Health Care advances and Thanksgiving

Given all the news about the healthcare reform bill and Thanksgiving (a US national holiday) I read this article which appeared in the Wall Street Journal (24Nov2009) by Melinda Beck "20 Advances to Be Thankful For" and a blog posted on: scientificblogging, science 2.0 by Becky Jungbauer. Thanksgiving is always a time for families to gather and share a common meal. Unlike other holidays, this one always has special meaning for me and each year brings new stories and changes in our family member's lives. What struck me about this list of scientific advances is that we do have a lot to be grateful for I've chosen the following as it has direct impact on me and my family:

• 62% of all US adults are in excellent or very good health
  
• Life expectancy in the US reached an all time high of 77.9 in 2007
  
• Death rates from cancer dropped 16% from 1990 to 2006 (this is the second leading cause of death – the first is coronary heart disease)
  
• Deaths from strokes dropped 26% from 1995 to 2005
  
• Average total cholesterol (in adults aged 20 to 74) dropped from 197 milligrams per deciliter in 2008 from 222 in 1962
  

The author, Melinda Beck, goes on to state, "The longer you live, the happier you are likely to be. Many older adults find that happiness and emotional well-being improve with time; they learn to avoid or limit stressful situations and are less likely to let negative comments or criticism bother them than young adults, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association conference in Toronto this year."

I do agree with the article that goes on to share simple "free" tips on taking care of you: getting enough sleep leads to thinking more clearly, helps with weight loss, and fends off infections. Going out and getting at least 30 minutes of sun will give you more vitamin D. Yet there is still more that we need to do to improve health care in this country and around the world. I look forward to seeing Personalized Medicine (targeted treatments) for cancer, new drugs for lupus and memory loss, advances in vaccines for gene therapy and cancer, which leads us to a promising future.

Take a moment and read through the entire article. You may find some reason to be thankful for as health care impacts all of us. Find time to focus on your family and avoid the stress of the job search. Recharge yourself and come back renewed that an opportunity is just around the corner. Yes, by now you can see that I am more than just an optimist. Please do enjoy your holiday.

Why pay attention to Social Media?

Whether you are looking for ways to improve your business, or seeking your next job opportunity you’ll need to find time to leverage Social Media tools. I recently asked my LinkedIn network the following question:
“What types of social media tools are you using (aside from LinkedIn)?” Choosing from ExecuNet, Twitter, Facebook, Xing, Other
I found that 72% are using Facebook, 18% ExecuNet and 9% Twitter. The results vary by job role and age. (By the way thanks to those of you that participated in this informal poll.)

Why bother with Social Media? When a public figure like Sarah Palin chooses to use Google stats, and Facebook to promote a new book you need to rethink how marketing has changed. With unemployment at such high levels how do we promote our ‘personal brand?’ I found the following article by Greg Satell at Digital Tonto on The Importance of Branding in the Digital Age to be quite informative. Now fold this notion of a product or company brand into your efforts for the next job opportunity. How do you stand out in a crowd of other job seekers? What do you provide to a potential company? Your resume is just one tool to employ. I recently congratulated someone on their new job and asked what they did to help ‘market’ their brand? They used Twitter and blogging as a way to promote their profile/skill set. Getting recognized is step one – you still need to nail that interview.

While you think about your brand, I struggle with how much time do I need to put into this effort? Which led me to the following article from Chris Brogan on: How Much Time Should I Spend On Social Media. Depending on your situation it comes down to time management and a focus on what you want to achieve. I find it fascinating that all of the tools mentioned in this blog and sources to learn about Social Media are free. You have to see what works for you and ‘integrate’ these tools to help you save time. You can accelerate this process by working with a ‘branding’ coach. Yet it would be helpful to know what Social Media can provide for your business or personal search for your next job opportunity.

The time for ‘Process Innovation’ is now

I was asked to explain the effect of Healthcare reform on information technology (IT), and my answer involves: using IT to provide process innovation. Why process innovation and not product innovation? This conclusion begins with the current debate on healthcare, which is quickly moving us to more government intervention to:

• Reduce costs for what Medicare will pay for drugs and devices
  
• Tax rates on the 'rich' will go up making venture capital more expensive
  
• Stricter FDA regulations and more of a focus on drug safety and comparative effectiveness
  

Yet there are some benefits as a result of the stimulus for Healthcare IT, which many technology companies (SAP, IBM, Microsoft, Siemens and Oracle) will see as a market opportunity. I recently attended the BioConference Live event last week (http://www.bioconferencelive.com/). "An on-line only conference for the Life Sciences and Biotech community." (The first time I've ever gone to a conference without having to travel, highly recommended with lots of interesting sessions.) Steven Burrill, CEO gave an insightful presentation on "Biotech 2009: Life Sciences Navigating the Sea Change." What I came away with from his presentation was:

• Big Pharma will be looking to leverage their specialization around disease care spectrum
  
• Generics will continue to boom
  
• A new healthcare business landscape will appear from a convergence of technology that targets patients with specific treatment programs
  

All of this relies on 'integrated' technology platforms, data mining and integration services. For example, there are opportunities within Clinical Development to lower costs by 'integrating' the processes used for clinical trials. Managing clinical trials data from FDA submission through product launch can be improved. When we have electronic health records, and access to patient information, how do we manage to use this data for our supply chain in order to deliver 'individual' treatment programs? New services will arise because of the need to 'integrate' traditional client-server installations with hosted solutions.

I believe that the move to Personalized Medicine is inevitable. (The move away from 'blockbuster' drugs to 'targeted treatments' based on genetic makeup of an individual.) Healthcare reform will happen. We are now in the beginning of a fundamental shift in redefining how health care will be delivered.

Access to the Steven Burrill presentation as well as other discussions on a wide variety of biotechnology topics can be found on www.bioconferencelive.com.

Starting my first blog….

This is the first blog post that I am writing and the goal is to provide useful way to leverage technology. I hope to provide insights on the following:

Strategies for Information Technology (IT): The next big trend is a movement towards cloud computing versus the traditional client-server model. I want to look at it from the vantage point of 'the cost for adding innovation.' Since I have experienced the world of manufacturing, ERP and cloud computing, it should be fun to see where we are headed with IT.

Life Sciences: During my stay with SAP, and in conjunction with several colleagues, the notion of targeted treatments or 'Personalized Medicine' was something that I worked on as an IT strategy. Some companies have got this as part of their mission and values for their organizations. How can companies leverage the tenets of ERP to cover all areas of a company's business processes? In case you are wondering there are certain treatments classified under Personalized Medicine now available. So does this work for all medications and therapeutic areas? How does this shift in treating patients alter healthcare costs? Can IT play a role in all this?

Social Media: When do I go on Facebook? Will these tools help me in this current economic environment? How can I make the most out of these tools? Where do I go to get started? With so many of our youth entering the job market and having been brought up with the internet and texting just being familiar with these tools may help you understand what this change is all about. Just by reading this your already into Social Media.

I hope to leverage what I do best and that's taking complex things and making it simple enough for us to gain value and have an impact on the way we look at technology. Whether you're doing this for your personal career, looking for ways to elevate your company's products, I hope to provide something useful for you. I am always open to comments and suggestions on how technology to make technology more useful……

Comments can be sent to me at jim@jimsabogal.com

Thanks, Jim