Here at iMedExchange, our company is growing. We’ve hired several new people in the last few weeks, and are adding physicians to our advisor network every day. As we grow, and as we talk with physicians about what they really want out of an online community, I’ve been thinking a lot about how people actually get to know each other. Often it’s the quirky, fun, and sometimes weird, things about people that say the most about them. But of course those take time to figure out. On your first day of work, or your first online-conversation with a colleague, you’re just starting to figure out your relationships. Until we know and trust someone, we tend to hide the quirky and fun aspects of who we are.
Some of you who are reading this blog know me pretty well, and some of you don’t know me at all – but in the spirit of making connections and getting to know the quirky side of me, I’m going to share something that not very many people know about me:

I have strict rules about what time I set my alarm clock. They include…
• ‘Common’ times like 6:30 or 7:00 are not acceptable.
• The digits that make up the time cannot be in ascending or descending order. (6:32 doesn’t work)
• No digit can be the sum or product of any of the other numbers. (7:34 doesn’t work)
• Also, there needs to be at least 1 odd and 1 even number in the time. (6:24 doesn’t work)

So… for those of you that know me, this can’t come as a complete surprise (I love numbers and math games). And while I probably wouldn’t share something like this at a job interview, I think it’s definitely a window into the quirky side of my personality. For those of you that I haven't officially met yet - it's nice to meet you!

As Emma wrote in her recent post, a community involves sharing and getting to know one another. To that end, I thought I'd share a recent discovery and a little about one of my hobbies.
One of my favorite hobbies is reading. In addition to my Entreprenurial studies in college, I majored in English. By the time I graduated, I had a book collection exceeding 2,000 volumes...perhaps excessive for a guy in his early twenties.

To the point...I have been very reluctant to embrace digital books. I have always loved the feel of a book and the sense of accomplishment upon turning the final page. That is, until recently. I was convinced by another frequent traveller that the Sony digital reader was extremely handy because it's light and allows you to essentially carry hundreds of books...generally I would be quite happy with a few...just for variety. After my first few plane flights with the device, I am hooked. It took a little adjusting, but less than expected.

There is a good entry on Web 2.0 & Medicine if you have an interest in this subject. I know lots of physicians are avid readers, so take a gander.

On Saturday iMedExchange conducted a website preview and onsite discussion forum with a group of our Seattle area physician advisors. It's an old saying that one should always practice what they preach and this most certainly holds true for companies. Our motto here at iMedExchange has always been an online community by physicians for physicians and today was one of the many opportunities we have to walk the talk.

Building community for such a distinct and extinguished group of people as physicians is impossible without the direct feedback, input and direction of those very people who comprise the community. Our website preview provided an opportunity for key members of our development and marketing teams to get direct feedback on the usefulness and functionality of the product.

This is only the beginning of many future product testing events and we hope it was both interesting and enjoyable for our team of physicians. If you’re interested in participating in future events, please feel free to shoot me a comment to that effect. And, keep an eye out for our new product version that goes live this coming week. Thanks again to those who took time out of their week-end to join us.

Hi everyone - We’ve decided to change the name of our physician advisor team from iCN to iAN (iMedExchange Advisor Network). We consider these physicians an integral part of our team: trust advisors. We decided the term “consultant” didn't properly reflect this relationship…and thus the switch.
I also want to welcome our new iAN Manager. Her name is Diana Heath and we are very happy to have her on our team. She'll be introducing herself on this blog in the next day or two.

I don't go to a lot of conferences - in fact I try to stay at the office as much as possible, and leave the traveling up to those that do it best. But when I found out that the Healthcare Blogging and Social Media Summit was taking place, I knew this was the right event for me to go to. What a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with people who love healthcare technology, and get ideas for iMedExchange.

I just got back home from the summit in Chicago, which had seminars yesterday and today. I learned so much over the two days that I can't begin to go into it now.
In fact I almost skipped blogging about it tonight, just because there's so much to say - I don't know where to start. I tried to get my thoughts down on paper on the plane ride home, and ended up with a 5 page word document. From Enoch Choi's straight-forward questions about iMedExchange, to Nicholas Jacobs' great stories about his blogging as a hospital CEO, I tried to do as much listening as I could. I'm very excited to get back to my desk tomorrow and start working with what I learned in these few days. Thanks to everyone I met there... it was an enlightening 2 days.

First, let me introduce myself, I’m Diana Heath, iMedExchange Advisor Network (iAN) Manager. That means I’m responsible for interactions and activity with our physician advisors. I look forward to writing about the people, places, and things with which we are all influenced, impacted, and interested.

For example, I recently went to see a movie few people have seen. “Talk to Me” stars actor Don Cheadle, and is based on the true life story of “Petey” Greene’s life and quest to become a radio personality during the late 1960’s, a time of civil rights movements, MLK Jr.’s assassination, and political and social unrest. The movie portrays Petey as a vibrant, outspoken, African American, ex-convict who is not afraid to tell his radio audience like it is. A favorite saying of Petey’s was, “I’ll tell it to the hot, I’ll tell it to the cold. I’ll tell it to the young, I’ll tell it to the old”.

As the new iAN Manager at iMedExchange, I encourage our advisors and users to utilize our site and forums to “tell it like it is.” Now with iMedExchange, the private online community for physicians, you have the means to redefine and empower the community of your physician colleagues. iMedExchange is your place! To quote Petey, I hope you never hesitate to give us feedback and “tell it to the young…tell it to the old.”

I just returned from Health 2.0 in San Francisco. What a terrific event! Matthew Holt from theHealthCareBlog.com and his colleagues put together a first rate affair, which is all the more impressive given that this was their first event.

Among the highlights were the terrific questions for presidential candidates we obtained on video. iMedExchange sponsored what was called the “UnConference”. This essentially meant that we were performing a grass roots service by collecting video questions, as opposed to hosting a booth to talk about our site. Rebecca did a super job engaging the physicians in attendance and they were all good sports about getting their voices added to the growing body of questions on iMedExchange.

Last week we opened iMedExchange for Beta usage. “Beta” basically means that despite the current value of iMedExchange, there is lots more to come. Every few weeks we will release improvements and additions, and I'm going to use this blog to preview some of those new features.
Currently, each iMedExchange member has a profile that shows some minimal information. These profiles will soon include additional information, allowing physicians to connect and get to know physicians around the country, who have a very interesting variety of backgrounds and insights. As a preview to the more robust profiles, Rebecca is interviewing some of the physicians that are using iMedExchange, and will feature their interviews on our blog. You can read her first physician interview tomorrow, and get some insight into what the more robust profiles will come to include.

As Emma mentioned, I’m going to introduce you to a few of the physicians using iMedExchange, and give you some insight into the more robust profiles we’ll have available soon. Today I’m featuring Dr. Natalie Hodge:

Name: Natalie Hodge, MD

Practice: Personal Pediatrics

Location: St. Louis, MO

Practice Environment: After taking advice from some moms in a 40-patient-a-day practice, I started making house calls three years ago. My practice charges a yearly membership fee, and does not accept insurance. It was actually a challenge to build, but now with a web-based practice platform, it enables physicians to provide excellent care through house calls and an in-home pharmacy that makes it easier on me as a provider. I’m CEO of the organization, which you can learn more about at www.personalpediatrics.com

If I wasn't a physician I'd be a: Movie Star

Since opening iMedExchange Beta last week, we’ve gotten great feedback from the community. Today updates were released, most of which were made based on physician feedback. If you log into iMedExchange now you can look in the Feedback forum and see the specifics of what’s new. We’re working on more changes now, so please keep telling us what you think!
And now...random news from around the office: The top 3 employees in the iMedExchange Fantasy Football league have almost no idea how fantasy football works. Those of us that allegedly understand how it works are not doing particularly well. Today I'm trying to trade Brett Favre to Floyd. I hate to have him sit on the bench when he’s having such a great year, but I can’t possibly bench Payton Manning, so I’m hoping Favre will find a good home with someone else. If anyone has unbiased advice on whether or not I should keep Steven Jackson, please let me know.

As many of you who keep-up with the iMedExchange blog know, I’m a road warrior. The opportunity to continually meet individuals from around the globe with varied career backgrounds makes my job so very much fun. Today, I was inspired by two sets of fathers and sons, each who are following in their elder’s professional footsteps. One was Captain Jim Ritchie and his son First Officer Mike Ritchie whom Tobin and I met on our flight to Anchorage. Much to our surprise, the flight attendant announced that Jim, approaching the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age of 60 would be flying aside his son, Mike, also a pilot with Alaska Airlines.

Today, in our 2nd physician profile, you'll meet iMedExchange advisor Dr. Geoff Ankeney.

Name: Geoff Ankeney, MD

Practice: Providence St. Peter Hospital

Location: Olympia, WA

Medical School: Medical School for International Health - Ben Gurion U/Columbia U, located in Beer Sheva, Israel and at Columbia in New York

Favorite 'off' call activities: Writing and surfing

Interesting fact: I recently submitted a medical case to the TLC network show Diagnosis X. My case was accepted and produced, and I participated in the television re-enactment that is currently airing.

If I wasn't a physician I'd be a: Writer, photographer, teacher, or pro-surfer

Mode of transportation to work: Skateboard