Blogs Are Here to Stay
Government Health IT ran a story on the growing impact of blogs on the health care industry. “Estimates differ on the number of people using
such tools to find health information. But if blogs are any indicator,
the health care industry — often accused of lagging behind the rest of
the business world — may now be in the forefront in the use of
information technology.” In addition to blogs written by patients and physicians on health and medicine, numerous sites have sprung up that focus on the business and technology sides of health care. (Emphasis mine below.)
professional interests. Not surprisingly, some of the earliest health
care blogs meld IT with health care content. Examples include the
Healthcare IT Guy, HIStalk, Medical Connectivity Consulting and
HITSphere, an aggregator of other health IT blogs.
You can find all of the blogs mentioned above in the Blogroll in the left hand column of this web page. A common feature on blogs, a blogroll is a listing of recommended blogs.
Blogs are proving to be important marketing vehicles in the business of health care:
written by skilled consultants whose viewpoints were not accessible
before,” said Matthew Holt, a researcher who worked with health care
companies before launching his own consulting practice and the Health
Care Blog.
“Health care is a major political issue, and the
informed commentary of blogs will ultimately impact mainstream
thinking,” Holt said. “Blogs create a bridge between academics and
health services and spill marketplace knowledge back into the health
care community.”
For a good sampling of health care blogs, check out the Healthcare 100 listing of the world's top blogs on health care and medicine. General health related blogs are over represented on this list because of their broad appeal. There are many excellent blogs that are more narrow in scope that may never reach “top 100″ status. You can find some of those blogs in my Blogroll on the right.
