Jets with glass floors. A Twitter without vowels. Thanks to the internet, everyone can participate in April Fools Day pranks. Although it’s a little harder to make light-hearted jokes about healthcare, a few organizations found a way. Thankfully, there seems to have been no harm done.
Google created an entire microsite and a video for its April Fools project, Google Nose. (Kudos to Doug Smith for using the phrase “photo audio olfactory sensory convergence” in a sentence without cracking a smile). Check out what the site’s new “aromabase” brought up when I searched for doctor’s office.
Enhanced Direct Enrollment: Georgia Access and the Power of Partnership
Across the nation, state-based health insurance exchanges are searching for ways to better serve their communities while making enrollment easier, more personal, and more accessible for everyone.
Near the top of my Google Reader this morning was this headline from the blog Drug Channels:
That’s right – Walmart’s adding liposuction, and it’s rolling back the price to just $249.99.
This clever spoof email was sent out by fitness startup Wello, announcing the launch of its “Petoga” services – video yoga for pets.
Meanwhile, in his weekly email to students and staff, the provost of the University of Kansas included some new initiatives to put discoveries made by KU researchers into action and make the campus healthier. His “major improvements” included a new multidisciplinary research center, The KU Center for Healthy BBQ, the banning of texting and walking, and the installation of fish oil stations across campus.
The Power of One: Redefining Healthcare with an AI-Driven Unified Platform
In a landscape where complexity has long been the norm, the power of one lies not just in unification, but in intelligence and automation.
But my favorite might be this headline from Medical Device and Diagnostic Industry: Pope Francis Repeals Medical Device Tax. The fake news story includes this gem:
A spokeswoman from a major device maker, who declined to be named to avoid religious affiliations, applauded Francis’s comments. “Jesus healed the sick and no one levied a tax on him for it,” she says. “If you really think about it he was the first innovator of healthcare. You can’t feed five thousand, cure leprosy, or raise the dead if you’re worried about a tax hanging over your head.”
Your turn — did you fall victim to these or any other April Fool’s Day pranks?
[Images from Google Health, Drug Channels, Wello and University of Kansas]