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MDs replaced by iPods? Not likely. At least not yet!

But there's a lot to be learned from the success of a simple collection of electronics.

The iPod is slowly creeping its way into healthcare. Patients can now download advice from some of the world's most renowned doctors. So, instead of getting advice from the family physician on, say, how to live with high blood pressure, the advice is available free or almost free, at a time and place of the patient's choice, in a personal friendly and non-threatening setting. And, the information is repeatable at any time.

No, you say, the iPod will never become the trusted medical advisor of choice. You may be right, and then again, you may be following the flawed logic of highly paid, supposedly bright, talented music executives, who've been blindsided by the iPod.

In the music industry, the iPod is changing everything about how music is conceived, produced, sold and consumed. In just five years, the iPod has revolutionized the music industry and is on track to become the primary purveyor of music in the world. And TV and the movies are next up on the iPod hit parade.

Today, the iPod is not only a staple of the younger set, but middle agers and 60+ boomers as well. The iPod has become so pervasive that it is as common and consumable as a book.

And the iPod has some interesting instructions for healthcare, if we listen closely to its lessons.



Lesson 1 – An Attack from the Outside

The iPod revolutionized the music industry, but it was not "of" the industry. The iPod attack on the music industry came not from within the industry but from outside of it -— from a company (Apple) that cared little for the traditions and pathways of the music industry. The rise of the iPod illustrates a compelling trend that is being repeated regularly through out many industries: Attack from the outside.

A word to the wise: Competition will increasingly come from adjacent or even distant industries that can provide similar or superior functionality to customers (patients) in new ways and often at a fraction of the cost.



Lesson 2 – Elegant, Intuitive Design

The iPod is elegant in design. The accompanying iTunes music store is intuitively easy to figure out and use. The iPod was not the first such device in its class, but it is superior to all competitors in shape, size, beauty, and ease of use.

But what's that got to do with healthcare? Think of what health delivers: communication (information and disease remediation, et cetera) in a package (forms, literature, bedside manner) and processes (appointment scheduling, waiting rooms, admittance, procedures) that patients can perceive on a scale as either elegant or irritating. So, what's wrong with redesigning the package and the process with the patient in mind?



Lesson 3 – Keep it Simple

The iPod is dead simple to use. So is the store where you fill it up with music and the program that resides on your desktop. As information/computer technology has become increasingly complex, the winners in that business are those that provide users with the simplest way to use it: iPod; cell phones (Samsung); and mobile email (BlackBerry™).

So, too, with healthcare. The more complex healthcare technology becomes (and it is rapidly becoming the most high tech of businesses) the simpler the user interface must be. I call it Chooser Complex, User Simple. How easy is your interface?

Say, I was just thinking: Since my iPod is in my pocket next to my heart, and the earplugs are in my ear, do you think it might do a quick diagnosis of my health?



Richard W. Oliver is the CEO of American Sentinel University.




December 2006

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