Adoption Curve for Health IT Applications
If you’ve ever read the “Innovator’s Dilemma” or Moore’s “Crossing the Chasm”, you know that there is a wide technological adoption gap between early adopters and the so-called masses. Within the last week and a half, I’ve had a lot of conversations about Personal Health Records and their future. Since, I’ve started on my health 2.0 project, I keep hearing about concerns regarding privacy. The concerns about HIPAA and user privacy have been brought up more times than I can care to count.
It’s true, we are a while away from widespread adoption. The people that may benefit the most from Personal Health Records like GoogleHealth and MS HealthVault, are seniors, and we all know how skeptical many babyboomers and seniors are of web technology. I have aunts and uncles that have still never taken out a credit card to purchase something on the net.
Although the concerns over privacy are well and valid, I think the issue that is impeding user adoption more than anything is utility. Personal health records exist as a storage box for people’s health information in case they start or switch doctors or health professionals. They need applications that can synthesize the information. They need more applications that can analyze the risk of cross-reactions between medication. They need a reason to come back to these website. Something more compelling than merely accessing a cloud database that contains health information that they can pass onto their docs.
That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing at CareCrunch, but also because we want to see health 2.0 thrive. This is disruptive technology that needs more utility if it is to lead to widespread adoption.
mcw
June 25, 2009 at 10:09 pm //
I couldn’t agree more. There are significant advantages to using personal health record platforms such as Microsoft HealthVault or Google Health. The applications and capabilities alone can help many seniors track and monitor chronic conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, saving them the time and effort of multiple trips to the doctor. However, you are right, the people who could make the most immediate use are the ones less likely to have a comfort level with cloud technology. Initial adopters may, in fact, be their children, who set up these programs for them, as they care for their elderly parents. The concept behind it is strong, as are the benefits.