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Matthew Holt

World of Health 2.0 – Interview with Matthew Holt, Co-Chairman

Nov 5, 2013

By Harriet Messenger

The following is an interview of Matthew Holt, Co-Chairman of Health 2.0.

Harriet Messenger – How did Health 2.0 begin?

Matthew Holt – My interest in health began in the early 90s when I found myself doing a study on healthcare in Japan. That then led to getting involved in Japanese versus American comparative health care; which, finally led to me getting a job in health care policy at a place called Institute for the Future. They had a huge technology forecasting component but no one was doing health information technology, so I put the two together.

Around that time the internet got going; there was a sort of E-health stock boom in the late Nineties, so I was involved in looking at that. Some years later I began a blog called The Health Care Blog and as part of that I was spending a lot of time looking at the re-emergence of ‘Web 2.0’, which was the re-emergence of information technology on the web, reaching out to the consumers, doctors, entrepreneurs, etc.

At the same time I met Indu Subaiya, who is my co-founder and my co-chairman. We realised that no one was paying attention to these guys, and that’s when we thought about creating a conference that brought all these great minds together. And that is how Health 2.0 started.

HM – And would you say that Health 2.0 is living up to your initial vision?

MH – Yes, but it takes forever to do anything in health care. Health care has the same problems it’s always had: getting data to the decision maker – whether that is patient or the doctor – and getting the right treatment plans in place for the patient. These are the same problems across the world. However, with the advent of new technology, mostly in the last 20 years, there have been big advances and changes in the way that health care is both consumed and delivered.

I’ve never thought Health 2.0 was going to change the world in three years. I believe that this type of technology is a big deal, but it is going to take time. We are now in the middle of that time – it’s starting now.

Health 2.0 Tools for the Elderly at Health 2.0 Europe

Nov 5, 2013• 13

By Maneesh Juneja

In 2 weeks’ time, at Health 2.0 Europe, I am moderating a pre-conference workshop ‘Health 2.0 Tools for the Elderly’. Dr Leslie Kernisan wrote a blog post after attending the recent Health 2.0 Silicon Valley conference, observing that most Health 2.0 solutions are not designed with the elderly in mind.

That’s why I was very impressed when Health 2.0 invited me to curate and moderate the workshop on Nov 17th in London. We have 11 different technology solutions designed specifically for the elderly being demonstrated at the workshop. Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry, I acknowledge that technology is only one out of the array of solutions available to society.

Looking at the forecasts about the aging population, it’s way too easy to view the elderly as a burden, not a resource. Older people with their talents, wisdom and life experience have much to share with younger members of society. Could technology be used to connect those opposite ends of the age spectrum?
Continue reading…

So, You Need Knee Replacement Surgery…

Oct 28, 2013• 2

The Health 2.0 Developer Challenge team recently caught up with the 1st place winner of the RWJF Hospital Price Transparency Challenge (Static Visualization Category), Imaginary Office. Their winning submission, lead by Esther Chak and Mary-Jo Valentino, is an excellent visualization of recently released CMS charge data that helps consumers make a more informed decision when choosing a hospital to receive knee surgery.

Check out what they built and the thought process behind creating the winning submission!

HT: Tell us about Imaginary Office and your larger mission.

Imaginary Office (IO): Imaginary Office is a collaborative graphic design and communications studio founded by the two of us, Mary-Jo Valentino and Esther Chak. We design and develop print and web media for clients who need to communicate complex content — for example, the science behind ocean conservation, the feeling of a piece of classical music, or the effectiveness of public schools. We have been lucky to work with clients whose missions we support, from sustainable seafood, to clean water, to arts education.

HT: Why did you choose to participate in the RWJF Hospital Price Transparency Static Visualization Challenge?

IO: Our motivation to clarify some aspect of the healthcare or health insurance experience stems from a medical emergency that Mary-Jo had a few years ago. It was a wake-up call to both of us to take healthcare and insurance coverage more seriously. But, it’s not easy to understand—for us or for anyone, really.

As self-employed designers we had been following the healthcare reform journalism pretty closely. We clicked through many online articles and eventually stumbled upon a mention of the RWJF Challenge. That was the catalyst to realize an infographic that we had kept in the back of our minds since Mary-Jo’s medical emergency. The RWJF Challenge gave us an opportunity to develop the idea and share the outcome with an audience.

Health 2.0 Europe: Creation Healthcare’s Daniel Ghinn

Oct 24, 2013

By Harriet Messenger

Harriet Messenger – How has social media transformed our lives? And how do you see it transforming health care?

Daniel Ghinn – Social media is transforming our lives in so many ways. I think all the benefits we’re getting through social media are now happening in health care. For example, social media is great for connecting people who share experiences, this is greatly beneficial in health care – whether it’s bringing patients together or building strong communications between health care providers.

It enables us to learn from one another, to get support and to share ideas in ways that would never have been possible in the non-digital communities that we lived in before the explosion of digital.

HM – Who is using social media? Is it patients, health professionals, pharmaceutical companies?

DG – To some extent it is probably a reasonable generalisation to say everybody, but in so many different ways. Patients, I believe, led the digital health revolution. Patients coming together, collaborating, sharing experiences and learning from each other on how to connect with other diverse areas.

Health 2.0 Europe: Med Digital’s Felix Jackson

Oct 23, 2013• 1

By Harriet Messenger

Harriet Messenger – New technologies are allowing pharmaceutical companies to be in direct contact with patients. How is this transforming the industry and what are the opportunities and the pitfalls?

Felix Jackson – Nothing has really changed with regards to how pharmaceutical companies can interact with their patients. We’ve always been able to provide information for patients. In fact it’s a regulatory requirement that pharmaceutical companies provide patient information. What’s changed is that the digital framework enables them to do this much more conveniently online and much more powerfully. The places that I’m seeing theses changes are places like disease awareness, where pharmaceutical companies are using digital awareness to raise education and information about a certain disease and when to go and seek treatment from a doctor. Also in their support of patients post prescription. So when a patient is prescribed a drug and needs detailed information on that drug, pharmaceutical companies are doing quite a lot of work to provide that information digitally.

HM – And are there pitfalls to this at all?

FJ – Yes, one of the problems with digital, is that it is very global and so traditionally the pharmaceutical companies are regulated on a geographical basis, by country, and traditionally that has been quite easy to control, handing out leaflets in a specific geography. Now with the Internet, if you put something online it can be accessed from all sorts of different parts of the world and that can cause issues. However, I don’t think those problems are that major. If you think it through, it’s about how you are aiming and targeting that activity and if you’re aiming at UK patients and filter websites in the UK then it’s very easy to control, or at least easier than some companies worry about.

A Pragmatic Fix for Healthcare.gov & the HIXs

Oct 18, 2013• 24

By MATTHEW HOLT

By now even those of us who originally thought that we were seeing minor teething troubles are no longer deluding ourselves. Healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance exchanges (HIXs), and many of the state HIXs are in deep trouble.

One summary of many articles about this is up at ProPublica. But now that the House Republicans have stopped trying to destroy the country and themselves, attention will turn quickly to this problem, and–much worse–beyond the politics, there is now only eight or so weeks to get ready for actual enrollments for Jan 1, once you take out Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday. Getting ten or twenty million new customers on board, not to mention the small businesses who want to move from their current insurance onto the exchanges, seems like an impossible task.

But, if we can muster the will, there may be a solution. (And yes, I want it to work, faut de mieux). Quietly last summer two private online insurance brokers, eHealth which runs the eHealthInsurance.com site, and GetInsured, struck deals with HHS which allowed them to enroll individuals in plans that qualify for the mandate under the ACA, and more importantly, connect with the “Health Exchange Data Hub” that figures out whether the enrollee qualifies for a subsidy (theoretically by connecting to the IRS).

That part of the transaction, though, could be done by attestation and dealt with later. In other words, someone buying health insurance could state what their income will be in 2014 (or was in 2013) and if it ends up varying dramatically on their 1040 then in 2015 they will pay or receive the difference. Essentially this is something all Americans recognize–the IRS asks you for more or gives you a tax refund well after the fact, and H&R Block and their competitors make a business of giving you the refund right away (and of course charge you for the privilege).

That is important because what seems to be crippling the HIXs right now is not the back end, it’s the front end. (Go to this Reddit thread for lots more deeply technical conversation about that). Showing people options, comparing plans, setting up accounts–that’s all standard web stuff and most of the HIXs can’t do it. Those private brokers have both smoothly done this for years and at least the two I mentioned have built comparative tools for the new insurance plans. (Both were demoed at Health 2.0 on October 1).

So why can’t we put prominent links to eHealthInsurance.com and GetInsured on the Healthcare.gov site and move people over there? Continue reading…

Health 2.0 Co-Founders Address How to Adapt to a New World of Health Care and the Problems it Encompasses

Oct 16, 2013• 1

Health 2.0 co-founders Matthew Holt and Indu Subaiya gave separate keynote speeches on the second day of Health 2.0’s 7th Annual Conference earlier this month, setting the tone for the remainder of the event.

Holt began by giving an overview of the rapidly changing world of health care and his advice for the viewers in adapting to such changes. He spoke of the comparatively low use of EMRs, the importance of trackers, and sharing data between consumers and professionals as specific challenging trends.

Watch Matthew’s full keynote here.

CEO Indu Subaiya followed Holt and addressed the “seven deadly sins of health care,” which ranged from too much testing to end of life care. She compiled this list after an active conversation with eight of her trusted colleagues about the parts of health care which might not be “typically kosher.” Subaiya shifted perspective from specific negativities to look at the health care system in a new way; shining light on potential ways to improve these problems. Subaiya’s keynote left the room with an optimistic view of real problems in the health care system.

Watch Indu’s full keynote here.

Redefining Health Care with Health 2.0 Bottom-Up Thinking

Oct 16, 2013• 1

By Lori Houston

Santa Clara, CA- Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom urged a crowd of over 2000 health IT entrepreneurs and thought leaders to forge ahead in leading the health care revolution and not to wait on the government in his keynote at the Health 2.0’s 7th Annual Fall Conference this year.

Newsom observed that the innovation happening in health care technology embodies the “bottom-up” thinking that is defining the future of both health care and society in general. “It’s a whole new level of thinking: it’s platform thinking, not machine thinking. The world will be defined by mobile, social, and local trends. It’s not top down. The pyramid has inverted. That’s what Health 2.0 is all about.”

HealthcareDIY: An Old Idea Made New

Oct 8, 2013• 1

By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn

My wisest and longest-time friend in health care, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn has a new project, new research and a new website called HealthcareDIY out today. I encourage all of you to look around her new site and consider the stories she is telling, as they matter to all of us.–Matthew Holt

We’re DIY’ing home renovations, photo development, music playlists, personal financial management, and travel reservations. Increasingly, we’re also DIY’ing health. Think: Maker Faire-Meets-Health.

My thinking about HealthcareDIY was first inspired by my mother Polly, who died 34 years ago this month. She was my first role model for an engaged patient. When she was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in 1971, there was no internet for her to tap into for a patient network, a clinical trial, or a directory of oncologists or centers of excellence that were Top Doctors for treating the condition.

Polly did, however, absorb the books of Adelle Davis and her Let’s Get Well series on nutrition and health. Polly’s good friend, a librarian with whom she worked, tapped into the Index Medicus on her behalf and retrieved abstracts of articles on blood cancers that he printed out from the microfiche. Polly partnered with her doctor, an internist with a keen interest in hematology, for her care. She also had a huge and diverse social network (offline, of course) that surrounded her with a whole lot of love. Her M.O. was informed by Dr. Bernie Siegel, who started Exceptional Cancer Patients in 1978 and evangelized about patient engagement, living fully with cancer, and dying in peace, which she did, in October 1979.

Among many legacies Polly left me was her can-do attitude when faced with a six-month-prognosis upon diagnosis with Hodgkin’s. Mom worked full-time until the last two years of her life, wore beautifully tailored clothes and put on lipstick every day, and project-managed her health through eight years of treatment: primarily, radiation and blood transfusions. Polly figured out how to take control where she could, and she did it with grace, humor and sheer human will.

She DIY’d her health given the resources she had at-hand between 1971 and 1979: books, cassette tapes, in-person support groups, medical journals in print, a specialist and internist, and lots of love.

In the three decades since Polly’s death, two seismic forces have structurally changed consumers in America: the Great Recession beginning in December 2007, and the near-universal use of the internet in health. Ogilvy’s report, Eyes Wide Open, Wallet Half Shut, found two countervailing forces re-shaping U.S. consumers: re-trenching and re-imagining. On the retrenching side of behavior, people began to do more binging: in media consumption, drinking, and eating.

On the re-imagining front, some people looked to re-invent themselves, reconnect with others, and re-train to re-tool careers. This group of people has sought to be more active and more deliberate, and accept more complexity in daily living. These people are more mindful, more frugal, and open to trading down. 9 in 10 use coupons, shop at discount stores, and buy more store brands and generics.

For this latter group, Ogilvy said, “Self Reliance is the new insurance policy,” with a group ethos believing that, “Americans need to be strong, get their house in order, and protect themselves,” per the report.

That’s where HealthcareDIY comes into play.Continue reading…

HealthTech Challenge Aimed at Reducing Readmissions

Oct 1, 2013• 1

A new international challenge has finally arrived, and not a moment too soon! The Henry Ford Innovation Institute (HFII) has partnered with Health 2.0 to launch the HFII HealthTech Challenge. The challenge encourages innovators in over 25 countries to address avoidable hospital readmissions through mobile-health and IT solutions. $50,000 in prizes and up-to $100,000 in technology development support will be awarded to the best solutions.

The HFII HealthTech Challenge aims to reduce avoidable readmissions of patients with exacerbations of chronic conditions, like pneumonia, COPD, and congestive heart failure. Rising readmissions penalties strain private insurers and capitated health systems. Not to mention, patients and providers are inadequately prepared to manage complicated medical conditions post-hospital discharge.

Open to the international community, this Challenge invites innovators in over 25 countries to compete for $50,000 in prizes. The five best finalist will be awarded $10,000 each. These teams will then compete for a chance to receive an offer of a rapid commercialization investment, consisting of up-to $100,000 for technology development, up-to 9 months of product development support and clinical validation within the Henry Ford Health System, technology and business support from HFII’s commercial partners, and access to world-class mentors and experts across a variety of fields. Throughout the development period, the winners will receive exposure to capital investors that can provide additional funding to fuel the growth of these technologies.

Check out the challenge details at www.healthtechchallenge.com, and make sure to stay tuned with us for all your HealthTech Challenge needs!

Submissions are due January 3, 2014.