#CSummit14
WLSA’s Annual Convergence Summit is where healthcare, technology and wireless health communication leaders tackle key issues facing the connected health industry. The two-day event is something we look forward to every year. The agenda includes enlightening panels with mHealth visionaries, industry demos by up-and-coming connected health companies, and really great networking. This year they had a chocolate + wine pairing mixer—yes, please!
During the Summit, we had the opportunity to host an interactive display focused on the personal and policy preferences of the attendees in regards to healthcare.
“The goal was to get people involved and thinking in different ways and have groups talk about what is really important to them,” says DD Chief Charles Curbbun, who took the lead on creating this experience for conference attendees.
We came up with 5 general statements per topic and had participants rank them in order of most important to least. With connected health at the intersection of technology and healthcare, areas that are constantly shifting, we anticipated a great debate. Our participants were doctors, healthcare executives, wireless technology experts, and connected health startups.
During breaks we recorded the rankings, aggregated the data and then compiled it into a slideshow to share during the next break, alongside photos of the participants (thus making them “famous”).
On the first day we polled personal health preferences and found that there was an overwhelming agreement with the statement “empower me as a person, not a patient.” Over half of the participants felt that this was the most important thing, some deciding to only rank that statement and no others. This may be in part to Dr. Eric Topol’s “empowered patient” movement, as many people felt very strongly about that statement and told us horror stories of misplaced medical records, mixed up prescriptions, and endless accounts of being dragged through “the system.”
Day Two was Policy Preferences, and we had a bit more of a debate: 4 of our 5 statements ranked pretty evenly. The number one statement was “promote health and sell it to consumers.” Close behind was “promote innovation to enhance public health,” which resonated with the multiple mHealth start-up companies in attendance.
In addition to our statements, we asked people to tell us what we missed or to give us a quote that went along with their preferences. Here are some of the sticky notes with those ideas:
The full slideshow can be found here at slideshare.net.
We could really feel the passion from the crowd full of future-minded people that are making a difference in connected health and truly paving the way. Cheers to WLSA on yet another incredible experience!
