Media Coverage
The Business Journal
April 4, 2005
Speaking the patient's language
Authored by Robin Moody
Wired.MD knows it's crucial to speak the language when helping minority groups get a handle on medical issues.
The Portland business develops and delivers patient-education materials via video, Internet and handouts, and helps physicians communicate health information to patients in eight languages.
Medical studies consistently point to health care inequities among minority groups, which gives the task of educating non-English speakers about health conditions a greater urgency, said Dr. Chuck Kilo, chief executive of Greenfield Health of Portland, and a clinical adviser for Wired.MD.
"There is a pressing need throughout health care today to better inform, or in medical parlance, to activate the patient-consumer to self-manage their conditions. We need more tools to do that. Providers don't have the time to sit down with everyone with a condition, and go through the same spiel over and over. Wired.MD fits right into this," Kilo said.
Video is a key medium for delivering health care information because it can improve retention up to 16 times over verbal instructions alone, according to research from the Journal Anesthesia & Analgesia. Wired.MD's internal research also shows physicians using the technology can shave five minutes off visits with English-speaking patients, and 10 to 15 minutes off visits with non-English speaking patients.
Wired.MD has carved out a niche as a health video producer, and further differentiated itself by offering videos in Spanish, Polish, Russian Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and English, that feature native speakers.
"It's unusual for a video production organization to have expertise in clinical areas," said Mark Friess, chief executive officer and founder of Wired.MD. "Organizations can come to us knowing that we appreciate the value of evidence-based medicine and clinical exactness."
Founded in 2000, Portland-based Wired.MD has gained clients for its videos and handouts across the country, mostly hospitals and clinics, but also public and community health libraries and among private employers, say its leaders.
In addition to non-English speakers, the company's videos are also valuable in helping doctors serve the 85 million Americans who either cannot read, or who only have a cursory grasp of written language.
"The illiterate and multilanguage users seeking health information have been underserved for years," said co-founder John Friess, also Mark's brother, who serves as vice president of marketing and sales for the business.
The company has taken time to get off the ground, but CEO Friess expects the business will turn a profit in 2005. Wired.MD does not disclose revenue. Continued growth of its customer base will move it to profitability, he said.
As the business matures, it faces several challenges, according to the co-founders. They must decide which lines of business to pursue, how to scale growth wisely, and how to maintain an innovative edge.
"We are seeing more interest from private employers interested in providing health information videos to employees as part of a health benefit plans," Mark Friess said, and electronic health record companies including GE Health Systems and Epic are integrating Wired.MD videos into clinical records.
In addition, medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies are co-sponsoring videos they want to see produced quickly.
These groups, along with nonprofits, have also approached Wired.MD as a partner on internal projects.
The company also sees opportunity in partnering with businesses that sell and develop closed-circuit TV for hospital use.
Wired.MD employs 17 full- and part-time employees. Its clients pay annually to access a library of 335 videos, 1,340 handouts and a collection of recommended health Web sites.
The videos typically include 3-D images, and a native-speaking individual who acts as an educator, and generally has a background in health care.
The health video company works with regional acting agencies to find talent for its films.
Wired.MD videos are shown in several outlets, including streaming video over the Internet, on closed-circuit TV at hospitals, on hospital Web sites, and through DVD and VHS videos distributed to patients.
"We try to create the highest-quality content possible and develop it into multiple formats so doctors, nurses and educators can deliver the best information to patients," Mark said.
Patients can view the videos at the doctor's office, in community health libraries at a hospital, or at home, with access to an "information prescription," or a code that allows patients to log on and get specific health information at their convenience.
The information can be targeted to patients before or after a procedure or office visit.
Virginia Lundquist, staff development director at Willamette Falls Hospitals, said Wired.MD videos are generally used by Willamette physicians to educate patients about a surgery they are to perform, or to educate about chronic conditions.
"What we know from the literature and from our experience is that patients who have good information about what they can expect when they come to the hospital for a procedure do better afterwards," Lundquist said. "I can't tell you how many patients watch the videos, but they are an educationally sound way of presenting patients with information."
The new version of Wired.MD software, StreaMed 4.0, was introduced in January. It allows individuals to change the educational materials and Web interface into any of eight target languages.
The videos are 7.5 minutes long on average, although some are as short as 3 minutes or as long as 15.
