Now that the near-deafening noise surrounding the Affordable Care Act's Healthcare Exchanges has subsided, many Americans are eager to find out what comes next. So far, 8 million people-more than expected-have signed up through the Healthcare Exchanges, the online marketplaces created as part of 2010's ACA. What were their experiences like?

To help patients proactively manage their health, many healthcare providers supplement what they tell patients during appointments with written content. This may include printouts of educational material about their condition, healthy lifestyle tips, or hand-written notes about the patient's condition and treatment plan. Physicians may also refer patients to websites or social media sites, or send emails with additional information.

A cursory view of the pipeline of new pharmaceutical drugs reveals what most healthcare marketers know to be true-that the business has shifted from a few big brands covering large populations (depression, cholesterol) to many smaller brands targeted towards smaller populations. Secondly, pharma companies have long focused on specific therapeutic categories.

Last month, I had a very interesting conversation with well-regarded cancer survivor, patient activist and CEO of the non-profit Stupid Cancer, Matthew Zachary. This conversation took place just after a presentation Matthew delivered for an all-Web digital health summit I produced. Anyone who knows Matthew recognizes that he is direct, uncompromising and passionate about his mission: helping young adult cancer patients, survivors and their families find support, encouragement and resources.

At Apple's recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the company announced their much-anticipated foray into healthcare technology with "Healthkit", a platform technology promising to be the glue to our fragmented, increasingly data-driven health experiences. HealthKit is basically an API, a pipe capable of connecting health data collected from a third-party source, such as a wearable device or electronic medical record (EMR), to another source, such as Apple's new user-facing app called "Health."

There's an incredibly powerful video that has been circulating socially over the past year or so created by Cleveland Clinic, called "Empathy: The Human Connection To Patient Care." It provides a moving reminder not to assume that we know what patients and other people are going through. As I observe and discuss with others the rapidly changing healthcare market, it seems to me that many organizations often make that same mistaken assumption as communicators. We assume what our target audiences understand our healthcare brands.

Staying current with new treatment options is essential for physicians, who need to quickly find information to manage patient challenges. We have uncovered another dimension - criticality - when physicians are making their final prescribing decisions. Knowing how channel choices are impacted by criticality can help pharma marketers know which promotional moves to make.