Does your business engender trust with your customers and your vendors?
I’ve been thinking a lot about this word trust lately. It was a pivotal word influencing the outcome of the national election. It also played prominently across all the presentations at Xconomy’s recent conference, What’s hot in Boston Health Tech. Boston contains a high concentration of expertise in health, research and digital/mobile technologies. The whole concept of precision medicine relies heavily on shared data moving quickly away from protected silos.
Healthcare is ripe for disruption. A consistent theme across the presentations was how the use of technology can cut through duplication, waste and bureaucracy. The stats on current drug efficacy, for example, show that at best any number of them fall off before the 50% mark for a variety of reasons that also includes “failure to take as directed.” Would you invest in something that only has a 25% chance of being successful? Perhaps you might when it comes to cancer treatment but not in most other areas of health. Yet, patients are forced to play healthcare roulette every day.
Who do we trust most? Who do we trust least in the health arena? For many, Facebook holds greater sway over us than our health insurance providers. Yet, it is these very same providers that are driving Telemedicine.
What does it say about our society when we appear comfortable sharing our personal HIPAA confidential information freely on social media channels but run into roadblocks due to regulatory or HIPPA compliance threats. Is there a misplaced sense of trust as we share personal aspects of our lives on the very networks that are scraping this information for future use?
Because of the constraints on information flow between researchers, attending physicians and patients (and exacerbated by vested profit centers), we overspend and under deliver on health outcomes. The patient, of necessity, became the keeper of all data. How good are you at maintaining the continuity of your health records?
How about a different approach? One where patient outcome is the measure that provides payoff to all involved?
Check out Iora Health and its Co-Founder and CEO Rushika Fernandopulle. 
He imagined and has delivered Patient-Centric Healthcare and the results are impressive. I met Rushika when he first started out –nearly 7 years ago. His small team was looking for business cards and print communication tools for his fledging organization. Now there are more than 22 practices, spreading across the country with hundreds of employees and thousands of patients served. Trust runs high when you know your physician’s compensation is based on your health outcome. Decision making and health coaching are in sync. Trust takes time and relationship nurturing. The results are real with documented reduction in cost and better health outcomes.
Build trust for your business and use new approaches. Imagine ways that your smart device can help build that trust. It’s important to do so. Tools like Skype and Zoom can put you face to face with a client and eliminate the issues of distance in real time.
One note of caution. Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose. Don’t let it be damaged by failure to be vigilant in protecting your reputation. Address issues immediately. Build a community of supporters around you and share openly and timely. You can’t orchestrate a business plan in a real time world. Be flexible, transparent and authentic. Always. The media landscape has changed dramatically. The old ways of old school PR and marketing and master planning are overrun daily by the instantaneous nature of communication across individuals not hindered by editorial boards, rules or restraints. Consider your past achievements but grow your real time resources.
from my recent series of posts:
Inspiration + Communication + Validation + Trust = A Seat at the Table