Health On Demand: Insider Tips to Prevent Illness and Optimize Your Care in the Digital Age of Medicine - Softcover

Subramani, Dr. Ramesh

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1630476765 ISBN 13: 9781630476762

Publisher: Morgan James Publishing, 2016

Synopsis

Annoyed with healthcare? So am I!

I wrote Health On Demand for patients, doctors, and the whole healthcare system.  It will introduce you to over 250 apps, devices, and blood tests designed to prevent illness, take the confusion out of healthcare, find the best care, save you money,  and even lose weight.

As a physician, I wrote this book because I saw many individuals struggling with issues like finding cheaper medications, getting second opinions, finding the right specialists, and knowing what to do next about a medical condition.

With 43 Insider Tips, Health On Demand will help you take control, whether you have a chronic medical condition, aging parents, or just want to learn the latest technologies to stay fit.

Health On Demand is written for everyday folks as a guide to faster, better, smarter, and lower cost healthcare. In fact, most of what you will learn, your doctor won't even know! 

The time is now to upgrade your health--make this minimal investment and order your copy of Health On Demand today!

About this title

About the Author

Ramesh Subramani MD, MBA, MPH is an ER physician, former venture capitalist and McKinsey consultant who has been directly involved in transforming health care as the Chief Medical Officer for one of the largest telehealth companies in the US.

He has intimate knowledge and expertise in using new technologies to empower patients.

From the Back Cover

Now is the time to take control of your health!

Think about it----healthcare is annoying! We wait weeks to see our doctors. We get confusing, unpredictable healthcare bills. We receive medical information that seems generic--not tailored. We worry about diabetes and heart disease but feel helpless to prevent it. Health On Demand provides answers to these issues and more, by teaching you the digital tools that can transform your health.

Whether you have a chronic medical condition, have aging parents, or just want to stay healthy,

Health On Demand provides a roadmap for faster, better, smarter, and lower cost healthcare for you and your family!

Covering over 250 innovative online services, apps, smart devices and diagnostics, Health On Demand will help you prevent illness, optimize your care, and clarify your next steps to better health.

In fact, much of what you will learn, your doctor won't even know!

Get an insider's perspective from Dr. Ramesh Subramani, a former Silicon Valley venture investor and a McKinsey consultant to the biggest healthcare companies. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer for one of the largest telehealth companies and is an expert on how to use

technology to help patients engage with healthcare.

Now the question is this---are you going to wait or are you going to take charge and become a true partner in your healthcare?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The digital health revolution has offered a singularly unique time in our history where all people can truly become engaged in their own health. This notion that patients (like you) can finally take better control of their health destiny is how this book was born. The digital health promise, I believe, is faster, better, smarter and lower cost care which will help you to stay healthy, pre-empt disease and get optimized care.

Patients are confused about their care options. They don’t know how to access care in an effective way. They are tired of being nagged about their eating or exercise habits. They are worried about their increased cost burden. They are worried about healthcare reform, but they don’t really know much about it. They don’t know how to communicate about health concerns and needs. By empowering patients, this book aims to fix these problems.

To define digital health from a patient centric view, I would say it is the combination of the hardware (devices, sensors, platforms, diagnostic tools) and software (apps, websites, algorithms) that together create solutions that enable patients to become more active co-pilots in diagnosing conditions and receiving care more efficiently.

Even though I have been in healthcare for almost 2 decades, ironically, I personally am in search of a better health experience. So in many ways this book is for me and for my fellow physician and nurse colleagues. I hope they use it to help their patients and themselves.

In fact, I find that most doctors don’t know what is contained in these pages. They’re busy keeping their practices going: dealing with the ever-increasing patient loads & the huge amount of often conflicting scientific information being thrown at them. Most were trained in the practices of the 1970s, 80s and 90s---long before the remarkable technological changes that were brought on by the Internet and other advancements. So don’t expect your doctor to be up-to-date with all these innovations. In this sense, you may have to coach your doctor.

So this book is for you, them, and me. We are all health consumers in the end.

In contrast to books about fixing the system, this book is also about changing the game. And empowering patients is the only way this “game” will truly change! With 2 trillion dollars of health expenses providing “life support” for the current system, all stakeholders need to focus on patient empowerment because this concerted focus is the only way the system can change course. For those of you who are wondering---we have already lost the original system, it is broken beyond repair.

This book, however, will not attempt a detailed discussion of how expensive our healthcare system is. Too many other books have already covered that topic. The current focus of the system is that we need to control costs. But singularly focusing on and struggling to control costs in a broken system doesn’t fully make sense. We have options to actually change the paradigm.

That said, I don’t want to make light of the complex system needed to deliver healthcare. We want smart & incentivized doctors, safe & effective medications, technologies that will keep us well and hospitals that focus on healing and providing outstanding care.

And there are real improvements, really notable trends happening:

Patient safety initiatives; preventing errors like wrong medication or surgeries on the wrong limb

Navigation & care coordination efforts for better patient experience and more efficient flow through hospitals and clinics

Reducing hospital purchasing costs and waste

Improving clinical trial efficiencies so that drugs can be developed faster

These are some of the innovations, I believe, that will dramatically improve our current healthcare system. I applaud all the scientists, doctors, nurses, hospital workers, innovators, technologists, and all health stakeholders who work tirelessly to improve our system.

But in the end, to save healthcare, we need a consumer revolution! Consumers will need to realize that they will need to drive care. In fact, what you do as an engaged consumer will likely be more important than what your doctor does towards ultimately having a long and healthy life! Don’t expect it to come from the current system which has too many inherent dependencies and is ultra-focused on high utilizers of care. Due to all of these issues the current system is too clogged to truly get us to a transformed health experience which we deserve.

From my vantage point as an emergency physician-turned- strategy consultant, venture capitalist, and Chief Medical Officer for a disruptive health tech company; I see digital technology enabling the development of four major changes in the delivery of healthcare. Let me briefly sketch them here. In short, medical care, with your help, will become:

1. Faster - in diagnosis, treatment, and outcome realization; less centralized, more distributed and available on demand in bite-size units of care.

2. Better - with more predictive and pre-emptive rather than reactive care.

3. Smarter - meaning more individualized or personalized treatment tailored to your genes, cells, culture, gender and ethnicity.

4. Cheaper - providing more value for your healthcare dollar and better utilization of resources.

Edition details

• Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1630476765
• ISBN 13: 9781630476762
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 270