Good Content and “Fly” Beats the Competition
By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™
[Publisher-in-Chief]
Last month, Steve Brawner [Steve Brawner Communications, a free-lance journalist for the Medical Business News, Inc., and the publisher of Medical News of Arkansas] contacted me to talk about hospitals, healthcare economics and the current financial dilemma in medical care. The interview will appear, as a special report, in April
But, after discussing answers to his top ten questions, we at the Institute of Medical Business Advisors, Inc www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com posited another interesting query. It was not on any particular subject area of our expertise, but aimed at us as electronic-publishers, reporters and health journalists.
The Future of Journalism
In other words, the question was:
“What do we think is the future business model for health journalism?”
Now, we’ve been mulling this thought over some time now, and our opinion goes something like this:
“We don’t – the old media is collapsing.”
And, while I don’t pity the likes of Chicago billionaire Sam Zell [the so-called “grave-dancer” for his penchant to buy distressed companies on the cheap and revitalize them for profit] – poor Sam – he was a very successful real-estate entrepreneur and the Chairman of Equity Group Investments. He thought this knowledge or luck was transferrable to the publishing industry, it wasn’t.
But, I do feel for distressed print newspapers like the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Chicago Tribune and especially the Baltimore Sun; as a native Balti-moron. I have both a favorite uncle, and older cousin, whose entire careers were spent in the print and ink business, there.
Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/healthcare-experts-versus-health-journalists/
New Media “Fly”
How has this happened? Well, Google destroyed the advertising model for most media, and blogs and social networks have democratized the commentary / opinion playing field to some greater / lesser extent. Think: Mark Zuckerberg [Facebook] of Harvard, whose parents are both physicians – incidentally Mark’s got “fly” – Zell does not. We got the electrons at the ME-P, but little cash.
The Problem
The problem is that not many “new” media outlets, like the Medical Executive-Post, can afford to take on the interesting part of publishing; which is paying real investigative journalists. Think: The Huffington Post. Something I would love to be able to do; as there’s lots of muck to be raked in health economics, finance, administration, health IT; as well as medically focused financial planning, Wall Street and related personal investing activities for doctors – an integrated oeuvre of topics to say the least.
www.HealthDictionarySeries.com
Our Own Investigative Reporter
About the closest we have to a true investigative reporter is Darrel K. Pruitt; DDS. And, although he is no Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein; he does occasionally do a good job. Think: William Mark Felt as FBI agent “deep-throat”.
Of course, as regular readers of the ME-P are aware, Darrell broke the dental profession’s [allegedly dufus] conspiracy with CCHIT [allegedly faux], and regularly reports on the folly of eHRs, eDRs, NPIs and eMRs. Think: citizen doctor journalist.
Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/cchit-is-prejudiced-and-lacks-diversity-%e2%80%93-an-indictment/
Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/avi-baumstein-and-hipaa-compliancy/
Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/03/04/don%e2%80%99t-rush-ehrs/
Assessment
But, when the ME-P gets financially solid enough to hire others, and put them into the mix of expertise, commentary and free-labor entrepreneur punditry we now have on the site; then there’ll be no need for the current newspapers [at least insofar as our covered topic channels are concerned]. Until then; we don’t know what the answer is, but it, like the economy, doesn’t look good for the print media space.
Link: http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable
Disclaimer about HealthcareFinancials.com 
As Editor-in-Chief of the premium subscription, two volume, 1,200 pages, institutional print-guide Healthcare Organizations [Financial Management Strategies], we prefer engaged readers who demand compelling content; old or new media.
www.HealthcareFinancials.com
According to the conventional wisdom expressed above, this printed guide should be a relic of the past, from an era before instant messaging and high-speed connectivity. But, our experience shows just the opposite. Applied healthcare economics and financial management literature has grown exponentially in the past decade and the plethora of internet information makes updates that sort through the clutter and provide strategic analysis all the more valuable.
Info: http://www.stpub.com/pubs/ho.htm
TOC: http://www.stpub.com/pdfs/toc_ho.pdf
Purchase: Call 1-800-251-0381 or email orders@stpub.com
Conclusion
And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. What is our best-of-breed business model for print and the internet? Should we charge for our electronic content – and if so – how much? OR, shall it remain an informal and complimentary companion to the $535 annual print guide? Please opine.
And, please subscribe to the ME-P here; it’s fast, free and secure:
Link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HealthcareFinancialsthePostForcxos
Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm
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Our Other Print Books and Related Information Sources:
Practice Management: http://www.springerpub.com/prod.aspx?prod_id=23759
Physician Financial Planning: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763745790
Medical Risk Management: http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763733421
Healthcare Organizations: www.HealthcareFinancials.com
Health Administration Terms: www.HealthDictionarySeries.com
Physician Advisors: www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com
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Filed under: Book Reviews, Health Economics, Health Insurance, Healthcare Finance, iMBA, Inc., Managed Care, Media Mentions and PR, Practice Management, Recommended Books, Research & Development | Tagged: Baltimore Sun, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Chicgo Tribune, Darrell Pruitt, eDRs, EHRs, EMRs, Facebook, health journalist, Healthcare Organizations, hospitals, iMBA, Inc., journalism, Mark Zuckerberg, Medical Business News Inc, medical clinics, Medical News of Arkansas, NPI, Sam Zell, Seattle Post Intelligencier, William Mark Felt | 1 Comment »
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