Janet Kennedy

Entrepreneurs Hacking Healthcare

September 9, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:31:26 3 Comments

Many health-related projects are getting millions of dollars in venture and angel funding. But do you ever wonder where some projects get started? Startup Weekend is a global network of passionate leaders and entrepreneurs that create an environment to share ideas, form teams and launch startups – all in a 54 hour weekend! Startup Weekend hosts over 1,000 weekend events annually around the globe focused on a mission to inspire, educate and empower individuals, teams and communities.

Recently I have the opportunity to be on the organizing team for a Startup Weekend held in the Triangle of North Carolina (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) with a theme of “Health.” The Startup weekend experience is a full weekend from Friday at 5:00 pm to Sunday at 6:00 pm. The Triangle Startup Weekend runs a few hours shorter than other Startup Weekends. Why? It’s a mystery. A “traditional” Startup Weekend will have about half the participants with technical or design backgrounds and the other half will have business backgrounds.

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, attendees bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams focus on customer development, validating their ideas, practicing LEAN Startup Methodologies and building a minimal viable product. On Sunday evening teams demo their prototypes and receive valuable feedback from a panel of experts.

What made this weekend different? By organizing under the theme of “Health” the event brought together a different mix of participants and the structure of the weekend added a few new twists. Our group was a little bit smaller than the typical event due to the summer weekend and the specialized theme of the event. Demographically we had an interesting mix including;

29 Men & 15 women on teams (Does not include volunteers, mentors, judges and audience) With 34% of teams having women that’s much higher than the 10-20% usually seen at Startup Weekend.
Normally you would have three categories of participants: Developers, Designers and Business (non-tech). In the case of our health event we also had 16 medical professionals – 32% of our participants.
Triangle Startup Weekend also had a high percentage of PHDs among the participants – 21!
Five of the teams were led by women including the team that won the “Best Overall” – Aura.

Throughout the weekend I was able to capture the experiences of the a number of the participants from the organizers to volunteers, mentors and judges. Let’s hear their reactions to their Triangle Startup Weekend Health experience.

Global Startup Weekend Facilitator: Shashi Jain
Participant: Tia Simpson
Participant: Michael Brown
Participant: Mike McNeill
Mentor: Dr. Michael Cousins
Organizer: Jon O’Donnell
Participant: Leo Alonzo
Participant: Christina
Volunteer: Dr. Dexter Louie
Presentation Coach: Andy Roth
Judge: Farnoosh Brock
Mentor: John Austin

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Global Social Media – TweetChat Pioneer

September 2, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:24:27 4 Comments

Dr. Gia Sison is a physician who recognizes the potential of social media to share content among fellow physicians and educate patients. Unusual? Maybe not in the US but as a practicing physician in the Philippines so is more than an early adopter, she is a social media pioneer. In our conversation we discuss how she started her social media journey by participating in Tweet chats happening in the US (12 hour difference). Dr. Sision joined with 3 other physicians in social media to promote the use of Twitter to engage her nation in healthcare advocacy.

In our conversation we discuss how she found Twitter through Stanford’s #MEDx chat and then joined the #HCLDR and #HCSM chats to engage colleagues around the world.

To follow along, here is a time stamp of our conversation:

00:00 Introduction
00:10 EHR 2.0 Advertisement
00:51 Opening
01:16 Welcome
01:52 Hey – Dr. Sison is in the Philippines!
02:26 Maritime health care & tele-medicine
04:00 How do you perform health care at sea?
05:05 Is there a similar HIPAA law in the Philippines?
06:00 What is the state of social media in the Philippines?
06:33 Help from @NurseFriendly & #healthxph
06:50 #HCLDR chat – #HCSM chat
07:30 Are you encouraging physicians or patients to enter social media?
08:05 Who is involved in Philippines Tweet Chats?
09:30 Are you using Twitter to teach health education or about using social media?
10:05 Are all your Tweet chats global?
10:48 WHO project
11:40 Youth and social media in the Philippines
12:40 What other social media platforms do you use?
13:06 How do you manage to be involved in so many US Tweetchats?
13:38 MEDx at Stanford
13:55 Social media used for physician promotion?
15:00 Using Facebook to educate about Ebola
17:02 Closer to Ebola in NC than the Philippines
18:00 Dr. Sison’s breast cancer journey
18:53 Patient privacy and social media. “A Culture of Shyness”
20:32 Mental Health Stigma
21:30 Social media goal – to drive in-person engagement
22:58 Dr. Sison “walks the walk”
23:20 Stanford’s MEDx program
24:35 Social Media is a great tool for learning
26:17 Social Media Tip from Theresa Robinson of Express Mobile Solutions “Keep it short and Sweet”
26:46 Close

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health:

Contact Dr. Gia Sison: LinkedIn, Twitter, Blog

Stanford’s MEDx program

#HCLDR Chat

#HCSM Chat

Ebola Facebook page

Nurse Friendly – Andrew Lopez

Philippines colleagues in social media:

Dr Iris Isip Tan @endocrine_witch
Dr Remo Aguilar @bonedoc
Dr Narciso Tapia @cebumd

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A Challenge to Cancer… and Healthcare from Stupid Cancer

August 26, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:32:20 0 Comments

Challenges. Facing them, beating them, issuing them. Matthew Zachary of Stupid Cancer does not take life as it comes. After facing life-threatening pediatric brain cancer at age 21 in 1995, Matthew found that a lack of resources made his cancer battle hard and lonely. He beat a six-month survival prediction to continue his college career, regain the ability to play piano and committed to making the battle against cancer for teens “suck a little less.”

Matthew founded Stupid Cancer in 2007 as a non-profit organization to empower those affected by young adult cancer through innovative and award-winning programs and services. They are the nation’s largest support community for the under-served population and serve as a bullhorn for the young adult cancer movement.

Launching in September 2014 in a beta, Stupid Cancer has developed an app that will connect teens with other teens anonymously. To hear more about the launch of Instapeer, tun in to the episode.

Follow the conversation with the time stamp of the episode below:

00:00 Intro
00:30 Advertisement: EHR2.0 HIPAA and Security Compliance
01:25 Meet Matthew Zachary
02:18 Fard Johnmar & the ePatient
03:28 Angry patients
05:00 Teens in the healthcare system
06:38 Nothing’s connected
07:38 80% of teens with cancer are treated in a rural setting
08:16 Chemo is chemo
08:32 How can teens connect with each other
10:35 Online forums are intimidating
11:07 What would a teen use to connect with other teens
11:30 Instapeer – Free mobile app to connect teens and young adults to each other
12:00 Build for the teen, not their dad
14:15 We “make it suck a little less”
14:45 Beta launch requirements
15:55 Matthew’s cancer journey & launch of Stupid Cancer
18:47 Closing the gap
19:35 “Nothing had changed in the survival rate for teens in 10 years and that’s not OK’
20:15 Depression and teens with cancer
22:00 Living with, through and beyond cancer
23:05 18 years cancer free – not cured
24:00 What is Stupid Cancer
25:33 We deserve to be treated age appropriately
26:20 Where does your content come from
27:55 CancerCon
29:55 How are healthcare professionals and companies dealing with digital health
30:45 Digital health startups are a colossal waste of time
31:54 The digital health world does not know it’s audience
33:00 Challenging the digital health entrepreneurial hierarchy
34:32 Social Media Success Tip from Clarissa Schlistra

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health:

Fard Johnmar & “ePatient 2015 – 15 Surprising Trends Changing Health Care”

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Curmudgeons and Physician Branding: Dr. Russell Faust

August 19, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:34:12 1 Comment

What do you get when you combine a tech geek and an ENT Surgeon? Believe it or not, you get a social media and online branding expert! Get Social Health spoke with Dr. Russell Faust about his life journey that brought him to being the founder of the Windriven Group, a consortium of physicians, healthcare copywriters, and marketers with a passion for optimizing the patient experience through connection in the digital world. Our conversation was far ranging, from punch-card driven computers to robotics in surgery to building an online reputation.

To follow the conversation, you can check in at the time stamps below, or catch the whole interview. Dr. Faust has some neat projects in the works, so you’ll be hearing from him again on the Get Social Health podcast.

To follow key points in our discussion, here is a time stamp of the interview:

00:42 Introduction
01:25 How did a surgeon become an online marketing expert?
03:15 Dragging healthcare kicking & screaming…
08:00 Robotic Surgery
8:50 Is social media “too light”?
10:40 How do you find time for blogging and social media?
12:50 It’s all about the content
13:00 Patients with stacks of internet resources
15:25 Recommended content sites
16:50 What type of clients does Windriven serve?
18:00 Michael Hyatt “Platform”
19:25 Independent practices have to have an online presence to compete with hospitals and big practices
20:40 “Members of the community have a choice”
21:35 PEW Research & ePatients
22:15 “You need to be found or be gone”
22:30 What’s Plan A?
23:25 Run your practice like a business
24:00 “How many of you have a brand?”
25:00 The ill-fated “Zombie Brand”
25:30 Google Search – yourself
26:35 Brand the practice or the physician?
28:17 Tangent! Hospital content mistakes
29:05 Baseball
30:10 Bedside manner & The Curmedgeon
32:20 How to use video
33:00 How to present even the curmudgeon successfully
36:55 Social Media Tip: Fard Johnmar “It’s about people”

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health

“Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World” by Michael Hyatt <Affiliate link>

eMedicine/Medscape

eMedicineHealth

“Why your Brand is a ZOMBIE – and what to do about it” by Dr. Russell Faust

Zombie Doc image courtesy of yootheme icons

Fard Johnmar, President of enspektos

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Pharmacists and Social Media – Brian McDonald

August 5, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:34:39 1 Comment

Who should be at the table when discussing healthcare in social media? Ideally, everyone who impacts patient health from the patient themselves to the caregivers, caretakers, hospitals, insurance companies, wellness practitioners, and more. One of the integral members of the discussion is, and should be, the pharmacist. That may not always be the case as pharma companies and pharmacists are extremely cautious when engaging (or not) in social media.

Get Social Health invited Brian McDonald, Digital Marketing Manager of Parata Systems to talk to us about some of the issues that may be holding back pharmacists from fully engaging online.

To follow key points in our discussion, here is a time stamp of the interview:

00:45 Introduction
03:00 The pharmacist’s role
04:50 Pharmacist’s contact with patients
06:00 What is pharmacy automation?
07:05 “The Pill Ritual”
11:00 How the Parata pill automation system works
14:50 Thought Leadership for pharmacists
19:38 What is the state of social media use among pharmacists?
22:53 How can pharmacists participate in social media in regard to privacy and HIPAA compliance?
25:00 Do pharmacists have a preference for long form (blog) or short form (Twitter) communication?
27:55 What about drug misinformation in social media?
32:30 Are there pharmacy related tweet chats?
35:29 Next Generation Pharmacist Awards
37:48 Social Media Tip from Kimberly Wessel from Valassis Communications

Visit our resources page for more valuable (and free!) resources on social media and digital health

Parata Systems: Pharmacy automation company

White board video that explains how recent changes, including Affordable Care Act raise the need for the discussion about how to reduce unnecessary cost such as readmittance to hospital due to medication non-adherence.

Infographic that presents research data points to support the ACA discussion.

eBook that allowed us to dive deeper into where pharmacists will play vital role in healthcare and use technology to get them there faster.

Next Generation Pharmacist Awards are being held in Boston on August 24, 2014. Co-founded by Parata and Pharmacy Times, this national awards program honors pharmacists, technicians, students and industry advocates who are defining the future of pharmacy. Since 2010, more than 100 pharmacy leaders have been named finalists or winners.

Twitter Chat: #RXChat

Pharmacy Podcast

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Social Media for Physician Practices – Episode 12

July 29, 2014 Janet Kennedy 00:31:52 1 Comment

The social media holdouts in healthcare tend to be the small to medium sized physicians practices. In order to share some ideas about how to manage a social media presence, Get Social Health reached out to Proclaim Interactive for their insights. Proclaim Interactive president Spence Hackney and Shelley Heinrichs, Project Manager and Social Media Marketing Strategist were very candid and shared some great ideas in managing a healthcare social media presence.

Here are some highlights of our conversation: