More power to the patient
More power to the patient
Patients will influence more healthcare decisions, says Zal Press (1,185 words, 5.5 minutes)
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According to Zal Press, founder and executive director of Patient Commando, significant changes are coming to the involvement of patients in healthcare decision-making.
Speaking on episode six in Season Eight of the NPC Podcast, Press (photo below) said “All you have to do is look at what's happening in the delivery of healthcare. Look at hospitals, and you'll see that patients are being embedded on committees, even on hiring committees. Patients are interrogating CEO candidates. [That’s] an interesting scenario that could make a great reality show.”
Press referred to the Swedish Patient Bill of Rights and a new model of patient organization established in France. “It's included in the Public Health Act [in France] to ensure that patient representation is guaranteed in decision-making and includes people with disabilities, the elderly, and vulnerable populations,” he said. “[The French model] puts patients inside of government, not on the outside like they are now.”
When Press founded Patient Commando a decade ago, he said he wanted to start a new narrative regarding patients. According to the Patient Commando website, the organization is committed to the understanding that patient experience is the sum of all interactions that influence patient perceptions across the continuum of care.
“Storytelling was fundamental and elevating that storytelling among healthcare professionals was where we targeted our work—to teach physicians how to listen to stories and create safe spaces for patients to tell their stories.” To make these stories accessible, Patient Commando has produced events ranging from live stage productions to continuing medical education programs accredited by the College of Family Physicians, Press said.
He is also vice chair of the Patient and Community Advisory Committee at the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH). CADTH is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides healthcare decision-makers with objective evidence to help make informed decisions about the optimal use of health technologies, including drug therapies. He said the committee was created about three years ago in response to a concern the Agency was not hearing all the diverse voices they needed to, according to their mandate.
He said CADTH realized that the patient groups they engaged could not deliver on the diversity issue or connect CADTH to marginalized populations. The result was a patient committee of 12, where Press is now vice-chair.
“I can see that given the principles [CADTH has] committed to in its new strategic plan, it’s making an authentic effort to change its culture,” Press said. “That's not going to happen overnight, but challenging bias and creating a new mindset is really hard work.”
THIS WEEK 11/22/22
Organon Canada launched Ontruzant, a biosimilar of the reference biologic Herceptin, providing an alternative option for the treatment of early breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer and metastatic gastric cancer in adult patients.
ImmunoGen Inc. announced that the US FDA has granted accelerated approval for Elahere (mirvetuximab soravtansine-gynx) for the treatment of folate receptor alpha (FRα)-positive, platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer in adult patients who have received one to three previous systemic treatments.
Sandoz Canada announced the launch of PrSandoz Apremilast, a generic equivalent to PrOtezla, Amgen's Otezla. PrSandoz Apremilast is a selective immunosuppressant for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis plaque, psoriatic arthritis and oral ulcers associated with Behcet’s disease.
Health Canada has approved AbbVie’s Ubrelvy (ubrogepant) for the acute treatment of migraine in adults.
LISTEN NOW
In season eight of the NPC Podcast, Carol Stiff, General Manager of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Canada, talks about creating an inclusive company culture, small gestures of inclusion in the workplace, and being inducted into the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame. Hear him in conversation with podcast hosts Mitch Shannon, Jim Shea and Mark McElwain.
CANADIAN HEALTHCARE MARKETING HALL OF FAME
The Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame awards were established in 2002 to honour healthcare marketers who have contributed to our vocation and inspire others.
More than 100 honourees have been selected during the past 18 years. In the selection committee’s view, they represent a cross-section of the qualities that make our business unique and fulfilling. NPC Healthbiz Weekly will acknowledge one past Hall of Fame Honoree each week.
2002 Inductee
Clifford K. Goodman
Eastern Ontario
This is the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame, and for the next few issues, we will be revisiting the inaugural class of inductees.
Editor’s note: Cliff is now retired and spends his winters enjoying sunny Southern Europe.
“There’s never been a day that I didn't want to go to work,” says Cliff Goodman, reflecting on his 40 years in the healthcare publishing business. In fact, “I was there when it all happened,” jests the founder and president of Keith Health Care and a man who has served as an inspiration for many key players in healthcare media.
Goodman, who earned his stripes with some of Canada’s best-known healthcare institutions, is well-equipped to be a mentor. He learned the ropes early on as ad manager for the Ontario Medical Association journal, the Ontario Medical Review in 1961, and then director of communications for the College of Family Physicians of Canada’s Canadian Family Physician in the mid-’60s. For nearly 10 years, he was business manager for a group of the Canadian Medical Association journals, his last “job” before going independent with Keith Health Care in 1979. The company is now an industry leader in ad sales and contract publishing for the Canadian healthcare community and is partnered with more than 20 of the country's leading professional healthcare associations.
“If I have any strengths at all it’s knowing what associations go through,” says Goodman, who has been the driving force behind many cooperative efforts. He is a founding member of the Pharmaceutical Advertising Advisory Board (PAAB), and has served as president of the Canadian Association of Medical Publishers (CAMP) for two terms. His belief in the importance of market research has spearheaded the move toward readership studies and the formation of the Medical Media Measurement Bureau (MMMB), now merged into PMB, in Canada.
Associations are “quite different from most kinds of businesses” maintains Goodman, who adds that while business success is measured by the bottom line, “associations depend on the accomplishments of their membership.” Declining membership is, however, a major hurdle for most associations since, “There are too many options for people to belong to too many things.”
One of his proudest moments occurred in 1998 when, as the newly elected president of the Asthma Society of Canada, he was called upon to rescue a major Canadian charity from obscurity. Questionable accounting practices left over from the previous administration had led to the loss of the ASC’s charitable status. “It was a great challenge,” he says about the effort required to recover that status. “I was able to do it because I simply had all the years of experience with associations.”
Goodman's philosophy is to “hit a major problem head on” and that has served him well in the industry, and it also seems to have helped his golf game. He notes that being the winner of the PMCQ’s Low Gross golf tournament award for three years running is one of his greatest achievements. “That was the highlight of my life because every one since then has thought I’m a great golfer—and I’m not,” he chuckles.
NEXT WEEK
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