Market makes for a healthy obsession.  Marc Andreesen calls it “the most important factor in a startup’s success or failure.”
And there are plenty of market intricacies to ponder but size is a big one (forgive the pun <grin>). 
So I’m prone to comparing, and putting into context.
Benchmarks are key here.  Domestic [...]

Looks like health savings plans, which are aimed at putting health care consumption decisions in the hands of consumers, have joined the ranks of the over-hyped.  Consider the following from Deloitte’s “Financial Foresight” report in January:
Much as individual retirement accounts changed the way many Americans save for their golden years, health savings accounts [...]

Thank goodness we’re starting to see consumer-facing healthcare analytics.  Daily Strength’s user-generated treatment efficacy rankings and Vimo’s procedure comparison shopping tool offer excellent examples of recent entrants’ efforts. 
A week ago, I ran across Who is Sick, a company tackling what I’d call communicable disease geotargeting.  With trivial pursuit-esque pies dotting a city map, the company visually represents the harboring of illness.  [...]

Conehead, originally uploaded by powerbooktrance
A week ago, Market Strategies, Inc. (MSI) announced its findings from a recent survey regarding retail health clinic usage.  The press release leads with a whammy:

12% of retail clinic patients with a primary care physician agree with the statement “retail clinics have mostly or completely replaced my primary care [...]

The Funky Team, originally uploaded by jacq77
Yesterday, The Boston Globe ran an article on reknowned business strategist Michael Porter’s latest healthcare riffs.  Porter, who is perhaps best known as a Harvard Business School professor and co-founder of Monitor Group, and lesser known as #1 on the Thinkers 50 list (beating out Bill Gates for [...]

Dr. Ramona, orginally uploaded by WisDoc
As follow up to yesterday’s post on physician trust, I thought I’d briefly delve into patient advocacy services, a topic that’s received some press as an emerging healthcare service - one to watch, or get involved in if you’re so inclined.
The practice generally involves assisting consumers as they [...]

d-ficient, originally uploaded by tamelyn
It’s an unpopular stance but I’m coming out in favor of doctors who pitch products. The Los Angeles Times ran an article recently about the topic and painted quite the negative picture:
When product sales generate a profit for doctors, this basic rule of medical ethics is [...]

the early bird get’s [sic] the worm, originally uploaded by thomas23
Here’s a piece of marketing copy from the not too distant future: “Tired of Early Birds Getting the Worm? Try <insert treatment here>!” The thought hit me while reading Brad Feld’s recent post on morning routine; he writes:
Some people [...]

Food Supplement Bottle, orginally uploaded by ertessplastic
Over the last couple weeks, the New York Times has put out two articles on “food additives” that offer, I think, an interesting case study for what works and what doesn’t in what will likely be a growing field.
In the first, “Magical or Overrated? [...]

Vice, originally uploaded by ::oscar::
Here’s an unpopular notion: individuals should foot the bill for the harmful external impact of vices.  I’ve recently been thinking a lot about this topic as it relates to healthcare, and recognize that there are going to be some easy, and generally acceptable, inroads and some much more tricky ones.  For example, some employers are asking employees that [...]