KIG Healthcare Solutions

My mother is a registered nurse.   I can hear her words echoing in my ears that “The bones you develop in your twenty’s are the bones that you carry with you your entire life.  Be as healthy as you can during that time and the remainder of your life will reap the benefits.”  If you have moved outside the wonderful realm of the first third of your life, then you can probably appreciate those words – as I know I can.

One of the hardest things to do as a seemingly healthy young adult is to take yourself to the doctor on a regular basis for checkups – the world is moving much too fast for that.  However, over the last year the H1N1 flu has developed and is targeting people 6 months to 24 years old, as well as people over the age of 50.  Young people are being forced to take their health seriously for a change, but many of them need quite the push to go to the doctor (some even require the idle threat of being tazed).

A large majority of today’s youth is hard-wired in many different avenues of communication, and the face to face method takes a back seat.  So why isn’t healthcare geared to move in that same direction?  The youth of the nation sit on Facebook, Twitter, the ailing MySpace and many more.  If their email isn’t checked once an hour then I’ve witnessed withdrawal symptoms occur in the most grounded individuals.  These methods of communication must be embraced, not feared by physicians.

NextGen Healthcare happens to be leading the way in online communication between the patient and their doctor’s office with their NextMD product.  It allows a patient to log into a website to send secure emails privately to their doctor, schedule appointments at their convenience, renew medications, receive test results, and much more.  Any time new data becomes available, an email is sent to the patient’s email address instantly.  Oh, and did I mention that young people (and the rest of the world) will love the fact that it’s completely free to use?

Opening the proper channels of communication can change the way the healthcare game is played in regards to much of today’s young adults.  Make sure you’re in the game too – your health depends on it.

Dan Holleran
Healthcare IT Specialist
dholleran(at)kighealthcare(dot)com