What The Bean and the iPhone have that your medical practice needs, too

While in downtown Chicago for business this summer I visited The Bean in Chicago.  If you Google “the bean Chicago”, you’ll find hundreds of pictures of it.  Officially named Cloud Gate but nicknamed The Bean by locals, it’s a sculpture in downtown Chicago which looks like a giant polished steel bean.  A picture from my visit accompanies this post.    I admit that before my visit I was only casually interested in seeing it.  But walking down Michigan Avenue, I saw it, and it was like a shiny three story magnet pulling me towards it.  Walking around it, I was fascinated by the views it reflected of the Chicago skyline and other people’s reactions to it.

Last spring I needed a new cell phone, my old one was going on four years old and the screen was getting wacky.  So I decided to go for my first iPhone.  My expectation was that I would call, email, and maybe find a free app or two that were interesting.  But frankly, since I’m not a gamer or into time-wasting apps, my expectation was pretty low as to the impact a mere phone would have on my life.

That changed when I found an app I could use for bicycling.  I previously relied on 3 computing devices with three databases for biking: 1. bike computer for speed, distance and pedal rotation information; 2. wristband GPS/heart rate monitor for distance, mapping, and bio data; and 3. if I got lost, I could pull out my old smartphone and pull up a map on the small screen and maybe figure out where I was.  Now with the iPhone, I have one device with one app which collects, presents, stores, and analyses all that data.  What had previously been a frustration for me (3 databases of information), was unexpectedly solved by the iPhone.

My lasting impression of both The Bean and the iPhone will always be, “This is good in a way I didn’t expect.”  Whatever art I see in the future, whatever phone I’m using in 10 years, I’ll always remember this feeling and these products.

So my question to you is, is there something about your medical practice that will prompt your patients to say, “This is good in a way I didn’t expect”?  You can switch out “good” for interesting, or friendly, or some other superlative.  But do your patients feel they are getting some benefit, real or psychic, they didn’t expect?

Why is this important?  Because patients have more healthcare options than ever before.  Walgreens wants to not only dispense prescriptions; it wants to provide basic health services.  Grocery stores provide basic healthcare services.   And I’ve worked with franchise-type pain management and urgent care practices that are spreading around the country.  These big companies have scores of people who sit around trying to figure out what their unique benefit is for broad markets and demographics. 

But the good news for you is, you can get to know your patient community better than the big guys can.  And you can tailor your practice to your patients in a way these large companies can’t.  You just need to start doing it.

Does the tailgate swing to the side or swing up?

We often ask the wrong question when purchasing something which is outside our domain of expertise. 

A number of years ago a friend, Steve (not his real name), bought his first SUV.  The SUV was used to transport the mechanical products Steve sold, and also served as a demonstration area.  The first time Steve set up his demonstration for a prospect, he realized he made a mistake.  The tailgate swung to the side, when it would have been much more functional if it swung up instead.  The side swinging tailgate made it more difficult to set up his equipment, limited the area in which he could conduct the demo and limited the number of people who could see the demo. 

When Steve bought the SUV, he asked lots of technical questions, took test drives, and thoroughly researched SUVs.  But he never asked about the tailgate.  He had never bought an SUV, so the tailgate issue never occurred to him. 

What do you think would have happen had Steve stood behind the SUV in the showroom, opened the tailgate, and walked thru his demo routine?  Do you think Steve would have realized that the side swinging tailgate would be a problem?  Probably. 

If you’re making a major purchase, and it’s outside of your domain of expertise, do your walkthrough.  Don’t just talk about it, do it.  Take your work flow, your process, and walk through it.  If you can’t do it with the actual product, find a way to do the walkthrough that closely mimics your scenario.  For example, if buying an EMR, take your workflow and walk through the steps at the computer, with the EMR software, with your salesperson or their product specialist carrying out those steps.

Straight ahead,

Bob

CMS posts podcast of August teleconference “ICD-10 Implementation Strategies for Physicians”

On Tuesday of this week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sent out an email announcing they posted the content online for the August teleconference titled “ICD-10 Implementation Strategiesfor Physicians.”

I missed the original call, so I was glad to see the announcement.  So far I’ve only had a chance to listen to the first podcast, but on first impression I think anyone looking for a primer on the ICD-10 switchover will be well served by it. 

One note, however.  While I think Dr. Daniel Duval did a nice job with his presentation, I do think he downplays the impact the switch from ICD-9 to ICD-10 will have on encounter note documentation requirements.  He makes it sound as if providers will only need to learn a few new codes and revise their super bill.  I would argue that he underestimates the additional detail that the more precise ICD-10 codes will require.  Improved accuracy of etiology, disease process, and description (e.g. laterality) will require providers to document with greater detail than they perhaps are accustomed to doing. 

On a completely different note, even though CMS calls these “podcasts”, I can’t find them through the iTunes store.  So for those of you who want to listen to these on your iPhone/iPod/iPad/iTouch, but are a little tech challenged here’s a tip on how to get the files into iTunes.

1. Download each of the four “Podcast” files to your computer (I’m talking PC, not  MAC).  Each will appear as a ZIP folder on your computer;
2. Open the ZIP folder;
3. Drag each .mpg file into iTunes.  The .mpg files will now appear in your Music library.

 

To make finding these files easier, you can change the names and the genre.  To do so:

1. Right click on the file name in iTunes;
2. Select “Get Info” from the popup menu;
3. Select the “Info” tab;
4. In the “Name” field enter the name you’d like to use for the file;
5. In the “Genre” field enter something to categorize them by.  For example, I use BOC (my company initials);
6. Select “OK” and you’re done.

For those with an iPad, you can also download and drag the slide show PDF file into iTunes which will add it to iBooks. Just as with the audio file, you can change the file name and, in this case “Category”, by right clicking on the file, select “Get Info”, and so on.  The process is the same listed above for the audio files.

Anyone needing help getting these files into iTunes is welcome to contact me.

Straight ahead,

Bob