HealthBeacon, making it easier to do the right thing: The Screenplay
On a snowy street in South Boston a man in a dark blue parka is rushing to his next appointment and looking for an unfamiliar building, where he is borrowing a conference room for a quickly approaching call. Suddenly he hears his name and turns to see a man in a suit, no winter jacket, chasing him down the icy street.
Jim Joyce: Dave, hey! You’re e-Patient Dave, right?
(Jim sticks his hand out and shakes Dave’s hand)
e-Patient Dave de Bronkart: Yes, I am. And you are?
JJ: Jim Joyce, HealthBeacon, I understand you are heading to our new office for your next appointment.
DDB: Oh yes, thank you so much for hosting me, I really look forward to learning more about what you’re working on.
JJ: Do you have a few minutes? I would love to buy you a cup of coffee.
DDB: Well, I’ve got a conference call shortly, but I can give you a few minutes.
JJ: Great, well we won’t keep you too long. Come on in and join us.
After a quick coffee, Dave sets out for Irish based company HealthBeacon’s new Boston office, introduces himself briefly to the team, gets set up in the conference room and completes his conference call.
Jim has returned to the office and is working with his team to prepare for the ribbon cutting event taking place shortly.
Dave takes a few moments to look around the office and waits for Jim to wrap up.
DDB: So tell me, Mr. Joyce… what is it you do here?
JJ: Excellent question. We are a medical adherence technology company. We have created a smart sharps bin that helps people manage their medications.
DDB: Okay, and how does it do that?
JJ: Well, we recognize that nowadays patients have access to highly effective medications to treat once debilitating conditions. In the past, many of these treatments required a patient to go to a hospital, but with advancements in treatments these medications can now be taken in the comfort of a person’s home. Unfortunately, that can also mean they feel a bit isolated by their illness, so we created a way to help them feel more connected, and that helps them adhere better to their treatment.
DDB: Adhere? Don’t you mean achieve?
JJ: How so?
DDB: Well, to me, the patient is achieving the goals that they set for themselves, with their clinicians, as part of their treatment plan. Where you say adherence, or compliance I would say that a patient is being successful and managing their own medical achievements, after all, as a champion of their own health they have the most motivation to use the treatments they think will help.
JJ: Very good point, from the patient’s point of view, that would be their motivation.
DDB: So, how do you help a patient achieve success?
JJ: Well with that approach in mind, I would say we empower patients to take control of their medication, in their own home. We connect them to their own success by connecting their medicine, to their own network, to help them reach their health goals by providing something like a patient success technology kit.
DDB: Now, that’s an idea I can get behind. You’re helping me achieve the plan to reach my chosen health goals.
JJ: Exactly, we wanted to create a beacon of health, not of illness. That’s why we designed something advanced and yet simple, technological and still friendly.
DDB: That’s good because the whole shift that’s happening in the culture of healthcare is from patient as recipient of wisdom from above, to patient as the source of the need, and as an activated partner who gets better autonomy and better usability from a product like this, that’s versatile enough to fit into their life in a variety of ways.
JJ: Absolutely, the previous versions of a home sharps bins, were never really designed for the comfort and benefit of the patient. Thank you for challenging me to really explain our benefits from the patient’s perspective.
DDB: Absolutely, it’s what I do.
JJ: How would you feel about cutting the ribbon for our grand opening?
DDB: I’d be happy to!
They walk to the front of the crowd, Jim hands Dave the giant scissors.
DDB: (To audience) In my book “Let Patients Help” one of my favourite aphorisms for improving healthcare is “Make it easy to do the right thing.” And to me that’s what HealthBeacon is designed to do: my clinician and I have agreed on a therapeutic goal, and HealthBeacon intends to make it easier to do that, in a way that fits into my life, a way that works for me.
Congratulations on the new office, and welcome to the USA!
Ribbon gets cut, office is open.
