Cool Health Related Web 2.0 & Social Media Stuff by and for Patients
The first on the scene was the empowered patient. Patients are participating in online communities to share and discuss daily life struggles to coping with rare diseases. Here I’ve compiled a list of inspirational web 2.0 and social media stuff by patients for patients.
This blog post is sponsored by Semantix Ltd.
Web 2.0 & Social media stuff by patients
In our enthusiasm to talk about government efforts to dive into web 2.0 and social media to deliver public services, I feel we often forget where it all started. Before public service dipped their toes into the social media revolution, citizens/patients were already there. They were talking about their illnesses, creating communities of interest and interacting with each other way before e-petitions at No 10 Downing St was even launched.
The first on the scene was the empowered patient. Patients are participating in online communities to share and discuss daily life struggles to coping with rare diseases. Here I’ve compiled a list of inspirational web 2.0 and social media stuff by patients for patients (and doctors too, if they like) ;o) I hope this will inspire us to look at what is already out there to better understand patients and try to engage with them on a level or platform they are already comfortable with. This list also includes other websites that help patients and also mobile applications that can help save lives.
An additional link I received this morning by @hadleypaul was this effort by the TV Programme ‘Embarrassing Bodies’ that managed to generate more traffic and interest on NHS information and services online. According to Paul
… Embarrassing Bodies show pulls in links, photos and uses the practice of social networking, then build it into their programmes, giving big hit rates for the NHS & PCT’s, engaging with viewers, and sharing good practice.
Click here to find out more about the event that featured Embarrassing Bodies.
No. | E-Channel | Overview | Weblink |
1. | MyHealthInnovation.com – (like mystarbucksidea.com for health) | My Health Innovationallows people to submit ideas, other users can vote on it, and allows for ranking, eg. to create a list called “Top Ideas”. Their tag line: share, vote, and say thanks for low-cost, low-tech health ideas.One interesting aspect to the site is its acknowledgement of the power of gratitude and that in healthcare, thank you’s or gratitude can often not be public enough. For this reason, they wanted to provide a way to say thanks and added a THANKBook that collects expressions of thanks for how an idea changed your life positively, maybe forever. | WebsiteTwitter |
2. | HealthChapter.com |
| WebsiteeNewsletter subscriptionFacebook Page: 310 fans |
3. | Diabetes Mine Blog | Here you’ll find 5 years’ worth of info on every imaginable aspect of living with diabetes — from food scales to pharma news and book reviews, to the exasperating things other people say. | BlogTwitterFacebook: 503 fans |
4. | Patients Like Me |
| WebsiteBlog |
5. | Relief Insite – Consumer Web Apps | This is a site that allows people to map, monitor and analyze their pain. ReliefInsite.com™, is a patented, secure, HIPAA-compliant web-based platform that provides visually-oriented pain assessment and tracking.Through the collection of structured and unstructured data and preparation of comprehensive reports, ReliefInsite provides a longitudinal perspective of a patient’s condition in real-time, enabling improved quality of care and assessment of outcomes. This site also uses video, social bookmarking such as digg, yahoo, goolge, delicious and facebook. | Website |
6. | The Weight Tracker – iPhone app |
| iPhone Application |
7. | Pharma Surveyor – Consumer Web App | It’s not just interactions, but toxicities involved with each drug that can affect patients. This tool reveals a much broader assessment of med risks. By integrating with partners like DestinationRx, this tool provides an additional layer of safety and vetting using powerful math and analytics. Risk is shown for each drug, plus the cumulative risk of an entire multi-drug regimen. By adding personal information about the side-effects the patient is showing, it can link side-effects to the current drugs. Then it can do a diagnosis showing where the risk is coming from, with an option to show potentially safer options that still deliver the needed therapeutic benefits. | Website |
8. | ADAM – iPhone App |
| iPhone Application |
9. | MyMedLab – Consumer Web App | Web-based tool lets you choose a lab test online. A physician approves order instead of a doctor’s visit in real life. You can find a lab in your area. The tools help you choose tests based on gender, age and disease profile. Results interpreted by an MML doctor and put in your PHR. | Website |
10. | Google Health – Online Medical Records for patients |
| Website |
11. | Microsoft’s Healthvault – Online Medical Records for patients | HealthVault is divided into two sections, one for individuals and another for healthcare professionals.It lets you …
| WebsiteTwitterFacebook: 1,154 fans YouTube Channel: 76 subscribers |
12. | Vitals – Choosing the right doctor |
| Website |
13. | Health Grades – Rating doctors, hospitals and nursing homes | HealthGrades’ healthcare ratings, information and consumer decision-support resources serve the following groups:ConsumersVisitors to HealthGrades.com find quality ratings and cost information for the nation’s 5,000 hospitals and 16,000 nursing homes as well as in-depth profiles of the nation’s 650,000 physicians. As a leader in the consumer revolution in healthcare, HealthGrades receives more than five million unique visitors to its consumer Web site each month. Hospitals HealthGrades helps hospitals understand, improve and communicate the quality of care they deliver through a suite of products and physician-led clinical-advisory services. HealthGrades currently works with more than 400 hospitals nationwide and produces well-respected public studies of hospital quality in areas that include clinical excellence, patient safety and women’s health. Employers/Health Plans Many of the nation’s largest health plans and employers offer their employees and plan members access to HealthGrades Health Management Suite, a complete set of decision-support tools that include provider ratings, health optimization modules and healthcare finance tools. Liability Insurers HealthGrades helps more than 40 liability insurance companies, including the top three nursing home and hospital insurers, assess providers’ quality and risk potential. Physicians HealthGrades allows physicians to educate patients about their specialties through HealthGrades’ consumer Web site and the HealthGrades Connecting Point™ Program. | Website |
14. | Everday Health – Portal |
| WebsiteTwitterFacebook Page: 253 fans |
15. | Ask Manny Hernandez (the founder of Tu Diabetes)– Social media, non-profits and health 2.0 blog | About Manny Hernandaz (Diabetes patient blog)> social media expert and diabetes advocate > author of ning for dummies > twitter marketing for dummies contributor > president of the diabetes hands foundation > founder of tudiabetes + estudiabetes | BlogTwitter |
16. | Six Until Me – Diabetes patient blog |
| BlogTwitterFlickr |
17. | Health 2.0 Blog | A community blog for and by the Health 2.0 community. | Blog |
18. | Organized Wisdom Blog – wikipedia for healthcare |
| Blog |
Hope this was useful!!!
@Liz_Azyan xxx

Liz Azyan is interested in the ways new kinds of social data and technology introduce challenges and opportunities to society. Get involved with Liz’s latest project here.
Comments
Empowered patients write their own blogs and rate and review health care services on NHS Choices http://www.nhs.uk
Thx Tim! 🙂 How did I miss that! Apologies.
Don’t forget http://www.patientsknowbest.com/
Yikes! Forgot that one. Thx Dave!!! 🙂
Brilliant stuff Liz. Just in time for the LIHNN and HCLU social media workshop today. This and your previous posting will keep them busy for ages!
Funnily enough, I was wondering last week if you had something on health care.
Karen
Hi Karen,
Always happy to help!! Glad somebody will find it useful. Have fun at the workshop… wish I was there 😉
PS: Hope you’re well!!!
Liz
Thanks for mentioning us Tim. Yes, a dozen condition-related blogs with hundreds of bloggers and half a dozen forums at NHS Choices Talk and more to come.
I’d also recommend the new Football Fans Fitness Challenge on Facebook & Iphone. Ties in fitness with World Cup, giving people a series of health-related challenges to get a transfer value.
Good post Liz. Will have a look at the sites I’ve not come across – am a fan of Health Grades.
John
Hi John,
Thanks for stopping by to leave some feedback! The NHS Choices Talk is brilliant! Will check out the Football Fan Fitness Challenge in conjunction with the World Cup. Good timing is definitely key. 😉
Thanks for the lovely comment too, there’s more health related stuff coming up in the next few days. So be sure to check it out.
Liz
Useful posting (just discovered it via a Tweet from Karen Blakeman.) It underlines the growing partnership/shared care between patient and physician made possible by social media – very different from the days when medical reference books were kept under the counter in public libraries!
Thanks for the lovely comment Marianne! Glad you found it useful and I totally agree with you. The books only got dusty under the counters anyways. Time to get all that useful info out there to the people who need it! 🙂
Liz
Liz, probably my favorite thing about this post is actually your commenting. you are great at being interactive and that is the key to Social Media (or so I am told). The fact that you are involved makes me trust you. Thanks for your info.
Dear Dr. Jeff Hill,
Wow, that is probably one of the nicest comment I have ever received! Thank you so much for your kind words. 😀 Am happy you found the info useful!
Liz
A great resource for those who are looking for information about a specific medical condition. Thanks!
Hi there,
I’m glad you found the info useful! 🙂
Liz
Wow great! This is a nice table here, a lot of useful information all in one spot. I’m glad I ran across it!
Keep it up Liz