There are more questions than answers when it comes to patient engagement – and more people who can have an impact on making engagement better. Doctors, clinicians, hospitals, payers and Big Pharma all have an impact on the patient.
Healthcare needs more of a focus on giving the patients what they want– and they need answers.
Here are six questions you’ll soon have answers to, thanks to MedCity ENGAGE, MedCityNews.com’s summit on patient engagement and innovations in healthcare delivery coming Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, D.C. The event sessions below are just an example of what the 300 attendees — a collection of payers, providers, policymakers and technology leaders — will hear as they learn about what’s working and what’s coming next in patient engagement and healthcare delivery.
Look through those questions. See who is going to give the answers. Then, sign up to attend ENGAGE, which starts Wednesday of next week in Washington, D.C.
1. How can the consumer continue to pay for rising healthcare costs and strengthen their own purchasing power?
Speakers:
- Lisa Maki, CEO, PokitDok
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
With over $300 billion projected to be spent by healthcare consumers annually, any other industry would view the healthcare consumer as a massive opportunity. It’s common to view our rising out-of-pocket expense as a cost containment problem, but is this a mistake?
2. How can simple access to health information for patients transform how 150 million Americans manage their healthcare?
Speakers:
- Bob Keaveney, Editorial Director, Physicians Practice
- Peter Levin, Senior Adviser to the Secretary, and Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Learn how one simple, powerful idea – empowering patients by providing them straightforward access to their own health information – has moved from the VA to CMS to the private sector, and may soon transform how 150 million Americans manage their own healthcare.
3. With a long history of advancing patient engagement, what are pharmaceutical companies viewing as challenges and opportunities for the issues of patient engagement?
Speakers:
- Paul Ewing, Senior Director, Global Digital Planning, Pfizer
- Chris Seper, CEO and Founder, MedCity Media
Pharmaceutical companies have been engaging patients longer (and better) than many other sectors in healthcare. So how is Big Pharma looking at the challenges and opportunities of patient engagement and healthcare delivery? What should we expect from the likes of Pfizer when it comes to helping patients address key barriers throughout the “patient journey?”
4. How can proper engagement of one specific group be a huge step forward in solving America’s health crisis?
Speakers:
- Harold P. Freeman, M.D., Founder and CEO, Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute.
The Americans with the most challenging health problems are often the hardest to reach – and our current healthcare system hasn’t made it any easier to connect with them. Properly engaging the undeserved can pay big dividends in solving America’s health crisis. Learn about our biggest failings and how we can move forward and get it right.
5. What actions by doctors, patients and technology companies are necessary to take patient engagement mainstream and what potential policy themes affect those actions?
Speakers:
- Deanna Pogorelc, Reporter, MedCity News
- Lygeia Ricciardi, Director, Office of Consumer eHealth, ONC
In her two-and-a-half years with the ONC, Ricciardi has seen patient engagement go from an option to a necessity within various stakeholder groups. In this chat, we’ll explore specific areas where action is needed on the part of doctors, patients and technology companies to take patient engagement mainstream, and discuss emerging policy themes that will affect those actions.
6. What do the patients want in regards to new policies, programs and technology?
Speakers:
- Suzanne Mintz, Co-Founder and CEO Emeritus, Caregiver Action Network
- Adrienne Boissy, M.D., MA, Medical Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Excellence in Healthcare Communication
- Sarah E. Kucharski, CEO/Chairman & Founder, FMD CHAT
- Roys Laux, General Manager, Health Vertical, Angie’s List
- Veronica Combs, Editor in Chief, MedCity Media
Patient engagement from the patient’s point of view. With new policies, programs, technologies, and data, do we really know what patients want? Hear firsthand from a live focus group on the ENGAGE stage conducted in a town hall format. Bring your questions.
These sessions are just the beginning. Review the agenda, look at our partners and join us at MedCity ENGAGE, MedCityNews.com’s summit on innovations in patient engagement and healthcare delivery, on June 5-6 in Washington, D.C.
