I didn't watch the recent reports on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act on TV as I was at work, but did follow along through the web, instant messaging, Facebook and Twitter.

When consumers think of healthcare, unfortunately what probably comes to mind more often than not is: lack of access, frustration, long waits for test results, and a general vagueness and ambiguity about one's own healthcare information. For an industry that is so vital and deals in a subject of paramount importance in every consumer's life, that's a shame. It's even more of a shame when you consider how unnecessary that obfuscated information flow is. The technology exists to make communication and personalization more feasible than ever. Healthcare providers and institutions should be in a rush to embrace it, not just …

In today's fast-shifting patient-centric world, do we know what patients with serious diseases really want when it comes to information about their health? And are pharmaceutical companies listening?

"Grass roots" and "going global"-two terms that not so long ago were seemingly in separate camps. In people's minds, grass roots movements happened at a local level and were often thought of as occurring naturally, even spontaneously. Mention going global, and people most likely thought in terms of international trade and finance, international integration-processes that happened over time.

This past March at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, one of the world's renowned futurists, Ray Kurzweil, declared "health" an information technology. The genome is complete, and the era of personalized medicine has begun. Biology will begin to adhere to his famous "Law of Accelerating Returns."

The effect social media has had on society and world culture is undeniable. We have witnessed social networks help lead to the downfall of dictatorial regimes in the Middle East. They have been facilitating like-minded audiences across the world to collaborate for good. And, of course, it has dramatically changed how we communicate with our friends and family, as well as businesses and organizations. The healthcare industry is no stranger to social as many organizations have already leveraged it in many successful ways. See below five examples of how social is helping the healthcare industry.

Take a shot at an inside-outside approach to thought leadership.

The influence of the Latino culture can be witnessed in many facets of American life today - from the foods we eat to the music we hear to the faces we see on television and movie screens across the country. With Census figures reporting that the Hispanic population will account for most of the U.S. population's growth throughout the decade, Hispanics' sphere of influence will only increase. And nowhere can this influence be potentially most felt than in your company's bottom line.

For years, many myths about chronic patient care and communications have hobbled our ability to offer the optimum supportive information. Through years of work with leading healthcare companies, I have identified some truths about patients and caregivers that may surprise you.

There are many factors that drive patients to the doctor's office, but-ultimately-the doctors are the gatekeepers of patients' prescription drugs. To achieve blockbuster success, pharmaceutical companies need to have physician ambassadors who fully understand their product and its benefits to increase their likelihood of prescribing it. The same holds true for recruiting patients for clinical trials. Clinical development teams spend considerable resources to drive patients to the physician's office to recruit them for a clinical trial. Once the inquiry is forwarded to the site, however, the pharmaceutical company must rely on the staff at the doctor's office to "sell" its …