It felt like the old blog needed a refresh along with a new host. So we made the thematic change as well as the physical move.
In taking on this update I’m also declaring that I’m wiping away the cobwebs and recommitting myself to publicly sharing my thoughts and experiences about health and healthcare more regularly. And while living with type 2 diabetes informs my understanding of these things, it’s no longer my primary focus.
Shifting Perspectives of Health and Healthcare
Fifteen years after my diagnosis it’s sort of amazing to me that this little corner of the blogosphere still exists.
There’s been so much change in how and where the conversations about our health take place. When I started this blog there was no Instagram or TikTok. Patient advocates were just starting to be invited to speak at and participate in medical conferences. Since then patient-driven communities have sprung up both off- and online. It’s not unusual to see the impacts of patient-centered advocacy organizations reach national, and for some international, levels.
Perspectives, including my own, have changed. How could they not? We’ve seen dramatic change in how diabetes is treated, managed, and even talked about over the last decade and a half. We also lived through a global pandemic that left its own mark on how healthcare is delivered. As a result, my own focus and concerns have grown beyond diabetes.
Embracing the Broader Healthcare Landscape
One thing I’ve learned is that health and healthcare don’t happen in isolation. Even if you focus on a single illness or condition, how you manage life will be affected by so much more than that one thing. Factors far beyond what happens in the examination room will impact your health and healthcare.
Politics has pushed me to think about policy. How we access healthcare, what we pay, and even if we can access certain kinds of care has shifted dramatically. The politics behind healthcare policy is more visible now — and much more volatile.
Technological developments have pushed me to think about access and patient empowerment. Devices to monitor glucose levels and dose insulin have become more common. And the software driving these devices has developed to the point where it all-but-automatically manages the user’s glucose levels. It’s not an exaggeration to say that the participation of patients played a critical role in getting these systems approved and on the market sooner rather than later.
New pharmaceuticals have pushed everyone to think about diabetes treatments in a new light. Turns out the same injectable can help manage diabetes, protect against heart and kidney disease, and reduce obesity. The overall impact is a mixed bag. Yes, some silos are being knocked down. But at the same time deciding how to prioritize each of these applications is left to the marketplace.
The net result of these transformations is tremendous innovations, which remain largely out of reach for far too many.
The Patient Voice Still Matters
This can’t be where the story ends.
While I’m excited by the many possibilities of this evolving healthcare landscape, I can’t help but reassert the key importance of taking a patient-centered approach.
Now more than ever policymakers, technologists, and pharma innovators need to involve patients early on and throughout their efforts to reshape healthcare. Along with healthcare providers we cannot lose sight of the ultimate goal: to cure, and when that is not yet possible improve people’s quality of life.
The only way to ensure that healthcare is moving in the right direction is to involve the ultimate beneficiaries: patients. As the saying goes Nothing About Us Without Us.
I invite you to join me in this ongoing exploration. Let’s see how this all develops.