The Wisdom of Patients - Social Media In Health Care

People -- citizens, patients, caregivers, "consumers" -- are early adopters of social media in health, compared to other industry stakeholders including providers, plans, payers, and suppliers such as pharmas and medical equipment companies.

This is but one of many findings in my report, The Wisdom of Patients, which was published yesterday by the California HealthCare Foundation.

The report covers the origins of social media in the morphing of Web 1.0 to 2.0; the current state of social media in health; business models, opportunities and obstacles; a glimpse into the fuzzy future of Health 2.0; and, profiles several of the most pioneering figures in health/social media including Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine; Matthew Zachary of the I'm Too Young For This! Foundation; Jack Barrette, founder of WEGO Health and formerly with Yahoo! Health; Neal Sofian of Resolution Health; Dan Hoch, MD, of the Harvard Medical School; and, Ben Heywood, CEO of PatientsLikeMe.

Jane's Hot Points: So many people informed this report. I interviewed over 30 people to listen to a broad range of perspectives, and benefited from the peer review of people like Matthew Holt, Scott Shreeve, and Dmitriy Kruglyak. I thank them all. I am fortunate to have had the California HealthCare Foundation sponsor this research. They are a visionary organization that supports and celebrates new thinking in health, particular in the area of patient self-care and technology.

I look forward to learning from THCB readers' own perspectives on this topic. Please comment on this blog and we can have ongoing dialogue here on the present and future of social media in health.

- Jane Sarasohn Kahn

EDITOR'S NOTE: The CHCF.org web site seems to be down this morning. Hmmm. I wonder if there could be a connection. Such is the power of the mighty Jane Sarasohn-Kahn!

UPDATE: Aha! It seems to be back. Go take a look.

Comments

[Tom OKeefe]

Healthcare sites and provides have been slower to evolve into Web 2.0 applications since nothing can really replace the personal aspect of a doctor's visit. Patients and individuals have been early adopters of social media (blogs & networks) to arm themselves with medical information and support. Over the last couple of years both business and medical institutions have adopted blogs as a form of communication and will eventually adopt social networks as a form of communication.

Though its been a slower field to adopt to Web 2.0 there are a number of great Health 2.0 websites that are arming the patient with medical information before visiting their doctor. infoMedMD is a new web 2.0 application (based in Boston) which uses computer logic to intelligently decipher your medical symptoms into valuable medical information.