Justin Donald Leader

I am 32 years old.  2 years ago, I had a colonoscopy.  This was almost 20 years before the age when one is expected to experience what I can describe only as a pain in the rear.  At the time I was looking for answers from my primary care physician regarding ongoing stomach pain.  Fast forward a few months later: a very costly colonoscopy, followed by an equally costly endoscopy, “discovered” that my stomach discomfort was merely acid reflux.  The cause, you might ask?  My love affair with very spicy wings, burritos and India Pale Ale.  Somehow no one thought to ask me basic questions about my diet.  While at the time I accepted that this was all just part of the medical discovery process, the idea didn’t hit that it was perhaps unnecessary till a few weeks ago when I heard Al Lewis make the following observation:   “Just because its healthcare doesn’t mean it’s good for you”.

Every year I enjoy the lineup of speakers that the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health brings to its audience for the annual healthcare symposium.  This year Jessica Brooks and her team did not fail with what I feel was by far their most engaging and entertaining speaker ever, Al Lewis.  Al Lewis is the CEO of Quizzify.  As a consultant, he is widely acclaimed for his expertise in population health outcomes and strategy, and in 2013 was named one of the “unsung heroes changing health care forever”. As a validator of outcomes, he has been able to obtain Gold Standard validation for many of his clients, and Quizzify, from the Intel-GE Validation Institute .

As an advocate for my clients I had a personal mission post-session to find Al, sit him down and talk with him not only about healthcare but also regarding his ingenious tool for providing wellness for employees, not doing it to them.   Consumer health education is very high on that list, especially when delivered inQuizzify’s  “Jeopardy®-meets health education-meets-Comedy Central” format.

Al, it’s obvious to me that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there in healthcare. As a person who worked in Pharma calling on doctors, has a Masters in Exercise Science, was a Personal Trainer and now in my role dealing with all things benefits related, I would like to think I know a thing or two on the topic.  I took a sample quiz on Quizzify’s web site today and realized that I know nothing about what I thought I knew so much about!! I am humbled.

You’re not alone.  I eat, sleep and drink healthcare, and when I started assembling this knowledge base and quiz, I couldn’t believe how what I didn’t know had hurt me through the years.  I too had recurring stomach pain years ago.  The doctor put me on Zantac and scheduled an upper GI series, which involves drinking some clay-like substance that, as they say on TV, is not available in stores, and then having a ton of images taken.  But the Zantac worked almost immediately and it didn’t occur to me or the doctor that the subsequent test was therefore unnecessary, and no doubt full of radiation.

How often are you finding this is the case?

Researchers estimate that about a third of things that get done to Americans simply should not be done.  I can’t tell you how many times people take the Quizzify quiz and write to me to say:  “I was just about to get a … before I learned that…”.   The sad stories are when someone takes the quiz a bit too late, like: “My 12-year-old just got a CT scan.  I wish I had known they have 500 times as much radiation as an x-ray.”   Kids in particular should not be getting CT scans absentreally good reasons because their cells are still dividing.

How can Quizzify help an employee for instance prevent a film crew from entering their body cavities when it is not needed?  

In three ways. First, specifically for your issue, you would have learned that active-culture yogurt solves an amazing percentage of chronic indigestion issues.  I myself got off Zantac when I almost literally bumped into a Dannon salesman who suggested Activia and gave me coupons.  Second, employees learn to stop demanding medical stuff just because they can, like antibiotics, CT scans and so on.   Third, in general, we teach employees to bite back, by asking questions like:  “If I have stomach pain, what are the odds that a colonoscopy will tell us anything useful?”  Doctors are not expecting patients to know anything or even ask questions. You’d be amazed at how fast they cave when you do.

[To be continued…we will ask Al about more ways to avoid harms — including harms from your very own wellness program — and how to avoid them.  He’ll also share more of his stories of people being overdoctored almost beyond belief. And yet these things could happen to you.]

You can learn more about Quizzify right here, including the demo quiz and the unique 100% guarantee. Or write to Al@Quizzify.com .  Or you can live on the edge, and do both.