Which ever way you slice it, physician-patient relationships drive patient health more than any other factor – technologies, health-care IT, public policy included.

The past and future of medical practice is accountability and focus on improving quality of two-way communications between the physician and her patients.

“A good scalpel makes a better surgeon. Good communication makes a better doctor.” – Dr. Josh Umbehr

The notion of patient-centricity has led a number of software companies (led by Microsoft it seems) to take a page out of the playbook of sales and operations – namely customer relationship management and rebrand it in the healthcare space as “patient-relationship” management.

The goals for PRM (patient relationship management), are not unlike the goals for CRM (customer relationship management):

PRM:
Make it easier for a doctor to communicate with patients and better educate them, achieve increased compliance with the therapeutic plan and sustain better outcomes.
CRM:
Make it easire for a salesperson to communicate with customers and better educate them, achieve better retention and higher sales.

PRM:
Make it easier for patients to communicate with physicians with needs and personal experiences in order to make physician decision making easier and arrive faster at a correct diagnosis and treatment plan.
CRM:
Make it easier for customers to communicate with the product support teams and provide them with their personal experiences with company’s products in order to improve product quality. » (…)

CE: Scary, but necessary stuff. The rest of the article is a comparison of 4 PRM providers. Would it work in developing countries?

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