Dive Brief:
- A new report from the eHealth Initiative concludes that social media can assist in reducing the burden of chronic disease on the health system.
- The report found that social media can help individuals with chronic diseases achieve personal goals, fix high-risk behavior and better manage their conditions.
- However, to take full advantage of social media in chronic disease care, clinicians will need to address several concerns, such as balancing transparency and anonymity, addressing concerns about privacy and HIPAA compliance, and addressing the quality, validity and authenticity of online information, according to iHealthBeat.
Dive Insight:
Given the pervasiveness of social media, it's easy to see where it could be leveraged to reach out to the chronically ill and help them make better lifestyle choices. However, given these environments are free for all's for the most part, those who hope to use those mediums will need to figure out how to control information just enough to keep people interested without using a heavy hand. Given the freewheeling nature of social media discussion, this will definitely be a challenge.