Healthcare communications and marketing news and information

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.