by Briana Campbell (@MsMatchGirl)

“If it’s not mobile, it won’t work in 2012 and beyond,” Jason Falls is quoted as saying in Awareness Networks 2012 Social Marketing and New Media Predictions. “We’re a marketplace conditioned to look down on our screen first. It’s not a B2C vs. B2B thing. If your users are people, you’re going to need to be mobile.”

We’ve been talking about the importance of thinking mobile not just for pharma and healthcare marketing, but to provide much needed health services in the developing world for a while now. We feel strongly that including a mobile strategy in your plans will not only help you stay in business, it will help push innovation in healthcare to the next level.

With people turning more and more to the “second screen,” it’s important for us to think on how that screen can be best utilized. From The Department of Health & Human Services Health Data Initiative, which encouraged competitors to innovate around open data available from the government to make smartphone apps to improve health, to the insights shared by Jonathan Richman in his 2011 SXSWi presentation, “Your Computer is the Next Wonder Drug,” digital innovation is what is moving the world of healthcare forward. And pharma needs to keep pace.

Some quick facts for your consideration:

By 2015, 500 million people will be using mobile healthcare applications. [source]

Smartphones will offer the best opportunities for mobile health by 2015. [source]

17% of cell phone owners, or 15% of adults, have used their phone to look up health or medical information. [source]

Later this month, we’ll be at the Mobile Healthcare Communications 2012: Case Studies and Roundtables, taking place January 26, 2012 in NYC. This half-day conference will present case studies demonstrating how major healthcare brands are connecting with consumers and professionals through mobile communications. Case studies will be presented by representatives from Allergen, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center – New York, Daiichi-Sankyo, and more. Interactive roundtables will follow the presentations. We’re looking forward to learning more about what companies have been successfully doing with mobile in the healthcare space, and talking about how we can keep innovating.

Use promo code P&P for a discounted rate of $175.

Date: Thursday, January 26, 2012
Location: The Graduate Center of The City University of NY
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), Conference Level C, New York, New York 10016
Website: http://www.bdionline.com/mobilehealthcare2012.html
Discount Code: P&P

by Jason Brandt (@jasondmg3)

For over half a century, the Breathalyzer has given law-enforcement officials a portable, fairly reliable instrument to test for, and prevent, driving under the influence.

However, when you start to listen to the critics of the technology complain that diabetics, dieters, hyperventilaters, mouthwash users, cold medicine users or smokers can have incorrect results (either damaging the sensors or inaccurately finding the subjects to be more, or less, inebriated than they may actually be) – you start to wonder:

If a Breathalyzer can pick up these other compounds, why can’t it be made to test for more than just alcohol?

Well, of course, you wouldn’t be the first to have this thought. It’s being called “disruptive” – but isn’t this the nature of all technological advances? Their goal is to make data available more rapidly and with less difficulty.

Obviously, diagnosing diabetes is an obvious place to start, as the existing technology already can pick it out sometimes. Additionally, you’ve probably heard over the years that dogs have been trained to identify the breath of people with cancer. Lung and breast cancer are being “sniffed” out in clinical tests now. Liver disease is, kidney disease, heart disease, even schizophrenia may be in the cards.

I can speculate about others, even though I’m not a scientist. Mental illnesses like anxiety, stress and panic attacks are often accompanied by physical manifestations that could be measured by checking how rapidly and shallowly you might be breathing.

And of course, there are pulmonary conditions like asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis and maybe even the common cold. Measuring the frequency and depth of breathing, in addition to the compounds exhaled, can help diagnose and manage conditions.

While we’re at it, perhaps it could compare the ambient temperature with your exhalation to see whether you’re running a fever.

I can envision the morning where puffing into a mouthpiece – part Breathalyzer, part spirometer, part thermometer – is as much a part of my routine as hopping on the scale. My simple efforts of a couple of seconds, using my scale, exhaler, and Magic Mirror (see Krissy’s Nov. 10 post), would be rapidly, brilliantly, noninvasively working to collect, analyze, report and share a wealth of information about me – all while I’m still stumbling around half asleep.

Now, if only one of them could floss for me and remember to pack my gym bag.

by Krissy Goelz (@krisgoelz)

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the healthiest one of all?

Imagine if looking in the mirror could reveal more than just the lines on your face or the state of your hair. What if the mirror was magic and could know what medications you needed to take or whether your blood sugar might be low? Wouldn’t it be great if we could improve our health just by looking in the mirror? While that may sound like a scene straight from The Jetsons, that vision could soon become a reality thanks to Magic Mirror technology.

Created by researchers from the New York Times R&D lab, the Magic Mirror combines voice recognition and motion sensing technology with an RFID tag reader. The technology is actually a computer with a reflective surface, creating an interactive information center in the privacy of an individual’s restroom.

How can the Magic Mirror improve health care?

It can keep patients on track– Forget missing doctor appointments or failing to remember to schedule your next mammogram. A calendaring application is available via a touch screen right on the mirror (watch out for finger smudges!) and can help people remember to keep their scheduled appointments, set up a visit with their health care practitioner or take their medication as prescribed.

It puts detailed information about prescriptions at a patient’s fingertips – Forget late night calls to the neighborhood pharmacy to determine drug interactions or to ask if your medication needs to be taken with food. Putting a prescription bottle or OTC medication tagged with an RFID chip on the mirror’s small ledge displays information about the drug such as when and how it should be taken, potential side effects, the prescribing physician’s name and other pertinent details.

It can encourage healthy choices – Not only can virtual technology help users “try on” clothes or visualize different hair colors and style, it can also point to other body issues such as weight gain. Unlike a regular mirror that just reveals your problem areas, the Magic Mirror can pinpoint where weight gain occurred and connect it to potential health concerns. The mirror can also be used by marketers to deliver healthy tips or coupons to inspire purchase.

It helps people stay current with news and events – Most people don’t talk about reading in the bathroom, but it often is a sanctuary for interrupted time used to educate or entertain. With the Magic Mirror, they can get alerts about drug recalls or access breaking news about health trends, prescriptions and more. The NY Times API enables it to deliver its own content such as blog posts, articles and videos, perpetuating anywhere, anytime access to information.

While the technology is still in prototype phase and its general availability has yet to be announced, it’s likely to be affordable with it hits the stores. Reflecting on the way technology has advanced, it’s only a matter of time until the Magic Mirror shows itself on the home front.

Harold Johns of Johnson and Johnson talks about how Pharma companies can improve the customer experience by learning best practices from other industries.

Joe Hogan of Epion Health talks about putting tablets at the point of care at Digital Pharma East 2011.

by Jason Brandt (@jasondmg3)

Attracting visitors to your website is one thing; keeping them engaged is another. With patent expiries and a shrinking sales force on the horizon, pharmaceutical companies need to think strategically about their digital delivery strategy and optimize their most valuable asset: their website.

Social networks are an important component of the marketing mix, but it’s important to recognize that social platforms will come and go. MySpace, once king of the Internet is soon to be little more than a blip in web history. Hundreds of thousands clamored for Google+ invites and threatened to abandon their presence on other platforms. Worse, any of those companies could shut down without warning, obliterating your online presence. A website offers greater ownership and control, but it requires daily attention and strategic foresight to keep people involved.

The first challenge in creating a successful website is defining its purpose and then implementing strategies to support it. Goals should be more specific than “get people to interact.” Is your goal to educate and inform? Sell a product? Support a specialized community? Once you determine what it is you’re trying to accomplish, you can define processes to achieve your goals.

Even having clear line of sight for what you’re trying to accomplish may not be enough to draw repeat visitors, especially if you’re trying to be just another WebMD. Chris Boyer smartly observes that people are already heading there to gather clinical health information. Successful websites need to offer more – whether that’s more opportunities to interact or deliver value to your audience.

What’s holding pharmaceutical companies back?

Diagnosis #1: Failure to know your audience. If your website doesn’t immediately give visitors what they want, they’re not going to stick around, and they’re not going to come back. If breast cancer survivors are coming to your site looking for other post-treatment patients, give them what they’re looking for right on your front page.

Diagnosis #2: Not keeping content up-to-date. Many initial web strategies were simply to have a presence. That’s no longer enough. Today you’re expected to provide actionable information. If you’re a doctor’s office, let patients see appointment availability and offer schedule functionality. If you’re an OTC drug manufacturer, offer a coupon, pollen index or an offer people can’t get anywhere else. If you maintain a blog, make sure posts are informative, well-written and updated regularly.

Diagnosis #3: Being forgettable. If you want people to return to your website, you’re going to have to remind them that it’s there. Create an opt-in e-mail list from your site visitors and send out regular communications letting your recipients know about the latest developments, news, special offers, etc. Don’t overwhelm recipients or send them junk. If you give valuable content and they know where to find it, they’re more likely to seek it out.

Diagnosis # 4: Your site is too difficult to navigate. Make interactions easy. If the experience is frustrating, they’re going to leave. Patients and physicians come to your website for different reasons. A doctor may be interested in prescribing information whereas a consumer might want to know which local pharmacy carries the prescription they need. Provide clear navigation that gets them where they want to go. Visitors also want to know how they can get in touch with a company representative. Prominently place links to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, email, etc.

Websites still have a strong place in the marketing mix. Customizing content based on customer type and physician requirements and gathering data to understand the effectiveness of promotional materials is critical. By understanding your audience, its expectations and delivering on them, pharma can do a better job of getting people involved in their website.

We’re excited to be participating in another UnNiched(micro) breakfast at the CUNY Graduate Center in October.

This one, however, will prove to be a little different from other events that UnNiched has hosted in the past. This one is a grown up show and tell, or, as they are calling it “Scratch, Sniff and Learn.”

That’s right. Your friends at UnNiched are asking you to submit your innovations in the world of pharma and healthcare.

From their website:

We’re launching what we hope are the first of many of what we’re calling “Scratch, Sniff and Learn” unNiched(micro) events.  This event is designed to highlight innovative programs, products and campaigns in the health marketing communications arena.  Attendees will not only get to hear about these innovations from presenters, but get hands-on experience “playing” with each innovation at specially prepared exhibits during the event.

We’re looking to showcase Web applications, innovative campaigns with real-world or virtual elements, mobile apps, designs and much, much more.  For example, we’ve already signed up the folks from Zemoga who will be showcasing the Teach Shirts they developed to aid public health communication in developing countries.

Submissions from any area of health marketing communications are encouraged, including social marketing, mobile communications, pharma communications, public relations and advertising. What’s more, the work of individuals, organizations and others showcased at the event will be promoted in other ways:

1. Case studies about featured innovations will be published on our popular wiki for health marketing communications pros, Living the Path
2. Innovations will be featured on our podcast, fyi: healthmarcomms
3. We’re planning other ways to showcase innovations, stay tuned for more

If you have an innovation you’d like to submit for consideration please fill out the application form by clicking here (Submission Deadline:September 26, 2011).

Pixels & Pills will, of course, be there with cameras rolling. We’ll talk to the hosts and the innovators and post the most interesting submissions on the blog.

We know you can’t wait!

unNiched(micro) Event: October 25, 2011, New York City
Innovation Submission Deadline: September 26, 2011
Event Registration Opens: September 15, 2011
Innovation Submission Form: Click Here

by Jason Brandt (@jasondmg3)

Our culture has long been fascinated by robots. From the Jetsons’ Rosie the Robot to Star Wars’ C3PO and R2D2 and Disney’s Wall-E, it’s not surprising that the field of medicine has also given rise to the capabilities of robots. Today, some of those sci-fi fantasies of the past are becoming reality.

Many hospitals are expanding the role of robots in the clinical environment, enabling patients to benefit from minimally invasive surgery, a high degree of precision and faster recovery times. In future years, robots may prove beneficial beyond the operating room to meet care giving needs for an aging population.

The technology for future robots to move closer to patient care and helping patients in their home currently exists – it’s just a matter of cost, production, testing and expanding availability. Care-giving robots are capable of doing more than monitoring patients – they can do physical work. This will prove to be a real boon to the 52 million Americans currently serving as informal caregivers to a family member or friend, especially as the population ages.

By 2040 the number of people age 65 and older will be 1.3 billion, globally. Younger people, with schedules burdened by work, family and other obligations may not have the time or expertise to help their aging parents or as they get older may face their own health challenges and require additional care themselves. For many elderly patients, living in a nursing home or assisted living facility may not be a desirable option, either because it is cost prohibitive or because they simply want to stay in their own homes. A caregiver robot may provide them with that luxury and the care they need.

Robots many not offer the warm-and-fuzzy caring qualities a human can offer, but they can become the caring professionals many people need. In the future, we may see robots that act more like humans as different etiquette strategies are developed. Some scientists are currently working on humanoid robot prototypes and language strategies so robots can be useful for elements of care such as reminding people to take medicine as prescribed. This can improve prescription compliance, resulting in better health care outcomes.

Robots in the home can also prove useful in lifting or rotating bed-ridden patients. With obesity rates continuing to climb, this can be especially helpful to human caregivers who struggle with lifting family members and can save their backs from physical stress. They can also help patients be more mobile, whether that’s helping them out of a chair or reaching for dropped items.

The aging-population trend is just beginning. Robots can ease the effect of the increase in the number of elderly people and can provide meaningful improvements in quality of life. While today’s robotic technology and market are not fully mature, the potential usefulness and significance is substantial. Robots are coming closer to commercial availability and are our future. It’s just a matter of time until they can handle mechanics with the intellectual capabilities of a human being.

by Krissy Goelz (@krisgoelz)

Oh, Facebook, how I love you so. Not because you’ve turned this city girl into a farmer or helped me get in touch with my inner Mafia Wars, but because you introduced me to the kind of engagement I want expect from my online experience. I’ve gotten to connect to the people who matter most – my real life friends and the occasional colleague – and easily update them on what’s going on, either through pictures or postings.

Facebook, you also let me be a fan. It’s fun to find brands or bands I like, express my devotion and network with a community of like-minded individuals. This past week I was introduced to Google+, which is predicted to be a Facebook killer by some technology analysts, but for now, I’m unwavering. Facebook is here to stay.

For one thing, change is hard and Google+ is not intuitive. The geek gods and goddesses will disagree, but that’s because they’re obsessed with mastering the newest technologies. The average Joe likely won’t invest the time to learn the ins and outs and will grow bored quickly unless Google+ delivers a value they cannot get from other social network sites. The Baby Boomer generation likes Facebook, and getting them to shift platforms isn’t going to be easy. Is your mom going to get Google+? Probably not; she’s finally comfortable with Facebook.

The circles feature of Google+ offers a nice visual representation of people in a user’s various social circles, but is that really necessary? I know who my college friends are, the people that I’ve worked with and the friends in my neighborhood. While Google makes it a bit more elegant to share targeted messages with select groups, I can still do that on Facebook. For those who argue that you can better control how you share personal information, I’m not putting anything online anywhere that I wouldn’t shout from a mountain top.

Google Plus integrates with Picasa, and you can migrate your pictures from Facebook, but why should I do that when my friends are on Facebook? That’s like saying we’re having a great cheeseburger at this McDonalds, but we can move our lunch to another one. Is one really better than the other? I have pictures on Flickr, Facebook and my personal blog. Does my whole online existence really need to be in one place?

Google+ is also pushing the coolness of its hangout feature – the ability to video chat with up to 10 people – but for the people who want that, Facebook has come through again now that Skype video chat is enabled. Facebook is also fun. While it may be cool to +1 an update, I’m still going to think of it as a like button. Twitter retweets may be about sharing, but they’re also another way of saying we like something. How many more ways do we need to say the same thing?

Google+ may be new and giving us another way to divert our attention, but unless it uses its muscle to bully the other social networks out of the proverbial sandbox (notice Google+, not Twitter is now powering real time results?), it’s not going to live up to the hype (Hello, Google Buzz).

I did sign up for a Google+ account within minutes of receiving my invite, but instead of abandoning one for the other, I’ll continue to hang out in both. For all of Google’s messaging that Google+ is their answer to how people socialize in the real world with different social circles and interactions, why are people thinking we need to give up our other social networks to play in a single walled garden? Forever is a long time, but as long as Facebook continues to meet its user’s needs, Facebook is here to stay.

By Jason Brandt (@JasonDMG3)

Recently, we’ve talked about how new technologies are helping patients on transplant waiting lists live a normal life out of their homes, instead of confined to a hospital bed, and how they’re helping caregivers monitor senior citizens in a thorough but respectful way. That got us to thinking about all of the health-care technology that is coming into the home, making it easier for patients to take care of themselves – these backpack motors and household systems, but also tiny equipment, like small wearable monitors that check vital signs like blood pressure and pulse oxygen. We started geeking out over little high-tech gadgets, as we do.

But then we stopped and wondered. We think this stuff is cool because we’re looking at it from a techie perspective, not necessarily from a user perspective. What do the patients think of this stuff?

Interestingly, one 2004 study found that “the use of specialised medical equipment by patients at home,” which has “increased in most industrialised countries…over the past 15 years”, was actually met by patients who felt “deeply ambivalent about the benefits and drawbacks of technology. While technology can be pivotal in making patients autonomous and able to participate in the social world, it also imposes heavy restrictions that are intimately interwoven with the nature of the particular disease and with the patient’s personal life trajectory.”

It’s worth noting, though, that IV antibiotics and nutrition, dialysis and oxygen were the therapies investigated. Seven years on, the focus is much more on primary and secondary prevention in home self-care – on preventing an illness or event from ever happening, or after one case, preventing it from happening again – rather than just on long-term acute necessaries.

However, patients still have the same frustrations when the technology helping them care for themselves is too intrusive, clunky or problematic to feel helpful. They may understand quite well that it’s doing them a benefit, but if it makes life difficult, it’s hard to feel grateful. Take hearing aids, for instance. Now packed with advanced technology and so tiny as to be difficult to see, hearing aids were derided for being embarrassingly large and squawkily unhelpful.

What technologies do we have today that could be made better? The glaringly obvious new helper we have in this process is in your pocket right now: the mobile phone. Half of all Americans carry around the equivalent of a circa-2000 computer. It’s no understatement to say that this has the potential to turn healthcare on its head. The industry is being given an incredible new platform that can make mobile self-care possible to a degree impossible to imagine in previous decades, and we absolutely must be giving this the time, attention, resources and creativity that it deserves.

That’s why I’m going to keep a close eye on the mHealth Summit later this year, and until then, its sponsors and participants. There already are a lot of brilliant people with their heads in this space (besides us!) and I have a good feeling about it. We’re going to see exciting things soon.