Why did Google Health suffer a heart attack?

There has been a lot of internet talk about why Google Health failed. Numerous of this conversations dwell on Google. What did Google do wrong? This is a gigantic behemoth of a company, right? Google owns information, so why couldn’t they control health information? Why couldn’t they engage users to record their personal health information?

Unlike the magnitude of information on the internet that is accessible, searchable, and just simply already there, personal health information is not. The whole premise of Google Health relies upon people being interested in their health, and investing time in recording their health. With matters at hand consisting of the uncontrollable obesity epidemic, lung cancer due to uninhibited smoking, and the general lack of exercise found throughout American culture, it’s no surprise that Google Health did not succeed.

Recording your own health information online is a radical idea to the majority of Americans. If it is to succeed, it has to be innovative. We need to make the experience of entering personal health data FUN and EXCITING. Make it into a game. Make it social. Ask you friends to go on a bike ride with you, and then record in your social network for others to be jealous of you. So jealous that they go out and join their own bike ride with their friends, too.

Innovation, with a new way of thinking, is key here. This is why Google Health failed.

New Cigarette Pack Graphic Warnings Deter Smokers

New graphic warnings on cigarette packs are unappealing, disgusting, and deathly. They’re perfect.

Nine graphic images were released today that if not placed on packages on or by October 22, 2012, will result in that company no longer being able to sell cigarettes in the United States. With an average of 5.4 million deaths per year directly attributable to smoking, something must be done to prevent our future children from taking up this horrible, unnecessary habit.

USDA Scraps Food Pyramid, Replaces with Food Plate

The food plate icon has replaced the long history of the beloved (or ignored?) USDA food pyramid. Many thought the food pyramid was too confusing, as it did not allow an easy way to incorporate the guidelines into a person’s daily routine.

A new icon depicts a plate divided into four sections with dairy on the side. This makes it easier for Americans to easily know how much of which type of food to eat per meal, and drastically simplifies the “servings per day” motto from the previous food pyramid. This goes along perfectly with my previous post about “usability”. The government has finally figured out that the user, the American food-lover, needs some guidelines that are easy to use.

Visit www.choosemyplate.gov to view all your menu options, with plenty of healthy eating tips. There are even more specific recommendations for those that are pregnant, those looking for more kid-friendly diets, and for those seeking to shed some pounds with a healthy weight loss diet.

Usability is the Most Important Factor for EHR Adoption

Why is anything successful? Because people like to use it. Usability drives the doctor to pick it up because they enjoy the interface. They enjoy how they are in the driver’s seat, and it’s why people generally enjoy driving a Porsche over a Ford Taurus.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter as much how important EHR’s are to improve health care delivery, or to list all of the benefits of electronic storage of health information. Rambling on about $44K stimulus packages, Obamacare, electronic prescribing, immunization registries, or medication reconciliation will only get you so far.

Health care professionals desire a new approach because they all know the one they’re using now isn’t quite cutting it. They are thirsty for something innovative, easy to use, and elegantly beautiful. Usability will drive EHR growth, leaving all others variables behind.

Case in point, Kalorama Information released a study March 1st, 2011, exploring the EHR world. EHR growth is expected to increase 15% per year until 2015. Kalorama Information found in their study that it’s the usability of the EHR that will be the ultimate deciding factor in the growth market for EHR’s.

Practice management is the second biggest segment, predicted to grow at nearly 11% per year until 2015.

Check out our elegant iPad-based user interface by signing up for a free account here. We offer your complete solution to managing an office while taking the best care of your patients.

“Ultra-bad” Cholesterol Discovered

“Ultra-bad” cholesterol is now a new type of cholesterol, according to research published in the May 26 issue of Diabetes.

For quite some time, there were two main types of cholesterol that were considered to be most important. These are HDL and LDL (as depicted cartoonishly below). Now, for those that are elderly or who have diabetes, they have found a “stickier” form of cholesterol, that is more adherent to arterial walls. For now, this has been dubbed “ultra-bad” cholesterol, or to be more scientific, this is LDL that is glycated by a compound named methylglyoxal (MG). MG is a glycating agent that is increased in diabetes.

It is well known that diabetes is a risk factor for development of chronic heart disease, but it was not well known why it is such a big risk factor. This research study definitely sheds some light on the matter, and will be very useful in developing future treatments.