Healthbook (TM)

Please cite as: Gunther Eysenbach. Random Research Rants Blog. 2008-05-29. URL:http://gunther-eysenbach.blogspot.com. Accessed: 2008-05-29. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5YB3bqeB9)

I just stumbled over the fact that the idea of a "Healthbook" ("like Facebook, but for health data") is one of the big ideas mentioned in the preliminary report of the 2020 Summit to the Prime Minister in Australia, setting out the key results of discussion by 1000 Australians over the weekend of 19 and 20 April in Canberra...

Create a "Healthbook" (like Facebook) for Australians to take greater ownership of their health information and electronically share it with people they trust – for example their doctor, nurse or family members.
Users could control their health “friends” and their level of access, share data as desired, and ask for real time advice on health issues.

Source: 2020 Preliminary Report [1].


Where does this idea come from? Well, it may be a coincidence - but I actually presented our concept of a Healthbook [2] in my keynote at the Australian 10th Annual Health Care Congress in Sydney in February 2008 (as noted in my previous blog entry [2]), about 8 weeks before the 2020 summit. I even showed some slides from our prototype Healthbook application. My hypothesis is that somebody in the audience of the Health Care Congress (there were many prominent health policy researchers present who were also at the 2020 summit) must have been a participant in the 2020 summit and apparently the presentation made some impact... Or is it just a case of "great minds think alike"?
Funny how these things go sometimes...
I also hear that my respected colleague Enrico Coiera is also working on a Healthbook.
We actually registered "Healthbook" as a trademark already last year...

References
1. 2020 Preliminary Report, URL:http://www.australia2020.gov.au/docs/2020_Summit_initial_report.pdf. Accessed: 2008-05-28. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5Y9RoDs0B)
2. Eysenbach, Gunther. Google Health starts pilot test at Cleveland Clinic - and my reflections on Personal Health Records 2.0 (PHR 2.0). Gunther Eysenbach Random Rants Blog. 2008-02-21. URL:http://gunther-eysenbach.blogspot.com. Accessed: 2008-03-08. (Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5WAZNYYli)

Richard Smith launches Medicine 2.0 venture

Richard Smith, former editor of the BMJ (and my personal role model when it comes to being an editor...) has announced a new Medicine 2.0 project in the Guardian (Archived in WebCite) - a "Cases Journal" which invites case reports from patients.

Seems like I should add Smith's "Cases Journal" to the Medicine 2.0 map...

In my view, Web 2.0 stands for openness, participation, collaboration, and apomediation, creating a new breed of "Medicine 2.0" tools and services. While the "Cases Journal" is a good example for openness, participation, and collaboration, I am just wondering if the "journal" format isn't a bit anachronistic - isn't the prime medium for case reports now online discussion lists, blogs, and other "grassroots" media? Isn't the "journal" concept a bit outdated and perhaps an unnecessary "intermediary" (gatekeeper), which should be replaced by "apomediaries" (i.e. networked processes)? And will patients (as contributors) be willing to pay an Article Publishing Fee imposed by the publisher (Biomed Central) to contribute to this database?

To hear and learn more about Medicine 2.0, please participate in the Medicine 2.0 Congress in Toronto, Sept 4th/5th 2008.