We live in the future. And you know it’s true. This past weekend I was watching some reruns of shows from my childhood. I saw the Jetsons. I saw Star Trek. And that’s when it occurred to me, we live in the future.I watched as Mr. Spacely called George Jetson on his television. Well that’s what we thought it was at the time. Little did we know that there would be Skype, Google Hangouts and FaceTime that would allow us to talk to someone face-to-face miles away or just around the corner. We can now see and converse with others without leaving our homes. Without leaving our offices. At the convenience of the caller and at the convenience of the one called. I saw Star Trek and I’m sure it’s occurred to you before now, that the “communicator” in the hand of Mr. Spock or Captain Kirk was actually a lot like a smartphone. Spock’s ability to turn that handheld device into something that would read the environment or Dr. McCoy’s ability to use it, or something like it, to scan a body was beyond belief. Now we have apps that power our iPhones and Android devices to do similarly futuristic things.Look, it’s easy to get bogged down in the rules and regulations of an industry. They’re there to protect us all. Comply. But what if we allow our imaginations to lead for a minute as it relates to the part of doctoring that really matters to us most, patient engagement.We’d find ways to connect with those who can’t get from their homes and to our offices. What if we find ways to empower patients to tend to themselves, to know more about the environment that they’re in and how it affects their health?We’d have smarter patients and better health outcomes.Okay enough of the hyperbole it’s time to get real. We live in the future. But we practice too much in the past.So here’s what a savvy doctor’s going to do this year: tap into that Jetsons television thing and enable patients or colleagues to communicate via Skype or Apple’s FaceTime to explore what needs to be explored.  My twitter-friend, Dr. Howard Luks (@HJLuks on Twitter), says that he finds this approach to telemedicine useful in consulting with his patients and would invite conversation, by FaceTime no doubt, with doctors who might be trying to find their way toward the future.Speaking of exploration, savvy doctors will learn how to use mobile devices and apps that run on them to help patients communicate with their doctor and to help the patient and doctor know more about the environment that they are in and how such circumstances affect their well-being.Last March I met Dr. Daniel Kraft, MD, (@daniel_kraft on Twitter) at SXSWi (South by Southwest Innovation conference). He was there to speak on healthcare innovation powered by smartphones. It was cool. And it would have seemed like “future talk” were it not for the number of people in the room already using one or more of the diet, exercise, sleep monitoring, cardio, diabetes and anxiety management apps he spoke of there. Look, George Jetson would get out on the now ever so commonplace treadmill to exercise his dog. Maybe this is the year to exercise your medical practice. Maybe this is the time to rethink patient engagement so that we can get off this crazy thing called the status quo and into the future. Some of us are already there.Tim C. Nicholson is the President of Bigfish, LLC. His Memphis-based firm connects physicians, clinics and hospitals to patients and one another through healthcare social media solutions, branding initiatives and websites. His column, “Hey Doc”, appears here monthly. Find him on twitter @timbigfish or email tim@gobigfishgo.com