The Brookings Institution hosted an event around their new paper, “Customer-Driven Medicine: How to Create a New Health Care System,” in efforts to focus the health care dialogue on the consumer.  The author of the paper, Darrell West, Vice President and Director of Governance Studies at Brookings, moderated.

The paper urges a technology-fueled transformation of our health care system, noting the many mobile and Internet-based applications from videoconferencing, to remote health monitoring to enhanced prevention efforts that can greatly improve the quality of care while decreasing costs.  Among the policy recommendations:

1. Public and private insurance reimbursement for telemedicine
2. Rewarding physicians who provide positive outcomes for their patients
3. Encouraging patients to pursue prevention strategies
4. Developing good health rewards programs to encourage healthy lifestyles

Guest speakers Ellen Blackler of AT&T and Karen Rheuban of the American Telemedicine Association both noted that we have the power to put consumers in charge of their own medical care.  Their visions for personalized medicine include remote monitoring, electronic medical records, social networking, and more.

Blackler discussed the role of broadband networks supporting these applications.  She also demonstrated a few cutting-edge tools, including a shoe sole that monitors for balance.  Blackler believes that the federal government can help move telemedicine forward by leading through public health care programs like Medicare.  She thinks the benefits will be tremendous for both patients and doctors.

Rheuban is also a practicing pediatrician and shared personal experiences while working in rural areas, in addition to policy recommendations.  While the technologies are here now, if doctors are not reimbursed for them, there is little incentive to use them.  She also believes that there needs to be more interagency collaboration to resolve issues like interoperability, credentialing and confidentiality.

Overall, the panel was extremely optimistic about the opportunities for consumers that telemedicine offers.  Not only will the next generation of patients and physicians be more comfortable with technology, but also they will demand it be put to use to improve America’s health. The upfront cost and effort may seem daunting, but the benefits of integrating telemedicine into mainstream health care will undoubtedly propel us forward to action.

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