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PatientsLikeMe: Using Social Network Health Data to Improve Patient Care

Published 30 Jan 2017
Reference 6248
Topic Operations
Industry Biotechnology
Region North America
Length 18 page(s)
Summary

PatientsLikeMe, an online health community formed to provide value for patients in exchange for sharing their health data, had grown substantially since its founding in 2004. By 2016 it had over 130 employees. However, convincing investors of the viability of the business model proves more challenging. Its three founders believe it has the potential to reshape the healthcare ecosystem, but its “not just for profit” approach is complex to communicate. In their ambition to improve the healthcare experience by capturing health outcomes and learning what works in the real world (beyond clinical trials) – they must attend to critical issues such as patient privacy in addition to setting their growth strategy.

Teaching objectives

To understand the potential to use crowd-sourced health information and data analytics as key inputs for patient-focused care and evidence-based decision-making. To discuss patient-centricity, the role of patients in the healthcare value chain, and patient-generated health data research and development. To identify the regulatory and privacy issues posed by online data-sharing platforms, and the growth challenges facing a healthcare social network.

Keywords
  • Patient centricity
  • Patient-focused care
  • Crowdsourced data
  • Social network
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Online health community
  • Healthcare network
  • Evidence-based care
  • Privacy of health data
  • Regulatory challenges
  • Privacy risk
  • Patient-generated data
  • Customer focus
  • Data analytics
  • Q21617
  • HMI
  • Business Science