By Emily Winslow, JVA Consulting

The executive director and founder of Own Your Own Health (OYOH), Dr. Tiffany Noelle Brown, has a fundamental belief that patients have the right and ability to be active in their health care. As a medical sociologist and former medical school researcher, Dr. Brown conducted multiple quality improvement and patient safety research projects. This led her to start Own Your Own Health in 2010 as a way to help patients and caregivers access the tools and develop the skills they need to be engaged and empowered in their health care.  As a patient advocate and person living with multiple chronic illnesses, Dr. Brown believes that every person has the right and ability to be actively involved in their own health care.

The Problem

During a recent pitch to the “Shark Tank” investors’ panel at JVA’s Social Enterprise Academy, Dr. Brown painted a picture of the problem her big idea seeks to solve. “Think about the last time you saw your health care provider or went with a family member to their appointment. Did your provider ask, “Do you have any questions?” Did you know what to ask? Did you ask anything? Did you walk away and later think, ‘Darn, I wish I had asked… fill in the blank.’ You are not alone!”  Dr. Brown has seen this exact scenario happen over and over throughout her career. Why is this important? Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, quality of care goes up and cost of care goes down! Most importantly, when patients are an active participant in their health care, they are more likely to have better health outcomes!  Although there are many online resources to help patients with questions to ask their health care provider, they are not set up to in a convenient or easy to navigate format, AND they are not available instantly, on your phone, in the moment when you need them.

The Solution

There is a movement called the patient-centered medical home sweeping the health care field. Own Your Own Health plans to be at the forefront of this wave by enabling everyday people to become patient advocates for themselves and their loved ones by using a mobile application that provides them with the right questions to ask when with a health care provider. The application, Patient Advocate in Your Pocket, produced by Own Your Own Health, will be available for a download fee on mobile platforms for $0.99. While Own Your Own Health is still developing the app for consumer use, they have in-house staff dedicated to developing the initial and ongoing question lists. For instance, let’s say your doctor diagnoses you with diabetes. This app would display a list of the key questions to ask your doctor. The questions are developed not only using current medical literature but also using patient and caregiver input so consumers get the best, most-up-to-date consumer-friendly information. OYOH has the expertise to access, understand and translate the technical “medical” jargon into everyday language. OYOH also has experts in-house to work with patients/caregivers/family members/patient advocates to incorporate the consumer voice into the product.

Asking the right questions at the right time becomes simple using the Patient Advocate in Your Pocket app when you are with your health care provider. This tool makes it easy to be actively engaged in your own health care.  In order to gauge the success and impact of Patient Advocate in Your Pocket, Own Your Own Health will assess the volume of downloads and implement feedback paths for customers to rate usefulness, ease and areas for improvement.

Dr. Brown attended JVA’s Social Enterprise Academy in April and is partnering with another participant, The Bridge Group International, to develop a marketing plan. Additionally, Own Your Own Health is looking to partner with other organizations in the medical field that could benefit from an application. You can help Own Your Own Health raise capital to fund the initial development of  Patient Advocate in Your Pocket by “Liking” them on Facebook. If you “Like” Own Your Own Health, they will receive $1 per Like.