Every few weeks someone posts some version of “Don’t confuse your Google search with my medical degree.” It appears on Facebook, on Twitter, on coffee mugs, and on signs in doctor’s offices. Today I found out that there’s a doctor who sings about it in English and in Swedish. Here’s one fabulous reply, written by Trisha […]
What health care can learn from Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel
Google is upgrading health search…again. In 2010, I was inspired by Animal Farm to write that Google saw some health sites as more equal than others. This time I turned to Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, by Virginia Lee Burton.
Keeping it real
Two high-tech health events were held last week — an East Coast-West Coast data-driven smackdown. I chose East, but my eyes kept straying West, and I am very thankful that the organizers for both are archiving the videos online. Here are a couple of stand-outs, first from Living By Numbers in New York City: Jennifer […]
Pandas, Lobsters, and Health Care
Joe Kvedar asks an excellent question in his post, The Next Phase of Connected Health: Connected Personalized Health: What are the best variables to consider when taking connected health programs from pilot to scale? He imagines a matrix with three axes: severity of chronic illness, patient readiness, and technology readiness. That makes sense to me, […]
Health Sites: Some Are More Equal Than Others
Eric Schmidt wants to solve health care’s “platform database problem” and one critic has countered that “computers cannot practice medicine.” One of Google’s initiatives is to guide consumers to safe, trusted health websites. Is that such a bad thing? Search result placement can make or break a site or a business model, which is where […]
The Pew Internet/Health FAQ
A big part of my job, and one I love, is answering questions, mostly from reporters. Sometimes I have just the data or insight someone needs, often I recommend someone else. Here is a sample of frequently-asked questions and my current answers. Please add your questions and answers in the comments: What are you curious […]
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