Melody Smith Jones

Earlier this week, I discussed the #1 lesson that the healthcare industry could stand to learn from the retail industry. Namely, this include the use of consumer/patient data to understand, motivate, and incentivize true behavior change. In an effort towards true patient engagement, we can use that data for even more. Really with all of […]

A colleague of mine recently shared with me a conversation he had with a CEO of a large health system in Chicago. The CEO was asked the following question: “If you could sit down for lunch to have a candid conversation with the leader of any organization, then who would it be?” Hmm. Let’s all […]

Today I had the good luck to happen upon a #HIMSS15 session entitled “Improve Patient Engagement, Lower Readmissions with #mHealth.” I thought that was a bold statement to make on behalf of #mHealth. Since I’m a big sucker for a bold statement, I found myself drawn to the session like moth to flame. The session […]

In this post-reform era of high quality care at a low cost, the healthcare industry has been looking towards the retail industry for strategies used to engage consumers. Lessons learned include how to use the retail setting as a medium for providing care and how to engage consumers outside of the care setting using technology. […]

Every year, the week of the National HIMSS conference is marked as the most exhilarating an exhausting week of the year. The exhaustion comes from all that walking. In fact, in this year’s #HIMSS15 Mix Tape, my contribution was that ol’ “I would walk 500 miles” songs from the 90’s. Fortunately, the exhilaration keeps me […]

2014 was a big year for consumer engagement. However, the term “consumer engagement” has been bandied about the industry quite fervently for purposes more aligned to financial gains than true patient engagement. As a result, while the industry wants true consumer engagement more than ever, they are tired of hearing the term “consumer engagement”. As […]

Most industry changes leading to patient data access came by way of Meaningful Use. In the future, changes in the patient portal market will be driven by a series of marketplace dynamics. What does the market think of patient engagement? For the answer to this question it is best to refer to a report by […]

Over the course of a few short years we have seen doubts about the effectiveness of telehealth technology transform into wide-spread adoption of those same technologies. Now that telehealth has proven successful at managing chronic conditions and care in remote rural settings, we will see this trend continue as health systems realize that breaking down […]

Over the course of the short history of Connected Health, there have been a few evolutions of social media in healthcare. These include: 2011 – 2012: Healthcare provider adoption of social media was low 2013 – 2014: Adoption is popular with varied levels of maturity. Focus is on relaying population health messaging and converting unknown […]

Patient mobile health (mHealth) is beginning to move beyond just a “cool technology” and toward more practical approaches for care delivery. According to PEW Research, over 90% of the world’s population has some type of mobile device, which makes mHealth technology an important connection point for both local and global health. This technology will bring: […]

At the center of all Connected Health trends you will find healthcare organizations that struggle to provide care and services across care paradigms and organizational siloes. For that reason, there will remain great demand within the healthcare enterprise for collaboration tools that can be used to unite communities of employees that must work efficiently in […]

Healthcare organizations are beginning to realize that enabling consumer engagement and population health strategies are not possible unless the capability of effectively and efficiently communicating across care venues and systems exist as well. This is a big ask considering the increasingly complex care continuum that matches patient to care provider. This calls upon Connected Health […]