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Thanks to F. Mark Modzelewski and the others who put together last night's networking and panel discussion in Cambridge! Above you see Steve Krein, me, and Unity Stoakes. I was fascinated by the wide range of companies out there, and got to meet some great people, including Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer.
OrganizedWisdom co-founder and CEO Steve Krein will be among the panelists at the Health 2.0 Northeast forum being held in Cambridge, Mass. today. (Well, tomorrow, but it'll most likely be "today" -- Wednesday -- by the time you read this.)
David E. Williams of the Health Business Blog has a good writeup of the event here. Steve's partner, Unity Stoakes, will be there, and so will I! I'm looking forward to meeting some of the excellent people I've been hearing about as we keep building OrganizedWisdom's quality and reach.
I believe last-minute registrations are still being accepted at healthforum2.com. Hope to see some of you there!
From TechCrunch:
A new study from the University of Southern California’s Center for the Digital Future has found that a growing number of people no longer believe that search results are reliable and accurate.
The survey found that only 51% of people trust information provided by search engines, down from 62% in 2006. Google, as the most popular search engine in the United States, isn’t trusted by nearly half (49%) of the people who use it, an interesting result.
We're working on the problem as it relates specifically to people being able to find the best health information, services, and resources. Imagine if you had an expert doing the searching for you. A real person. Someone to research for you, weed out the clutter, and guide you to only the very best.
That's what we're doing now at OrganizedWisdom Health. Our community of physician-guided health advocates are now taking requests and will create a WisdomCard on any health topic you ask for. A WisdomCard is an organized and vetted set of links on any health topic. Several people are even requesting WisdomCards be created on their doctor, local hospital, and specific health products.
We've been getting tons of requests and our team has been building hundreds of new WisdomCards.
Here's an example of a few WisdomCards recently published:
image courtesy Paul Cleghorn
I used to work in local TV, and I know the pressures on today's local stations. You've got the advertisers clamoring for favorable stories, the business office pushing to cut staff, the staff complaining because there isn't any budget to repair their outdated equipment ... and oh yeah, the Internet stealing the audience.
In that environment, it might be easy to succumb to the temptation to sell out. So I could understand what tempted a station in Wisconsin to make a deal selling the health portion of its newscast to a local hospital. Instead of reporting news to meet their audience's needs, the station committed to featuring one hospital's doctors, programs and facilities, and eliminate all mention of that hospital's competitors. The sellout prompted the station's news director, Glenn Mabie, to quit in protest.
Unfortunately, there aren't many Glenn Mabies in this world, and far too many stations are selling out their health reports. The thing is, audiences aren't stupid. They know the difference between news and puff pieces. And increasingly, they're getting their health information online. That's one reason I'm not in TV anymore -- and one reason I'm proud to be the editor of OrganizedWisdom, a reliable health resource.
That's the conclusion of a new report from iCrossing, as summarized in Jane Sarasohn-Kahn's excellent Health Populi. Among the findings:
Jane then mentions OrganizedWisdom (thank you) among the sites that are forging the way in this area. I particularly like her conclusion:
There are already a cadre of influential health bloggers and social media mavens who are the Patient Opinion Leaders in their disease areas -- whether cancer, diabetes, MS, mental health, HIV, and a long list of other chronic conditions. Just as pharma companies recognize and reward Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) for their knowledge of patients and prescriptions, the Consumer Opinion Leader (COL) will become influential for both other consumers and, increasingly, stakeholders like health plans and pharma companies.
What do you look for when you search for health information online? Is there any particular "patient opinion leader" who stands out for you?
We all may be getting tired of the endless debates and media coverage for the upcoming presidential nominations, but in our opinion there still hasn't been nearly enough discussion about health care policy given the importance these issues have on the daily lives of so many American families.
Our friends at HealthCentral.com have just launched a great new tool that outlines each of the candidates' positions, and lets you see how they rate relative to your own thoughts on the issues. They also have some of their expert bloggers participating. I guess it will be up to us bloggers and Health 2.0 companies to make sure this issue stays front and center...
Go to www.healthcare08central.com to see where your favorite candidates stand.
Connecting online is great, but if you happen to be attending one of these events, we'd love to meet you in person to speak about Health 2.0, trends in health care, and how we may be able to work together to keep improving the health care system.
We're looking forward to speaking at several upcoming conferences...we'll continue to post our schedule as it fills up:
Steven Krein will speak on a panel discussion at the upcoming Health 2.0 NorthEast networking event in Boston, on January 23. Matthew Holt will keynote the event, and Indu Subaiya mentioned she would also be in attendance. (I am hoping to attend as well along with our Editor, Pat Washburn).
Later this month, I'll be speaking at the 7th Annual ePharma Summit in Philadelphia, PA on January 30th. The panel, Social Media, Blogs and User Generated Content: What's Working Today, What Will Work Tomorrow?, will be moderated by Bob Harrell, Director, eMarketing, SHIRE PHARMACEUTICALS.
Panelists include Jack Barrette, CEO, MOVINGHEALTH; Brad Aronson, Executive Vice President, aQUANTIVE, parent company of AVENUE A|RAZORFISH; Melissa Davies, Research Director, Healthcare Practice, NIELSEN BUZZMETRICS; Daniel Palestrant, MD, CEO, SERMO; Kevin Nalty, Consumer-Generated Media Expert, Formerly with J&J and Unity Stokes, Co-Founder and President, ORGANIZED WISDOM.
If we don't see you at one of these events, feel free to follow our OrganizedWisdom Twitter feed and we will keep you updated with our posts.
A new drug, Lyrica, has been approved for fibromyalgia -- a disease some doctors don't even think exists. (See New York Times story.) Chances are you know someone with fibro. Find out more about its mysteries -- what it is, how it's treated -- with the quality resources listed on the Fibromyalgia WisdomCard.
A lot of people think they have the answers to Type 2 Diabetes. For most people with the disease, there's no one right answer, though it's pretty clear that exercising and staying away from junk food are good ideas. OrganizedWisdom has a WisdomCard on Type 2 Diabetes that offers high-quality, physician-reviewed health resources to help you explore your options.
There's no truth to the rumor that you can lower your cholesterol by looking at the Statins WisdomCard. However, you can find the best resources to help you understand these cholesterol-lowering drugs and learn more about combining lifestyle changes with medication to lower your risk of a heart attack. If you or someone you know has diabetes, reading up on these drugs may be particularly useful in light of today's news recommending statins for diabetics.
Do you know the difference between "good" and "bad"? The Cholesterol WisdomCard offers you the best resources on how cholesterol works, how to prevent problems, and who needs to pay attention to those numbers.
It may have been a while since you read up on HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. What's new in research and treatment? Are you taking the right preventive steps, and giving your kids the right messages? The HIV WisdomCard can put you on the right track with reliable, physician-reviewed information.
You may have seen the Simpsons episode where Homer and Bart get leprosy, but what is it really? Find out more with the Leprosy WisdomCard.
Have people in your life commented on your snoring? You may well have sleep apnea, a common ailment that causes the sleeper to stop breathing many times in the night without waking up. Of course, if you're doing all that, you're not getting good sleep, which can lead to lost productivity, decreased mental and physical function, depression, and (yes) sleepiness. Find out more about sleep apnea and how to treat and prevent it with the human-guided, physician-reviewed resources on the Sleep Apnea WisdomCard. (Photo: Andrew Stawarz)
It's great to be recognized for the important strides we are making to help patients navigate the complex and ever-changing world of online health information. It makes it especially great when an article written by a doctor points out that physicians themselves need just as much help figuring out the online health landscape.
Check out a great Health 2.0 article today "Is there a doctor in the mouse?" by Rahul K. Parikh, MD in online magazine Salon.com.
Dr. Parikh frames the problem:
The medical establishment...has taken way too much time to understand that the Internet is a disruptive innovation that has overturned the status quo. It has leveled the playing field between expert and novice -- in this case, doctor and patient. While some doctors ... may find that challenge threatening to their status as an expert, the Web is now providing the kind of information doctors need to be aware of if we want to continue to be good at our job, and the kind of trends that can help patients be smarter and healthier.
He describes the difference between OrganizedWisdom and Google
One example is Organized Wisdom, a search engine for medical issues. What gives it an edge over general search engines like Google and Yahoo is that its content is vetted by health professionals. If you type "autism" into Organized Wisdom, you'll receive an organized set of links to reliable sites that allow you to look at the symptoms of autism, potential treatments, research studies, and support groups. If you do the same using Google, the first site you'll see is Autism.org. If you click the link, you'll be taken to a page sponsored by groups preaching that vaccines are unsafe and favoring "alternative" treatments that are untested and potentially dangerous.
He wraps it up nicely...
Patients who, prior to a visit, consult information online can better share in the decision-making process with their doctor. Afterward, they can go online to find information that reinforces their decision or introduces them to viable alternatives.
My friend's 4-year-old has autism. This little girl is intelligent and adorable, and her parents are smart, loving people who will do what it takes to help her live the best life possible. Yet it was a relief when their second daughter was evaluated and found not to have autism.
The Autism WisdomCard offers high-quality resources on autism to help you better understand this mysterious disorder, including the important early signs that can help get a young child into treatment as soon as possible. You'll also find links to recent news about autism, including a new study refuting the belief that mercury in vaccines causes the disorder.
For arguments sake, let's say 2006-ish was the year that Health 2.0 was born. At least that's when the first new companies really started to take shape in the space and promote innovation in health care in a significant way. Besides our own OrganizedWisdom.com, companies like Sermo, DailyStrength and Revolution Health all launched new offerings.
But it was 2007 that turned Health 2.0 into a movement (a moment noticed by all who attended the Health 2.0 Conference last September in San Fransisco) and laid the foundation for what's to come over the coming years: an explosion of innovation, investment, and mass market adoption that if we have anything to do about it will bring us all new/better health care services, bring transparency to our perplexing system, and help us reduce health care costs.
So what's in store for the Health 2.0 movement in 2008?
2008 is going to be an important year for the Health 2.0 movement.
That's because we are seeing a number of new products and services launch, get funded and strike new deals. Perhaps more importantly, several "start-ups" that have been around for a few years, will start to hit their stride, gain traction, and refine their business models. But the biggest trend for this movement may be the integration of Health 2.0 services and ideas with the health care "establishment" -- large health care providers, networks, health plans, organizations and information providers as an example.
Companies from the so-called old guard in health care are already starting to take notice of Health 2.0 from our own observations, but in 2008 they will much more actively get involved, and begin to learn how to integrate and innovate the ideas, thinking, and services that have been brewing these past few years.
Dozens of new online health companies were launched in the past 24 months and if you were at the Health 2.0 Conference last September, then you too felt the momentum that has been building ever since in our space.
We're feeling these trends take shape in big ways at our own OrganizedWisdom Health, but we know it is still very early. There's a lot of work to do in 2008 (and 2009, 2010, etc.) and we look forward to helping bridge the gap between Health 2.0 and "Health Care".
Great news: Our WisdomCard library is growing faster than planned as a result of the success of our Guide Program and the experts who have joined our team in the past few weeks. We now have over 1,000 health topics covered and our team of full and part-time guides and physicians are already covering hundreds of new health topics each week.
As you may have noticed, we're beginning to feature some of our WisdomCards on this blog as well as on our new Twitter feed here.
What we're really excited about, is we are starting to introduce new types of WisdomCards that we think will be very helpful to anyone searching for health information of involved in health care (medical professionals, patients, health organizations, health marketers, foundations, etc.).
So now as a new service, you can now request we create a WisdomCard on
any health condition, treatment, doctor, hospital, health product, or
health related company or organization and our team of physician guided search advocates will do the searching for you and build you a WisdomCard.
As an example, if you are an MD, then you know the first place your patients go to find out more about you is the search engines. If you care at all about your GoogleRank, then it might be a good time to make sure there is a WisdomCard created on you, your areas of specialty, your hospital, etc. Just let us know by contacting us here with the exact name or topic in the subject line. You and your patients can also contribute by suggesting links to add to your WisdomCard page.
Here's an example of a recent WisdomCard we are working on for Dr. Alan Greene from DrGreene.com.
Once your WisdomCard is live, you'll be able to promote it by sharing it with patients, linking to it from your Website or blog, and also suggest important links we may have missed.
And if you are a patient, or are doing research on any new health topic that we do not yet cover, just let us know. We'll start working on your WisdomCard right away.
We think this will be a very useful service and hopefully help a lot of people so we welcome your feedback as we roll grow it over the coming months.
Today's news tells us that anxiety may increase the risk of a heart attack, especially in men. But everyone is anxious sometimes -- so what kind of anxiety really does damage? The Anxiety WisdomCard pulls together the best available information on this condition.
The good news? Anxiety is treatable, and this WisdomCard can help you get started finding help if you need it, or better understand this condition and how it affects others in your life.
In memory of my Grandfather Hughes, I wanted to share this particularly important WisdomCard one of our Guides created on the topic of Lung Cancer. When I first found out a few weeks ago that he was diagnosed with with cancer, this WisdomCard was invaluable to me and my family as we searched the Web to find out more information and better understand the situation.
I am thankful to be a part of building something that will truly have a positive impact by helping so many people better manage their health. Everyone needs a health advocate in times like these, and our goal with OrganizedWisdom Health is to help make sure that everyone has access to these types of resources in the future so they can save valuable time getting the best information, resources and services possible.
Join our brand new OrganizedWisdom Twitter feed where we are just getting started sharing important updates and tweets to many of our most recent WisdomCards:
Click here to see and join the OrganizedWisdom Twitter Feed (http://twitter.com/organizedwisdom).
I was talking with the party hostess when her mom and stepdad arrived. At first, from across the room, I noticed nothing odd -- Stepdad walked with a cane, but that's not out of the ordinary. His wife settled him in a chair right near the door. Then I noticed he was wearing a collar to hold his neck in place. Had he been in an accident? "What's wrong with M?" I whispered to my friend.
"He's dying," she replied quietly. "He has Lou Gehrig's disease." Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis currently has no cure and sentences the person who has it to a life of increasing disability. Some, like famed physicist Stephen Hawking, manage to continue functioning for many years and even remain productive with the help of adaptive equipment. Others, like my friend's stepdad, go downhill fast.
ALS -- popularly named after Gehrig, the ballplayer who was one of its better-known victims -- is a frightening and often tragic prospect for patients and their families. Today there are several treatments being tested, along with research to find genetic clues and learn more about the mechanism that causes this condition. OrganizedWisdom has gathered the best ALS resources to help you better understand the disease.
Check out the ALS WisdomCardPhoto by ewen and donabel of Gehrig's locker, on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Figure skater Dorothy Hamill has defeated tough Olympic competitors, endured two divorces, gone through bankruptcy and fought an ongoing battle with seasonal depression. This week the 51-year-old announced her absence from the next several Broadway on Ice performances because she is being treated for breast cancer.
Fortunately for her and for many women, breast cancer is not the automatic death knell it might once have been. Hamill's representative tells reporters that her cancer has been caught at an early stage, which makes her prospects even better.
The figure skater has been a strong advocate for charitable causes, including the American Cancer Society, throughout her career, and her fan base remains strong more than 30 years after she won Olympic gold. She's planning to be back at work as soon as possible, and I expect she'll also take the opportunity to share her experience as a way of advocating for regular mammograms and early detection. I know I'm pulling for her -- just as I did as a 10-year-old cheering in front of the TV in 1976. (Photo: Paul Shannon)
Check out the Breast Cancer WisdomCard and the Dorothy Hamill Breast Cancer WisdomCard.
Have you ever known a New Year's resolution that made a lasting change in someone's life? So for 2008, we'd like to encourage you not to bother with the same old health resolutions. Instead, think about how you can move your body more every day. The Exercise WisdomCard, compiled by an expert guide and reviewed by a physician, offers inspiration -- facts, not cheerleading:
If that's not enough, there's new evidence that exercise helps women who are suffering from symptoms related to menopause. (Photo: Don Fulano)
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