press: interview with emmi ceo mark achler

The Healthcare IT Guy, Shahid N. Shah, published an interview today with the CEO of my company, Mark Achler. The title of the interview is "Improving Patient Communication Often Leads to Improved Healthcare", which is certainly appropriate to our company's mission.


In healthcare, what passes for communication is, in many ways, exactly the antithesis of communication. Examples:

• Stacks of brochures you pick up in the waiting room are not communication.
• 10 minutes with a doctor before your surgery is not communication.
• A postcard in the mail from your care management nurse is not communication.

In short, a fire-and-forget missile is not communication. Communication is a verb, not a noun. To be successful you need to engage people in a dialog, listen for feedback, adapt and repeat. One of the reasons I'm doing what I'm doing now is because improving the quality and effectiveness (not necessarily the same thing) of healthcare communication is something I feel passionately about. Just like I feel passionately about product management.

I'll posit that improving communication around x leads to improved x, where x=just about anything. YMMV.