HealthCa.mp/Boston

Please tell us a little about your day job.
I’m a health care lawyer, consultant, blogger and speaker. Much of my practice is devoted to online businesses and app developers dealing in user-generated and patient-focused information and health care and the privacy and security issues they face.

I also work with health care facilities, provider groups and related enterprises and entrepreneurs on a wide variety of regulatory and business matters.

What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about my family, music, bicycling . . . and the ever-changing health care landscape and its denizens. In addition to law, my background is in public health, so I am particularly interested in seeing that the tectonic shifts in the regulatory environment happening these days and the innovation in the health care space all serve the social good of improved access to health care and improved health status on both the individual and societal levels. I am active in social media and work with folks on health care social media issues. I would like to see social media and mHealth applications break the behavior change barrier and motivate people to improve their own health status more consistently.

I’m also passionate about using social media and about bringing people together on line and in real life to have interesting conversations about health care. As my kids never tire of observing: here I am again, “disorganizing” another “unconference.”

You can find me online at http://healthblawg.com and http://twitter.com/healthblawg.

What are you doing (or would like to do) to “hack” health care?
In my spare time, I am active in the Society for Participatory Medicine and I am a member of The Walking Gallery. Through both of these endeavors, I’m trying to wake people up to the issues around patient empowerment, patient engagement and patient data. My day job also touches on a bunch of “hacks” not unrelated to these issues, including payor and provider structures and relationships that can promote patient engagement and improve health outcomes – and I get great satisfaction out doing what I can to help clients’ innovations along. In addition, by promoting the use of health care social media, I hope to help providers and patients break down silos and communicate more effectively.

If you blog, or would like to blog, about current health care issues, please get in touch: I’m on the advisory board of HealthWorks Collective, a group health care blog that syndicates health care blogs and features original content as well, and we’re always looking to add bloggers representing “the world’s best thinkers on health care.”

Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
I want to see and hear what’s happening on health care’s cutting edge and meet the folks who are making it happen, and HealthCamps are often the best forum for doing so. I really like the concept, and that’s why I wanted to bring HealthCamp back to Boston again (we’ve run them here in 2009 and 2012). The HealthCamps I’ve been to have been so energizing, and have provided a lot of food for thought. My hope is that every “camper” leaving this HealthCamp will have a to-do list inspired by the day.

If you were to lead a session, what would it be about?
I am focused on privacy and security these days, so it would have to be related to that topic. This fall, I’m speaking at a number of conferences about patient-generated data, the applicable privacy and security protections, and the ways in which they intersect with traditional health care data protections.

What kinds of people do you want to meet at HealthCamp?
Thinkers and doers, old friends and new.

Please tell us a little about your day job.
I work at Partners In Health, a global health non-profit organization. We work with local governments in 10 countries to help strengthen their health care systems, by building infrastructure, training staff and implementing a community health worker model to reach the poorest people in rural settings. I’m the Coordinator for the Medical Informatics team – our team has developed an open-source electronic medical record (EMR) system, called OpenMRS, to make it easy and effective to collect and store critical patient health information.

What are you passionate about?
I’m passionate about taking lessons learned from other industries and applying them to public health initiatives. If it works well in one field, why couldn’t it be adapted to another?

What are you doing (or would like to do) to “hack” health care?
One specific project I’m working on involves telemedicine with our radiology department at a teaching hospital in Haiti, which currently doesn’t have a radiologist on site. We’ve set up the infrastructure and network so that digital images can easily be accessed and read by radiologists in the US. With the technology that exists today, telemedicine is something that is possible to achieve and can be vital if certain communities simply don’t have the HR capacity or experience needed.

Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
I’m interested in hearing other projects that are happening in Boston and beyond – I have a hunch there are similar initiatives being pursued, and maybe we can join forces or discuss best practices.

Please tell us a little about your day job.
President and CEO of Personal Remedies, the largest provider of mHealth & nutrition apps for chronic conditions.

What are you passionate about?
Food and lifestyle choices as the medicine. Getting patients involved in active management of their own health. Preventive care.

What are you doing (or would like to do) to “hack” health care?
Make intelligent use of technology to enable what I am passionate about as mentioned above. Produce and deliver a knowledgebase on various foods and lifestyle choices, and their relationship with various chronic conditions.

Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
To learn how others are thinking about or addressing matters that I am passionate about.

If you were to lead a session, what would it be about?
How do we get patients and consumers involved in taking more active role in managing their health. How do we find, vet and promote alternative approaches to health and well-being than the conventional treatments such as prescription drugs and surgeries.

What kinds of people do you want to meet at HealthCamp?
Doctors. Nutritionists. Payers. Out of the box and long term thinkers!

Please tell us a little about your day job.
I’m Manager of Social Innovation Strategies at ConsumerMedical, where I help bring to inventive programs and efforts to reach patients, consumers, and healthcare professionals.

What are you passionate about?
Shared experience. Behind all medicine and healthcare, there’s a human element and a story waiting to be shared. I care deeply unearthing the places where shared experience lives to help others feel a little less lost and alone.

What are you doing (or would like to do) to “hack” health care?
We’ll be telling you all about that in our 4×4 talk!

Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
To tap into a community of like-minded innovators and experimenters in health.

If you were to lead a session, what would it be about?
We are, check out our 4×4 talk about the use of “pay-it-forward” to help connect patients on social media.

What kinds of people do you want to meet at HealthCamp?
Anyone interested in helping patients find the right information and resources online.

Please tell us a little about your day job.
I am a psychiatrist in Cambridge with a practice including adults, children, couples and families.

What are you passionate about?
Helping people to become their best selves.

What are you doing (or would like to do) to “hack” health care?
Trying to get people to use bright light, instead of anti-depressants for seasonal and non-seasonal depression.
Why are you attending HealthCamp Boston?
To let people know about our wearable sensor for bright light named SunSprite.

If you were to lead a session, what would it be about?
Teaching people about the importance of using bright light (as in sunlight or usning an artificial light box with greater than 2500 lux. Also, teaching about circadian rhythm and its effect on health in general.

What kinds of people do you want to meet at HealthCamp?
Other entrepreneurs, investors and influencers.