Over time I suspect that patients have the ability to do more on our own without the oversight of doctors. Much like the slow obsolescence of the bank teller, our interface with the health system will move from human exchange to something more algorithmic and automated. Right now we want this. We don't like human inconvenience. But we still want the old thing. ... Continue Reading about Technology and the Power of Human Inconvenience
How Doctors are Like Bookstores
I came across this tweet recently. It linked to a blogpost written to promote bookstores and discourage the use of Amazon. WHY YOU SHOULD USE A REAL BOOKSTORE OVER AMAZON It got me thinking how doctors are at risk of becoming like book vendors. Don’t beg like the guy promoting brick and mortar businesses. Of course, supplication will keep you alive in the short ... Continue Reading about How Doctors are Like Bookstores
5 Reasons Medical Technology Appears to Fail
In medicine there’s an endemic mindset that if medical technology doesn’t work it will never work. If patients don’t use the patient portal, then portals don’t work and patients aren’t interested in connecting with their own information. The EHR, of course, is the poster child for technology’s failure in health care. But is the idea of a digital space for a ... Continue Reading about 5 Reasons Medical Technology Appears to Fail
The Health Technology Outcomes Gap
This analysis in Health Affairs shows that EHR adoption initially results in higher patient mortality but in the long run lowers mortality. Having gone through the transition from paper to digital, it’s easy to imagine. Initially you think, ‘how do I do this?’ Then you say, ‘how did we do it with paper?’ There’s a period of adaptation that happens with new ... Continue Reading about The Health Technology Outcomes Gap
Medical Progress at the Speed of Now
In the span of any individual physician’s lifetime, medicine has been a relatively static field. Things changed so slowly that physicians had one consistent reality throughout most of our career. Medical progress was marked by generations. What we did in medical school resembled what we did on the day we retired. There was one model to guide where we went and what we ... Continue Reading about Medical Progress at the Speed of Now
Technology Challenges for Young Physicians
During a recent interview a reporter asked me to discuss the technology challenges faced by young physicians. I was tempted to mention EHRs. The problem is that a technology challenge identified through my lens may not represent a challenge to a younger generation. Mid-career physicians see change from within the constraints of their own 20th century ... Continue Reading about Technology Challenges for Young Physicians