May 28, 2008 
When I saw Forrester’s data around Personal Health Records (PHRs), it reminded me of one of the facts we struggled with around increasing mail order utilization…most people didn’t know what it was or whether they had it as a benefit. (From their Q2 – 2007 Social Technographics Online Healthcare Survey)
So, given all the buzz about PHRs and which one will work and what needs to be included, I wonder if we often miss the first step as people in the industry.
The first step in any “marketing” or communication approach has to be to build awareness. Although it might sound great to say that I have 80% of chronic drug users that are aware of their mail order benefit using mail order, I am not maximizing the size of the pie. (I.e., 50% have chronic medication x 50% aware of mail x 80% use mail = 20% penetration)
Enabling Healthy Decisions 
George:
I discovered my pediatrician’s office is linked to Medem’s iHealthRecord and linked my son to it. I called his nurse assistant to ask what the adoption rate is, and if they found it useful. She had no idea what an EHR is, and assured me that all of their records were on paper. I said, “But it is on your website”. She said: “I don’t know anything about it. You’ll have to speak with the doctor.” I said, “Can I email him?” She said, “No, but i’ll put you through to his voice mail.” It was full.
So there you go. I guess you have to start at the clinical level before you get patient adoption.
On another note, I don’t know if you blogged about it, but Google Health does not fully support the Safari browser.
Best,
Alex