Healthcare Blogs: The Authoritative Guide

Over the past several months, I’ve had the pleasure of participating in a special project that Fard Johnmar of Envision Solutions has been involved in. He first contacted me in early January about an interview I participated in with John Cass of Backbone Media. In that interview I spoke about the fear pharmaceutical companies have of the blogosphere and why they should be embracing this medium rather than avoiding it. Fard told me that he was working on a report on healthcare blogging and I agreed to be interviewed for it.

After that interview, Fard posted my article, Pharma: Have No Fear of the Blogosphere, on his blog and kept me updated about his progress on the report. Finally, a couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of reading the report (The Emerging Healthcare Blogosphere: What Is It & Why Does It Matter?) and I was quite impressed. The report is well-referenced and features commentary from a number of bloggers (including yours truly). In addition, it addresses a number of questions people have about healthcare blogs, including:

-Who is writing them?

-Are blogs credible?

-How can healthcare organizations use this technology?

-What are the pros and cons of blogs for healthcare non-profit organizations?

I feel that this report is important for a host of reasons, including:

-It provides those new to the healthcare blogosphere with a “roadmap” that will help them track the healthcare blogosphere and learn about its evolution

-It addresses tough issues relating to healthcare organization blogs, including the regulatory environment, patient privacy and ROI (return on investment)

-It sketches out a framework for understanding why blogs may impact healthcare — especially the healthcare provider-patient relationship

I endorsed the report in the press release Fard sent out last week because I feel it is an important step forward in our understanding of how blogs may influence healthcare in the United States and around the world. With this report, we now have a framework for understanding and debating the influence (or lack thereof) of healthcare blogs.

Consider purchasing this reasonably-priced report (it’s about $37). If you need to convince others of a particular viewpoint, use it to help you form your arguments for why healthcare blogs are important. Help your colleagues, employers and staffs make informed decisions about whether blogs can help them further their communications, marketing, branding or stakeholder relations efforts.

You can learn more about this important report by clicking here.