Good4Patients: What’s Trending This Week

This week in Good4Patients we share news on the challenges that vulnerable populations face in finding good health information, the growing evidence of the true value of patient centricity and where it needs to start, and how the internet is prompting patients to change things they cannot accept.  Here’s the roundup:

  • A May 25th Health Affairs blog Knowledge Is Power:  Improving health Care Information For the Most Vulnerable, reports on the results of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation research initiative called Right Place, Right Time.  The research shows how important family and friends are to health information of lower income people and how RESPECT is crucial to trusting relationships between provider and patient.  (here)
  • PharmaTimes Magazine posted an overview of some valued lessons pharma companies are beginning to gain from engaging patients across the lifecycle — from Phase 1 trial design to adherence programs and package design.  Some great examples here of the business value of patient listening.  (here)
  • PM Live this week reports on how a patient-focused agenda needs to come from the top and includes interviews with Lilly and ViiV about how their patient focused strategies are benefitting patients and the company.  (here)
  • Finally, Hospital and Health Networks posted an article on how the internet is allowing patients to completely bypass physicians and legacy health systems.  The Nightscout Project is a web application and wearable device to display glucose readings that evolved when the parents of a Type 1 child got frustrated by the lack of monitoring available and developed their own cloud based system.  The project has a Facebook group of more than 15,000 members. (here)

Best wishes for the holiday weekend.