New Media Medicine & 2009 Economy

GeekBrief.TV #468 from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

One of the most frequently asked questions that I hear from new media medicine people is this - "How is anyone going to make any money at this gig?" We use buzz words like "monetization" and "search engine optimization." Actually, other people really knows what those terms mean. I use them to try to sound smart at the new media parties hehe

Anyway, with the economic downturn that we're in now, is this a bad time to be in the new media medicine industry? Actually not, says, tech and new media guru Leo Laporte on this edition of GeekBrief TV. Leo is probably the most well known in tech podcast circles. He does audio podcasts as well as live video streaming while recording his podcasts.

In this interview, he discusses the opportunity we have right now to get ready for when the economy turns upward. What can we do right now? First, of course, ride out this downturn. But, second, this is the time to try to build audience. Because, if you have or will seek advertising, when things turn upward, you want to have a good group of readers, listeners, subscribers to present to potential advertisers when ad dollars come back to new media. I encourage you to check out the video above to at least give you an inside glimpse of new media.

GeekBrief TV covers New Media Medicine

Geek Brief Live #469 from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.
I watch and listen to a lot of tech podcasts. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the leading tech video podcasts, GeekBrief TV, cover a recent medical conference which highlighted new media. Cali Lewis, the host of the podcast, stated that this is the first GeekBrief devoted to all med techie stories. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see this. Hopefully, as the medical blogosphere, er, New Media Medicine, continues to grow and mature as a sector of new media - coverage for all the great stuff we do will continue.

I also encourage you to check out Cali's entire presentation at this conference via iTunes U. In this presentation she opens with how she and her husband began with only an idea and how it evolved to one of the most popular tech video podcasts out there. Then, they record this video podcast right in front of the live audience. Finally, they review some of the equipment that they use (very cool for me to see). Thanks to GeekBrief for covering a little medicine in their show. I hope to see more med topics!

Show 60 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to my guest Mr. Michael Carroll from the UHC Medicare Solutions website. (see video post above) The topic of Medicare is very complicated and I think he did a great job explaining the site and the information that could be found on it. I, on the other hand, feel that I possibly could have done a better job at interviewing. Don't know why, but did feel nervous beforehand. Maybe it was because it was a different type of interview than I've done in the past. Who knows. (Download show 60 here)

Following the interview, thanks to Enrico, MJRN, and Kim for calling in and making the show entertaining for me and for those in the live chat room. Did announce that not only is Enrico hosting Grand Rounds in two weeks, he will also be guest hosting my show in two weeks. Meanwhile, I will be a guest on The Guys Podcast in two weeks. Thanks to Enrico for stepping in for the hosting duties.

Also, I was happy to announce that Kim will also be guest hosting my show - probably in January sometime. So, I'm very happy that the show is going to be branching out and welcoming guest hosts. This will add a whole new dimension to the show - and hopefully more engaging, entertaining, and informative for you.

Finally, also wanted to announce that there will be a Podcamp Ohio show on December 11th. And, The Doctor Anonymous Christmas show will be December 18th. I have some ideas in my head on the show format. Plus, finding possible guests for the show will also be fun. But, for now, Happy Thanksgiving next week to all my USA readers/listeners. There will be no show next week. The next show will be December 4th with Enrico. Have a great weekend!

Dr. A Show 60: Medicare

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time

The Doctor Anonymous Show (see video post above) is happy to welcome Mr. Michael Carroll from UnitedHealthGroup and we will be talking about the website UHC Medicare Solutions which is designed to provide seniors and caregivers with easy-to-understand Medicare information to help beneficiaries match their health-care needs with the right Medicare plan.

Following our interview, I will make a few announcements about the Dr. A December shows. I'll also mention some items with regard to Podcamp Ohio 2. There were also a few interesting news stories this week including the reports that "primary care docs will be quitting," the anticipated naming of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Motrin Ad Controversy, and whatever else comes up.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!

Obama Health Czar

This is not a political blog. However, it's kind of interesting seeing the reports of the transition team come out of Chicago. One of the many things I'm proud of this country is this - In no other country in the world will you see a transition to a new government run so smooth. You see stories around the world that sometimes involve weapons when a new government comes to power.

Anyway, just wanted to comment on who's probably going to be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to the CNN report above, it will be former Senator Tom Daschle, who is currently at a law firm in Washington, DC. (Undoubtedly this is a move consistent with the president-elect's passion to bring change to Washington hehe) The reporter in the story describes the HHS Secretary position as the nation's "Health Czar." Anything health policy related goes through HHS, including things like Medicare policy.

During this election cycle, it was pretty apparent where the Democratic party would like to take American health care. The seeds are carefully being planted. In the report above, they state that the former majority leader was frustrated that he could not get a universal health care bill passed. It also states that he sees a "historic" opportunity especially since the White House and the Congress is controlled by the Democrats. If their goals are met, I see more primary care physicians (like myself) being unhappy with the bureaucracy related to the US health care system.

Show 60 Preview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show is going to have a little different conversation. Instead of interviewing a blogger or podcaster, we'll be talking about the issue of Medicare - which is a pretty complicated subject. If you know completely nothing about the subject and need a quick thumbnail sketch of things, I recommend this link from WebMD.

Our guest this week will be Mr. Michael Carroll whose title is Vice President - Portfolio Marketing at Ovations which is part of UnitedHealth Group. We're going to be talking about a new website called UHCMedicareSolutions.com - and this shows UnitedHealth Group Medicare products and services including Medicare Advantage, Part D prescription drug and Medicare Supplement products.

This is a key time for companies with Medicare Advantage products. Why? Because between November 15th (last Saturday) and December 31st, this is the best time to change to a Medicare Advantage plan from a different company. So, until the end of the year, those in the Medicare demographic will see a lot of media out there trying to get people to switch their Medicare product.

Now, I want to make this clear. By having this guest on, I am in no way saying that I am endorsing or not endorsing this product over other Medicare products. I want to thank Luke Armour who contacted me about having Mr. Carroll on to talk about his product. Luke was formerly with BlogTalkRadio and has known my show since its beginnings. I think this is a unique opportunity for me to have a completely different conversation that is new to the show.

So, join us for Show Number 60 on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time. Following our conversation, I have some notes about Medicare I might talk about. And, I have a HUGE announcement that I'm going to share about a Dr. A Show coming up in December. So, you have to catch that. You can also participate in the live interactive chat room, you can call into the show to ask a question, and you can even see my shining face on the live web cam. Exciting, I know. See you for the show!

NE Ohio Snow

In the above CNN video, you can see how fun it is on the shores of Lake Erie yesterday and today. Now, granted, I don't live up on the shoreline where Ashtabula is. But, all those snow squalls are only an hour drive north of me. It's going to be fun tonight in Buffalo tonight when the Browns take on the Bills. Also, shout out to Luke Armour who gives us a mid day picture from the East Side of Cleveland. Gotta love NE Ohio weather!

World Diabetes Day

Happy World Diabetes Day! Just wanted to spotlight our blog buddy Kerri from the blog Six Until Me. (Check out her video blog above) We've never met in person, but I feel that I've gotten to know her my reading her blog, by her being on the show, and listening to this week's interview with Dr. Val.

For all the diabetes bloggers out there, I just wanted to say that I appreciate what you do and I have learned so much from hearing your stories. Your stories have really helped me take better care of my patients. I'm honored to help spread the word about World Diabetes Day. Have a great weekend everybody!

Show 59 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to Øystein Horgmo from the blog The Sterile Eye for being on Show 59. (Check out the video post above - sorry that the sound is a little overmodulated) (And, you can listen to the show on the player above - or download the podcast here) He called in live from his home in Norway where it was 3am. His blog is about medical photography and he also takes photos for this Norwegian cancer site (I think he said that they were thinking about making an english translation of the site at some point).

Patient privacy issues are something that was interesting to the chat room. And, he answered questions on how patient consent was obtained before taking photos - and he does video as well. His blog is one year old now, and he gave some advice for new bloggers out there on how to possibly continue as long as a year with your blog.

Thanks so much to those who called into the show including Marq, Dr. Rob, Ramona, and Vijay (hope that I didn't forget anyone). At one point Øystein (Norway), Vijay (India), and myself were all on the call at the same time. It sounded like we were in the same room, even though we are continents apart. (Even Crzegrl, host of this week's Change of Shift, listened live from Barcelona, Spain) Very cool.

Near the end of the show, we received an update from our friend Kevin Haynes who lives in New York State. You may remember Kevin called in to Show 54 where he told the story of the family of Sgt Toland (CNN report here). Kevin shared how the community came together to further help this man and his family. (I apologize for not having the details here. I have to re-listen to the show and hopefully will post the update here).

I just haven't been feeling good this week - a little bit under the weather - and the stress of getting back to work after a week of vacation. That's why I haven't been on Twitter that much and that's why I didn't to any video posting this week (other than this post). At least, I'm not on call this weekend, so I'll be able to try to get myself a little better. Physician, heal thy self, right? Well, have a good week and weekend everybody!

Dr. A Show 59: Sterile Eye

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 UTC)

The Doctor Anonymous Show is happy to welcome the author of the blog called "The Sterile Eye." His name is Øystein Horgmo and he is a medical photographer who lives and works in Norway. He just celebrated his one year blogiversary. And, he'll be calling in live to the show where it will be in the middle of the night there. Following the interview, I'll do a little wrap-up of my week in Dallas last week.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!