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.
The Wisdom of Patients – social media in health care
By Jane Sarasohn-Kahn on 24 April 2008 in Uncategorized
One of the best aspects of my work is collaborating across the health/care ecosystem to address how health citizens can deal with health care costs and and care for families. I'm grateful to have collaborated with Fidelity on their research into this issue, which you can access at the link here.
I'm gratified to be named on this updated list of 16 women's voices who are shaping health care. The curator of the list, Dorlee Michaeli, asked the question: "If someone wanted a smarter healthcare LinkedIn feed tomorrow, who should they follow today?" Glad to be one of these voices.
I’m celebrating America’s 250th birthday both patriotically and professionally, honored that the NLM included my 2010 paper, “How Smartphones Are Changing Healthcare for Consumers and Patients” as one of 250 items curated for the digital archive of 250 Years of American Medicine.