Health 2.0 Companies

Happy New Year!
Now that the holidays are over, I guess it's time to get back to work :-)

Health 2.0 -- I'm sure that you've heard the term being kicked around. But what does it really mean?

Back when I first started writing about Behcet's (many) years ago, the Internet was in its infancy, and I was still going to the medical library and looking through the huge Index Medicus books for medical journal article references. It took hours to find what's available in minutes on PubMed now. There's been an amazing transformation in the way that health information is delivered, and it's still evolving.

Health 2.0 is part of that evolution. There are many different definitions of the term, but they all cover the same general idea: Health 2.0 is the merging of technology (blogging, online communities, podcasts, video, etc.) with the rapid distribution of health care information. It's a way to empower patients by giving them the medically-related information that they need to make informed decisions about their own care. It's a way to quickly share critical health/medical information with other people: patients, doctors, family members, friends, and other "stakeholders" in the process.

Not everyone approves of the access to, and distribution of, all of this medical information. Some health care professionals feel it puts too much info in the hands of people (patients) who don't have the medical training to understand it. It's an outdated argument, though: We've gone past the point of no return. For better or worse, the information is out there, people are reading it, and they're sharing it with others... and -- yes -- they're also bringing it to their doctors to ask questions and learn even more.

I believe in empowering patients with information. That's why I'd like to share the following list of Health 2.0 companies. There's a little bit of everything on this list -- sites that offer health-related/medical information, sites that have online communities/support groups for patients, companies that let you create your own online medical records. No, these sites aren't specifically Behcet's-related ...but if you spend any time on the Internet hunting for medical info, you'll probably wind up bookmarking some of the sites for future use.

The following list is used with permission, from
http://health20.org/wiki/Health_2.0_Companies
Each company on the list can be viewed in more detail (with individual links to each one) by going to the health20.org URL above.

Health 2.0 Companies

# 1 Major Category

# 2 Health Portals/Health Content
* 2.1 LifeMojo
* 2.2 MyFamilyHealth
* 2.3 HealthcareMagic
* 2.4 Revolution Health
* 2.5 WebMD
* 2.6 Healthwise
[JZ: My own addition to this list is http://www.WEGOhealth.com ]

# 3 Healthcare Communities
* 3.1 Daily Strength
* 3.2 Psych Central
* 3.3 Inspire
* 3.4 Patients Like Me
* 3.5 TuDiabetes.com
* 3.6 SpineConnect.com
* 3.7 Sermo
* 3.8 eDrugSearch.com
* 3.9 Organized Wisdom
* 3.10 MDJunction
* 3.11 HITSphere
* 3.12 Wellocities
* 3.13 WalkingSpree
* 3.14 CareFlash
* 3.15 Trusera
* 3.16 Medting

# 4 Health Advisory Services
* 4.1 Healthgrades
* 4.2 Health Dialog
* 4.3 Subimo (part of WebMD)
* 4.4 Health World Web
* 4.5 Health2.Info
* 4.6 CiteHealth

# 5 Healthcare Enablers
* 5.1 Xoova

# 6 Healthcare Financial Services
* 6.1 First Horizon Msaver
* 6.2 Health Equity
* 6.3 MedBillManager
* 6.4 MyMedicalControl
* 6.5 Extend Health (Revolution portfolio company)

# 7 Personal Health Records
* 7.1 Keyose.com
* 7.2 ICW
* 7.3 SugarStats.com



* 7.4 MedCommons
* 7.5 CapMed
* 7.6 Tolven Health
* 7.7 Medic Drive
* 7.8 NoMoreClipboard
* 7.9 MyHLZ

# 8 Comparative Health Sites
* 8.1 Vimo
* 8.2 RateMD
* 8.3 HealthShoppr

# 9 Representative Consumer Empowered Tools
* 9.1 DNA Direct
* 9.2 Intelecare Compliance Solutions
* 9.3 MyMedLab
* 9.4 Medziva
* 9.5 InforMed Centers
* 9.6 eHealthMe

# 10 Uncategorized/Under Review
* 10.1 Click4Care
* 10.2 biowizard.com
* 10.3 medical wikis
* 10.4 tiromed.com
* 10.5 socialMD.com
* 10.6 Wikipedia
* 10.7 JustAnswer
* 10.8 American Cancer Society Message Boards
* 10.9 American Diabetes Association Message Boards
* 10.10 Yahoo Health & Wellness Groups [where some of the more active Behcet's online support groups are sponsored]
* 10.11 Healthline
* 10.12 DoubleCheckMD.com
* 10.13 WhoIsSick
* 10.14 iMedix
* 10.15 Healia
* 10.16 meraMD
* 10.17 MEDgle
* 10.18 HealthLat
* 10.19 MyFamilyHealth

Phew!
Enjoy the search :-)