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.
Health Populi'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 Health Populi 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.
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.
Health Populi'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 Health Populi 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.
posted by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn at
7:40 AM
7 Comments:
Jane, I want to echo one of the points you make in your very forward-looking report (blogged here): Consumers have led the way in this movement to Health 2.0, and clinicians and health care organizations until now have been lagging behind.
In the online patient networks that I monitor for my research, consumers are really hungry for more-expert voices to join the conversation. What makes this hard for clinicians and health care organizations, of course, is that it is a conversation. Web 2.0 flattens power hierarchies — it's about the information you share much more than it is about the position you hold — and to people whose professional lives have been lived within the vertical power relationships of medicine, the horizontality of that cultural shift is very foreign. (And registers variously as confusing, disrespectful, threatening or at least a waste of time.)
It seems to me that one of the tasks to be accomplished in creating Health 2.0 and beyond is to make entering into that new culture attractive or at least reasonable for health professionals. As you point out, some health care organizations are attempting it — as is the CDC, for instance, in its Health Marketing blog — but so far it looks as though all those efforts are coming from the administrative not the clinical side.
By
Maryn McKenna, At
April 24, 2008 3:54 PM
You stuff is great.
i am traveling now so I will make this short. We are Investment bankers investing in HHC and Telehealth and enjoyed seeing you blog. We want to place small 1-5 million dollar companies into Public ones and become well financed. I will look at this blog often
Rodney Kincaid CEO
www.balmoralcompanies.com
www.balmoralfinancial.com
By
balmoral, At
April 24, 2008 4:42 PM
Excellent report! Tweeted here: http://twitter.com/symtym/statuses/796456817
By
symtym, At
April 24, 2008 11:46 PM
Jane, Great to see all of this in one place and the various stats and refs are much appreciated. Thanks for putting it together.
I wonder if you have any opinions on virtual worlds? While generally similar to some of the 2.0 areas you looked at, they seem to have their own unique benefits.
I've been researching support groups, and other healthcare issues, with Second Life. There is quite a group of folks actively involved in that world.
By
John Norris, At
April 26, 2008 12:32 AM
Unfortunately, many of these online patient networks are just that - read by other "online patients".
I doubt if "healthy" individuals browse the Internet to find specific information on diseases and cures. That would have made prevention so much easier.
Nevertheless, the entry of experts into these online patient forums would provide solace to the ill-informed and those unable to afford expensive health care.
By
Toe Knee, At
April 26, 2008 9:00 AM
For John Norris and others regarding virtual worlds online in health...Second Life is already enabling productive and engaging platforms for lots of people who are managing a broad range of conditions. Dr. Daniel Hoch whom I discuss in The Wisdom of Patients is using Second Life in neurology and mental health. I know of another mental health application that is addressing the needs of returning Iraq War veterans managing post-traumatic stress. For people that are homebound, there are many Second Life communities where folks are sharing stories and simply having fun. These virtual worlds offer yet another medium for sharing and healing. There are some bullish forecasts on Second Life and other "sims" being adopted by people for a variety of uses. As sims go mobile, and as "games for health" continue to be developed, sims (including Second Life and others) will have increasing and intriguing applications in health care. JSK
By
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, At
April 28, 2008 7:23 AM
Excellent report (blogged here) -- thank you! As a Health 2.0 editor and patient blogger, I love the freedom of not having to rely on one physician (however excellent) for all my health care information. I hope some of this energy can be harnessed to expand access to care.
By
Pat Washburn, At
April 28, 2008 9:08 AM
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