Microsoft Health Vault PHR and Search
October 5, 2007
In an announcement today, Microsoft lauched Health Vault, their PHR with a catchy name. They did a few things right: coined a name that represents security, partnered with some major health care institutions and applications to add credibility and launched search at the same time. They are also promoting connection to various devices with the tools, offering device drivers. The plan is to allow data transfers from other web tools and health data from providers, according to the New York Times.
This is an interesting offering worth more exploration. I plan to set up an account soon and try out the features. Some of the search features are similar to MedStory which they acquired earlier but display the top hit article, such as, from the Mayo Clinic as well as search results and sponsored results. Try atrial fibrillation, for instance.
And by the way, they beat Google to this market.
Share this:
Medicine 2.0 Blog Carnival
October 4, 2007
I’m on this blog carnival which is hosted by Clinical Cases and Images.
Check out the talk on Health 2.0 posted by The Efficient MD.
Share this:Health 2.0 as a Verb
October 4, 2007
Jane Sarasohn-Kahn writes in her column in iHealthbeat, that “Health 2.0:It’s Not a Noun, Its a Verb, a Movement.” It was good to meet Jane in person at the Health 2.0 conference after reading her columns regularly. She asks Why the interest now? The answer is not one single factor:
- consumers are searching online for health information
- they are building communities online
- there is a demand for transparency
- customers are comfortable with IT and embracing Web 2.0
- learning from health 1.0 (ordinary content websites) and the ability to rapidly and cheaply develop new applications.
Maybe this is something more than a passing trend with this kind of convergence going on.
Share this:Social Networking Models
October 3, 2007
The San Francisco Chronicle posted an article on health 2.0 stating that, “Online health care startup companies are modeling themselves after social networking Web sites.” The article featured:
- Dailystrength.org, which has 500 support groups
- ZocDoc.com for online physician or dentist booking
- RateMDs.com
- ICYou.com the YouTube of health care
- PatientsLikeMe – discuss and track the details of treatment options especially for neurologic illness
Read the complete article here: For these startups, patients are a virtue
Share this:AHIMA to launch PHR campaign
October 2, 2007
The American Health Information Management Association is unveiling a promotion of PHRs to the general public at their annual meeting starting the 8th of October. “AHIMA believes patients should be in control of their personal information and that the association is well-placed to help them develop PHRs.” according to Modern Healthcare. They find that patients with chronic conditions are particularly in need a of a PHR because of the amount of data and paper they must manage. Part of the campaign will be through their website, MyPHR.com. The site is one of the best to educate the general public but stays neutral on the best type of PHR. This is unlike the new HIMSS position statement on PHRs which has specific recommendations, however, these are not yet for the lay public.
Share this:Project Health Design Blog
September 28, 2007
I came across the blog by the Project Health Design of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently. Besides taking note of the Health 2.0 conference, they have interesting posts on RFID PHRS, cell phone access to PHRs and others. A post from August discusses PHR fragmentation. This is certainly a persistent obstacle to adoption. The comments are equally enlightening – the need for connectivity, not more PHRs and perhaps connectivity enabled by xml.
This blog is worth monitoring by RSS – as is the content on the Project Health Design website itself – a portal for PHR information.
Share this:More on Health 2.0 – How the Hairball Got Started
September 27, 2007
Someone early in the conference referred to the healthcare crisis as a hairball. Ethusiastic attendees are determined to find ways to get past the hairball or at least work on the edges. Modern Healthcare reports on this discussion as well as Matthew Holt’s (the conference organizer) statement that “Health 2.0 is just getting beyond the buzzword phase, The
next phase I see coming very rapidly is using tools and technology to connect people with providers.”
Another catch phrase at the conference was data liquidity, according to Neubert of Microsoft, “It’s about how do we connect those source data providers. I think that will be the first form of data liquidity.”
Others talked about how to move beyond content to personalized care.
Neil Versel notes another Matthew Holt perspective: “Holt defined a four-step continuum of health 2.0: user-generated content; users connecting to health care providers; formation of partnerships to reform delivery; and finally, data driving discovery. Most players in this segment are in one of the first two stages.”
And Google’s perspective represented by Missy Krasner: “Consumers are still having trouble sorting through what’s
trustworthy. They need a coach. They need a trusted coach.” Which led to more discussion of trust but in my opinion, not enough.
If Health 2.0 is going to affect the core of healthcare – the patient-provider relationship – trust and enbaling personalized care must be the top priorities.
Share this:More Blog Posts on the Health 2.0 Conference
September 25, 2007
- Neil Versel’s Healthcare blog has links to the vendors represented at the conference
- Esther Dyson summarizes what she said in the summary panel at the conference (one of the highlights of the conference for me was to meet Esther Dyson – by the way, she was recently on Charlie Rose)
- A Google blog search will lead you to many more postings about Health 2.0 and the conference aftermath.
Health 2.0 Conference Summary – From the Consumer Perspective
September 25, 2007
One of the most articulate summaries of the Health 2.0 conference is by Amy Tenderich, Blogger/Journalist DiabetesMine. She sees real positive outcomes of this movement, especially for diabetics. She cites Google’s Missy Krasner as saying “it’s not enough for that company to build safe place for online medical records; people have to be able to DO something with these records. The records have to be actionable, and as yet, they’re still “a long way from delivering the value that consumers want” in health.”
She also notes the importance of social networks in chronic illness and the essential role of trust.
Share this:Health 2.0 Viral Enthusiasm and Cash Value
September 25, 2007
On the HealthcareIT Blog, Jack Beaudoin reports on some of the rock and roll enthusiasm of the Health 2.0 conference which he readily compares with the dot com boom but with a caveat. The value of the products, whether social networking or search, must be associated with real value that translates into cash value.
The creative ideas on these sites have been successfully launched but must generate cash with a viable business plan to survive. They should attrach venture dollars but need longer term plans as well. I think there were people in the room who could do this and hope that they will succeed.
Share this: