Comments on: Hellohealth – Not Ready for Prime Time

By: Robert Martin

Robert Martin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:04:17 +0000

I've been frustrated for some time about the reluctance of health pros to use the Internet to improve communications with patients, as if they fear that the tap, once opened, will overwhelm them with patients hungry for attention.
The first thing I did upon discovering the Hellohealth site, after a brief celebration, was to try to find information about Hellohealth and Medicare. Even pointing an advanced search toward the domain found only one incidence of the word -- that being a discussion behind the "professionals" firewall of Medicare's projected bankruptcy in 2017.
While it may be in their plans to change this "someday," I get a pronounced feeling that the service is currently far from optimal for those of us already dealing with serious illness.

By: Gene Golovchinsky

Gene Golovchinsky — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:51:17 +0000

As a patient at Palo Alto Medical Foundation that employs a similar system (managed by sutterhealth.org), I find it a useful tool not only to communicate with my doctors, but also to track test results. While there are clear business model challenges for the adoption of such technology in small medical offices, for larger practices and hospitals this seems like a no-brainer.

By: J.L. Richardson, MD

J.L. Richardson, MD — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:49:54 +0000

Hellohealth sounds like a wonderful patient tool. Getting patients to use it is an important issue. So many do not have or can't afford a computer. if all our patients had computers and knew how to use it, Hellohealth can make a difference.

My personal experience with just email to my doctors gets me a quicker, better response than phone or fax (yes, I fax my docs, too). It's all about communication.

How do we get all our patients a computer? Start with government issued Hellohealth loaded computers to Medicare, and insurance companies? This could impact the fact that it becomes medical visits that will be paid for by insurers.

Great blog content, Dr. V!

Best,
Dr. Richardson aka drjfpmd

By: John Lynn

John Lynn — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:39:48 +0000

You raise some interesting points on whether this type of business model will work or not. What becomes even more interesting is when a patient goes from being a healthy patient on HelloHealth to having some sort of chronic/complex condition. It will be interesting to see how they plan to deal with this type of situation.

What's interesting for me about this model is that it reminds me of what's been happening in doctors' offices for years. Those that work in the doctors office don't have to wait hours for the doctor to do a full workup. The doctor does a quick assessment and hands them an antibiotic. Essentially that's what many doctors visits are about. However, when you're working with the person you can cut threw the crap and just get what's actually needed. It seems like online interaction with the doctor is applying this same principle. I wonder how the insurance companies will work with this type of system.

By: Jay Parkinson

Jay Parkinson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:30:29 +0000

Thanks DrV! This is exactly what we're trying to do. Focus is the most important part of starting a new business and disrupting entrenched industries. We're very much starting with the young and healthy, much like Facebook has done since 2004. But 5 years later, my parents are friending me and adopting something that was previously only for the young. Start with the simple problems first, learn from them, and then focus on the more complex. That's our ideology.

Getting mired in the stifling healthcare system would only drag us down and make us spend a lot of time, money, and effort to be shut out by an industry who would be more than happy to make us go away.

Thanks again for the post! We love these kinds of discussions.