I was interviewed for the March issue of MM&M, a medical industry marketing magazine. The title they chose is “Visitor from the future.” Indeed – but this time traveler has millions of cousins.
As our country (and world) plan the next generation of healthcare, I urge people to look at what e-patients are doing – and use it as a lever, to improve care and economic efficiency. Heaven knows we could use it.
The article arose from a talk at the ePharma Summit in February. I was the guest of Klick Marketing, a Toronto company that develops superb web sites for consumer engagement, including patient engagement sites for drug companies. I spoke as the “voice of the patient,” within a keynote by Klick’s Brian O’Donnell about engaging with activated patients.
I wanted to make clear that although it seems futuristic, it’s real today. So the first words out of my mouth were “I’m here as a specimen from the future.” MM&M editor-in-chief Jim Chase was there , and this interview resulted.
Truly and literally, that future is here. The article cites that ACOR (my patient community) reaches 1.5 million patients a week, and that’s just one e-patient site; there are many more. (The Society for Participatory Medicine hopes to publish a list this year, to help people find peers.)