Last night, I attended one of the most important conversations happening about healthcare industry trends, and I didn’t even bother to put on make-up or shoes. Want a dose of healthcare real talk? The Healthcare Leader (#HCLDR) chat on Twitter tackles some of the industry’s most complex and touchy topics in a rapid-fire conversation that always bubbles over its scheduled hour. If you’re a doc, a healthcare startup CEO, patient advocate or hospital exec, you should be at least lurking in this Tweet chat, and moving toward full-on participation.
In fact, last night the conversation on healthcare and the media brought one of medicine’s youngest and most influential celebrities, Jack Andraka, into the fray.
From how to approach people who use wrong “facts” they’ve heard in the news to what the mainstream media should be covering and how doctors need to become better communicators, the conversation was, at times, heated (especially if you were a representative of media–just kidding) and always insightful. As healthcare and the media both go through major industry changes and reform, it’s conversations like these that will bring nuance to both fields, and ultimately communicate information to industry and patients more clearly.
Here are some of the thought-provoking Tweets from the night:
T1: One thing we need to understand is that in todays age, if you want to believe something, you can always find supportive info #hcldr
— CancerGeek (@CancerGeek) November 13, 2013
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.
Factual accuracy. 🙂 “@IanJohnPereira: T3: Perhaps we can ask for a #HippocraticOathOfJournalism @TeamMDrs? #hcldr”
— Elin Silveous (@ElinSilveous) November 13, 2013
Can we develop media that informs and people are willing to pay for? Media needs $ patients need information #hcldr
— georgemargelis (@georgemargelis) November 13, 2013
CT better media/communication in healthcare is not just about how we talk but about how we listen. #hcldr
— Dr. Mohan Krishnan (@soulmirror) November 13, 2013
T2: Media influences b/c they communicate why pts should care even if the news is wrong – drs don’t communicate w/ clarity, urgency #HCLDR
— Briana Morgan (@babefromtoyland) November 13, 2013
Pro tip: Don’t have a Twitter account but want to see what’s being said? Just type #hcldr (don’t forget the hashtag) in the search engine on Twitter, click enter and ta da! Lurk away.
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