Social Healthcare Networks: Leveraging Social Networking Technologies and Approaches

to Connect Patients and Clinicians

September 17, 2009Medicine 2.0 Congress, Toronto

Paula Hucko, BSc, MBA - HSAGlobal

Market overview - trends

A. Health Cost Burden- Increasing costs of the old model of healthcare has become a crisis

B. Perspective Shift From treatment of disease to proactive nurturing of personal wellness

C. Enabling Technology- Tele-health devices, internet, RPM, mobile devices and interoperability

D. New Knowledge Modifiable lifestyles are key drivers for population health and disease

E. Turning Point in Healthcare- A new path to personal wellness, employee productivity and

sustainable health costs

Key Market Trends: A perfect Storm

A number of key market trends create a “perfect storm” for a ground shift in the way healthcare is delivered:

Global growth in the 65+ age group

Increased prevalence in chronic disease

Severe healthcare workforce shortages

Growth of informed, engaged consumer

Increase in family/informal support networks and caregivers

Increasing financial burden of healthcare for governments

3

Technology to support the storm …

Growth of the internet and mobile phones has been explosive in last 10 years….At a global level, mobile phone coverage is projected to be 90% by 2010

Increased access and affordability to the internet and mobile phones has spawned new approaches to prevention, intervention and treatment

Worldwide mobile phone penetration rate – 2009; 2011

Year Penetration

2009 (e) 60%

2011 (e) 75%

(Source: BuddeComm based industry data, 2009)Note: Excluding multiple subscriptions, actual worldwide mobilepenetration sits at around 50% in 2009.

Turning Point in Healthcare…new paths to wellness

New paths to personal wellness, employee productivity and sustainable health costs utilizing technology

Today we will talk further about one approach utilizing:

Text messaging as a clinical intervention – HME-STOMP for smoking cessation, as an example

SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model for healthcare that incorporates social networks, mobility and wireless services

Joining the dots - Public Health Impact = Efficacy x Reach

Text messaging as a clinical intervention

The use of text messaging in the healthcare industry is becoming more commonly accepted and growing.

SMS messages are now a well-accepted means of communication between patients and care organizations.

For example, the National Health Service in the United Kingdom has piloted the use of SMS for sending outpatient appointment reminders to patients’ mobile phones and to inform bank nurses of shift availability.

As well a number of countries including New Zealand, US and Canada have projects supporting behavioral change using Text Messaging as the primary “coach”

Text messaging for smoking cessation – example

HME - STOMP

(Health Messaging Engine - Stop Smoking Over Mobile Phone)

STOMP is a SMS text message-based smoking cessation service based on published clinical research conducted by the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University Of Auckland, New Zealand.

This research showed that an SMS-based intervention can double the success rate of smokers trying to quit.

Program is implemented in New Zealand and Canada

HSAG is a software vendor that develops healthcare programs based on clinically proven interventions

HME has been architected in such a way to support any other clinical content for two way behavior change – or health intervention

More About STOMPMessage content targeted for specific phases of quitting i.e. Pre-Quit, Quit, Intensive, Maintenance, Crave,Slip-upTotal of 551 different messages tailored to the English North American marketEquivalent message database translated into FrenchTailored administrative portal that can be branded with provider’s “look and feel”Multi-carrier capabilities – can secure regulatory approval and work with known aggregators to ensure the service works across all primary Canadian mobile phones and carriersRecipient TUANZ Award for Innovation 2008Targeted at youth – traditional smoking cessation techniques less effective with this demographic

Software-as-a-Service/On-Demand business model

There is a need for a Software-as-a-Service/On-Demand business model for healthcare that incorporates social networks, mobility and wireless services at the grass roots

Removes the barriers to entry for smaller organizations and individuals.

This model allows applications to be delivered to healthcare providers and consumers with less upfront investment and cycle time to implement than traditional IT.

There are numerous examples of this in the prevalence of free hosted blog services such as Wordpress.com, Blogger, Facebook etc and also examples in healthcare such as Microsoft’s Healthvault, and TELUS’s HealthSpace.

The stage is set….

Inflection point in the market with…..Rise of InternetUbiquitous access to affordable mobile technologyMarket in need of new healthcare delivery methodsConsumer appetite for self managed involvement – According to international health studies, people who have direct, self-managed interactions with their own care plan are more likely to sustain their adherence to interventions.

Social networking technologies can now be used for higher purposes like health and wellness,

prevention and treatment

So….Huge potential…in utilizing internet, social networking, mobile phones and other social networking technologies to facilitate better self-management for patients

This confluence of a growing patient base with increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous social networking and the availability of SaaS based services provides the healthcare industry with an opportunity to deliver those improved outcomes on a global scale. “Much of primary healthcare in 2020 will be about using smart technology”. Michael Decter, Chair Health Council of Canada, 2005

Joining the dots Public Health Impact = Efficacy x Reach

In healthcare there is often a tradeoff between the frequency of interaction and the cost of delivery.

We believe that leveraging social networking technologies and approaches in connecting patients and clinicians represents a viable and effective way to achieve significant positive health impact.

Using social networking technologies, appropriate On-Demand/SaaS based clinical interventions can be delivered at relatively low costs to huge populations and social segments.

What’s next? Integration with the social networking ecosystem –consumer choices

Twitter Podcasts Blogs

Facebook Second Life Virtual reality

Really Joining the Dots……

Challenges

This is just the beginning of a new and much needed dawn in healthcare

How can the sector adapt fast enough to – a) understand the potential of the technology

– b) have vendors/ providers that will bring it together in a scalable way

– c) incorporate into mainstream care, and

– d) evolve with it, given the necessary evidence base for healthcare

The drivers are there (and increasing)

The tools and technologies are there (and emerging)

How does the sector adapt to take advantage of what's on offer to deliver on efficacy and reach promise

The next 10 years are going to be the most exciting in healthcare and in technology – are you ready?

Turning point is here!!!

A. Health Cost Burden- Increasing costs of the old model of healthcare has become a crisis

B. Perspective Shift From treatment of disease to proactive nurturing of personal wellness

C. Enabling Technology- Tele-health devices, internet, RPM, mobile devices and interoperability

D. New Knowledge Modifiable lifestyles are key drivers for population health and disease

E. Turning Point in Healthcare- A new path to personal wellness, employee productivity and

sustainable health costs