Telemedicine
Use a dedicated telemedicine platform for virtual visits, not just a standard video call tool.
A doctor tried to conduct a patient consultation over a standard video chat app. The connection was unsecure, and there was no easy way to view the patient’s records or prescribe medication. It was unprofessional and risky. A different clinic used a dedicated, HIPAA-compliant telemedicine platform. The platform integrated with the patient’s health records, allowed for secure messaging, and had a built-in e-prescribing tool. This purpose-built platform provided a much safer, more efficient, and more professional virtual care experience.
Stop thinking of telemedicine as a replacement for all doctor visits. Do use it as a convenient option for appropriate consultations instead.
A person with a serious, undiagnosed abdominal pain tried to get a diagnosis through a telemedicine visit. The doctor couldn’t perform a physical exam and told him he needed to go to the emergency room. Telemedicine is not for everything. However, for a simple follow-up appointment, a prescription refill, or a mental health consultation, it is an incredibly convenient and effective option that saves the patient from having to take a half-day off work for a 10-minute in-person visit.
The #1 secret for having a successful and productive telemedicine appointment.
The secret is to prepare for it just like you would for an in-person visit. A patient went into his telemedicine call unprepared. He couldn’t remember his exact symptoms or the questions he wanted to ask. It was an unproductive visit. A better-prepared patient wrote down her symptoms, a list of her current medications, and her specific questions for the doctor beforehand. She also made sure she was in a quiet, well-lit room. This preparation made the short virtual visit incredibly efficient and valuable.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the quality of care in telemedicine.
The lie is that care delivered via telemedicine is inherently of a lower quality than in-person care. For many conditions, studies have shown that the outcomes from telemedicine are just as good, if not better. For a therapy session, a patient might feel more comfortable and open when speaking from the privacy of their own home. For managing a chronic condition, the increased frequency of check-ins that telemedicine allows can lead to better long-term management. For the right use case, telemedicine is high-quality care.
I wish I knew this about preparing my space and technology before my first virtual doctor’s visit.
For my first telemedicine call, I was sitting in a dark room with a spotty Wi-Fi connection, and I was using my phone. The doctor could barely see or hear me. It was a frustrating experience for both of us. I wish I had known to prepare my space. For my next visit, I sat in front of a window for good lighting, I used my laptop with a wired internet connection for a stable signal, and I tested my camera and microphone beforehand. This simple technical preparation made all the difference.
I’m just going to say it: Telemedicine has made healthcare more accessible than ever before.
A person living in a rural area used to have to drive three hours to see a specialist. A person with a mobility issue found it incredibly difficult to get to a doctor’s office. A busy parent had to find childcare for every appointment. For all of these people, telemedicine is not just a convenience; it’s a revolution in access. It eliminates the barriers of distance, time, and cost that have historically prevented so many people from getting the care they need.
99% of patients make this one mistake during their telemedicine call.
The most common mistake is not having their relevant information ready. A doctor will ask a patient about a specific medication they are taking, and the patient will have to run to the bathroom to find the bottle. Or the doctor will ask for a recent blood pressure reading, and the patient will have to search for their monitor. Having your medications, any recent readings, and your pharmacy’s information ready before the call starts makes the visit much more efficient and allows the doctor to provide better care.
This one small action of writing down your questions beforehand will change the effectiveness of your telemedicine visit forever.
A patient would finish a doctor’s appointment and immediately remember three important questions she had forgotten to ask. For her next telemedicine visit, she took one small action: she wrote down her three most important questions on a sticky note and put it on her computer screen. During the call, she made sure to ask all of them. This simple act of preparation ensured that she got the information she needed from the short visit and felt much more confident in her treatment plan.
The reason your telemedicine experience was frustrating is because of a poor internet connection.
A patient’s video call with her doctor was constantly freezing and dropping. She blamed the telemedicine platform. The real reason was that she had a slow, unreliable internet connection, and other people in her house were streaming movies at the same time. A stable, high-speed internet connection is the single most important technical requirement for a good telemedicine experience. Using a wired ethernet connection instead of Wi-Fi can often solve many of these issues.
If you’re still driving to the doctor for a simple prescription refill, you’re losing time and money.
A person needed a routine refill for a stable, long-term medication. The old way involved taking time off work, driving to the doctor’s office, paying for parking, and sitting in a waiting room, all for a five-minute conversation. With telemedicine, she was able to have a quick video call with her doctor from her office, and the prescription was sent electronically to her pharmacy. The convenience of telemedicine for these simple, routine tasks is undeniable.
Electronic Health Records (EHR)
Use a modern, cloud-based EHR system, not a legacy, on-premise one.
A hospital was using an old, on-premise Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. It was slow, the doctors couldn’t access it from home, and it required a massive, expensive server room to maintain. They switched to a modern, cloud-based EHR. The doctors could now securely access patient records from any device, anywhere. The hospital no longer had to manage the underlying hardware, and the system was always up-to-date with the latest features and security patches.
Stop thinking of EHRs as just digital filing cabinets. Do use their data for population health management and research instead.
A clinic used their EHR simply as a digital replacement for their old paper charts. A more forward-thinking clinic realized that their EHR was a powerful data asset. By analyzing the aggregated, de-identified data from their thousands of patients, they could identify at-risk populations, track the effectiveness of different treatments, and contribute to important medical research. They were using their EHR not just to store data, but to generate new knowledge.
The #1 secret for improving physician satisfaction with EHRs.
The secret is to invest in personalization and workflow optimization. A hospital rolled out a new EHR with its default, out-of-the-box configuration. The doctors hated it because it was full of unnecessary clicks and irrelevant fields. A different hospital, before rolling out their EHR, worked closely with their physicians to customize the system. They created specialized templates and order sets for each department. By tailoring the EHR to the specific workflows of the doctors, they dramatically improved its usability and their satisfaction.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the interoperability of EHR systems.
The lie is that different EHR systems can easily talk to each other and share data. A patient’s primary care physician used one EHR system, and the hospital she went to used a different one. The two systems could not communicate. Her doctor had to rely on a fax machine to get her hospital records. Despite years of promises, the healthcare industry is still plagued by a lack of true interoperability between the major EHR vendors, creating dangerous information silos that compromise patient care.
I wish I knew this about the rampant “note bloat” and data entry burden of EHRs when I was a new doctor.
As a new doctor, I was excited to use a modern EHR. I quickly discovered the reality of “note bloat.” Because of complex billing requirements, I had to spend hours every day clicking through endless checkboxes and pulling in large amounts of irrelevant, templated text into my patient notes. I spent more time interacting with the computer than I did with my patients. I wish I had known that the administrative burden of the modern EHR is a major and well-documented problem.
I’m just going to say it: The current state of EHR design is a leading cause of physician burnout.
A physician used to love her job. Now, she spends two hours every night after her kids have gone to bed just trying to catch up on her EHR documentation. The poorly designed user interface, the constant alerts, and the overwhelming number of clicks required for simple tasks have turned her into a data entry clerk. This “death by a thousand clicks” is a story repeated across the healthcare industry. The poor usability of many EHR systems is a major contributor to the epidemic of physician burnout.
99% of hospitals make this one mistake when implementing a new EHR system.
The most common mistake is failing to adequately invest in training and support for the clinical staff. A hospital will spend millions of dollars on a new EHR system and then only provide a single, four-hour training session for their doctors and nurses. The staff is then left to struggle with a complex new system on their own. A successful implementation requires a significant, ongoing investment in hands-on training, at-the-elbow support during the go-live period, and a continuous process of optimization based on user feedback.
This one small action of using macros and templates will change the way clinicians interact with their EHR forever.
A doctor was tired of typing the same, common phrases and instructions into his patient notes over and over again. He took one small action: he spent an hour creating a series of “macros” or “smart phrases” in his EHR. Now, he could type a short code, and it would automatically expand into a full, well-formatted paragraph. This simple act of automating the repetitive parts of his documentation saved him a huge amount of time every single day and reduced the cognitive load of interacting with the EHR.
The reason your hospital’s EHR is so inefficient is because it wasn’t customized for your specific workflows.
An emergency room doctor was frustrated with the hospital’s EHR. It was designed for a primary care office, and it was forcing him to go through a long, linear process that didn’t match the chaotic, multi-tasking reality of the emergency department. The EHR was inefficient because it was a one-size-fits-all solution that had not been adapted to his specialized workflow. A good EHR implementation requires deep customization to support the unique needs of each different clinical specialty.
If you’re still a hospital using paper records, you’re losing the ability to provide coordinated care.
A patient with a complex medical history was seeing multiple different specialists, all of whom kept their own separate, paper-based records. None of the doctors had a complete picture of the patient’s health. This led to duplicate tests and a potential drug interaction. In a hospital with a unified EHR system, every doctor who treated that patient would have instant access to their full medical history, lab results, and medication list. This shared view is essential for providing safe, coordinated care.
Wearable Health Tech
Use your wearable’s health data to have more informed conversations with your doctor, not for self-diagnosis.
A person saw an unusual heart rate reading on his smartwatch and, after consulting “Dr. Google,” became convinced he had a rare heart condition. He went to his doctor in a panic. A more productive approach is to use the data as a starting point for a conversation. Another patient showed her doctor a trend of her resting heart rate gradually increasing over several months. This objective, long-term data gave her doctor a valuable new insight that prompted him to order a specific test.
Stop obsessing over every single data point from your fitness tracker. Do focus on long-term trends instead.
A person would get anxious if her sleep score was a few points lower than the previous night, or if her step count was slightly down. She was obsessing over the daily noise in the data. A better approach is to zoom out and look at the long-term trends. Is your average resting heart rate decreasing over a period of months? Is your average daily activity level increasing? These long-term trends are a much more meaningful indicator of your overall health and fitness than the random fluctuations of a single day.
The #1 tip for getting the most accurate heart rate reading from your smartwatch.
The most important tip is to ensure the watch is snug and positioned correctly on your wrist, especially during exercise. An optical heart rate sensor works by shining a light into your skin and measuring the blood flow. If the watch is too loose and is moving around, outside light can leak in and interfere with the sensor, leading to inaccurate readings. By tightening the strap and wearing the watch slightly higher up your arm, you can ensure a consistent and accurate reading.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about the accuracy of calorie tracking on wearables.
The lie is that the “calories burned” number on your fitness tracker is an accurate, scientific measurement. The reality is that it is a very rough estimate. The device is using a generic algorithm based on your heart rate, your movement, and the demographic data you entered (age, weight, etc.). It doesn’t know your individual metabolic rate or the true intensity of your workout. It can be a useful motivational tool, but it should not be treated as a precise calorie counter for a diet.
I wish I knew this about the difference between a consumer wearable and a clinical-grade medical device.
I was worried about an irregular heart rhythm notification I got from my smartwatch. I wish I had known the clear distinction between a consumer wellness device and a true, FDA-cleared medical device. While my smartwatch’s ECG feature is impressive, it is not a substitute for the high-fidelity, 12-lead ECG that a doctor would use in a clinical setting. Consumer wearables are great for general wellness tracking, but for a true medical diagnosis, you need a clinical-grade device.
I’m just going to say it: Your wearable’s ECG feature is not a replacement for a doctor’s diagnosis.
A person took an ECG reading on their new smartwatch and it came back as “inconclusive.” They were worried. The reality is that the single-lead ECG on a watch can be affected by a huge number of factors and is primarily designed to detect one specific condition (atrial fibrillation). It is a screening tool, not a diagnostic one. Any concerning reading or symptom should always be discussed with a qualified medical professional who can perform a proper clinical evaluation.
99% of wearable users make this one mistake that affects their data accuracy.
The most common mistake is not keeping their personal information up-to-date in the app. A person will lose 20 pounds, but they will never update their weight in their fitness tracker’s profile. The device’s calorie burn estimates and other algorithms are still based on their old, inaccurate weight. To get the most accurate data from your wearable, you need to ensure that your profile information—your age, height, weight, and gender—is always accurate.
This one small habit of sharing your wearable data with your doctor will change the way you manage your health forever.
A patient with high blood pressure would only have it checked during his annual doctor’s visit. His doctor started having him share the data from his smart blood pressure cuff. Now, the doctor could see a continuous, long-term trend of his patient’s blood pressure in a real-world setting, not just a single, snapshot reading in the artificial environment of a doctor’s office. This provided a much more accurate picture and allowed the doctor to make more informed adjustments to his medication.
The reason your sleep tracking data seems inaccurate is because consumer wearables are not great at measuring sleep stages.
A person was frustrated because his smartwatch said he only got 20 minutes of “deep sleep,” and he was worried. The reason for the apparent inaccuracy is that consumer wearables can only estimate sleep stages based on movement and heart rate. The gold standard for measuring sleep stages is an EEG, which measures brain activity. While your wearable is good at telling you how long you were asleep, you should be very skeptical of its ability to accurately break that down into REM, light, and deep sleep.
If you’re still ignoring the health alerts from your wearable, you’re losing a potentially life-saving early warning.
A person’s smartwatch gave her a notification that her resting heart rate had been unusually high for the past several days. She felt fine, so she ignored it. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with a thyroid condition that could have been caught earlier. While these alerts can sometimes be false positives, they can also be a valuable early warning sign that something is amiss. It’s always worth paying attention to a significant, sustained change in your health metrics and discussing it with your doctor.
AI in Diagnostics
Use AI as a tool to assist radiologists and pathologists, not to replace them.
A hospital implemented an AI system to analyze chest X-rays. The AI didn’t replace the radiologist. Instead, it acted as a tireless, powerful assistant. The AI would pre-screen every image, highlighting suspicious areas that might indicate a cancerous nodule. The human radiologist would then make the final diagnosis, benefiting from the AI’s ability to spot subtle patterns they might have missed after a long day of reading scans. The combination of the AI’s analytical power and the human’s contextual judgment led to a higher diagnostic accuracy than either could achieve alone.
Stop being afraid of AI in healthcare. Do embrace it as a way to improve diagnostic accuracy and speed.
A patient was nervous when she learned that an AI would be helping to analyze her mammogram. She was afraid the machine would make a mistake. The reality is that AI-powered diagnostic tools are already outperforming humans in certain specific, pattern-recognition tasks. By embracing AI as a “second pair of eyes” for doctors, we can reduce the rate of human error, catch diseases earlier, and speed up the diagnostic process, which ultimately leads to better patient outcomes.
The #1 secret for how AI is detecting diseases like cancer earlier than ever before.
The secret is the AI’s ability to see patterns in medical images that are invisible to the human eye. A human pathologist looks at a tissue slide under a microscope to look for cancerous cells. A deep learning AI, trained on thousands of images, can analyze the subtle textures and patterns in the tissue at a microscopic level. It can identify patterns that predict the future development of cancer, even in tissue that looks completely normal to a human expert. This allows for a much earlier and more proactive diagnosis.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about AI “doctors”.
The lie is that we will soon have an AI “doctor” that can replace a human physician. A person might use an AI-powered symptom checker app that suggests a possible diagnosis. This is not a doctor. A human doctor’s job is not just pattern recognition. It involves empathy, communication, complex ethical decision-making, and a holistic understanding of a patient’s life and context. AI will be an incredibly powerful tool that will assist doctors, but it will not replace the fundamental human aspects of medicine.
I wish I knew this about the importance of diverse and unbiased training data for medical AI algorithms.
I was part of a team that developed an AI to detect skin cancer. It achieved 98% accuracy. We later discovered that its accuracy was much lower for patients with darker skin tones. The reason? The dataset we had used to train the AI was overwhelmingly composed of images from fair-skinned patients. Our AI had a built-in racial bias. I wish I had known that ensuring your training data is diverse and representative of the entire patient population is the most critical ethical and scientific requirement for building a safe medical AI.
I’m just going to say it: AI will become the standard of care for medical imaging analysis within the next decade.
Today, it would be considered malpractice for a lab to analyze a blood test without using a machine. In the near future, it will be considered malpractice for a radiologist to analyze a CT scan without the assistance of an AI. The evidence is becoming overwhelming that for many diagnostic imaging tasks, the combination of a human expert and an AI assistant is superior to the human alone. AI will become an indispensable, standard tool in the diagnostic workflow.
99% of medical professionals make this one mistake when interpreting the output of a diagnostic AI.
The most common mistake is “automation bias”—the tendency to blindly trust the AI’s recommendation without applying their own critical judgment. An AI might flag a spot on an X-ray as “suspicious,” and a busy doctor might just accept that finding without carefully examining the image themselves. A responsible clinician uses the AI’s output as an input to their own decision-making process. They understand that the AI is a powerful but fallible tool, and the ultimate responsibility for the diagnosis still rests with the human expert.
This one small action of learning how diagnostic AI works will change your trust in the technology forever.
A doctor was skeptical and a little afraid of the new diagnostic AI being implemented in her hospital. She took one small action: she attended a one-hour lunch-and-learn session that explained, in simple terms, how the deep learning model was trained and how it made its decisions. Understanding that the AI was not a “black box,” but a tool that had learned from thousands of expert-annotated examples, demystified the technology and gave her the confidence she needed to start using it in her practice.
The reason a diagnostic AI failed is because it was trained on a dataset that doesn’t represent your patient population.
A hospital in Japan implemented a diagnostic AI that had been developed and trained in the United States. The AI’s performance was poor. The reason was that the genetic and environmental factors affecting the disease were different in the Japanese population than in the American population the AI was trained on. A medical AI model is not universally applicable. It must be carefully validated and often retrained on local data to ensure it is safe and effective for the specific patient population it will be used on.
If you’re still a radiologist manually screening for every nodule, you’re losing the superpower of AI assistance.
Imagine a radiologist having to read a hundred chest CT scans in a single day, looking for tiny, hard-to-spot cancerous nodules. It’s a fatiguing and visually demanding task. Now imagine that same radiologist with an AI assistant. The AI can pre-screen every scan, circling the 10 most suspicious areas for the radiologist to focus on. This doesn’t replace the radiologist’s expertise; it augments it, allowing them to focus their attention where it’s needed most and reducing the chance of a critical finding being missed.
Genomics & Personalized Medicine
Use genomic testing to understand your genetic predispositions, not as a definitive prediction of your future health.
A person took a consumer genetic test and found out he had a gene variant associated with a slightly increased risk of a certain disease. He panicked, thinking he was destined to get sick. His doctor explained that genetics is just one piece of the puzzle. His lifestyle choices—his diet, his exercise, his environment—would play a much larger role. The genetic test was not a crystal ball; it was a useful piece of information that could empower him to make healthier choices.
Stop thinking of medicine as one-size-fits-all. Do explore how your genetics can inform personalized treatment plans instead.
A patient was prescribed a standard dose of a common medication, but she experienced severe side effects. A genetic test revealed that she had a specific gene variant that caused her to metabolize the drug very slowly. Her doctor was then able to prescribe a much lower dose that was both effective and safe for her. This field, called pharmacogenomics, is a powerful example of personalized medicine, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to one that is tailored to an individual’s unique genetic makeup.
The #1 tip for interpreting your consumer genetic test results.
The most important tip is to not interpret them alone. A person received a scary-looking result from a direct-to-consumer genetic test and was filled with anxiety. Before jumping to any conclusions, she made an appointment with a genetic counselor. The counselor was able to put the result in the proper context, explain the actual level of risk, and discuss the concrete, proactive steps she could take. A genetic counselor can translate the raw data into meaningful and actionable information.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about “curing” genetic diseases.
The lie is that we can easily “cure” a genetic disease just by finding the single gene that causes it. The reality is that most common diseases, like heart disease and diabetes, are not caused by a single gene. They are “polygenic,” meaning they are influenced by hundreds or even thousands of different genes, each with a very small effect, all interacting with a complex web of lifestyle and environmental factors. There is no single “gene for diabetes” that we can just switch off.
I wish I knew this about the privacy implications of sharing my genetic data with third-party companies.
I uploaded my raw genetic data from a testing company to a third-party website that promised to tell me more about my ancestry. I didn’t read the privacy policy. I wish I had known that I had just given that company a perpetual license to use my most personal and intimate data for their own research and to sell it to other companies. Your genetic data doesn’t just reveal information about you; it reveals information about your parents, your children, and all of your blood relatives.
I’m just going to say it: Personalized medicine is the future of healthcare.
For centuries, medicine has been based on treating the “average” patient. A doctor would prescribe a standard dose of a drug and hope it worked. The future of medicine is personalized. It’s about using an individual’s unique genetic information, their lifestyle, and their environment to create preventative health plans and treatments that are tailored specifically for them. This shift from a reactive, one-size-fits-all model to a proactive, personalized one will be the most important medical revolution of our lifetime.
99% of people make this one mistake after getting their 23andMe results.
The most common mistake is either overreacting or under-reacting. A person will see a slightly elevated risk for a condition and go into a panic. Or, they will see that they don’t have a specific risk variant and wrongly assume they are completely in the clear. The key is to treat the results as a single data point, not a definitive diagnosis. The best response is to use the information as a catalyst for a thoughtful conversation with a healthcare professional about your overall health.
This one small action of discussing your genetic test results with a genetic counselor will change your understanding of your health forever.
A person received her genetic test results and was overwhelmed by the complex and confusing information. She took one small action: she scheduled a session with a genetic counselor. The counselor walked her through the report, explained what the different risk factors actually meant in the context of her family history and lifestyle, and helped her to create a concrete plan for preventative health screenings. That one conversation turned a confusing document into an empowering tool for managing her health.
The reason your medication isn’t working as expected might be due to your unique genetic makeup.
A patient with depression had tried several different antidepressant medications, but none of them seemed to work for him. His doctor ordered a pharmacogenomic test. The test revealed that he had a gene that affected how his body metabolized a certain class of drugs. Based on this information, his doctor was able to prescribe a different medication that worked with his unique biology. The new medication was effective, and his depression finally started to improve.
If you’re still not considering how your genes affect your health, you’re losing a key piece of the puzzle.
Two people have a similar, unhealthy lifestyle. One develops heart disease at age 50. The other lives to be 90 with no issues. The difference often lies in their genetic predispositions. While lifestyle is the most important factor for most people, our genes can play a significant role in our risk for certain diseases. Understanding your genetic background, in combination with your lifestyle choices, provides a much more complete and personalized picture of your overall health.
Mental Health Tech
Use mental health apps as a supplement to therapy, not as a replacement for it.
A person struggling with anxiety downloaded a meditation app. It helped her to manage her symptoms in the moment, which was great. But it didn’t address the root cause of her anxiety. She started seeing a therapist, who helped her to understand the underlying issues. She continued to use the meditation app as a valuable tool to supplement her therapy, giving her a way to practice the coping skills she was learning. The app was a tool; the therapy was the treatment.
Stop suffering in silence. Do use technology to access mental health support and resources instead.
A person was struggling with his mental health but was afraid to talk about it due to the stigma. He also found it difficult to find a local therapist who was available. He discovered that there were a huge number of online resources available. He was able to find a supportive, anonymous online community, he started using a therapy app that connected him with a licensed therapist via text, and he found a wealth of educational content. Technology helped to lower the barrier to entry for him to finally get the help he needed.
The #1 secret for finding a mental health app that is evidence-based and effective.
The secret is to look for apps that are based on established therapeutic techniques, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). A person downloaded a simple mood-tracking app. It was nice, but it didn’t help her change her thought patterns. She then found an app that was specifically designed to deliver a structured CBT program. The app guided her through evidence-based exercises to identify and challenge her negative thoughts. This structured, therapeutic approach was far more effective than just passively tracking her mood.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about meditation apps being a cure-all for anxiety.
The lie is that a simple meditation app can “cure” a serious anxiety disorder. While meditation and mindfulness are incredibly powerful tools for managing stress and reducing symptoms, they are not a replacement for professional medical treatment for a clinical anxiety disorder. For many people, a combination of therapy, medication, and mindfulness practices is the most effective approach. An app can be a valuable part of the toolkit, but it is rarely the entire solution.
I wish I knew this about the data privacy policies of mental health apps before I started using them.
I started using a mental health app to journal my most private thoughts and feelings. It was very helpful. I didn’t read the privacy policy. I wish I had known that the company was “anonymizing” and selling my journal entries to third parties for research and marketing. My most intimate data was being monetized. When you are using a mental health app, you are sharing incredibly sensitive information. It is absolutely critical to choose a service with a strong, transparent privacy policy.
I’m just going to say it: The demand for mental health services far outweighs the supply, and technology is helping to fill the gap.
A person trying to find a therapist was told that the waitlist was six months long. The traditional mental healthcare system is overwhelmed. Technology is helping to bridge this gap. Online therapy platforms are connecting people with therapists across the country, eliminating geographic barriers. AI-powered chatbots are providing immediate, 24/7 support for people in crisis. While not a perfect solution, technology is making mental health support more accessible and affordable for millions of people who would otherwise go without it.
99% of people make this one mistake when using a therapy app.
The most common mistake is not being fully honest with themselves or the app. A person using a therapy chatbot will give socially desirable answers instead of being truthful about their feelings. Or a person in a video therapy session will downplay their symptoms. The technology can only be effective if you are willing to be open and vulnerable. The anonymity of a digital platform can actually make it easier for some people to be more honest than they would be in a face-to-face interaction.
This one small habit of practicing digital mindfulness will change your relationship with technology and your mental health forever.
A person felt constantly anxious and distracted by the endless stream of notifications and information on her phone. She adopted a small habit of “digital mindfulness.” She would turn off all non-essential notifications, she would set specific times to check social media instead of constantly scrolling, and she would intentionally leave her phone in another room for an hour every evening. This one small habit of being more intentional about her technology use had a profound, positive impact on her mental well-being.
The reason your mental health app isn’t helping is because you’re not using it consistently.
A person downloaded a mental health app, used it for two days, didn’t see an immediate change, and then deleted it. Just like going to the gym once won’t make you fit, using a mental health app once or twice won’t solve a long-standing issue. The benefits of these tools, especially those based on therapeutic techniques like CBT, come from consistent, long-term practice. The reason it’s not working is often not because the app is bad, but because you haven’t given it enough time to work.
If you’re still thinking that online therapy is not as effective as in-person therapy, you’re losing out on a convenient and accessible option.
A person was skeptical about online therapy, thinking it would be an impersonal and ineffective experience. She was having trouble finding a local therapist who specialized in her specific issue. She decided to try an online therapy platform. She was matched with a perfect therapist from a different state and found that having sessions from the comfort of her own home was actually more convenient and less intimidating than going to an office. For many people, online therapy is just as effective, and much more accessible.
Surgical Robotics
Use surgical robots for minimally invasive procedures, not for every type of surgery.
A patient needed a complex prostate surgery. His surgeon used a robotic system. The robot’s precise instruments and magnified 3D vision allowed the surgeon to make tiny, precise incisions, resulting in less blood loss and a much faster recovery time for the patient. This is a perfect use case for robotics. For a simple, routine procedure, however, a traditional open surgery might still be faster and more cost-effective. Robotic surgery is a powerful tool that is best suited for specific, complex, minimally invasive procedures.
Stop thinking of robots performing surgery alone. Do understand that they are advanced tools controlled by skilled surgeons instead.
A patient was nervous when she heard her surgery would be “robotic.” She had an image of a robot operating on her autonomously. The surgeon explained that the robot is not autonomous. It is a highly advanced tool that he controls from a console a few feet away. The robot’s arms translate his hand movements into smaller, more precise movements inside the patient’s body. The surgeon is always in complete control; the robot is just a very sophisticated scalpel.
The #1 secret for how surgical robots are improving patient outcomes.
The secret is not just the robot’s precision, but its ability to enable a minimally invasive approach. A traditional gall bladder surgery required a large, open incision. With a robotic system, the surgeon can perform the same procedure through a few tiny, keyhole-sized incisions. This minimally invasive approach is what leads to the biggest benefits for the patient: significantly less pain, less scarring, a lower risk of infection, and a much faster return to normal activities.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about surgical robots being “more skilled” than human surgeons.
The lie is that the robot itself is a better surgeon. The robot has no skill or judgment. It is a tool, and its effectiveness is entirely dependent on the skill and experience of the human surgeon who is controlling it. A highly skilled surgeon will get better results with a robot than they would without one. But an inexperienced surgeon will still be an inexperienced surgeon, even with a fancy robot. The skill always resides with the human, not the machine.
I wish I knew this about the steep learning curve for surgeons to master robotic surgery systems.
As a patient, I was excited that my surgery would be done with a robot, assuming it was automatically better. I wish I had known that there is a significant learning curve for surgeons to become proficient with these complex systems. A surgeon who has performed a thousand robotic procedures will likely have much better outcomes than one who has only performed ten. Understanding the surgeon’s experience level with the specific robotic platform is an important factor for a patient to consider.
I’m just going to say it: The future of surgery is robotic.
While the technology is still evolving and is not yet appropriate for every procedure, the trend is clear. Robotic systems provide surgeons with enhanced vision, greater precision, and the ability to perform complex procedures in a minimally invasive way. As the technology becomes more advanced, less expensive, and more widely available, robot-assisted surgery will move from being a specialized tool to being the standard of care for a huge range of surgical procedures.
99% of patients make this one mistake when they hear their surgery will be “robotic”.
The most common mistake is being so focused on the “robot” that they forget to ask the most important questions about the surgeon and the procedure itself. They will be wowed by the technology but will forget to ask their surgeon fundamental questions like, “How many of these specific procedures have you performed?” “What are your personal complication rates?” and “What are the alternative treatment options?” The technology is just a tool; the experience and judgment of the surgeon are what truly matter.
This one small action of asking your surgeon about their experience with the robotic system will change your peace of mind forever.
A patient was feeling anxious about her upcoming robot-assisted surgery. She took one small action: at her pre-op appointment, she asked her surgeon, “How long have you been using this robotic system, and how many of these procedures have you done with it?” The surgeon confidently explained his extensive experience and his excellent outcomes. This one, direct question and the surgeon’s transparent answer gave the patient a huge amount of confidence and peace of mind heading into her surgery.
The reason robotic surgery is so expensive is because of the high cost of the equipment and maintenance.
A hospital’s surgical robot can cost over two million dollars to purchase. On top of that, the hospital has to pay a massive annual service contract for maintenance and has to buy expensive, proprietary disposable instruments for every single procedure. These high capital and operational costs are a major reason why robotic surgery is still so expensive and is not yet available at every hospital. The high price tag is a significant barrier to wider adoption.
If you’re still having a major procedure done with a large incision, you’re losing the benefits of a faster recovery with robotic surgery.
A person needed a hysterectomy. With traditional open surgery, she would have a large abdominal incision and a six-week recovery period. Her surgeon performed the procedure using a robotic system. The surgery was done through a few tiny incisions. She was able to go home the next day and was back to her normal activities in about two weeks. For the right type of procedure, the minimally invasive approach enabled by robotics can dramatically reduce the pain and recovery time for the patient.
Digital Therapeutics (DTx)
Use prescribed digital therapeutics to manage chronic conditions, not just relying on medication alone.
A patient with Type 2 diabetes was struggling to manage her condition with just medication. Her doctor prescribed a digital therapeutic (DTx). It was an app that provided her with personalized coaching, tracked her blood sugar levels, and helped her to make healthier lifestyle choices. The combination of the medication and the behavioral therapy delivered through the app led to a much better control of her condition than the medication alone could have achieved.
Stop thinking of apps as just wellness tools. Do understand that some are FDA-approved medical treatments instead.
A person dismissed all health apps as being simple, unregulated wellness gadgets. She didn’t realize that a new class of “digital therapeutics” was emerging. These are not wellness apps; they are software-based treatments that have gone through rigorous clinical trials and have been approved by the FDA to treat specific medical conditions. A doctor can now write a prescription for an app to treat depression or substance abuse, just as they would for a pill.
The #1 tip for integrating a digital therapeutic into your daily routine.
The secret is to connect it to an existing habit. A person was prescribed a DTx app for insomnia that involved a daily 15-minute cognitive behavioral therapy session. She kept forgetting to do it. She decided to “habit stack.” She made a new rule for herself: “After I brush my teeth every night, I will immediately open the app and do my session.” By linking the new, desired behavior to an already established daily habit, she was able to make the use of the digital therapeutic a consistent and automatic part of her routine.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about digital therapeutics being “unproven”.
The lie is that because they are new, digital therapeutics are just experimental, unproven technology. The reality is that for a DTx to get FDA approval, it has to go through the same kind of rigorous, randomized controlled trials as a traditional drug. The company has to provide strong scientific evidence that their software provides a real clinical benefit for a specific condition. A prescribed DTx is not an unproven wellness app; it is an evidence-based medical intervention.
I wish I knew this about the potential of DTx to treat conditions like ADHD and insomnia when they first came out.
When I first heard about digital therapeutics, I thought they would only be for simple things like diet and exercise. I wish I had known how powerful they could be for more serious conditions. I later learned about a DTx that was an FDA-approved video game designed to improve attention in children with ADHD. I learned about another that was a prescribed app that was clinically proven to be as effective as medication for treating chronic insomnia. The potential applications are much broader than I ever imagined.
I’m just going to say it: Digital therapeutics are a new class of medicine.
For centuries, medicine has come in the form of pills, injections, or surgeries. We are now at the beginning of a new era where medicine can also be delivered in the form of software. A digital therapeutic is not just an app; it is a new modality of treatment. This “third class” of medicine, alongside traditional pharmaceuticals and medical devices, has the potential to transform how we treat a huge range of chronic conditions, especially those with a significant behavioral component.
99% of patients make this one mistake when their doctor prescribes a digital therapeutic.
The most common mistake is not taking it as seriously as they would a traditional medication. A doctor prescribes a DTx app for a patient. The patient downloads it but then doesn’t use it consistently because “it’s just an app.” They wouldn’t treat a bottle of pills the same way. For a digital therapeutic to be effective, it must be used with the same level of adherence and consistency as any other prescribed medical treatment.
This one small action of setting reminders to use your DTx app will change its effectiveness forever.
A person was prescribed a digital therapeutic for anxiety that involved daily exercises. She was busy and would often forget to use the app. She took one small action: she went into the app’s settings and enabled daily push notification reminders. This simple, automated nudge was enough to keep her on track and ensure that she was consistently engaging with her treatment plan. Just like any other medication, adherence is key, and simple reminders can make a huge difference.
The reason your digital therapeutic isn’t working is because you’re not using it as prescribed.
A patient was complaining that the digital therapeutic for his back pain wasn’t working. His doctor looked at his usage data and saw that he was only opening the app once a week, instead of doing the daily 15-minute sessions as prescribed. The problem was not with the treatment; it was with his adherence to the treatment plan. A DTx is not a passive pill you swallow; it is an active therapy that requires consistent user engagement to be effective.
If you’re still not asking your doctor about digital therapeutics, you’re losing out on innovative treatment options.
A person was struggling with a chronic condition and was frustrated by the side effects of her medication. She felt like she had run out of options. She didn’t know that there might be a new, FDA-approved digital therapeutic available for her exact condition that could be used as an alternative or a supplement to her current treatment. As this new class of medicine grows, it’s important for patients to be proactive and ask their doctors about all of the available treatment options, including the digital ones.
Health Data Privacy (HIPAA)
Use your HIPAA rights to access and control your medical records, not just assuming your data is protected.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) doesn’t just protect your data; it gives you the right to access it. A patient wanted to get a copy of her medical records from a hospital. The hospital made the process slow and difficult. She knew her rights under HIPAA and made a formal request, citing the law. The hospital was then legally obligated to provide her with a complete copy of her records in a timely manner. HIPAA empowers patients to be active participants in their own healthcare.
Stop sharing your health information with apps that are not HIPAA-compliant. Do read the privacy policy before you sign up.
A person downloaded a free wellness app to track her symptoms. She didn’t realize the app was not a healthcare provider and was not covered by HIPAA. The app’s privacy policy stated that it could sell her “anonymized” health data to third parties. She was unknowingly sharing her sensitive health information with a data broker. Before using any health app, it’s crucial to check if it is HIPAA-compliant and to understand how it will use your data.
The #1 secret that health tech companies don’t want you to know about how they use your “de-identified” data.
The secret is that “de-identified” or “anonymized” health data can often be re-identified. A health tech company will collect your data, strip out your name and address, and then sell the “anonymized” dataset to a pharmaceutical company. However, researchers have shown that by combining this dataset with other publicly available information, it’s often possible to link the “anonymous” health data back to a specific individual. The promise of perfect anonymization is often a myth.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about HIPAA protecting all of your health data.
The lie is that HIPAA protects all of your health-related data. The reality is that HIPAA only applies to “covered entities”—your doctor, your hospital, and your insurance company. It does not apply to a huge number of other companies that collect your health data. The data you enter into a consumer wellness app, the health-related things you search for online, and the information you post on a patient forum are generally not protected by HIPAA.
I wish I knew this about the difference between data protected by HIPAA and data collected by consumer wellness apps.
I used a consumer app to track my diet and exercise. I then used a patient portal from my doctor’s office. I thought both were “health apps” and had the same privacy protections. I wish I had known the critical difference. The data in my doctor’s portal was protected by HIPAA. The data in the consumer wellness app was not. That company was free to sell my data to advertisers and data brokers, a fact that was buried deep in their privacy policy.
I’m just going to say it: Your health data is incredibly valuable, and many companies want to get their hands on it.
Pharmaceutical companies want it for research and marketing. Insurance companies want it to set their rates. Tech companies want it to train their AI algorithms. Your health data—your diagnoses, your medications, your genetic information—is one of the most valuable and sensitive datasets about you. This is why it’s so critical to be aware of who is collecting your health data and how they are being allowed to use it.
99% of patients make this one mistake that puts their health data at risk.
The most common mistake is logging into their official hospital patient portal from an unsecured, public Wi-Fi network, like at a coffee shop. This creates an opportunity for an attacker on the same network to potentially intercept their login credentials or other sensitive information. You should always treat your patient portal with the same level of security as your online banking, only accessing it from a trusted and secure network.
This one small action of requesting an audit trail of who has accessed your medical records will change the way you think about health data privacy forever.
A patient was concerned about the privacy of her medical records. She exercised her right under HIPAA to request an “accounting of disclosures” from her hospital. The hospital provided her with an audit log that showed every single person and system that had accessed her electronic health record. This one small action of requesting the audit trail gave her a powerful and transparent view into exactly who was looking at her most sensitive information.
The reason you’re getting ads for a specific medical condition is because your health data has been compromised or sold.
A person searched online for information about diabetes. A few days later, he started seeing ads for diabetes medication on every website he visited. He hadn’t told anyone about his search. The reason was that his web browsing data, which is not protected by HIPAA, was being tracked and sold to data brokers, who then sold it to advertisers. This “online redlining” based on inferred health conditions is a massive and largely unregulated part of the digital advertising ecosystem.
If you’re still not being careful about where you share your health information online, you’re losing your medical privacy.
A person joined a public Facebook group for people with a specific chronic illness. She shared her personal story and her struggles with the disease. She didn’t realize that the group was public and that everything she posted was indexed by search engines and visible to anyone, including potential employers or insurance companies. Sharing health information online requires extreme caution. Using anonymous accounts and private, trusted communities is essential for protecting your privacy.
Biohacking
Use data-driven biohacking to optimize your health, not just following fads from internet gurus.
A “biohacker” on the internet was promoting a new, expensive supplement, claiming it was a miracle drug. A more scientific biohacker, however, took a data-driven approach. She decided to experiment with a new diet. Before she started, she took a baseline blood test. She followed the diet for a month, tracking her energy levels and her sleep. At the end of the month, she took another blood test to objectively measure the impact of her experiment. Her approach was based on personal data, not on someone else’s unsubstantiated claims.
Stop doing extreme and unproven biohacks. Do consult with a medical professional before making significant changes to your health regimen.
A person read about an extreme “biohack” online and decided to try a multi-day fast without any medical supervision. He ended up feeling sick and dizzy. Biohacking can be a powerful tool for self-improvement, but making extreme changes to your diet, your exercise, or your supplement routine without consulting with a doctor can be dangerous. A responsible biohacker works in partnership with a medical professional to ensure that their experiments are safe and appropriate for their individual health situation.
The #1 tip for getting started with biohacking safely and effectively.
The most important tip is to change only one variable at a time. A person decided to “get healthy” and simultaneously started a new diet, a new exercise routine, and a dozen new supplements all at once. He started to feel better, but he had no idea which of the ten different things he had changed was actually responsible for the improvement. By changing only one thing at a time for a set period, you can isolate the effect of that single intervention and truly understand what works for your body.
The biggest lie you’ve been told about “hacking” your biology overnight.
The lie is that there is a single “hack” that will instantly transform your health and performance. The reality is that the human body is a complex system, and there are no magical shortcuts. A person looking for a quick fix will be disappointed. True biological optimization is not about a single, dramatic hack. It’s about the cumulative effect of dozens of small, consistent, positive habits over a long period of time.
I wish I knew this about the importance of starting with a baseline measurement before I started experimenting with biohacking.
I was excited to try a new supplement that promised to improve my sleep. I took it for a month and felt like maybe I was sleeping a little better, but I wasn’t sure. I wish I had started by first tracking my sleep for a month without the supplement. This would have given me a clear baseline measurement. Then, I could have compared my sleep data from the month with the supplement to the baseline, which would have allowed me to objectively determine if it was actually having a measurable effect.
I’m just going to say it: A lot of what is called “biohacking” is just good old-fashioned healthy living.
The “biohacking” community is full of talk about exotic supplements, red light therapy, and cold plunges. While some of these things may have benefits, the reality is that the most powerful “biohacks” are the boring, old-fashioned ones that your grandmother could have told you about. Getting eight hours of sleep, eating a diet of whole foods, getting regular exercise, and managing your stress will have a far greater impact on your health and well-being than any trendy new gadget or pill.
99% of aspiring biohackers make this one mistake.
The most common mistake is focusing on expensive supplements and gadgets before they have mastered the fundamentals. A person will spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy brain-sensing headband but will have a terrible diet and only sleep five hours a night. This is like trying to put high-performance racing fuel in a car that has a broken engine. You must fix the foundations—sleep, nutrition, exercise—first. The fancy gadgets are for optimizing the final 5%, not for fixing the first 95%.
This one small habit of tracking your inputs and outputs (sleep, diet, exercise, mood) will change your ability to optimize your health forever.
A person felt like her energy levels were random and unpredictable. She started a small habit of keeping a simple daily journal. She would track what she ate, how much she slept, how much she exercised, and her subjective energy level on a scale of 1 to 10. After a few weeks, she started to see clear patterns. She realized that on the days she ate a certain food, her energy was consistently lower. This simple act of tracking gave her the data she needed to make informed changes to her lifestyle.
The reason your biohacking experiments are not working is because you’re not being scientific and systematic.
A person would try a new supplement for a few days, not feel any different, and then quit. His approach was not scientific. A systematic approach would involve defining a clear hypothesis (“This supplement will improve my focus”), taking a baseline measurement, trying the supplement consistently for a set period (e.g., 30 days), and then re-measuring to see if there was a statistically significant change. Without this systematic approach, you are just guessing, not experimenting.
If you’re still not taking control of your own biology, you’re losing the opportunity to feel your best.
A person felt sluggish and unfocused most of the time. He just accepted it as his normal state. His friend, a biohacker, saw his health as a system that he could actively optimize. Through careful experimentation with his diet, his sleep schedule, and his exercise routine, he was able to significantly improve his energy levels and his mental clarity. The core ethos of biohacking is one of empowerment: you don’t have to be a passive passenger in your own body; you can be the driver.