Putting health into the patient's hands

Posted by Adam Bosworth, Vice President

I gave a speech today at the 2007 American Medical Association of Informatics (AMIA) Spring Congress. I used this opportunity to suggest a vision of what I think consumers should expect from our health care system over the next decade, including three core principles of a future health care system:

• Discovery - Consumers should be able to discover the most relevant health information possible
• Action - Consumers should have direct access to personalized services to help them get the best and most convenient possible health support
• Community - Consumers should be able to learn from and educate those in similar health circumstances and from their health practitioners

Here are my notes from the speech, which include both an example of how these principles could come together to improve health care and suggestions about what core technology I believe is needed to support them.