Special Posting: Speaking the Truth
After 7 years developing CareTALK as a branded, multimedia common sense approach to consumer-directed healthcare management, I am still amazed at the resistance I have found across-the-board. First, there remains an institutionalized resistance to allowing consumers a full seat at the decision-making table. The dollars annually spent in America on healthcare have manifested a special interest driven, carved-up and politically charged debacle where consumers are, in my view, the LAST interests considered. I was advised "caregiving is TOXIC" two years ago by a key senior communications executive at Medicare -- as they were advised by the self-serving research data of a well-established Internet media brand. I was laughed at when I suggested a) they were both dismissing as TOXIC their own audience -- and, b) why don't they/we use our multimedia platforms to CHANGE this perception of the caregiver identity? Where is COMMON SENSE? Consumers need a management identity that is proactive and respected. Caregiving represents that identity.
TOXIC? I think not.
To be fair Medicare has since embraced the consumer identity as caregivers in a more or less formal way; however, CareTALK is working to prevent the usual suspects who have entrenched influence and who have not adequately served consumers (thus far) from defining Medicare's caregiving agenda from being hijacked to serve the agendas of those very same entrenched interests. Consumers don't need think-tanks and conferences. Consumers need CONTROL.
A recent poll indicated a majority of boomers believe Medicare will cover their long-term care expenses. How can the most sophisticated and informed consumers in history be so misinformed about something so important -- so late in the game? Where are the hundreds of millions of government dollars annually spent to help Americans become informed consumers? Where is the accountability for the complete lack of consumer education? Reacting versus management is no longer a sustainable role for consumers. Information is key -- and CareTALK is happy to partner with GoogleHealth and Adam Bosworth's team, in particular. In Adam's recent speech * during the Connecting Americans to Their Healthcare conference in December and his entry in the Google Blog he explained some of the rationale for Google Health and said
We are all obliged to speak the truth to those in power and the runaway healthcare system literally screams for consumers to ENGAGE and become generals of their own healthcare management. What's missing is common sense. What's missing is YOU. The big money is running to healthcare, as boomers make their ascent into "third age." Many of the very same players who created and/or participated in the current Iraq debacle, are positioning themselves to benefit by the trillions of YOUR tax dollars that will be spent (or misspent) to care for the boomers in the years to come. Take charge of YOUR care!
Your life may depend upon it.
Who are we? We are mothers, sisters and daughters. We are fathers, brothers and sons. We are caregivers -- too long asleep at the switch! Time to engage the establishment players to do better -- or we will, leveraging the power of GoogleHealth, PHRs and information resources meant to serve a higher standard of consumer decision-making.
Every Saturday, our CareTALKToday blog will highlight experiences we have had that highlight the challenges we face, based upon our 7 year journey to develop CareTALK as a proactive, management BRAND for consumers to have a respected identity as the managers we already are -- and must be, in the years to come. It's been a long 7 years and we have met with and/or attempted to collaborate with virtually every major player in the healthcare spectrum. Some of our columns will be hilarious. Some will make you very angry. We felt it was time for a blog about the behind-the-scenes world of consumer healthcare based upon common sense. We are ready to speak truth to power in the identity of what we are -- CAREGIVERS.
Are YOU?
- Renata McGriff
* Dec'2006: Adam Bosworth's speech during the Connecting Americans to Their Healthcare conference focuses more on the Open Data aspect. "Every ill person needs a "health URL," an online meeting place where the their caregivers - with express permission from the ill person - can come together, pass on notes to each other, review each other's notes, look at the medical data, and suggest courses of action... We don't need measures that merely help doctors manage their practices or get a few more images into the operating theatre. We need to put control into the hands of the sick and their caregivers and to gently suggest that those who treat them, medicate them, test them, or diagnose them, are out of date if they do not instantly deliver this information to the patient. Once this happens, we will see truly great decision support systems and specialists and health coaches help the hapless patients much more rapidly determine what is truly wrong with them."
TOXIC? I think not.
To be fair Medicare has since embraced the consumer identity as caregivers in a more or less formal way; however, CareTALK is working to prevent the usual suspects who have entrenched influence and who have not adequately served consumers (thus far) from defining Medicare's caregiving agenda from being hijacked to serve the agendas of those very same entrenched interests. Consumers don't need think-tanks and conferences. Consumers need CONTROL.
A recent poll indicated a majority of boomers believe Medicare will cover their long-term care expenses. How can the most sophisticated and informed consumers in history be so misinformed about something so important -- so late in the game? Where are the hundreds of millions of government dollars annually spent to help Americans become informed consumers? Where is the accountability for the complete lack of consumer education? Reacting versus management is no longer a sustainable role for consumers. Information is key -- and CareTALK is happy to partner with GoogleHealth and Adam Bosworth's team, in particular. In Adam's recent speech * during the Connecting Americans to Their Healthcare conference in December and his entry in the Google Blog he explained some of the rationale for Google Health and said
"The system didn't fail completely, but struggled with these phases."Putting the power of healthcare management into the hands of consumers to plan and make informed decisions is key, as it is in every other aspect of our lives. Personal Health Records (PHRs) control/management will empower consumers in an unparalleled way.
We are all obliged to speak the truth to those in power and the runaway healthcare system literally screams for consumers to ENGAGE and become generals of their own healthcare management. What's missing is common sense. What's missing is YOU. The big money is running to healthcare, as boomers make their ascent into "third age." Many of the very same players who created and/or participated in the current Iraq debacle, are positioning themselves to benefit by the trillions of YOUR tax dollars that will be spent (or misspent) to care for the boomers in the years to come. Take charge of YOUR care!
Your life may depend upon it.
Who are we? We are mothers, sisters and daughters. We are fathers, brothers and sons. We are caregivers -- too long asleep at the switch! Time to engage the establishment players to do better -- or we will, leveraging the power of GoogleHealth, PHRs and information resources meant to serve a higher standard of consumer decision-making.
Every Saturday, our CareTALKToday blog will highlight experiences we have had that highlight the challenges we face, based upon our 7 year journey to develop CareTALK as a proactive, management BRAND for consumers to have a respected identity as the managers we already are -- and must be, in the years to come. It's been a long 7 years and we have met with and/or attempted to collaborate with virtually every major player in the healthcare spectrum. Some of our columns will be hilarious. Some will make you very angry. We felt it was time for a blog about the behind-the-scenes world of consumer healthcare based upon common sense. We are ready to speak truth to power in the identity of what we are -- CAREGIVERS.
Are YOU?
- Renata McGriff
* Dec'2006: Adam Bosworth's speech during the Connecting Americans to Their Healthcare conference focuses more on the Open Data aspect. "Every ill person needs a "health URL," an online meeting place where the their caregivers - with express permission from the ill person - can come together, pass on notes to each other, review each other's notes, look at the medical data, and suggest courses of action... We don't need measures that merely help doctors manage their practices or get a few more images into the operating theatre. We need to put control into the hands of the sick and their caregivers and to gently suggest that those who treat them, medicate them, test them, or diagnose them, are out of date if they do not instantly deliver this information to the patient. Once this happens, we will see truly great decision support systems and specialists and health coaches help the hapless patients much more rapidly determine what is truly wrong with them."
posted by CareTALKGals(tm) at 2/03/2007 08:34:00 PM
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