E-Medicine -Health 2.0 – The Mother of All IT Conferences by the Mother of All Health Care Bloggers

Matthew Holt of TheHealthcareblog.com

On September 20 in San Francisco, Matthew Holt, creator of Thehealthcareblog.com, is staging Health 2.0: A User-Generated Conference. By “user” I’m assuming he means all of you out there who actually “use” information for self and health care betterment. You can find out more by visiting www. health2con.com.

Why am I telling you this?

1) Matthew has risen to the top of the health care blogging pile, and I’m interested in how he does it so I can keep on slogging and blogging until I get there too.

2) Matthew has attracted the attention of the major media – The Wall Street Journal (the WSJ says he is “a must read”); and he’s been mentioned in ABC News, WSJ.com, FOX News, and Scientific American. I would like to know what kind of magnetism he generates to attract the media moths.

3) I recommend you read Matthew’s blog and attend his conference (all the big IT dogs and visionaries promoting use of IT by consumers will be there). I will have spies there to tell me what transpires.


4) Matthew is a damn good writer – conversational, funny, acerbic, topical, sometimes cynical, but always on the top of his game (to me he’s the Christopher Hitchens of the health care blogging world). I envy his style and his content and don’t mind saying so. In my case, jealousy is the mother of this fulsome flattery.

5) Matthew is out there in San Francisco – home of Medex.com, a host of IT companies, and cheek to jowl with Stanford and Silicon Valley – from whence Google sprang and which has Microsoft scrambling.

6) Matthew has a clear, rapidly emerging sense of where the medical world is going ( his sense is akin to that of Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., the pre-eminent business historian who said the year before his death, “All I know is that the Internet will transform the world.” Matthew knows this too.)

Here, in his own words, is how the world, in this case, the health care world, is being transformed.

Social networks are redefining relationships within communities in unanticipated and previously unimaginable ways. MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube have grown far beyond niche phenomena. A similar transformation is starting to take place in the health care industry as consumers take more responsibility for their own health care.

By applying Web 2.0 tools like social media, blogs, wikis, podcasts, user-generated video and specialized search - a fundamental shift is rapidly taking place away from the
traditional flow of information as defined by payers, physicians, hospital systems, and suppliers.

It is absolutely clear that we are at the start of a big shift in the demand from consumers and providers for better information and easier ways to share experiences. All stakeholders in health care must immediately begin to confront the decision of how to interact with these new technologies and networks, and potentially adopt and integrate them into their business and technology strategies.

What is less clear is whether the emerging Health2.0 phenomenon is going to grow into an independent industry sector, be subsumed into the current health care system, or create a new hybrid landscape.

At Health 2.0: User-Generated Healthcare you will see exclusive live demonstrations of new information and collaborative technologies from cutting edge companies, and have the chance to discuss how they will redefine the practice and business of healthcare. Health 2.0: User-Generated Healthcare will include perspectives from start-ups that are connecting providers to each other and creating new online patient communities, health focused search engines and patient and consumer tools. You will also hear from traditional organizations such as pharmaceutical manufacturers and insurers who are experimenting with these new technologies.

Here’s Matthew’s self-bio:

I'm Matthew Holt. I've spent more than 13 years in health care as a researcher, generalist forecaster, and strategist. I've worked for renowned forecasting and survey research organizations. I've conducted in-depth studies about many aspects of health care for public release and private clients. I'm a well-regarded, amusing presenter, and I've delivered several keynote addresses. ..I'm a Senior Consultant with Professional Services Solutions, Inc.

And here’s what he says he can do for you:

I provide "soup to nuts" research-based strategic consulting.

I get you relevant information about problems and opportunities. I help you design your strategy, and execute on it.

I can provide "quick & dirty" market research, or manage significant research efforts. As a well renowned speaker I can educate--and entertain--your team, your executives or your customers. Using my wide network, I can connect you to helpful people in health care and technology, including bringing a full service virtual team for strategy and marketing projects. I can facilitate your internal decision sessions. I can even set up a marketing program for your organization. In a nutshell, I can help you get where you need to go more quickly and efficiently.

A final word of caution: Matthew, Brit with a hilarious and wicked sense of humor and humus, is getting married soon. We’ll see if that effects his sense of humility. I hope not.


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