#43 in the MIT LabCast series, ‘New Media Medicine,’ presents a fundamental challenge to the use of media in the shifting of the locus of responsibility for healthcare from the physician to the health consumer.
The MIT argument for such a shift in responsibility from physician to patient is powerful but doesn’t even mention the economic imperative, based upon the ageing population, for such a realignment
The LabCast also explores a number of the compelling implications given that such a shift is accomplished.
One implication identified is the availability of global patient and lifestyle data which could drive new frontiers in disease research.
Social Media, arguably the principal media technology envisaged by MIT, is founded upon appropriate principles to secure the quality data required, namely:
Ø Peering
Ø Openness
Ø Sharing
Ø Transparency
However, it is the ‘act global’ principal of social media that represents the greatest opportunity in the area of data collection for disease research.
Given such an opportunity, one would have thought that Pharma’s support for the empowerment of patients through the use of social media and an industry engagement with the technology would be a priority?
Wouldn’t One?
(Tomorrow's Post: Is Pharma Next?)
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