for leadership and assistance.

Physicians, Technology and Remaining Relevant

Health-related technology has become a very complex, fragmented space.  There are desktop based programs, cloud-based platforms, mobile applications which are physician-centric, and platforms which are patient centered.  There are platforms to document an encounter, platforms to educate patients, and applications to improve communications.  Educational applications can be video or text based. The content can be purchased or produced by the physician.  Video platforms are evolving to educate patients and to enable patients to message physicians. It’s not hard to realize that professional guidance is frequently necessary.

Yikes… Even if you are a technology junkie like me, the plethora of apps that are released on a weekly basis can be staggering.  Inevitably, even tech-savvy physicians can quickly lose interest due to analysis paralysis or an incomplete understanding of the value proposition or role of a given technology in their particular practice.

Many practices and hospitals will not exist in five years… it’s simply a matter of economics.  Who will remain relevant and who will not?  I don’t think the winners will have beaten the competition because they worked harder.  The secret is in the understanding of what matters. Which technologies are absolutely necessary? Which offer you, and thus your organization and patients a distinct advantage over your competitors? 

There has never been a more important time in medicine to recognize what matters! 

Determining what matters is not always obvious, and it changes rapidly. It changes by consumer and physician demands, government regulations, service line enhancements, supply chain management issues, and having engaged, connected C-suites with skin in the game. What matters when considering physician adoption of technology and mobile health platforms is transforming rapidly— but all too frequently without physician involvement.

This is the time, this is the place… it is time to scale great physician thought leaders who are able to recognize needs, value propositions, government and private sector desires and regulations —and are capable of focusing on the innovative technologies that matter... and ignoring the noise.