By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    HIPPA compliance
    How Medical Office Staff Can Make Your Practice HIPAA Compliant
    October 29, 2021
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    Everything you need to know about hyaluronic acid treatment
    February 10, 2022
    Which Mushroom Capsules Are Good for Your Health?
    May 5, 2022
    Latest News
    6 Easy Healthcare Ways to Sit Less and Move More Every Day
    September 10, 2025
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    Clinical Trials
    Can You Participate in a Clinical Trial?
    April 28, 2022
    5 Things to Take Care of When You Go Into Hospital
    July 24, 2020
    Pharmacists help you
    How A Pharmacist Can Help You
    November 28, 2022
    Latest News
    Healthcare at a Crossroads: Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
    September 9, 2025
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: 2013: The Year of Healthcare Emancipation?
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > 2013: The Year of Healthcare Emancipation?
eHealth

2013: The Year of Healthcare Emancipation?

MightyCaseyMedia
MightyCaseyMedia
Share
4 Min Read
Image
SHARE

 Image

Hang on to your hats – this one might wade into controversy.

 Image

Hang on to your hats – this one might wade into controversy.

More Read

hospital marketing social sharing tips
7 Useful Tips: How to Engage and Inspire Action and Social Sharing
Health Barometer – Youth Lead the Way
Back to Basics… The (lost) Art of The Patient-Physician Interaction
Is Design Important in Healthcare?
When Doctors Email: Concerns for Quality, Accuracy in Patient Communication

As I write this (3:30pm EST on January 1, 2013), I’m listening to a conversation on NPR about the Emancipation Proclamation, which was signed into law by Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago today. I’m also reflecting on a couple of movies I’ve seen in the last 45 days: Lincoln (over Thanksgiving weekend) and Django Unchained(on Christmas Day).

Is it time for an emancipation proclamation for patients? Or should we just saddle up and have a shootout at the plantation … um, hospital instead?

Too many healthcare transactions are still conducted over the patient’s supine form. Doctors, hospitals, and other entities in the “provider” column horse-trade with health insurers, including Medicare, in the “payer” column. That means that the patient winds up shackled. No say in how much something costs, no real voice (yet) in what happens next, little interest on the part of the two trading entities in clueing us in to what’s happening.

Some of my connections in the participatory medicine/e-patients movement use a driver-rider metaphor for transforming healthcare, with the patient moving from passenger to driver in healthcare. It’s a less controversial/confrontational metaphor than referring to patients as chattel on the medical plantation. However, I’m sticking with that plantation metaphor for the moment, because too many in the provider and payer camps are still viewing patients as meat puppets, not as full participants.

Does healthcare need an emancipation proclamation? Yes. Here’s where the metaphor shifts: let’s not wait for someone to proclaim us (patients) emancipated. Let’s break our own chains, and be our own liberators.

Let’s demand that the providers and the payers give us an equal seat at the table, and then let’s …

LEARN EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BE PRODUCTIVE CONTRIBUTORS TO THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

That last statement is the core of what will emancipate healthcare: patients, providers, payers, caregivers, everyone. Shared decision making – along with “patient-centered”, that’s the new hot phrase in healthcare – can only exist if all parties are able to participate in sharing the decision-making. We must learn how to understand the language of medicine, including research statistics (by the way, many doctors aren’t great at that, either). We must learn to apply critical reasoning to what we see/hear/read in the media about risks and trends in health and disease. We need to work on getting a seat at the research table to give a hard shove in the direction of making clinical research less ivory-tower and more boots-on-the-ground.

Some recommended reading for those who’d like to emancipate themselves:

Society for Participatory Medicine blog

ePatient Dave

Susannah Fox

Dr. Ted Eytan

and our movement’s own Rosa Parks (or, dare I say it, our own Django?):

Regina Holliday

Let’s liberate ourselves, shall we?

TAGGED:ePatient
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

a woman walking on the hallway
6 Easy Healthcare Ways to Sit Less and Move More Every Day
Health
September 9, 2025
Clinical Expertise
Healthcare at a Crossroads: Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Global Healthcare
September 9, 2025
travel nurse in north carolina
Balancing Speed and Scope: Choosing the Nursing Degree That Fits Your Goals
Nursing
September 1, 2025
intimacy
How to Keep Intimacy Comfortable as You Age
Relationship and Lifestyle Senior Care
September 1, 2025

You Might also Like

Physician Marketing, Doctor Blogs, Online Marketing
eHealth

Are Blogs a Good Idea for Doctors?

April 22, 2014
pharmaphorum social media
BusinessPolicy & LawSocial Media

Is Social Media Worth the Risk for Pharma?

March 2, 2015
Image
Medical EducationMobile Health

Mobile Health Around the Globe: 3D Anatomy Guide From Ireland Helps Medical Students Learn

April 15, 2013
Image
BusinesseHealthHealth ReformHospital AdministrationMedical InnovationsMobile HealthPublic HealthTechnologyWellness

Designing Healthcare Innovation

March 31, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?