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New Report: Health-Focused Social Media At Work

The California Healthcare Foundation (CHCF) has released a timely and interesting report focusing on healthcare social media.  It's titled "The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media." Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of THINK-Health developed the report.  From CHCF's Website:

"Social media on the Internet are empowering, engaging, and educating health care consumers and providers. While consumers use social media -- including social networks, personal blogging, wikis, video-sharing, and other formats -- for emotional support, they also heavily rely on them to manage health conditions.

The Internet has evolved from the information-retrieval of 'Web 1.0' to 'Web 2.0,' which allows people who are not necessarily technologically savvy to generate and share content. The collective wisdom harnessed by social media can yield insights well beyond the knowledge of any single patient or physician, writes report author Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. The outcome of this development is 'Health 2.0' -- a new movement that challenges the notion that health care happens only between a single patient and doctor in an exam room."

Overall, this report provides a great overview of the current state of health-focused social media.  It includes lots of commentary by many of the folks who are pioneering and using new technologies in this space, including my friend Amy Tenderich of Diabetes Mine.  

Those "in the know" will find the report covers some familiar ground, but there are lots of suprises.  It's  valuable primier for those still working to get their heads around this evolving area.  Pick up the report by clicking here. 

Also, many thanks to Sarasohn-Kahn for interviewing me and including my commentary in the report. 

New Government Website Highlights e-Health Success Stories; Case Study Shows Why Mobile Communication Works

Recently the federal government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) launched a new Website, “Health Care Innovations Exchange” that features success stories on how health industry stakeholders are using a range of technologies to improve care.  What’s also interesting is that AHRQ is looking at what failed so that people can learn from others’ mistakes.  

Currently the Website features 100 case studies and will be updated every two weeks.  I believe this site is critically important.  A common mantra of those working in the e-health field is “this sounds nice,” but did it work?  With AHRQ’s new Website we can now learn from what others have done so that we are not constantly reinventing the wheel or simply throwing interventions at the wall to see what sticks.  Having more information does not preclude the need for experimentation and risk-taking, but it makes convincing people of the value of a particular technology much easier if you have a sense of its ROI.  

Make Your Mark: Your Thoughts Needed On How Social Media Can Impact PHR Adoption

In March 2008, I was invited by Janice Nall of the CDC’s National Center for Health Marketing to give a presentation to the American Health Information Community (AHIC) Consumer Empowerment Workgroup. (Disclosure: CDC is an Envision Solutions client.)  The Workgroup is charged with (among other things) helping to encourage the “widespread adoption of personal health records [PHRs] over time.”  The Workgroup has solicited commentary and advice from a range of players in the PHR arena, including Microsoft.  To learn more about the Workgroup’s efforts, please click here.

During the March meeting, I gave a presentation focusing on how Americans have adopted social/interactive media technologies.  In my talk, I discussed how some misconceptions (e,g, the digital divide – at least when it comes to race – is insurmountable) do not stand up to the evidence.  This presentation was designed to introduce the concept that social media can potentially be used to help drive uptake of PHRs.

In this month’s Workgroup meeting, (which took place yesterday) Nall presented some recommendations on how social media can help enhance the functionality and acceptance of PHRs.  Her social media-related recommendations, which you can view here, are:

-Use social media to engage existing and PHR users in the dialogue about the technology
-Engage social media and marketing leaders in the PHR development process
-Develop formal marketing plan to incorporate data into a research-based marketing plan

Here’s where Nall is asking for your help.  There is a lot of knowledge in the blogosphere about PHRs and social media.  Thus, she would like you to weigh in on the recommendations and present other ideas on how social media can improve the acceptance and adoption of PHRs.  If you’d like to contribute to this conversation, please leave a response (as extensive as you’d like) in the comment section below.  I will gather your comments and deliver them to CDC and the Workgroup for their next meeting.  Ultimately, the Workgroup will select certain recommendations, which will be presented to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt.

Thank you in advance for your help.  I look forward to reading your recommendations.

Image Source: NYU Stern School of Business  

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