Connecting The Dots of Healthcare

I was told by countless people, “you’ve got to have a blog!” with such enthusiasm it sounded a bit like snake oil.

Well, they were right. I’m now a convert.

“Oh, it’ll take too much of my time!”

That’s what I thought too. Turns out it does take time, but not “too much.”

What’s “too much” anyway?

It’s not so much a measure of time, but rather the return on the investment of the time in busy day when our attention is constantly demanded by a variety of business and personal commitments. The real question should be: “Will a blog give me a good ROI?” For me, it’s a clear “YES!”

This blog has allowed me to reach a broader audience, develop new relationships, gain new clients, and allow people to get to know me better… and me to know them better. It has produced bottom-line results from my speaking/consulting business and my E&M coding and documentation business, and even my personal medical record business. I’ve been asked to share with associations and healthcare groups content on my blog, reaching folks that otherwise I’d never have access to otherwise. The blog has made me, if not a better, certainly a more proficient writer. I’ve made new friends. It’s been a great ROI.

But it may also be creating something nothing short of a miracle.

I have been trying to convince my mom and dad, for years, to buy a computer.

“We don’t have enough room.” “I like writing letters.” “It’s too much of a hassle,” and the litany goes on.

My dad had a computer when they were powered by candles. Think dark ages of computers, when I was in med school. My mom had spent HOURS writing a travelogue. Something crashed, the text wasn’t saved, and THAT was the end of her computer foray. When they’ve visited our home, I’ve been able to get my dad web-surfing, but not Mom. She REMEMBERS the pain of that ancient computer crash and has shunned all my attempts at getting her to revisit computers. No matter that technology has made it easier, safer, cheaper, better, MORE AMAZING. My arguments have made no headway. She’d known about the blog. Even read an article I wrote in Word on my laptop, when I was in Charleston a few weeks ago before I returned home to post it. But there was no budging on the “no-computer” position.

Until yesterday morning.

My brother had printed out a few of my postings to share with Mom and Dad. Mom liked what she read and called me to tell me. But she soon became dissapointed on discovering she only had a few of the postings. She mentioned a topic and I told her I had just written on a similar idea… and read it to her. She like it. A lot. There was silence.

“Mom, if you had a computer, you could read all of these,” I said, giving her the slightest of a nudge through the phone lines.

“Hmmmmm,” she responded with a notable lack of protest.

Always the optimist, I pushed on, sensing a momentary weakness in the anti-computer defense shield, “Mom, if you want, I can order you a laptop that won’t take up too much room and it will have everything you’ll need to read the blog, send emails, receive pictures, and visit the web. It’s really easy now. Technology has improved to make this soooooo easy, and you’ll really like it. With Michael and Eliza going off to school, you can shoot them an email, it’s better than regular mail, more convenient than a phone call, it’s a great way to keep connected with your friends, even Will when he moves to China, with email — it’s simply amazing….”

A long pause.

“Well,” she said, “Maybe…”

“Maybe?” I responded, stunned to not hear an immediate rebuff.

“This might be enough of a reason to think about getting a computer,” she said quietly.

The universe just shifted. I could feel the slight shudder.

I created this blog to help connect-the-dot-of-healthcare. Little did I know it might help connect the dots of my immediate family too.

THANK YOU, BLOG!