Lab Soft News

Google Launches Renewed Effort in Cloud Computing; Reaction in Hospitals

The future of large-scale, complex computing will undoubtedly involve the cloud. This scenario should include healthcare but the industry will embrace cloud computing late and perhaps never (see later). Cloud computing is an area where Google has lagged in development but is now trying to catch up according to a recent article (see: Google Elbows Into the Cloud), Below is an excerpt from it:

In a battle for dominance in cloud computing, Google is taking on Microsoft and Amazon in their own back. Google said... that it was doubling its office space near Seattle, just miles from the campuses of Amazon and Microsoft, and stepping up the hiring of engineers and others who work on cloud technology. It is part of Google’s dive into a business known as cloud services — renting to other businesses access to its enormous data storage and computing power, accessible by the Internet. In cloud computing, dozens or even thousands of computer servers are joined to create a giant machine capable of handling many tasks at once, from storing data to running Web sites and mobile apps to tackling complicated analytical problems. Individual software developers, large companies and governments rent these services to run their operations often at a fraction of the cost of buying and managing their own machines. Amazon Web Services, or A.W.S., is far and away the leader in this area. Amazon expects that this business will eventually be as big as its retail operation. A.W.S. is followed by Microsoft’s Windows Azure and offerings from other companies including Rackspace, Verizon, I.B.M. and Hewlett-Packard. Google says the cloud business is a new source of profit and a way to improve the Internet by providing other companies access to its sophisticated computing services. Analysts say it is also a strategy to lure developers and businesses to use Google products instead of those of archrivals like Amazon and Microsoft. The cloud business has become so vital to these companies....because it is crucial to other businesses like mobile apps and online video and music. Most of the apps that run on Google Android phones, for instance, are built using Amazon’s cloud, and Google would like to wrest back control....Amazon was the first to rent its data storage and computing power to outside customers when it started A.W.S. in 2004, and Microsoft and Google followed. Another company with huge data centers and computing power, Apple, does not rent its cloud. Amazon earned $800 million from its cloud services last year, according to analyst estimates....But to reach a broader market, Google has followed Amazon’s lead by offering a cloud platform that works with a much broader range of services....Google has the weakest corporate ties. It sells businesses cloud-based word processing, storage, and spreadsheet tools, but its operation is still much smaller than Microsoft’s.

I have always assumed that the reluctance of hospital CIOs to adopt cloud computing has been due to their innate conservatism, often citing security and confidentiality as the rationale. However, I think that there is a new factor in this equation. Most hospitals are now pursuing an IT strategy called the enterprise-wide-solution (EWS). This involves working primarily with a single vendor such as Epic or Cerner and deploying their EHR software plus their ancillary products such as their LIS and RIS. From the vantage point of the hospital CIOs, one of the major advantages of such an approach is that the software is integrated from the start. In other words, there is no burden on the CIO to integrate a series of modules from different vendors. By way of contrast and if multiple best-of-breed software systems are selected, there is an increased burden on the CIO to ensure that they interoperate.

There are only a handful of EWS vendors that offer an EWS. Epic, for example, now exercises what is looking like a near-monoply on EHR software in larger hospitals (see: Does Epic Exercise a Near-Monoply for EMRs in Larger U.S. Hospitals?; The Feasibility of Using the Epic EMR as a "Platform" to Extend Its Functionality; The Cost of Deploying an Epic EMR and the "Oreo Cookie" Analogy). Hospital executives would thus would need to seek the approval of a vendor like Epic or Cerner in order to pursue a cloud strategy. There is no possible advantage for these vendors in bringing a third party cloud computing vendor into their relationship with hospitals. If they were to offer a "remote hosting option," they themselves would provide it (Comments about Cerner's Remote Hospital Option (RHO)). This would allow them to keep their high profit margins and still maintain client control. Put another way, part of the appeal of cloud computing for hospitals would be its flexibility and lower cost. This is currently a sellers' market for EHR vendors with little need to offer any price advantage to the queued-up hospital customers.

In my opinion, long-term strategy and information technology go hand-in-hand. In an information-rich industry like healthcare, you can't change business practices without major shifts in your IT. In the case of healthcare, this means that much of the hospital long-term strategy is being developed and managed in Kansas City and Verona (see: CIOs and Central IT Departments Have Become Increasingly Less Useful; Some Hospitals Can't Get Past the Final Epic Deployment Step: the "Judy Check"). Lower cost, flexible cloud computing provided by third parties like Google and Amazon is simply not in the cards for hospitals.

Google Strikes Deal with French Government Regarding Online Content

I have posted previous notes about the question of whether Google is a search engine and news consolidator or a publisher of content (see: When Does Sophisticated Web Search Result in the Creation of New Content?; Google as an Enabler and Protector of Global Information Exchange; Is Google a Publisher or a Search Engine? Can Google Have It Both Ways?; Google's Deal with Publishers; Broad Current Acceptance of E-Books). According to a recent article, this question has been sorted out, for the time being, in France (see: French Publishers Forge Deal With Google, Breaking Ranks With Europe). Below is an excerpt from the article:

Publishers in France say they have struck an innovative agreement with Google on the use of their content online. Their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, however, say the French gave in too easily to the Internet giant.The deal was signed this month by President François Hollande of France and Eric E. Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, who called it a breakthrough in the tense relationship between publishers and Google, and as a possible model for other countries to follow. Under the deal, Google agreed to set up a fund, worth 60 million euroes, or $80 million, over three years, to help publishers develop their digital units. The two sides also pledged to deepen business ties, using Google’s online tools, in an effort to generate more online revenue for the publishers, who have struggled to counteract dwindling print revenue. But the French group, representing newspaper and magazine publishers with an online presence, as well as a variety of other news-oriented Web sites, yielded on its most important demand: that Google and other search engines and “aggregators” of news should start paying for links to their content. Google, which insists that its links provide a service to publishers by directing traffic to their sites, had fiercely resisted any change in the principle of free linking. The agreement dismayed members of the European Publishers Council, a lobbying group in Brussels, which has been pushing for a fundamental change in the relationship between publishers and Google. The group criticized the French publishers for breaking ranks and striking a separate business agreement that has no statutory standing. The deal “does not address the continuing problem of unauthorized reuse and monetization of content, and so does not provide the online press with the financial certainty or mechanisms for legal redress which it needs to build sustainable business models and ensure its continued investment in high-quality content,” Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the publishers council, said in a statement. German publishers were also scornful, with Anja Pasquay, a spokeswoman for the German Newspaper Publishers’ Association, saying: “Obviously the French position isn’t one that we would favor. This is not the solution for Germany.”

A few comments about this article. First of all, $80 million dollars over three years to keep the French publishers relatively satisfied strikes me as very good news for Google. The amount is trivial for Google and serves to drive a wedge into the European publishing industry on the basis of the French accommodation. I am not surprised that the European Publishers Council and the Germans expressed regret about the deal. So much for European unity. Every country will be trying to strike the best perceived deal for itself.

Secondly, how likely do any of you readers think that Google will be able to help the French publishers in any substantive way to "develop their digital units." I suspect that much of the European book and newspaper industry is either not knowledgeable about the web or resistant to learning any new tricks from the "Silicon Valley" types. Google is buying a temporary hiatus from the French until digital publishing is even more entrenched. Most content publishing will soon be digital. The European newspaper, magazine, and book publishers need to understand this reality and come to view Google as an ally, not an enemy, in the process of monetizing their content going forward. They are swimming upstream.

23andMe Requests FDA Clearance for DNA Saliva Testing

23andMe has been at a transition point in its business model, trying to decide whether to continue as a "personal" genetic testing site or become a full-fledged medical and regulated DNA testing service. I covered this issue in a prior post (see: 23andMe Acquires Curetogether; Pursues "People-Powered" Research). Here's a quote from it:

The strategic direction of 23andMe has always been of interest to me (see: Web-Based Genomic Testing Sites Fail to Attract Large Paying Audience, Clinical Labs Have Much to Learn from the Genetic Testing Web Sites). On one hand, the company is positioning itself as a personal genomics web site to avoid the regulatory pressure associated with rendering medical diagnoses. On the other hand, it has also been involved in projects of significant medical interest (see: 23andMe Builds Online Sarcoma Research Community). The question remains whether it can continue to straddle this fine line and evolve in both directions.

It appears now that the company is moving in the direction of full-fledged DNA testing web site which will be more complicated but result in greater functionality and probably more profits (see: Google-Backed 23andMe Asks FDA To Clear DNA Evaluation Service). Below are the details from a current article citing a new development:

23andMe , the Google-backed DNA analysis company ...sought U.S. regulatory approval for a genetic testing service that may help people assess their risk for developing cancer and Alzheimer’s. The submission with the Food and Drug Administration will cover seven tests, which 23andMe isn’t specifying....The tests are part of a service that tells users whether they carry a disease, are at risk of a disease and would respond to a drug....The FDA decided in 2010 that services claiming to evaluate a customer’s risk of disease must be cleared by regulators if the companies sell directly to consumers.“23andMe [according to a spokesperson[ is working proactively with the FDA to ensure the industry delivers high quality information that consumers can trust,”....Such types of genetic tests may become a $25 billion annual market in the U.S. within a decade, highlighting the need to identify which work best....23andMe said it submitted the FDA application today for the least stringent of two types of medical device reviews. The company plans to submit “several” more applications by the end of this year....DNA Genotek..., a company bought last year by OraSure Technologies, makes the FDA-approved saliva kit. ...23andMe is seeking approval of the process for analyzing and interpreting DNA results for patients....Most FDA-cleared genetic tests are for a single disease while 23andMe’s would be the first to test for multiple conditions....

Here a cut-and-paste from the DNA Genotek web site:

DNA Genotek, a subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc., develops products that optimize ease of collection and provide superior samples and proven performance for those requiring high-quality biological samples for nucleic acid testing. High-quality samples that are easily collected from target populations enable our customers to focus on translating their analysis and testing into significant worldwide advancements in health and science.

All of this makes sense. Saliva collection is a non-interventional way to obtain DNA from the sloughed mucosal cells. After DNA extraction from the cells, the major challenge is that of predictive medicine, which is to say figuring out which SNPs provide predictive clues about the seven diseases noted in the press release (see: SNP Fact Sheet). This approach is a "roll of the dice" for both 23andMe as well as their chosen DNA testing company, DNA Genotek. If the latter's technology proves to be superior, the partnership should prove to be formidable. The deal combines 23andMe with its web-empowered customer base and DNA Genoteck with its science and technology. Here's a similar take on this same idea (see: Gene-testing firm 23andMe seeks groundbreaking FDA approval):

[23andMe] already legally sells the tests, which cost $299 per person. But it is believed to be the first direct-to-consumer genetic testing firm to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration certification of its products. If the FDA gives that stamp of approval, industry observers say, it not only would give the company a leg up on its competitors but bring much-needed government supervision to the business.

Twenty Great Life Hacks That Most of Us Learn Far Too Late

I am a sucker for the various lists of "life hacks" that get posted on the web, particularly when they make sense to me (see: 20 Things I Should Have Known at 20). The list below, copied from the referenced note, resonates with me. 

1. The world is trying to keep you stupid.
2. Do not have faith in institutions to educate you.
3. Read as much as you can.
4. Connect with everyone, all the time.
5. Don’t waste time being shy.
6. If you feel weird about something during a relationship, that’s usually what you end up breaking up over.
7. Have as much contact as possible with older people.
8. Find people that are cooler than you and hang out with them too.
9. You will become more conservative over time.
10. Reduce all expenses as much as possible.
11. Instead of getting status through objects (which provide only temporary boosts), do it through experiences.
12. While you are living on the cheap, solve the money problem.
13. Learn to program.
14. Get a six-pack (or get thin, whatever your goal is) while you are young.
15. Learn to cook.
16. Sleep well.
17. Get a reminder app for everything.
18. Choose something huge to do, as well as allowing the waves of opportunity to help you along.
19. Get known for one thing.
20. Don’t try to “fix” anyone. Instead, look for someone who isn’t broken.

One of the items in the list that may seem to be the most trivial -- get a reminder app for everything -- may be one of the most important. Actually, having access to a reminder/do-list is a relatively simple matter. What's hard is keeping it up-to-date and comprehensive. That's really hard and requires dedication and commitment. 

I have finally discovered the secret of keeping my personal task list current. I have access to it in a floating window on my computer screen. It's always staring at me as a reminder of what I haven't yet done. I am fond of the task list that comes with Gmail. An added bonus with this particular app is that I can access my list from the browser on my smartphone so I can add items to it when away from my desk. The best thing about keeping a task list is one's sense of satisfaction when you complete a task and can then legitimately remove it from the list.

Using Social Media, Blogs, and Web Sites to Market Clinical Lab Services

Hospitals, labs with outreach programs, and  reference labs need to begin to market themselves more aggressively using social media, blogs, and their web sites (see: Why and How Hospitals Should Market Themselves to Consumers on the Web). I recently posted a note about how the University of Michigan has appointed a director of social media (see: The University of Michigan Hires Social Media Director at $100,000 Per Year). This is becoming a common theme among non-profit institutions. A recent article in the New York Times provides additional insight about  the use of digital media in the promotion of the new movie called Hunger Games (see: How ‘Hunger Games’ Built Up Must-See Fever). The clinical labs, healthcare, and the entire diagnostic industry have much to learn from this.

The dark art of movie promotion increasingly lives on the Web, where studios are playing a wilier game, using social media and a blizzard of other inexpensive yet effective online techniques to pull off what may be the marketer’s ultimate trick: persuading fans to persuade each other. The art lies in allowing fans to feel as if they are discovering a film, but in truth Hollywood’s new promotional paradigm involves a digital hard sell in which little is left to chance — as becomes apparent in a rare step-by-step tour through the timetable and techniques used by Lionsgate to assure that “The Hunger Games” becomes a box office phenomenon when it opens.... While some studios have halted once-standard marketing steps like newspaper ads, Lionsgate used all the usual old-media tricks — giving away 80,000 posters, securing almost 50 magazine cover stories, advertising on 3,000 billboards and bus shelters. But the campaign’s centerpiece has been a phased, yearlong digital effort built around the content platforms cherished by young audiences: near-constant use of Facebook and Twitter, a YouTube channel, a Tumblr blog, iPhone games and live Yahoo streaming from the premiere.

Everyone in the diagnostic and healthcare industry should take a look at the last sentence above relating to how social media have been the "centerpiece" of the marketing campaign for this new movie. Clinical labs need to think about what information can be posted on their web sites or on Facebook/Twitter that would be of interest to their physician clients or patients. Keep in mind that most healthcare consumers have almost an insatiable appetite for information about lab testing and particularly, among older patients, about cancer and cardiovascular disease surveillance. Lab directors only need to look among younger employees to find enthusiastic advocates for social media. Harness the energy of those with sophisticated writing skills to help market your organization at very low cost.

One of my favorite examples of a dual-use web site that has value for both physicians and patients is that of ARUP that offers a set of lab algorithms for the diagnosis of disease (see: ARUP Offers Lab Algorithms for Disease Diagnosis Support). You can take a look at this useful tool yourself (see: ARUP Consult: The Physician's Guide to Laboratory Test Selection and Interpretation). By dual-use, I mean that the algorithms were obviously developed to assist ARUP's physician clients in selecting the appropriate tests to order from the lab. Nevertheless, they are also available for anyone surfing the web so that I suspect that many healthcare consumers also use them to obtain valuable information about their own heath and diagnostic work-ups.

 

Blogs as an Alternative to Academic Publications for Circulating New Ideas

In a recent note on a public health course on blogging, I referred to the need for more bloggers in academic medicine (see: Public Health Graduate Students Offered Practical Course in Social Media). At the end of the piece, I cited the blogging efforts of academic economists Tyler Cower and Alex Tabarrok in Marginal Revolution. It's one of my favorites. At any rate, noted economist Paul Romer refers to this blog in terms of the competition for ideas and the need for alternatives in the academic journals (see: Science on the Internet). Here is an excerpt from his note:

Marginal Revolution, Tyler’s blog with Alex Tabarrok, is a new alternative to the traditional gatekeepers in economics — the journal editors or the program leaders at the NBER [National Bureau of Economic Research].  Tyler and Alex earned this position simply by being good at what they do.  Adding sites like this may do more to increase competition in the space of ideas than traditional strategies such as creating new journals.  A mention from a site like MR [Marginal Revolution] is now an alternative way for new ideas to get attention, one that can parallel the traditional mechanisms.

In my view, blogs can offer a fresh view and solutions that are not always available in academic journals. One example in the world of pathology has been the recent activities by the FDA regarding digital pathology. Keith Kaplan, who posts over at Digital Pathology Blog, wrote about the current situation in an incisive and humorous way (see: Regulators regulating digital scanners). I quoted some of Keith's comments in my note and then added some on my own ideas in a follow-up note (see: Digital Pathology and the FDA; WSI Systems Called Class III Devices). By the way, much of this commentary was stimulated by an article in CAP Today, a monthly tabloid published by the CAP (see: Regulators scanning the digital scanners). I doubt that there will be even a hint of this interaction in any articles about the evolution of digital pathology in the pathology journals if and when they appear.

Public Health Graduate Students Offered Practical Course in Social Media

Some interesting things are happening at the University of Michigan regarding the use and teaching of social media. I reported recently about the hiring of a social media director for the institution (see: The University of Michigan Hires Social Media Director at $100,000 Per Year). Now comes news of a graduate course in the School of Public Health on communicating with science blogs (see: SPH students creating science blogs in social media course). Below is an excerpt from the article:

It's not enough for new public health professionals to know the science that drives the field. To make a difference, they need to talk to the public and policy makers in clear, jargon-free language. That notion is behind the inaugural graduate course Communicating Science through Social Media [at the University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH)]. It was created by Andrew Maynard,..., professor of environmental health sciences at the School of Public Health and director of the Risk Science Center. "There is an increasing hunger amongst public health students to be taught how to communicate and express themselves effectively," Maynard says. Public health practitioners and leaders must be more adept at conveying complex ideas to non-experts, he says, whether they are managers, CEOs, partners, politicians or from the public. To that end, the 10 students in Maynard's class each are required to write 10 blog posts for the website Mind the Science Gap, which has received media coverage in The New York Times, Scientific American and other journals. Students have been inspired to write on subjects including struggles faced by the late singer Whitney Houston and how stress has been identified as a particular trigger in substance abuse among women, to research that finds urban sprawl and car dependence are leading factors for chronic diseases. Nearly 50 mentors recruited by Maynard, and the general public, comment on the posts. Since launching, the blog has averaged 4,500 page views per week, with more than 1,100 comments on posts....Maynard, himself a veteran science blogger, says the best indicator of success in communication is when there is evidence of a connection between the blogger and the audience. "This is part of the power of social media: that rapid and often candid feedback. 

I very much like the quote from the article above that "health practitioners and leaders must be more adept at conveying complex ideas to non-experts." And what better a way for students to become adept at science and health blogging than writing notes for Mind the Science Gap? By publishing their ideas in a real and prestigious blog, there is also an opportunity for the blog readers to "vote" on the quality of the writing -- the number of blog hits can easily be measured.

Given that we are now teaching our graduate students about effective communication through blogging, perhaps we can also adopt the idea that blogging is a suitable academic pursuit for their professors (see: Professional Blogs as Publication Vehicles for Physicians in Academic Clinical Tracks). Here's a quote from the note. By "professional blogs" I am referring to blogs written by content experts about their area of expertise such as physicians writing about various aspect of healthcare delivery.

In general, tenured-track slots in medical school are now reserved for bench researchers with grant support. Physicians engaged in the delivery of clinical care in academic teaching hospitals are also responsible for the training of medical students, house officers, and fellows. They are required to publish articles in their specialty areas. I believe that launching professional blogs would be a very suitable way for such faculty to both develop a regional/national reputation, a requirement for promotion. as well as provide useful information for colleagues and healthcare consumers seeking high quality medical advice.

It's taken more time than I originally anticipated but it seems to me that, at least at the University of Michigan, social media are now getting some well-deserved respect. There is at least one field, economics, where it is almost mandatory for the most eminent scholars to communicate via blogs. Examples include Greg Mankiw (see: GREG MANKIW'S BLOG), Paul Krugman (see: The Conscience of a Liberal), and Tyler Cowen (see: Marginal Revolution). I highly recommend this last blog, which I never miss and which covers an extremely broad spectrum of topics due to Cowen's high degree of intellectual curiosity.

Identifying Risky and Biased Medical Web Sites

Jill of All Trades MD has posted a note about how to identify medical "booby traps" on the web. By this I mean web sites and blogs providing medical advice that is skewed, unscrupulous, or designed to sell you some product like vitamins. I am also bothered by "disease foundations" that sponsor what appear to be unbiased web sites but which receive most of their funding from pharmaceutical companies and medical device and may exhibit favoritism in this regard. Here are her mildly edited rules for raising suspicion about medical sites on the web (see: 5 tips to evaluate medical websites):

• In general, please be wary of any website with the ending “.com”, and opt for those websites with “.gov” or “.org”.
• If you are reading info online that is starting to become frightening to you, that is your signal to turn the computer OFF and make an appointment to see your doctor instead.
• Always ask yourself, “Who is writing this article?”  Is it written by a physician?  Most of the time, it’s not.  Many online health articles are written by journalists with “special focus” on medical information....Whatever that means, it’s NOT typically sufficient enough to be giving patients medical advice.....The scarier and more controversial their writings, the more money they make.
• Find out who sponsors the article, and if the writer is affiliated with any entity that wants to sell you a product.  Does the author work for a drug company?  What are they trying to sell you?
• Anything you read is one dimensional......Medicine is complex, that’s why it takes a minimum of eleven years of school to become a doctor.  Otherwise, doctors would be out of a career. Trust your doctor.

One warning. It may be difficult to ferret out whether drug company money is behind a medical web site but most should openly list their sponsors. It doesn't hurt to dig deeper than the home page of a medical web site when researching such sponsorship. For me, the antidote for this type of slanted news is to check facts and opinions on multiple sites, particularly using the .gov, .org, and .edu sites for reference purposes. The Big Pharma supported web sites may push a particular drug or even set up fake questionnaires to convince the reader that they have a certain disease or condition (see: Rigged Depression Survey on the Web Steers Readers to Lilly's Cymbalta). I randomly picked the Arthritis Foundation out of the air and immediately found their web site with Google search. For what it's worth. here is a list of their Proud Sponsors. Here is a list of their Proceeds Sponsors. Here is a list of their Event Sponsors. The bottom line is that the five "veracity rules" above seem sound to me as a starting point. But don't totally write off .com sites. If you did so, you would not arrive at this blog. The company that hosts this blog, Typepad, is a for profit entity.

Bloggers and the New Media Model; the Blogger IS the Brand

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the difference between what I refer to as "professional" bloggers versus journalists. By "professional" blogger, I mean someone who is deeply immersed in a profession or industry and who blogs about that industry/profession (see: Blogs Becoming Increasingly Popular and Blending with Other Media). Such a person can usually outperform a journalist who is assigned to write one article about, for example, healthcare IT. A recent news headline focused on star blogger Michael Arrington's departure from AOL (see: ARRINGTON OUT -- AOL ANNOUNCES IT). A follow-up story analyzed the relationship between bloggers, journalists, and blogger-brands (see: Tech Blogger Parts With AOL. Below is what I found to be the most interesting quote from this article

[Michael Arrington departing from AOL]  has riveted the tech and media worlds, raising one of the most pressing questions that media organizations grapple with today: Do the old rules of journalism apply to Internet bloggers? “There are all sorts of people who don’t call themselves journalists now who traffic in information, as governments put out data, companies put out raw information and people in the course of their business gather and share information,” said Jeff Jarvis....“That’s the way Arrington saw TechCrunch.” The dispute has also raised an issue that has long challenged other industries like Hollywood and professional sports: What happens when a star’s brand clashes with the corporate brand? “The old media model is you work for the brand, and the brand rubs off on you,” Mr. Jarvis said. “The new model is you are the brand. If a blog is a person, can you buy the blog and thus buy the person and all of their attributes?”

I think that it's correct to refer to myself as a blogger and not a journalist. I also view myself, and in agreement with Jeff Jarvis, as someone who "traffics in information [and opinion]", which is to say that I gather and share information about pathology, the clinical labs, and healthcare IT. Finally, I agree with the idea in the excerpt above that the "blogger is the brand." To understand and prove this idea, you only need to look at the blogging career of Mr. HIStalk. He and his blog are inseparable. He supports associates like Dr. Jayne and posts the opinions of guest bloggers (see: Readers Write 9/21/11) but, without him, the brand and the blog would quickly disappear. The implication is that there is no equity associated with the brand that he has created unless he is part of the package, However, I am sure that he would not easily work for anyone else. HIStalk can't be sold to some medical media conglomerate but he was never in the game for the money.

Linking a Static Print Ad to an On-Line Video; Lessons for the Clinical Lab Industry

A recent full-page advertisement in the New York Times by Goldman Sachs reminded me how an embedded QR code can greatly enhance its value. Adjacent to the QR code at the bottom of the page was the following caption: Watch the story on your smartphone.

To interpret a QR code that appears in a print print ad such as this one on my smartphone, I launch Google Goggles and snap an image of the barcode. The app then interprets the QR bar code, displays the URL for the web site, and then navigates, at my command, to the on-line video. You get the basic idea. Here's a short explanation of QR codes (see: QR code):

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR readers, smartphones, and, to a less common extent, computers with webcams. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.

What's the relevance of this for the clinical lab industry? As you browse through CAP Today, you will be presented with a series of ads for, say, chemistry analyzers or LISs. When I view such ads, I often think to myself: How and why is this product superior to its competitors in the market? Frequently, these ads do not provide such detail. However, what it there were a QR code at the bottom of the page that could be used to launch a short (e.g. two minute) video about the merits of the product and why it is worth considering?

I need to express one concern here. When I browse vendor exhibits at the various conferences I attend, I try to use my time efficiently in the vendor display area. When I approach sales representatives at a booth, I will ask them to quickly summarize the merits of their product. Many of them seem to be at a loss for words, as though my request was unreasonable or, at best, unexpected. It's as though they have prepared a pitch that takes ten minutes that can't be shortened. Perhaps asking a company to product the short video that I refer to above would be good start in developing an elevator speech that could be then used by all of their sales force (see: How to Craft an Effective Elevator Speech).