There are some great doctors who manage to find the time to blog. Some of them are very clinically focused, and some have nothing to do with medicine. We've created a place on iMedExchange for our members to find new physician blogs and keep up with their favorites. Each blog included here has either been written by an iMedExchange member, or has been nominated by a member as a 'favorite'. This week our featured blogger is Dr. Michael Rack. We've been reading his blog, Sleepdoctor, for years and are happy to have him as an iMedExchange member.

There was a very funny video posted in the forums - I thought I'd share it here for any non-members to see. This is a song called Paracetamoxyfrusebendroneomycin. It was written and performed by Drs. Adam Kay and Suman Biswas.


Do you have a funny video to share? Login now and post in the humor area.

Today on the Next Things First blog, Howard Luks, MD wrote an insightful piece about the prospects of healthcare IT spending getting a significant charge from the incoming Obama administration.

This analysis is important when you consider the capital involved. If you are in a business impacted by healthcare IT spending directly or indirectly, it behooves you to be aware of what may or may not be coming.

Read the full Blog Entry by Clicking Here

In the 12/15/08 edition of the Wall Street Journal there is a solid overview of The Secrets of Marketing In a Web 2.0 World. There has been a lot of chatter recently about the fact that many Web 2.0 companies including leaders like Facebook and MySpace are struggling to find their economic bearing. Part of the problem stems from the fact that marketers look at Web 2.0 as another gadget to "game" the end user. This misses the point, and will continue to result in missed opportunities.

To understand the economic power of Web 2.0, one must look at why people embrace Web 2.0 tools.
1. The primary benefit of Web 2.0 is that is creates a platform for more seamless communication or exchange of information. Professionals (at least most of them) house lots of latent "tribal knowledge" that can be of great benefit to colleagues. Web 2.0 technology can free that knowledge to the advantage of the community members.

2. In addition, with people as busy as they are these days, it's difficult to nurture relationships. Social networks allow people to stay connected, even if it just means an occasional note or knowing what someone is up to at any given time. When you are able to connect in person, you have deeper context for the gap since you last met.

Understanding the drivers to Web 2.0 adoption is critical if marketers are going to figure out if and how to engage in these communities. Marketing needs to be a part of the conversation that happens naturally within Web 2.0. If marketing feels like its "selling" or gaming the users, they will reject it and no one benefits.

At iMedExchange we always work with the understanding that our members - our physicians - are first. If what we do is in their best interest, they'll be more productive users and offer us their trust. And the sponsors and advertising we bring in, with the advisement of our physician advisors, can enhance their overall experience. When a Web 2.0 company's business model is not in line with the members' best interest, they're set up for an inevitable, fundamental struggle to maintain happy members.

Tomorrow I will post a follow-on entry with additional thoughts for marketing on the web.....

Yesterday I talked about why people are using Web 2.0 tools more and more. Once marketing teams within companies come to grips with the fact that Web 2.0 is part of a larger societal shift rather than a fad, the justification for embracing Web 2.0 as central to marketing efforts is easy. However, just as the Internet has affected societal shifts, marketing departments have a shift to undergo of their own.

Companies with old secure brands tend to want to control everything said about their product etc. HP was one of the first Fortune 100 companies to embrace the fact that if people are going to talk badly about you, it's better for you to be engaged in that discussion and not hiding from the fact that they exist. So, they opened internal corporate blogs to the public and let their employees dialog. Open discussion may bring out blemishes....but any company that thinks that avoiding web 2.0 technologies allows them to maintain 'control of their brand' is fooling themselves. Customers will talk whether we embrace it or not, so better to join the conversation and embrace the feedback - the good and the bad.

With more and more of people's time being spent online, and especially on social networks, companies have to be engaged or they risk corporate death. The shift in people's time spent online versus newspaper, television or radio is significant. Smart companies are responding accordingly.

Once a marketing team decides to get serious about Web 2.0 initiatives, someone needs to lead the effort. If the person leading the effort is older than 35 years of age...find someone else to do it. The best Web 2.0 models deployed to date have been targeted to younger audiences, so a younger person will have more context for how to introduce the value of Web 2.0.

The fact of the matter is that consumers are talking about your products or services. Companies that decide to engage in the conversation are setting themselves up for success while those that stick to the comfort zone of their old-school marketing programs and ignore the conversation are loosing ground without any say in the matter.

Throughout the year I typically don't get time to write as much as I'd like, but I really enjoy these few weeks closing out the year...I remove most commitments from my schedule and get a little extra time to do things I enjoy - spend time with my family, catch up on reading, write and perhaps get in a few days of skiing while we are in Colorado.

To have some fun with our physician community....send me pictures of your family and/or staff enjoying themselves during the Holiday Season. I'll upload a collage of pictures on my New Years Day blog post to share with everyone. Should be fun to see what our physician community is doing from Alaska to New York to Florida.

It's amazing to look back at how many smart and educated folks were laughing at the likes of Peter Schiff while they were telling us the fundamentals of our economy were in disrepair.

I appreciate the insights provided to our members over the past few months from leading financial experts around the country. We hand-picked these experts as ones who operated by the numbers. They left the irrational exuberance to the masses. Now they are sharing their thoughts with physicians in order to help physicians make good decisions about their money,

There is a lot more great content coming after the New Year with the introduction of some new partners and more materials from our existing partners. Make 2009 a prosperous year!!!

The health care industry is abuzz with wonderment over what changes might or might not occur in the Obama administration. Last week on Next Things First Dr. Howard Luks posted a good overview of the myriad of "reforms" being talked about as potential components of the Obama plan.

Much of the anticipation centers around spending on health care IT... not a new trend since it was a common mantra of the Bush Administration. Nonetheless, there may be renewed political capital to spend on....well...more capital. "Where should investments be made?" and "What role, if any, should government play beyond cutting the check?" are some of the questions central to ensuring expenditures produce a viable return.

Here are a few folks in the industry with interesting opinions on IT spending.

KevinMD.com asked the question "Is Health IT Ready for Federal Dollars?" while referencing a post by Maggie Mahar.

For an altogether different perspective on technology use in Primary Care, I find Jay Parkinson's presentation at PopTech 2008 engaging and thought provoking.

Now that Christmas and Chanukah are over, it's time to get on with the major college football bowl games.

For those physicians belonging to either the Sooner or Gator Nation, predictions have already begun on iMedExchange. Members click here to join the smack-talk. Who will win the Orange Bowl and take the official national championship?

As for me, there is only one bowl game that matters and that's the Rose Bowl. My USC Trojans will be taking on Joe Paterno's Penn State.

While the Rose Bowl will be great as always, it's a quasi-tragedy that USC isn't playing for the National Championship. The BCS needs to be blown up and a playoff started. If Barack Obama didn't keep one campaign pledge but this one, I'd be satisfied.