CNN Twitter Story Features change:healthcare Founders

It seems that everyone is taking note of the live surgeries being reported via Twitter.  Elizabeth Cohen reported today on CNN (Surgeons send ‘tweets’ from operating room) that for the second time a surgery was tweeted live on Feb. 9, which doctors, medical students, and other twitter uses followed.

As social networking continues to make an impact on the medical world and how other individuals interact with their healthcare, its interesting to see the motivations and intentions behind sharing healthcare experiences on Twitter.  Our very own co-founder and COO Robert Hendrick shared his surgery live on Twitter (which was later posted on the blog). He cited his intentions to Ms. Cohen in an email: “It redirected my attention and allowed me to minimize some of the nervousness around what was going on. It felt like I had family and friends there to support me.”  He also says, “I wanted a record for other people who might be interested in the same surgery… It later allowed me to connect with others with the same issues.”

As Robert’s motivations for sharing his surgery highlight, advances in social media have enhanced and, in certain areas, changed the way we communicate and connect with others.  Think about the ways in which this has enhanced our lives, especially those in the healthcare space: doctors, patients, friends, relatives, and consumers can easily share their experiences for educational or recreational purposes.  It truly connects us.

This is where change:healthcare is focusing a good portion of our time. Enhancing the way individuals communicate and connect with each other about their health experiences.

Our platform uses social networking tools to let users rate, share and compare their healthcare experiences so others can make more informed healthcare decisions (or at least enter into a medical situation with eyes open – rather than tightly closed).  Everyone benefits because everyone shares their experiences, insights or recommendations. True transparency regarding costs and healthcare experiences!!

In both cases — either Twittering during surgery where other physicians learn from the experience and talent of another surgeon, or using social media tools to help strangers deal more effectively with their family’s healthcare issues — it only further exemplifies how far the power of transparency and involving consumers in their healthcare (accountability) can go in helping this country move toward a better healthcare system.

Download the PDF of the CNN Twitter story here.

Thanks to Frank Limpus for his contribution to this post!