Health Affairs: Take Two Aspirin and Tweet Me . . .

The March/April 2009 Issue of Health Affairs concentrates on the topic of Stimulating Health Information Technology. Although I am not a subscriber to Health Affairs the issue looks to have some great articles on health information technology and the current changes in the field.

Included in the issues is a report from the field article by Carleen Hawn titled, Take Two Aspirin And Tweet Me In The Morning: How Twitter, Facebook, And Other Social Media Are Reshaping Health Care (pdf version). I had the opportunity to talk with Carleen about some of the interesting legal issues that are starting to appear as a result of the intersection of social media and health care. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she used some of our discussion in the article.

The article focuses on a number of health professionals who are on the cutting edge of integrating social media and health 2.0 type concepts into their health care practice and thinking about how social media can have a positive impact on traditional health care industry models.

Like others, I found it ironic when Health Affairs first issued the article online that they only made it available behind the firewall (subscription based). An article on social media, openness, transparency, etc. and yet hid it in an old world way. Well, it appears that the editor of Health Affairs does listen to the wisdom of the health crowd because a note is now listed below the article stating "EDITOR'S CHOICE - FREE ACCESS." Thanks to the Health Affairs staff for recognizing the value of providing free access to the article.

If you are interested in the article you might find interesting what others are saying about the article -- including e-Patient Dave, Jay Parkinson, MD, Ted Eytan, MD and others.