Bandwagon Unbound: Health 2.0 as an Argumentum Ad Populum?

1. An elaborately decorated wagon used to transport musicians in a parade.
2. A cause or party that attracts increasing numbers of adherents
3. A popular trend that attracts growing support

On April Fools Day this year, Dimitri Kruglyak of Trusted.MD put out a little diddy about the piling on of the Health 2.0 Bandwagon. I took issue with his characterization, and we were able to exchange some communication and ideas to reach a basic understanding of our similarities and differences for a brave new (healthcare) world. While my vision of the term and the future of Health 2.0 includes both the enabling technologies and the value driven reform movement, his version introduces the concept of “people powered healthcare“

Therefore, I noted with interest the upcoming Healthcare Unbound conference which prominently displays the concepts of Health 2.0, both in a catchy titled “Google, then Gargle” keynote as well as a 3 hour post-conference workshop led by David Kibbe, MD, formerly of the of AAFP‘s Center for Healthcare Information Technology.

I know David, having met him in another life when he was touting an open source electronic health record that was going to be deployed en masse by the 95,000 members of AAFP (What happed to that project by the way?). David is an experienced phyician, an excellent communicator, and obviously well connected within the medical-industrial complex. I look forward to his contributions and the opportunity to collaborate with him in the growing Health 2.0 community.

Reading further, I could not help but smile when I read the names of the panel: my good friend Dimitri will be participating – on a Health 2.0 panel nonetheless!

Despite the irony (and a good natured ribbing), I am excited to see the ongoing traction of the term, the technology, and the reform movement encompassed within the concepts of Health 2.0. The term continues to be relevant, the technology ever increasing in capacity, and the movement gaining momentum across the spectrum of healthcare participants. Leveraging a cool web 2.0 application to document this, I pulled a report from technorati to visually see the impact. The graph shows a steady number of Health 2.0 mentions during the last 180 days (What was going on January 24?).

So, while the concept maintains a steady influence within an ever widening circle of influential health care people, there remains alot to add in terms of clarity, content, and capital to avoid an empty “appeal to the people”. I look forward to welcoming additional participants as we “move the movement” along.