What does e-Health mean to Americans?

We all talk about e-health these days, but what does this buzzword really mean to most Americans? G. Eyesenbach, in an article published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, explores this topic, in an attempt to develop a concrete definition for this term. He defines the term and the concept as follows:

e-health is an emerging field in the intersection of medical informatics, public health and business, referring to health services and information delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies. In a broader sense, the term characterizes not only a technical development, but also a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology.

Furthermore, he goes on to suggest that there are 10 e's in "e-health":

• Improve the Efficiency of healthcare
  
• Enhance the quality of healthcare
  
• Make interventions Evidence-based
• Empowering consumers and patients
  
• Encouraging new relationships between patients and health professionals
  
• Educating physicians and consumers through online sources
  
• Enabling the standardized exchange of information and communications between healthcare centers
• Extending the scope of healthcare beyond its conventional borders
• E-health requires new forms of patient-physician interactions that put an emphasis on Ethics- informed consent, privacy and equity issues.
• Reducing the gap between the "haves" and the have-nots" by promoting Equity in access to healthcare
  

I think this is a useful framework. Understanding the meaning of e-health with defined boundaries, allows the millions of Americans trying to decide on the various bills being passed around e-health, to make informed decisions when they cast their votes, and voice their opinions.

Similarly, below is an interesting video created by students at Vancouver University, succinctly describing exactly how Electronic Health Records can benefit Americans, but also how it has the potential to cause trouble. It is simple and easy to follow, and is definitely the way forward with bringing Americans on-board our mission to promote e-health.

E-Health Infographic from Ira Hardy on Vimeo.

(Source: G. Eysenbach. 2001. What is e-Health? J. of Medical Internet Research, (2):e20)

Capacity for e-health in Africa

Yesterday, I returned from a whirlwind trip to Lagos, Nigeria- my first time in West Africa. I had heard so much about how I should expect it to be very different than East or Southern Africa, and it was- there was no mistake that I had just set foot into a bustling metropolitan, with the highest population density in the continent. From the second I got there, I kept thinking about the enormous potential this country had to become an emerging market ready to burst into success. A robust population, a thriving oil and gas industry with education and health beginning to take the forefront of discourse- I was excited at the thought of how much was possible!

I was in Lagos to conduct a workshop to train representatives from the media, private sector and select NGO's on the benefits of being advocates for pneumonia prevention. The four days I was there went by quickly- too quickly to absorb much- but being stuck in a 3 hour long traffic jam on the way back to the airport (usually a 20 minute drive when it is not rush hour), forced me to mull over the serious issues of infrastructure and governance, that were hard to miss in Nigeria. And ofcourse, e-health came to mind.

I started to wonder what was really holding the developing world back from lapping up information technology for healthcare. First, I recognized the problem of low institutional capacity- issues with infrastructure and connectivity, the legal and regulatory environment, as well as weak administrative structures. Closely following suite, were the limits on human capacity- there is a notable shortage of e-practitioners, or health workers who are capable of leveraging information technology, there is a lack of incentivising programs within the MoH that give eHealth-corps clear career prospects, and most importantly it is very hard to transform informed citizens from passive observers to active participants in the e-care giving process. These are all definitely deal breakers, and big hurdles to cross.

Here is an interesting presentation made at the 2009 ECOSOC Africa Regional Ministerial Meeting, showcasing the progress as well as the challenges in the use of information and communication technology in health.

ICT Infrastructure in Africa and the uptake of e-Health

View more presentations from Francisco J Grajales III.

There are definitely big hurdles to cross before a country like Nigeria becomes e-health friendly, but even as I arrived much too late to check-in for my flight, and somewhat nauseous from the long and bumpy car ride, I was certain that these were problems that could be overcome.

Leveraging IT advantages in the developing world

Thomas Friedman, in his masterpiece, The World is Flat, writes about the flatteners that have propelled globalization, and reduced the world from a size medium to a size small, now even heading towards being a size extra-small. He lists outsourcing, off-shoring, open-sourcing, in-sourcing, supply-chaining, informing through giants like Google and Yahoo, and the final boost of wireless access as agents that have acted as steroids, pushing the world into a smaller and tighter corner. He points out that this is giving hitherto 'developing' giants like China, India and Russia the leverage they need to drive an existing giant like the US into a tight spot. Competition is getting tougher, the numbers of people with the skills and the ability to work efficiently from any corner of the world have increased, and as the world gets flatter, the tides are changing to shift economic prowess into new hands.

This is an exciting time for developing nations- not just India, China and Russia, but even for countries lagging behind on the development ranks. I see it as a thrilling opportunity, especially in the field of healthcare. For more than a decade now, the US has been battling disintegrated Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems that result in high health care expenditures and a myriad of inefficiencies in health care delivery. No one system works for everyone, but it seems like it is almost impossible to get the existing ones uprooted to embed a uniform EMR system that improves effectiveness and efficiency. There is a lesson to be learned for developing nations, still working on paper, and filing away records manually- they are fortunate enough to know what mistakes not to make. Thomas Friedman labels the new developing nations jumping into the playing field as "legacy free" and I agree with him wholeheartedly- they don't have to worry about the sunken costs of old systems, but instead have the potential to move fast and leap right into new technologies by adopting innovative, state-of-the-art information systems that allow them to quickly the bridge gaps, and maybe even fire-away ahead of what we know today.

It is clear that there is untapped potential, and much to be learned from mistakes made. Developing nations have an advantage, but it is now in their hands to find a way to pick it up, and run with it!

(Source: It's a Flat World After All, Thomas Friedman, The New York Times, April 3rd, 2005)

Play a Social Media Game for Diabetes!

The developed world has made its epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases, but the developing world is not far behind- today, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and respiratory conditions are the major cause of death and disability world-wide. This is indeed a significant concern.

I light of this, the Joslin Diabetes Center, affiliated with the Harvard Medical School, has been working since 1898 to ensure that people with diabetes live long, healthy lives and to offer real hope and progress towards diabetes prevention and cure. Just recently though, they launched an innovative social media intervention, HealthSeeker, that may become the prototype for social media efforts to prevent and treat chronic conditions.

HealthSeeker is a game on Facebook that allows players to make specific lifestyle changes that focus on healthy eating. While the game is available to everyone, it specifically allows players with diabetes to make informed lifestyle decisions through channels that compliment their daily use of social media. The game utilizes the players own Facebook friends as sources of support and inspiration, by allowing players to publicly receive experience and award points every time they meet 'lifestyle goals' such as eating more healthfully, achieving or maintaining a healthy weight, improving one's diabetes control or lowering cardiovascular risk factors. This sort of motivation allows people to take simple, everyday steps towards meeting their health goals, and has so far proven to be very successful.

Watch this video to learn more, add the application on your own Facebook account and play!