Health 2.0....Hype or here to stay
First, I want to personally thank those you that attended the HLS Developer & Solutions Conference, April 22nd-24th in Atlantic City....if you didn't attend, please let us know what we can include for next year to get you there!
On Thursday, April 24th, I did a presentation titled, Web 2.0 - Perspectives and Healthcare Industry Impact http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?9lxmyysj9xm. I used the term "Health 2.0" to represent Web 2.0 for Healthcare. Its initial concept roots originate from the Revolution Health company launch in January 07' and has evolved into a rapidly growing, formal community of business partners www.health20.org . Its impact to date on the cost, quality and overall delivery of Healthcare products/services has been minimal, but one thing is certain, Health 2.0...or web 2.0 for Healthcare is not a passing fad, based on a glitzy, meaningless acronyms. It represents a very powerful consumer voice and dial tone that every business will need to formally embrace, or cease to exist. So...what is Health 2.0 and why should we care?
Here's a quote I got from Groundswell, a book written by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research, " A Social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from others, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations". In many ways, these are meaningful words to industries, like Healthcare, that have been historically slow in adoption of new technologies and emerging consumer product/service delivery paradigms. Prior to coming to Microsoft, I spent 18+ years working in a variety of roles/responsibilities @ numerous Healthcare Companies. Over this time, I witnessed/experienced many changes...but, none as profound as I believe we will see over the next 2-3 years...and much of it will be attributed to Health 2.0. That said, I am going to make a big personal commitment to going wide & deep on the perspectives & prospects of Health 2.0 and use this blog as a way to share thoughts and ideas with the community. Please share your thoughts/comments...more to come soon :)
