Great article John,

We can relate to your statement that "health care organizations find challenges in adopting social media". One obstacle is the risk associated with public communication. However, smaller healthcare organizations also face a struggle understanding the value of social platforms like Twitter.

Twitter is an easy to use technology for healthcare providers, but it can be very overwhelming and confusing for newcomers. Questions like "Where are the conversations related to my medical specialty taking place?" are very common.

Conversations and relationships on Twitter are built around "healthcare hashtags". But finding these special hashtags can be time consuming.

In an effort to lower the barriers to entry healthcare social media on Twitter for healthcare professionals, we create a database with relevant healthcare hashtags.

Look for The Healthcare Hashtag Project.

Thanks,

Audun

http://www.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtags

Great post, John. Our team at INgage Networks has just completed research on the Health 2.0 industry and have thoughts on where it's headed. We, too, believe that change is coming.

If you don't mind, I'd like to point your readers to a like-minded blog post authored by one of our executives. It's titled, "Health 2.0 + Social Media=A Winning Prescription: http:// community. ingagenetworks.com /blogs /blogpost /0b9a54f6- b040- 4bef- b39c- 5b7b6049e6b5

Also within the post is a link to 3 different resources that paint an overall picture of the health industry overall.

Lastly, our work with the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group ended up quadrupling participation and reducing the cost of outreach from $250 to $7.50 per participant. That Health 2.0 case study is #5 on this page:
www.ingagenetworks [dot] com /case-studies

Thanks for letting us share.

http://www.ingagenetworks.com

TrustWorks might be another option. It's an advice exchange site that searches within your trusted network. Say, for example "my cousin was diagnosed with X", does anyone I know have experience coping with this? Maybe your old college roommate does, or a co-worker.

Giles Lewey, Senior Content Editor, TrustWorks

http://trustworks.com

The Community Clinic Voice, a free online network for health care safety net professionals, demonstrates your observation that a model that provides privacy and collaboration in the context of a community of similar interests can promote adoption of social media by providers.

Sue Dormanen
Community Clinic Voice
Online Community Manager

http://www.communityclinicvoice.org