I’m awash with health technology. I have…
- Numerous health apps on my iPhone;
- My fourth wearable for tracking daily fitness;
- Workout monitors when I run and cycle;
- Data on my heart rate, sleep patterns, and the miles I’ve run or cycled;
- Just won my office Wellness Challenge.
I love the data. I love feeling like I’ve got the latest technology wrapped around my wrist for anyone to see that, “Yes, I’ve got it goin’ on!”
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The question many might ask me is, “so what?” Is this information changing anything about your life? Do you have a plan, a target, an objective with all this data and technology? It’s time for us to use this information to achieve meaningful improvements in our health. It’s time to set meaningful goals.
Write down your health goals
Numerous studies have shown only 3 percent of the population set goals and only about 1 percent actually write them down. When people write down their goals and review them regularly, they achieve them 80 percent of the time. When it comes to our health, I believe these numbers are even lower, but capturing goals is central to healthy living and to the delivery of patient-centered care.
In medicine, the largest barrier to goal-oriented care is what Dr. David Reuben calls the disease-outcome-based paradigm. Doctors usually focus on managing a specific disease consistent with a defined protocol. Providing good care focused on doing what’s right for the patient and structuring care around patient goals could fundamentally shift the cost and outcomes of care.
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There is a meaningful change underway in healthcare with physicians encouraged to capture goals of care for their patients. This leads to creating patient care plans that are actually structured around what a patient wants to see happen under the care of their provider. Thinking about your health in terms of care goals is a meaningful change for providers, and even more important for you and I as patients.
For years people have talked about the importance of setting SMART goals (Specific, Measureable, Action oriented, Realistic, Timeline) as a critical framework for achieving a desired outcome. I would encourage everyone to write down health goals using this framework.
You’re the Solution
The first time I met my future father-in-law I walked into his home office and noticed a small picture frame with an important quote that has stuck with me. It said:
“You’re the only problem you’ll ever have, and baby, you’re the only solution.”
In the face of significant change underway in healthcare today, the power you realize by setting, communicating, and tracking health goals is the same power that puts us in control of healthcare’s future. At the end of the day you are the solution for better health and happiness.
Go ahead. Set a goal.
Photo: Flickr user WorldIslandInfo.com
Ted Quinn is the CEO and Co-founder of ACT.md, a digital health company helping everybody engaged in the healthcare system - clinicians, patients, families, and communities - act together to make health happen, wherever they are.
ACT.md’s Care Coordination Record(TM) promises a better, safer, less expensive, and more flexible approach to managing healthcare’s complex tasks and achieving your organization’s goals. Headquartered in Boston, Mass., ACT.md is privately held and venture funded by the disruptive innovation investment firm, Rose Park Advisors. Learn more at http://www.act.md.
Ted has 20 years of experience leading healthcare IT and technology companies. Prior to ACT.md, Ted served as COO of Vecna Medical, driving revenue growth and new market penetration. Before Vecna, Ted served as President & General Manager of a Taylor Corporation Company, as a Business Manager and Product Manager for the FLEX platform at Teradyne Corporation, and as a management consultant at Accenture.
Ted holds a BS in Economics from Brigham Young University, an MBA from the Harvard Business School, and an unflinching loyalty to the Boston Red Sox.
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