Apple is listening.
If any company is a leader in Re-Imagining, it’s Apple.
Apple has Re-Imagined the music business. The iPhone has Re-Imagined how millions communicate and connect.
Healthcare is ripe for change. Healthcare MUST change. Healthcare IS changing.
Apple, along with Samsung, the two leaders in smartphone hardware, also now gives developers the platforms to custom-tailor health-related apps.
Integration of apps… apps talking to each other and sharing data… Is HUGE for health care.
Imagine a blood pressure app talking with your physician’s custom app..
We believe Apple’s HealthKit will revolutionize how the health industry interacts with people,” said John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. “We are proud to be at the forefront of this innovative technology with the Mayo Clinic app.”
Apple has a proven track record of changing consumer behavior. Changing patient behavior is perhaps the key to curing the health care cost disease.
Armed with phones, wearables, and integrated apps, patients will be empowered to drive health care delivery change. Online medical education and personal wellness data provide the information to change. The access to data also dramatically changes the doctor-patient relationship.
Doctors as Marketers: Will They Have the Skills and Tools?
Physicians have resisted marketing and view it as unprofessional. Now, with the advent of apps and patient access to data, doctors will be forced to master messaging and communications as a point of difference. The mobile apps can improve the patient experience. Alerts, reminders, and alarms mean the treatments and prescriptions are more likely to be followed.
Doctors will and want to prescribe mobile apps to improve patient care and communication.
Health IT and app developers now have the tools to deliver the technology answer.
However, the winning apps will bake in marketing.
Apps that train physicians and give them the tools to effectively communicate with patients will result in practice referrals and more satisfied patients.
The integration of mobile apps changes the role of the physician. His long-recognized “expert” status is diminished. More skill and effort must be devoted towards meaningful, effective patient engagement and communication. Scaling the communication for physicians is marketing.
Training physicians in communications and marketing just might be the difference that can make ALL the difference for your health care app.
Health Care app developers…
Marketing IS more important than you can Re-Imagine.
Bridgette Collado says:
This is so true in that healthcare marketing is/must change, but I’d argue that doctors need not also worry about becoming super-savvy marketing minds themselves, rather they need to engage super-savvy health communication professionals already involved in this changing market. Partnering with the right folks/firm will likely drive greater success than clinicians, insurers, etc. trying to go it alone. We know from the data/literature that more diverse teams – which would be the case when partnering docs with marketers – tend to yield better results, which benefits everyone, especially when it comes to making qualitative differences in the lives of those we aim to serve. 🙂 Thanks for the write-up – you’ve gotten me all pumped up!
Sam Stern says:
Good points Bridgette – Happy to hear you are pumped and hope you are suing your skills to make a difference.