Is Social Media Worth Investing Your Time And Energy?

With the spreading of social media into nearly every aspects of our lives, it is worth pausing and reflecting upon their value.

Are you tweeting yet? Posting to your Facebook wall? How about connecting through LinkedIn? How big is your cirlce in Google+? With the onslaught of social media, there is mounting pressure to join each network, manage conections and monetize these various social media outlets. It seems as if social media has become the dominant measuring stick for how well you are doing as a business and how well you are connecting with others.

And while I think social media is something to be embraced, I do not think every outlet is for every person. Nor do I believe that social media serves as any type of barometer in your life (professional and personal). In fact, I think the more you are selective about where you garnish your social media energy and attention, the better you can use social media to your advantage.

Before I get to the specifics of the most popular social media outlets, I want you to come away from this article with one main point: social media presence does NOT equate to success. There is a lot of advice coming at us telling us to join all of the social media networks, trying to convince us that the only way to grow our business and connect with people is by creating these various outposts/hubs to connect with others.

The truth remains, however, that most of the time you can spend a lot of time and energy creating and maintaining these various social media outlets without actually realizing much results. And so while we embrace social media in medicine and beyond, we need to be cognizant as to the actual role of each social media outlet is providing for us. I think a better perspective is "what can I do for social media" not "what can social media do for me".

Let's review the major social media outlets. For each I will give you my personal experience and opinion:

1. Facebook: with over 500 million users, Facebook has become THE largest social media outlet. I read an article today that said the biggest competitor to Apple is now Facebook. Same goes for who competes with Google. Most of us are familiar with Facebook on the personal side. But I wanted to focus on the professional side--Facebook Fan Pages. I currently have two separate FB Fan pages: one for the clinical side of life and one for my consulting side.

The clinical side (Organic Medicine Now) was easy to build and grow. I post my personal blog posts to this FB Fan Page, ask my fans questions and interact. Within a few months of starting my Organic Medicine Now FB fan page I had over 3000 fans. I was excited about this, indeed. I was making a small dent with all of my followers. Really? Sure, it is fun to see fan numbers grow and it is great to get feedback from fans about my blog posts and comments, but what purpose is this fan page really serving? To date, I don't have a good answer. I fully understand the concept of being able to broadcast information about my practice and my views, but I can tell you that I do not think I have gotten any new patients because of my FB wall or sold any of my supplements to any fans. So the obvious question is why continue to put my energy into something that is not leading to any results ? For me, I initially thought my FB wall would help grow my practice, but I now view this differently. Now, I understand that my FB wall is for me to share my opinions and to interact with my fans. As such, I do not spend a great deal of time on my FB wall.

My consulting FB fan page is just getting started, but I am more excited about this one. It is called New Rules of Medicine and it is a place where I am trying to host a discussion about ways we can improve modern medicine. I see this FB fan page not as a way to promote my business, but as a means to host this discussion. Last week after getting my settings squared away I wanted to notify my colleagues about my new FB fan page. I thought about blasting out a mass email asking people to LIKE the page and spread the word. But this did not feel right, so I sent out personal emails to about 50 or so colleagues. Did that work to grow and spread my New Rules of Medicine FB fan page? Not really. I had a few colleagues jump on and LIKE my page. I now have 10 fans. Woohoo! But I have to start somewhere, and now I understand that the role of my FB fan page is to host a discussion, not promote a product. So even though this fan base is going to take a lot longer to build, it will be more worthwhile. 

In summary, I think Facebook can be a valuable tool for your business. But please understand there is ever growing pressure for people to LIKE your page without that meaning much. Please be sure you are not putting too much energy into Facebook without seeing results. 

2. Twitter: Twitter is appealing to many people as you can gain a huge following quickly without having to invest much time and energy. The appeal to Twitter, I think, is like text messaging--you can communicate without having to write much at all. 

I tried Twitter and hated it. I started gaining fans and following people and companies I was interested in. But after several months, I realized there was no point in me providing updates to what I was doing or even interacting with other Twitter users. I saw zero return for the time and energy I invested.

I think Twitter has a role if you are hosting a conference and want to be able to quickly broadcast messages to attendees. But trying to promote your business or personal life via tweets seems counterproductive to me. I like being able to connect with people by writing and interacting, but Twitter really limits that ability. Again, I think Twitter can help you broadcast information, but pales in comparison to Facebook which offers the same capabilities and a whole lot more.

3. LinkedIn: deemed the social network for professionals, LinkedIn seems to be steadily growing in popularity. I have recently opened a LinkedIn account, but to date do not see how using LinkedIn is much different than Facebook. Certainly I can connect with other like-minded professionals and network accordingly, but to me, LinkedIn represents another time sucking arena created to help people network and not much else.

This goes to the heart of these social media outlets--are you using them to just network and promote yourself OR are you utilizing them to host, lead and moderate the issues and values you created your business around? To me, the latter is so much more important as I feel that everyone is trying to network somehow and I would much rather be the host at the dinner party than the attendee just trying to pass out business cards. LinkedIn feels like a place to go to pass out business cards and so it does not have much appeal to me at this point.

4. Google+: Google+ seems promising because of how much energy and resources Google is placing into this new network. I also like how you can create different circles of people to share information with based upon your own tags that you assign. So for someone like me who leads two separate discussions (clinical and consulting) where the two do not overlap, Google+ seems to offer promise. 

Google has brilliantly become the leader in search engines and their Ad Words is a phenomenal marketing program, so I expect similar results from Google+. Since they are the latest kid on the block, I am not sure if they will be able to dig into the influential arenas that Facebook and Twitter have developed. But Google+ feels like a place where one can share information and lead discussions and for those reasons, I am looking forward to learning more.

5. You Tube: I am including You Tube here as a social network because I think video represents the most potential for the future of social media connecting. You Tube is now enormous and because we are all enamored with video, I think being a part of You Tube is a must for businesses looking to network, promote and lead discussions. 

So far, most of us use You Tube as a place to share information. We create videos of ourselves talking about our services and products. Video is a great medium to relay information because we can be much more creative with video (sounds, music, movement, etc.) compared to written text. 

But I don't think we have even begun using video like we will be in five years from now. If I have any advice for you, it is to learn about video production and how to make that work for your business. Creating a You Tube Channel is easy to do and only takes a few moments. 

I have not created many videos for my You Tube channel in a while as I have enjoyed taking a break and writing, but I plan on getting back to video creation and editing very soon. In fact, I think that video-casting is going to be something I do more than writing in the near future. Video is that powerful a tool and I encourage you to explore this medium.

With all of the above being said, I think the key questions are this: what suits your personality? what suits the goals of your business, your personal life? 

You have to be able to answer those questions before you can go using social media outlets. Because if you don't, these different social media outlets can take up a lot of your time. To me, I break it down as follows:

• Blogging: my favorite way to share my thoughts, comments and opinions
• Facebook: my favorite way to broadcast information and host discussions
• Twitter: not suited to my personality or goals and therefore I do not participate
• LinkedIn: seems to be like a big arena to pass around business cards, but not much else
• Google+: seems to be moving social media in a good direction; too early to tell if I will be able to utilize
• You Tube: represents video distribution and the future of social media

What social media outlet do you like to use? Why? We would all love to hear your experiences!

The Art of Flight...Amazing

You've got to check this out...

Below is the trailer for the new snowboard documentary produced by Red Bull, The Art of Flight.  If the movie is anywhere near as good as the trailer, I'll be reduced to a pile of twitching, hyper-kinetic nerve endings by the end of it.  I had such an adrenalin rush after watching the trailer the first time that I had to fight the impulse to fling myself off the roof of my house-- it's just that good... 

The great thing is that the movie has finally been released and is available for download on iTunes.  I've already ordered it, so I'll let you know what I think once I watch it.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the video below and try to fight the urge to quit your job and become a professional BASE jumper.

I know it's difficult...

Speaking of Polar Bears...

Last week at our Expedition Medicine National Conference in Washington, DC, a member of the audience came up to me after one of my talks.  Turns out this guy has a lot of experience working in remote places, and he told me a story about a colleague who was working in northern Canada and was surprised by a polar bear one morning.  Someone snapped a couple of photos of the incident, and this guy said he'd be happy to send them to me.

Needless to say, I was impressed by the photos...

In case you're wondering, the bear didn't actually catch the guy in the photos, but he sure raised his heart rate a bit.

If looking at these photos causes you to long for the frozen tundra and the bears of that region, take heart!  Our ExpedMed Polar Bear CME Adventure still has a couple of spots left.  You have the opportunity to visit the famed bears of Churchill, Canada and earn CME along the way.  The dates are October 16-20, 2011.  Below is a video created by our partners at Frontiers North Adventures...come along with us to visit the polar bears next month (if you dare).

10 Ideas To Spark Health Care Change

What does the future hold for other industries? We can use these ideas as a springboard in our medicine culture.

A recent article from the online and print magazine Inc. titled: "10 Cool New Tech Ideas to Help You Market Your Business" showcases many innovative approaches that businesses are utilizing to engage their customers. While I think that these ideas are worth viewing from the marketing perspective, I think there is also great value in changing the perspective to view these ideas in terms of medicine and health care.

Specifically, how can we embrace these visionary ideas to help transform medicine towards a brighter future? Let's dive right in:

1) Facial recognition: imagine pulling out your iPhone or Android and taking a facial recognition photo and sending it to your doctor via your EHR platform. The software could read your facial expressions, wrinkles, and blemishes and compare this to a facial photo from 6 weeks or 6 months ago. Do you have difficulty sleeping (dark circles under your eyes), are you more stressed than usual (deeper wrinkle set) or are you getting too much sun (deeper skin blemishes)? The potential here is enormous.

2) Hyper Targeting: imagine being able to make recommendations to patients based upon pre-determined factors such as age, fitness level, diagnosis, medicine, supplements, etc. The software for this type of process already exists--we would just need to tweak it to make it work for health issues. So, patient Jane who shares characteristics with patient Mary could receive updates providing ideas for cooking, exercises, book choices, etc. This would not only personalize Jane's experience but also have the potential to improve her outcome as a patient.

3) Eavsdropping Apps: maybe we should rephrase this one as Preference Apps: allow patients to tell us about their lifestyle choices by what they focus on. Again, we could use the EHR as a platform where the patient would allow access to her smartphone apps, book, food, exercise preferences and we could then gain better insight into how the patient lives and walks. We could then make better holistic recommendations to her regarding all aspects of her life. As we know, health is more about our choices than anything else.

4) Augmented Reality: I have written about this before...I truly think that medicine and health will embrace the gaming of our society and incorporate virtual health/ medicine in a gaming type of structure. Doctors and patients will be able to interact in a meaningful way via a Sims like game-style approach. I'm excited to see this come to fruition.

5) Mobile: Codes and Spot Targeting: At first glance this one does not seem to fit into a future of medicine model, but I think we can be creative and start incorporating these Quick Response (QR) codes onto prescription meds and health related products. Maybe a patient can scan the code to learn about the side effects of medicine or be taken to a link to a forum where people are using this same medicine? Not sure, but there are many possibilities with this technology.

6) Video: the other day my kids and I were waiting outside in the car while my wife mailed some packages--we sent each other video texts back and forth to amuse each other while we all waited. We can do the same with patients--sending them quick, relevant and timely text messages could mean the world to them.

7) Incentives and Virtual Currency: we are seeing a thrust of different games and Apps that allow users to "win" points to be used elsewhere. We can do the same in medicine. We already see how well the Wii fitness games have pushed us in the same direction. We can take this several steps further where patients who play these games get points towards supplement purchases, coupons off medicines or office visits, etc. 

8) Social analytics: We need this in medicine to help us get a sense of how well we are reaching out to our patients/ clients. The faster we adopt the approach that seeks to reward physicians based upon how well they communicate with patients, the better. We have the tools for this, but are lacking in the will right now.

9) Web: this one is fairly obvious....we all have websites, but how can we interact with our patients better and make the web experience more valuable to each of them? This will be a perpetual challenge for time to come.

10) Deals: our patients are consumers and the sooner we create a practice environment that embraces this notion, the better. Who isn't looking for a deal? In medicine we tend to shy away from this mentality as we don't want to be too salesy, but the more confidence we have in the product we are selling, the less we are actually selling. In health and medicine we have been focused to acutely on the medicines themselves as the prescriptions, but the better product is the connections with our patients. So why not create better deals to help you connect with your patients?

I am sure that you can take these ideas and run with them in more expansive ways than I have. Change often occurs faster when we take advantage of "outsider" ideas and perspectives. We are all here because we are seeking much more than the routine medicine has shown us. These ideas can serve as a spark to help get you going. 

Physician Writing & Publishing

In this short video Dr. Greg Bledsoe discusses how physicians can learn more about writing and pubishing books for the public.  In addition, Dr. Bledsoe introduces Dr. Julie Silver, Chief Editor of Harvard Health Publications, and discusses what Dr. Silver will be teaching at the Medical Fusion Conference.

More Information on Physician Writing and Publishing:

• Harvard Writing Course
• Harvard Writers
• The Value of Cross-Semination
• An Interview with Physician & Author Ken Cohn
• Your Book & Its Niche
• Rookie Mistakes to Avoid If You Want to Publish a Book
• Go the F**K to Sleep: A Bestselling Book
• Do You Listen When You Write?
• Dumbing It Down is Downright Disrespectful
• Writing a Book Proposal is Like Writing a Rx
• Getting Great Publishing Advice

Transition Tool For Physicians #1: Turning Your CV Into A Resume

In my coaching work with physicians, one of my favorite things that many of my clients do is send me their CV so that I can get a feel for who they are and what they've done.

Those CVs, while usually an impressive (and lengthy) foray into their education, academic experience, clinical positions and copious lectures and publications, often leave me still questioning who they are are what they bring to the table when considering a career outside of the clinical realm.

You know your CV:  a long list of your academic degrees, certifications, clinical positions, appointments and publications.  By now in your career it is probably 10-20 pages at least.  It reflects your professional position and progression.  But it has no place in a non-clinical career search.

Let me tell you why.

Industries outside of medicine are not the place for drawn-out reviews of where you've been, what you've done.  Instead of a CV, these environments require you to have a resume, a persuasive document that reflects who you are (your unique combination of skills, experiences and passion), and what you've accomplished (that is, problems you've solved) as a professional.

The best resumes also reflect how you will be able to solve the particular need / problem that your target industry or company faces.  They are tailored and individualized to the reader.

Granted, developing a resume like this take work.  Many docs, who yes, are extremely busy, decide that they want to skip this step and instead turn their 20-page CV over to a professional resume writing service that within a few weeks (and hundreds of dollars later) turns back to them a polished, slick, great-sounding resume.  But here's the problem:  often those resumes are just that, great "sounding", but with the guts that describe you and helps the prospective employer understand how you will add value to them.  A great-sounding resume can begin to feel very hollow if it doesn't address the unique challenges of a target industry (company, job role, etc.) but instead speaks in generalities of skills or experience.  It will quickly find itself on the pile of many other great-sounding resumes, which are also devoid of real content that brings (and keeps) employers' attention.

 You need to change your CV to a resume, and you need to make it stand out.  So how do you start?

Get to know the difference between a CV and a resume

CVs are typically lists of your "vitals":  your education, employment, research, publications, awards, patents, etc.  Resumes are meant to be persuasive descriptions of who you are and what you bring to the table, ones that demonstrate to any given reader that you can solve their unique business problem.  Your resume is less about you... instead it should tell your prospective employer what you can do for them.

Learn how to speak to your experience/expertise as a set of accomplishments

Rather than listing out previous job responsibilities or skills, look at your background in terms of the results you've achieved.  Think hard about what you've accomplished over the course of your career so far, brainstorm them out and frame your professional experience around those.

Use powerful, persuasive words to frame your accomplishments

Not just sound-bites (which can come off as "sales-pitchy"), but actual challenges you've faced, things you've done to address them, and results you've achieved ... particularly as they relate to the position/company/industry you're interested in.

Tailor it to resonate with whoever is reading your resume

Recognize that your resume is a living document - it will change and morph over time, with the addition of new accomplishments and different audiences who read it.  Your first pass is just that - your first pass.  Make sure your resume evolves along with you - update it regularly and for whoever is considering it.

Keep your resume in its place

Developing their resume is often the first place an eager, ambitious physician wants to start.  But recognize that in the grand scheme of physician career transition, the creation of a resume is not the number one step in a successful career transformation!  It is not likely that your big-break, your non-clinical job, or your "big opportunity" will come as a result of an impressive piece of paper.  This is not to say that the resume is not important - it is - but it is only a single element of a successful transition.

Make sure that you've done your homework first, to understand how you uniquely add value to any given industry or role.  Through a thorough analysis of your values, your unique skills, your passions, your education/past experience, you will see what you bring to the table as a whole, and how it applies to the role you're interested in.  You as a physician come with a myriad of transferable skills that can (and will) benefit companies in different industries.  But without this analysis, you cannot build a persuasive resume that hits the target "pain points"  of any given employer and demonstrates how you will solve their problem (and that you can).

With some thought and customization you can take your CV from an academic exercise to a compelling representation of you that makes people want to talk to you.  Start at the beginning.  Think about your accomplishments and how they relate to your target audience.  Make it about them, and you'll be pleasantly surprised how it is received.  Good luck!

Seven Steps To Freeing Primary Care Of Insurance

By Dave Chase, CEO of Avado

Read Part 1: Direct Primary Care: RIP Marcus Welby

The federal health reform bill included a little-noticed clause allowing for Direct Primary Care (DPC) models to be a part of the state health exchanges.

I believe this will fundamentally alter the health insurance market and is leading to what I call a “Do it Yourself Health Reform” movement. That little-noticed clause (item #3 in 1301(a) of HR 3590) should have the effect of massively spreading the DPC model throughout the country.

Despite the fact that half of primary care doctors say they’d leave medicine if they had an alternative and the New York Times reports on a family physician who can’t give away his practice, primary care physicians are understandably concerned about making the move to a different practice model. As Dr. Samir Qamar of MedLion stated, “Many doctors today are wondering how DPC practices work, how they are profitable, and most of all, how they could do it. After Vic Wood’s practice in West Virginia and AMG in New York were slapped by their states’ insurance commissions, many are afraid to move forward – and doctors are already risk-averse.”

As an entrepreneur, I have had to become a buyer of healthcare. From my years in patient accounting, I knew there was at least a 40% “insurance bureaucracy tax” on day-to-day medicine so I was excited to learn about the DPC model so I could cut out the middleman and use health insurance for the purpose intended (i.e., catastrophic coverage). However, I was frustrated that such a model didn’t exist where I lived. Having spent a lot of time with physicians operating in DPC models (special thanks to physicians such as Samir Qamar, Brian Forrest, and Garrison Bliss who have been generous with their time), I better understand that while the DPC model is very appealing to me, there’s a number of considerations to making the switch from a physician’s perspective. Fortunately, now that the issues have been worked out on how to transition to a DPC practice, their growth will accelerate particularly as we'll be approaching half the workforce not having employer provided health insurance. It is already a strong trend as a third of the workforce will be permanent freelancers, contractors, etc.

Before listing the items to navigate, it’s worth noting the benefits to a physician of moving to a DPC model that make the switch worthy of consideration such as the following:

Less time (zero if fully transitioned away from insurance-centric primary care) spent dealing with insurance headaches. This is the top frustration cited for why primary care physicians state they want to leave medicine. This also lowers administrative overhead costs. Some DPC practices have less than one administrative FTE per physician in comparison to a 5:1 ratio common in many practices.

More time spent with patients delivering what DPC-based physicians believe is better care. The average patient load is 3000 patients per PCP whereas DPC-based practices typically have 800-1500. As an example of quality, Dr. Forrest shared that 91% of his patients have reached their target blood pressure within 6 months and that he’s been named one of only four Cardiovascular Centers of Excellence in his state.

Lower malpractice costs. Dr. Forrest has shared that his malpractice premiums have been cut in half. It’s logical given that he’s able to spend much more time with patients. Increased income. In MedLion’s model, physicians take home pay is at parity with specialists which is often double an average PCP.

There are 7 significant items to navigate:

1. Legal concerns. Because paying a monthly fee in return for health benefits can be construed as health insurance or a health plan, doctors converting should have a sound legal team that is comprised of experts in health care, managed care, Medicare, corporate law, and even intellectual property. The legal team not only should help the practice start, but needs to stay with the practice providing constant legal support due to the ever-changing rules in this still relatively unregulated industry. Medicare-accepting physicians face unique challenges that must be negotiated in order to avoid getting in hot water with the government. Patients not wishing to convert must also be taken care of, or else allegations of abandonment can arise. MedLion shared that they spent over 150K in the first year alone on “getting it right.” As a practice based in California, there’s a thicket of regulation that they needed to navigate to get to where they are today.
2. Practice structure. Even though there are a low number of DPC practices in existence, efforts have to be made to determine the membership pricing structure, the number of patients per provider, whether or not to use mid-level providers, type and number of staff, whether to start a pure DPC vs. DPC/insurance (hybrid practice), and the physical location. Each of these variables could independently sink a start-up DPC practice if not thought out in advance. For instance, one misconception of inexpensive care is that it is “cheap” or low in quality. This myth is averted by ensuring high-quality care, staff, decor, and service. When I asked MedLion’s Dr. Qamar about how he arrived at his price, he stated “We changed the price point five times before arriving at a system that worked and we continuously research the best cost for services for implementation.” Low-cost medical services. All of the DPC practices I have spoken with have gone the extra mile to negotiate cash-based charges for non primary care services. For instance, Tanya Griffin helps PCPs convert to a DPC model and has also helped negotiate steep discounts. For example, the best local imaging center charges her clients’ patients $350 for an MRI in contrast to the $2800-3500 charge that is common in her area. Medications have to be continuously researched to locate where the lowest-priced ones are, from retail pharmacies, online pharmacies, to establishing relationships with pharmaceutical companies. Qliance offers a free first-fill formulary that covers most common prescriptions. Because DPC practices don’t include specialist care, efforts must regularly be made to locate quality specialists who will offer discounted care without breaking Medicare rules.
3. Major medical coverage. To effectively attract patients, efforts are made to locate the most beneficial insurance plans that will cover hospital and advanced specialist care. Plans change every year, and the practice should always be informed on the latest to inform its patients.
4. Marketing. Once the practice is started, it doesn’t survive unless patients enroll. Because DPC is a new way of practicing, many consumers and employers don’t understand it right away. Depending on the practice’s financial resources, effective PR, marketing, and advertising must continuously be on-going to make the practice financially sustainable and even profitable. Depending on the demographics of the practice location, efforts have to be made to capture patients from hospitals, the community, and companies. MedLion, for instance, has an outside marketing firm, as well as inside representatives to help each location reach capacity. They do a demographic analysis of the practice and the geographic region to ensure success.
5. Health IT. To keep overhead low and prevent over-utilization of services (now that care is more affordable), selecting an effective software/hardware system is crucial to the practice’s long-term success. Most EMR systems today are insurance-centric, and not designed to be used with DPC practices. Qliance evaluated over 200 U.S.-based EMRs before going abroad to find their system and then have done their own software development. An effective Health IT system will enhance patient experience, reduce physician workload, decrease unnecessary patient visits, and decrease physician overhead.
6. Billing. The beauty of DPC is the absence of insurance dependency. How do you bill? Automated or invoice? Do you accept credit cards? Check? What about patients who wish to pay cash only? Though overhead from insurance-billing is absent, there is billing overhead to manage. Because profit margins are low, it is essential to collect every penny. Dr. Qamar stated “Our billing was changed 9 times to get it perfect.”

As simple as the DPC concept is (membership fee for low-cost services akin to the Marcus Welby model), there is an extraordinary amount of research and work that must be done behind the scenes, before implementation, during transition, and after launching the practice. MedLion and DirectPayHealth have built businesses around assisting physicians making a smooth transition to a DPC practice (MedLion also supports a hybrid insurance/DPC model). Their approach has been to do the trial-and-error themselves to minimize to issues that could hurt the practice and lose patient confidence.

While the economy and federal health reform have created an unprecedented level of uncertainty, it has also created opportunity. As Dr. Qamar stated, “It’s been both gratifying and exciting to help my colleagues through the transition to a practice model that is sustainable for me while being a breath of fresh air for our patients. I can’t think of a more interesting time to be a physician.”

About: Dave Chase (http://www.linkedin.com/in/chasedave) is a Huffington Post/Washington Post contributor and CEO of Avado.com, a Patient Relationship Management software company, previously founded Microsoft’s Health business and was a consultant with Accenture’s Healthcare Practice.

Submit a guest post and be heard