Healthcare IT -- the "Consumer Effect"

I'm a sometime patient slash healthcare-services-consumer. Which of the following technologies can I use when my healthcare services are delivered?

• Multifunction cell phones
• Home broadband access
• PDAs
• Personal or local search
• Digital video
• MP3 players
• Programmable Web
• GPS navigation
• Social software or networks
• Podcasts
• Mobile video phones

Answer:

Why, all of them, right?

It depends. You'll get different responses from consumers, providers, and payers.

The title of this post and the options above come from an intriguing article in InformationWeek, "The Consumer Effect," by Andy Dornan. You guessed it -- IT shops are facing a nightmare trying to control what will soon (and have already) become obvious benefits for a connected society. Who are the innovators in healthcare IT in the vanguard?

And that's just the technology. Consider too the business processes. Are consumers part of providers' workflow? Do consumers - or rather, the technologies they use - affect revenue cycle management? Do consumers have a stake in better-faster-cheaper when it comes to their health?

In a lot of areas, my life was just plain poor before the advent of those splendid technologies. Now it's better. Can I say the same for my health care?

Points to ponder.