Posts Tagged ‘Health 2.0’
Revolution Health Marks One Year
April 30, 2008
I had the opportunity to be on a conference call with Steve Case last week on the one year anniversary of Revolution Health. In his usual smooth presentation, he presented some of the features which have made the site a success:
- Anchored with trusted content, link it to consumers personal health concerns
- The limitation of search engine in finding health information (aka, Google?)
- Consumer-centricity
- Use technology as an integrating force
- More interested in what people do with a personal health record, not just an electronic filing cabinet
- Providing actionable information
- A goal of eventually reducing cost of healthcare
One new initiative he discussed was Maternal Health -“Mom Advocacy” – will be launched soon.
You have to give them credit for providing a unique model of providing content and an expanding list of health tools and channels. Acquisitions have helped like Care Pages but the key has been their ability to integrate these features into a good user experience.
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Web 2.0 Conferences
April 22, 2008
Two upcoming conferences worthy of note:
- Health 2.0 User-Generated Healthcare – October 21st – 23rd at the Marriott San Francisco. The agenda looks like a good one: Future of Health 2.0, Wellness 2.0, consumer genomics, business models, and more. Check out the full agenda. Very limited registration spots this time.
- Cleveland 2.0 – an initiative begun by Case Western Reserve University to apply Web 2.0 to all kinds of non-profit initiatives in Cleveland. In addition to the seminar including Anthony D. Williams, coauthor of Wikinomics, the conference will be simulcasted on Second Life.
The Top 100 Open Source Software Tools for Medical Professionals
April 17, 2008
100 sounds like an exhaustive list but it also demonstrates the extent of tools available to health care. While some of these are definitely healthcare specific, others are general software tools – everything from antivirus to open office. Surprisingly, the category of “storing patient information” includes many open database models which most healthcare providers would not see as secure enough by HIPAA standards. There are patient-specific tools as well. Worth a review and perhaps a selective trial for some of these.
Share this:Newly Announced Employer Wellness website
April 16, 2008
Limeaid is a new service for employer health and wellness with many of the features you would expect – Health Risk Assessment and wellness tools, but promises a more fun approach to the topic. The primarily green graphics are engaging and have a slightly different twist (sic) such as assessing energy level and giving tips to improve this. It includes such tools as behavioral coaching, biometric screen and offers these online, onsite and via mobile devices.
Looks to be a pretty complete offering in an attractive package. Will have competition from many others including the big players like Revolution Health.
Share this:Complaint about Social Networking – Health 2.0
April 15, 2008
In response to the NY Times Magazine article on Health 2.0, one person with MS wrote in that, “More than anything, I found it to be a hypochondriac’s virtual theme park.” This person also did not appreciate the label “patient”. While many people benefit from Health 2.0 style social networking, another writer questioned whether an anonymous user could create an account and then post an amazing recovery based on a specific drug. These are valid concerns which need to be addressed within Health 2.0 to maintain trust with these sites and avoid abuse.
Share this:New Products – Healia Communities, Keyose and WikiEcho
March 31, 2008
Healia, the vertical health search, has launched a community site. The user interface is very appealing. The site enhances the already strong search tool with member journals, communities and ask an expert. This combined with the Healia Guides, makes the site a comprehensive tool for health which more consumers should take advantage of.
Keyose is a personal health record promoting security up front with the option of printing out a health card for emergencies. It may be easy to sign up but the tour is rather limited and could use more screen shots and descriptions. The accompanying blog emphasizes security issues as well.
WikiEcho is a wiki focused on echocardiolography and other cardiovascular related medical issues focussed on medical professionals. It includes several articles and diagrams with links to other sites for more information.
Some links remain to be completed. They have a blog and Facebook page. It would be helpful if the site had more about who is sponsoring and editing the site and should like to related wiki – AskDrWiki.com.
Share this:CDC Explores Social Networking to Promote PHRs
March 25, 2008
What is the CDC up to and why does it want you to have a PHR? According to an article in HealthcareIT News, they are considering “methods of social health campaigning through such venues as newsgroups, newsboards, instant messaging, blogs, podcasts, Wikis, eGames, social networking, sharing services, mashups, mobile messaging and avatars.” This creative approach brings some privacy concerns but its good to see a government agency looking beyond traditional media for solutions to reaching out on health issues.
Share this:Health 2.0 featured in NY Times Sunday Magazine
March 24, 2008
In the NY Times today, there is a nice article on PatientsLikeMe. The article does a fair job of showing how it goes beyond a traditional social network to an effective learning tool for patients with serious neurologic diseases. One patient’s story is indicative: “He expected the sort of online community he’d tried and abandoned several times before — one abundant in sympathy and stories but thin on practical information. But he found something altogether different:
data.” There is a uniqueness here: “The members of PatientsLikeMe don’t just share their experiences anecdotally; they quantify them, breaking down their symptoms and treatments into hard data. They note what hurts, where and for how
long.”
These quotes indicate the challenge for Health 2.0 – to go beyond adapting Web 2.0 tools to healthcare and create useful sites which can actually modify how patients approach their health and disease.
Share this:Health 2.0 Sites with Prospects
March 12, 2008
From a venture capitalist viewpoint six firms are featured that can potentially “reinvent the doctor-patient” relationship. While more than 30 were featured at the Health 2.0 conference in San Diego earlier this month, this blog, Venture Beat, looks at these six:
- Myca has re-envisioned the display of medical records for the digital age using for one thing, a cloud of tags displaying medical information, See the Doctor 2.0 video
- Carol- the care market place which I have reviewed before
- Organized Wisdom, which utilizes wisdom cards and online chats with physicians (for a small fee)
- American Well which gives you the opportunity to talk to a doctor live – Web 2.0 telemedicine
- Pharmasurveyor which helps you understand your drug regimen and potential interactions (web 2.0 patient safety goals)
- Phreesia – an online patient clipboard. A competitor of NoMoreClipboard.com?
An good mix of Web 2.0 offerings in healthcare which may have significant uses in the clinical setting or home. As the Doctor 2.0 video says, healthcare is stuck in 1974. But the real potential of these single-purpose sites would be in a mashup of several into a comprehensive tool for managing medical conditions.
Share this:First HIMSS, Now Health 2.0
March 5, 2008
The Health 2.0 conference took place in San Diego this week. I was disappointed that I could not attend (started a new job Monday).
Looks like it was a big success – sold out again. Some information is available on the Health 2.0 Blog including a link to a brochure on the Health 2.0 vision which helps articulate where this movement is going.
Videos also available from ICYou again.
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