Empowering Patients

This health innovation keynote, featuring the executive editor of Wired, engages in a conversation about how individuals can become more empowered when it comes to managing their health. Goetz believes that one of the most innovative shifts that could possibly occur in healthcare, is better utilization of patients.

He believes that individuals have the capacity to make more sound decisions when it comes to their health. What needs to change, however, is the type of information doctors and physicians are giving their patients; information should not serve as informative for patients, it has to lead them to make better decisions about their health.

A study done by a group of dentists in Connecticut found that the variable most likely to affect whether or not patients start flossing and brushing more regularly was not a fear of what would happen, but the belief that they could actually stick to a new regimen. Patients must have access to their medical data, test or lab results, not as a means to frighten them, but as motivation to adopt a healthy lifestyle.