March 23, 2008 
The whole theory behind Microtrends is the 1% of the population matters and can form a force that can drive change. Look at all the talk about marathoning in this country when only 0.17% of people have run one.
From a healthcare perspective, I found it interesting that genetically “any two people are more than 99% the same at the genetic level” yet obviously genomics matters. [We want to know what genes do.]
If small gene differences can make the difference in how our body uses medicine, it could be a breakthrough, but (as the WSJ article suggests) will it bee too much for medicine to really master and take advantage of. Great question.
All of this made me think back to healthcare communications…does 1% matter? Yes. If you could develop communications that were specific to each segment, even if they varied by 1%, wouldn’t that improve results. And, if you’re focusing on the measures that matter to drive your results, won’t that have an impact.
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
Well, here are some interesting statistics on 1%. We estimate that for an average hospital, a 1% drop in patients’ intentions to return puts at minimum $200,000 in future revenues at risk. From a PATH model perspective, a 1% increase in adults who think and behave as a Ready User and a 1% drop in adults who think and act as an Avoider will raise health care spending in the U. S. by about $5 billion per year. For every 100,000 health plan members, 1% more Independenlty Healthy and 1% fewer Ready Users will lower annual claims by $3 million.