Some fascinating findings from Chris Schroeder, CEO of HealthCentral and James Burroughs, Associate Professor, University of Viriginia. Their research shows:

• 20% of patients are “empowered patients”; 50% are traditional; 30% are resistant
• Empowered patients have high self-efficacy, are problem solvers and have high needs for cognition
• No correlation to income, education or insurance could be found for empowered patients
• Empowered patients more likely to be social media users

Read the full article here.

The California Healthcare Foundation has released a new whitepaper, How Smartphones Are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers, authored by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. Key findings include:

• Two thirds of physicians used a smart phone in 2009
• 6% of physicians were using an electronic medical records system
• 42% of Americans use smartphones
• Top uses of smartphones for consumers include: medication adherence, home monitoring, fitness apps, managing chronic conditions

Best quote in the report comes from Stanford’s B.J. Fogg, who is critical of the current design of many apps. His advice is that to change behaviors we need to “Put hot triggers in the path of a motivated person.”

Click here to read full paper.