CIMIT Forum: Hello Health: A Social Network for Clinicians to Communicate with Patients and Clinicians

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Related Forum Topics

Health 2.0: Connecting, Enabling Healthy Behaviors
and Taking Charge of Health Records

1.20.2009

Hello Health: A Social Network for Clinicians to Communicate with Patients and Clinicians

SPEAKER:
Jay Parkinson, MD, MPH:
Myca

Summary
Wikipedia

Hello Health: A Social Network for Clinicians to
Communicate with Patients and Clinicians

Today’s medical system is crippled by poor communication between doctors and patients. Everyday behaviors pose the biggest threats to patient health, but patients only communicate with doctors sporadically. Forty-seven million people in the United States do not have health insurance. When technology is used in modern clinical practice, it often serves as a barrier to communication and definitely does not fulfill its potential. New channels of communication are necessary to improve the relationships between doctors and patients.

Jay Parkinson, MD, is a physician who recently sought to make himself more accessible to patients by posting his contact information on the internet, by making house calls, and by communicating with patients using email, instant messaging, his cell phone, and videoconferencing. Essentially, his technology replaced his staff. He received a lot of media attention, but he decided that his model of care delivery was not scalable.

With funding from a private company called Myca, he has now created a web platform called HelloHealth. The patients who use HelloHealth create online profiles and use the website to find doctors and other healthcare professionals. The doctors who use HelloHealth create profiles with personal and professional information, and they communicate with patients electronically and in person. Doctors are rated on the website. Patients pay for medical advice using credit cards, and HelloHealth takes a small percentage. Parkinson describes the business model as “Zipcar mixed with Facebook for healthcare.”