The California HealthCare Foundation yesterday released a report–an excellent overview of the Health 2.0 movement, authored by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn. Titled “The Wisdom of Patients: Health Care Meets Online Social Media,” the report explains the theory the behind the collective wisdom of crowds, the Health 2.0 business opportunities, and offers something of a forecast for the future direction of the movement.

Conceptually, I fully support the democratization of information. In fact, that’s a central premise of information therapy (Ix)–one of the reasons why we are holding our 7th Annual Ix Conference (“WIxRED: Next-Generation Patient-Centered Care) at the just-opened Newseum, an interactive museum celebrating the first amendment and free access to information.

Whereas 1.0 (the initial benefit of the World Wide Web) was about ubiquitous access to health information, Health 2.0 involves democratization in the creation and dissemination of information. It’s not just about understanding; it’s about creating content–a higher level of learning and engagement.

I sincerely hope that we find ways to constructively integrate these tools and technologies into the care delivery process, leading to an intelligent redesign of the system. If the traditional delivery system fails to adopt Health 2.0 strategies (not to mention other innovations), they will evolve something of a separate and parallel health care system–one that might not (by itself) best serve consumers’ needs.

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