Brain Lesions Cancer

Back then, patients just came to the hospital, and the hospital management basically followed direction from the doctors-who also sat on the hospital's board.

Brain Lesions Cancer

Today, it's a exiguous different...

As Dr. William Hanson, author of The Edge of Medicine: Technology That Will convert Our Lives notes, "we are in a healing evolutionary arms race."

And the biggest challenge is that it's all happening so quickly...

"The science of today is the technology of tomorrow."
~ Edward Teller

Whether it's proton beam therapy, healing tourism, telemedical care, or telesurgery... Things are a-changin'.

From his birds'-eye view, Dr. Hanson writes,

"The hospitals of the hereafter will be technologically rich, patient-centered facilities employing cutting-edge electronics, robotic attendants, smart computer software and personalized treatments certainly tailored to each patient, such as gene and stem cell therapy."

Take proton beam therapy. As of yet, it's still only available in a few places in the world--the Perelman center for advanced treatment at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania being one of them.

While available, it ain't cheap... 0 million for this 220-ton device.

But what it does can potentially convert the way cancer is treated forever...

Having had many friends and house members challenged with cancer, I have seen and heard about the tissue damage primary radiation therapy inflicts on its path to shrinking the tumor and killing the cancer cells.

This damage is especially pertinent when the cancer is near vital organs or nerves--think eyes, brain, lungs, esophagus, prostate, anus or colon...

Injury from the radiation to vital areas surrounding the cancer can make matters even worse for the patient: Incontinence and impotence, for instance.

But this is where proton beam therapy could be an innovative alternative.

Here's how Dr. Hanson describes it:

"Unlike x-rays that deliver radiation to all the tissues along the path of the beam, proton beams pass harmlessly through the skin and overlying tissues to deliver their radiation into the target without injuring the surrounding tissues...

Proton beams act like smart weapons. The oncologist uses the coordinates of the tumor, based on imaging data from a Ct or Mri scan, to invent a course of radiation in which the beam is shaped to conform to the silhouette of the lesion. The protons are then energized to the exact level needed to deliver their radiation certainly into the tumor."

What's even more anticipated is what proton beam therapy does to the Dna of the cancer cell...

Where primary radiation treatment "damages" the Dna, the proton beam "so wholly ravages the tumor's Dna that its commonplace mend mechanisms are wholly ineffective."*

But, you strategic marketers ask, how are these kind of healing innovations leading from a healing technology marketing perspective?

Apart from the distinct health benefits, such innovations will allow hospitals and doctor's (i.e. healing gadget customers) to stay competitive.

As Dr. Hanson (wisely) asserts, "Medical centers will try to offer as many different, cutting-edge treatment alternatives as potential because if you have a choice in the middle of going to a hospital that can offer you proton beam therapy or going to a hospital that can't, you're probably going to go to the one with more options."

At the end of the day, innovative healing care = good business.

Moreover, a prerequisite for a successful hospital of the hereafter will be its potential to spend in the new, transformative technologies: computer systems, robotics, tracking systems, potential control...

These innovations are what will allow their healing company to focus on cost-effective, productive treatments and stay viable.*

By strategically incorporating these less obvious, but just as pertinent, points in your marketing communications to your healing gadget buyers, you can position yourself and your company as more than just "another vendor."

You're conveying that while you appreciate their issues with cost constraints, you are also finding at their financial well-being and buyer credit long-term.

In today's increasingly bureaucratic healing gadget buying environment, while these insights may not open the flood gates, they will most certainly position you as a concept leader and trusted adviser to your prospective buyers. That is what helps open doors and shorten sales cycles.

Your thoughts?

How much of an impact do you think healing technology will have on the hereafter of health care as a business?

* Hanson, William Dr. The Edge of Medicine: Technology That Will convert Our Lives. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008