1. Ask Real Patients About Their Experiences.
If you are living with a chronic medical condition or if you have just been given a new health diagnosis, chances are you want to connect with other people who share your condition. Online health communities allow it's members to post questions so that others with experience related to that topic can provide insights. Perhaps, you are hoping for some reassurance from others who have undergone a similiar surgery or you simply want to know if anyone has had results from a particular medical treatment. With the growing popularity of online health communities, people can now potentially connect to patients across the country or even the globe who have similar health experiences.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which can cause patients to suffer seizures.  It can be a terrifying disease which creates anxiety in patients. Some patients fear being in public as they worry that they may suffer a seizure when out.  Epilepsy can feel isolating.  FacetoFace Health has created a secure online network in which patients can connect with others who share their medical condition, medications and/or experiences.  If you suffer from epilepsy and need to connect to others who can relate to you, FacetoFace Health is for you.  Share your personal journey with epilepsy and offer support to people who need a little reassurance and empathy.  Our goal is to foster a safe, valuable and informative environment for patients to connect and share with other patients.  Join our health community today and know you are not alone in dealing with epileptic seizures.

 http://www.facetofacehealth.com/seizures-epileptic/

FacetoFace Health has seen an increase in users with lupus joining our health-focused social network over the last several months.  Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes inflammation of the joints, organs and cells. Lupus affects women much more frequently than men.  Based on the personal stories that our members have shared, it seems that many who suffer from from the disease had a long, difficult and painful journey towards an accurate diagnosis.  Even after a proper diagnosis, lupus patients struggle to get treatment to relieve the discomforts that are brought on by the disease. 

It is our hope that as our members continue to share their medical stories, struggles, successes and knowledge of the disease other lupus patients will gain valuable information and support. 

Do you need to find other patients dealing with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)? FacetoFace Health is your trusted online lupus community. Find other patients like you, ask questions, get support and know that you are not alone. Real patients offering real support to one another. Join our systemic lupus erythematosus health community today!

FacetoFace Health has Grown by 200% in the Past Thirty Days.

We believe that our significant membership growth is a testament to the need of personal connections in the health community today.  Our members are connecting with others who have a similar medical condition, who can understand what they are going thru and can offer personal experience as well as support.  Our site was created for the healthcare consumer -- the patient who doesn't know where to go for support and for those who feel alone in their health journies. 

We're thankful that our members know they are NOT alone.  They now have access to a network of people who share their medical experiences and conditions.  Sometimes, we just need to know there are others who understand and empathize. 

THANK YOU to all who have bravely made connections and shared your health experiences with others in our growing community.  We believe that the more we share our stories and offer our support to others with similar health conditions, the more informed, empowered and encouraged we all become.  None of us should face health and medical challenges alone.  Thank you for joining our efforts to humanize healthcare!

If you have not yet joined our site, we encourage you to register today. It's free and secure.

Below is the link to the prepared text of President Obama's speech to congress regarding his health care plan:

President Obama's Health Care Speech to Congress

Each day new members are joining the FacetoFace Health community searching for support and information from others who have lupus, cancer, bipolar, depression, anxiety, HIV, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and other medical conditions. We believe that the more we share our health experiences with each other, the more empowered we all become.  At FacetoFace Health we are focused on humanizing health care.  By telling our unique health journeys we can provide valuable information to others facing similar conditions and challenges.  While the content on FacetoFace Health should not be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment, the patient-generated content may provide valuable information, encouragement and support for people seeking to improve their health.

Below are 3 useful tips on how to participate on the site:

1.  Make Connections:

Befriend members on the site that share your medical condition, allergies and/or take the same medications.  Once you have completed your health profile and written a descriptive bio, you will automatically be matched to other users on the website.  Simply, click on the "HealthMatch" tab and view your matches.  Similar to other social networking sites, you can "add friends" by clicking on the appropriate link in a member's profile. 

You may also search for members with specific medical conditions by using the search box on the upper right corner of the page.  For example, if you type "bipolar" in the search box, you'll be shown a list of FacetoFace Health members with that term in their health profile and/or bio.  Once you have reviewed the profiles, you may start conversations or become friends with other members.

2.  Ask a Question

You can seek the input of other FTFH members by starting a conversation with another member, writing a post in Support Groups or writing a Health Diary entry. 

3.  Offer Support

Take the time to review and respond the posts that our members have written.  Offer your insights and experiences when appropriate or simply leave a comment with encouraging words.

Our hope is that through your participation on FacetoFaceHealth.com you will make valuable connections and will know that you are not alone in your health journey!  Together, we are humanizing health care!

Ok . . . far be it from me to be critical of others hard work - but honestly advertising McDonald's advertisements on a healthcare site?  Maybe it's a joke?  I honestly don't think so.  I guess it's just perspective, however I really don't think McDonald's is that "healthy" for you.

Healthcare social networking needs some improvement.  People seeking specific resources may easily get overwhelmed by the overload of “medical” information on many social sites.  Health-related websites are often congested with parenting tips, diet trends and expert opinions on the latest health report (e.g. H1N1 Virus).  While this information may be valuable to some, it certainly is not valuable to every health consumer seeking specific medical information.

The current litany of healthcare social sites does not provide patients a means to locate and connect directly to others with similar health conditions and experiences.  Rather, websites provide daunting and broad message boards.  The problem with this means of communication is two-fold: first is the lack of regulation and consequently the amount of irrelevant posts or comments on message boards that patients must sift thru.  The second problem lies in the fact that patients (and caregivers) are putting their questions into cyberspace and waiting for the right people to happen upon their post.  There isn’t a direct way for patients to simply enter their medical conditions, treatment facilities, allergies, et cetera and get connected to people just like them.  That is, until now.

FacetoFace Health (FacetoFaceHealth.com) was designed to do just that.  The website is the brainchild of FacetoFace Health President and CEO, Nowell Outlaw.  Outlaw recognized there was a need for a vehicle which allowed healthcare consumers to find, connect and share information directly with each other after two family members were diagnosed with serious medical conditions.  He wanted to connect with patients who had been treated for the same illnesses (lymphoma) at a particular medical facility (MD Anderson), but became frustrated when he was unable to find a website which matched patients to each other based upon specific medical criteria. 

Nowell likens the flow of consumer-driven information on other health-related websites to a community bulletin board in a school cafeteria.  “Most sites simply provide a message board where someone posts a question and hopes that the right people happen to login and read the post” says Outlaw.  “We’ve taken steps to eliminate the waiting and gambling that comes from message board posts by connecting patients directly to one another.”  With this refreshing approach, patients can be matched and communicate directly with others who share their health experiences. Now the husband of a breast cancer patient or the mother of an ill child can reach out and ask others about their experiences with specific treatments, or medications – without having to post the question on a group message board and wait for someone, preferably the right someone, to reply.

“Our goal is to humanize health care.  We want to provide a straightforward and secure means for people to share their healthcare experiences and knowledge directly with others who may be going thru similar medical challenges” says Outlaw.  FacetoFace Health launched on April 7, 2009 and has been attracting new users every day to this new and improved version of health 2.0.

We received a very nice write up from healthyspacesrx.com about how social media can learn from online dating.  An interesting comparison with what we are doing.   Attached is the summary article.

One of the frustrations cropping up on health social media sites is centered around the mechanism that caused their popularity at the outset, the message board. On a typical health social media site like Dailystrength.org or Inspire.com, much of the activity takes place on message boards which are grouped by conditions (asthma, diabetes, etc.). Depending on the site, members can then connect with each other (assuming they found their interaction satisfactory). There are two issues with this approach: one is the level of "noise" found on some of the boards -- the lack of screening in health groups on Facebook, for instance, has meant that many of the posts are irrelevant to patients. The other is the serendipitous nature of the posting process itself, notably, a specific question may not be read by the right party at the time that it is posted. For example, a parent with a newly-diagnosed autistic child who lives in Memphis, TN may only want to hear from another parent with a newly-diagnosed child in the same area. Or even better, another parent who is seeing the same doctor in the area.

FacetoFaceHealth.com, which launched in April, is hoping to facilitate those connections. Nowell Outlaw, CEO of FacetoFaceHealth, likens the message board model to "sitting in a cafeteria full of people and writing your message on a notecard and putting it on the wall - only if someone walks by and sees your message and writes a response to you do you get an answer...So our solution is really the directory of people in the cafeteria - you can see who has what condition, and we point out who is the best match to you - and you can walk up and ask them a question."

FacetoFaceHealth provides a linking mechanism that actively matches people based on health information members provide. The site is designed to securely provide resources, contacts and information not only for patients, but also for the patients' caregivers, parents, spouse or loved ones. Matches are pushed out to members on a weekly basis. If this approach sounds familiar, that's because it is essentially the same approach as Match or eHarmony.

When Outlaw explained the model to me, he likened the approach to LinkedIn but I told him that the first analog that came to mind was eHarmony. He acknowledged that his own wife describes the company as "Match.com for healthcare" -- an analogy he struggles with due to the dating context but accepts as valid.

Where FacetoFaceHealth breaks with the Online Dating model is it's business model which is advertising-driven. FacetoFaceHealth charges advertisers per click and targets advertising towards members who would find specific advertising most relevant. Outlaw added that FacetoFaceHealth does not share member information with advertisers.

Perhaps the business model is another area where health social media could look to online dating. Most people either forget or don't realize that online advertising actually contracted 25% from 2000-2002 during the dot-com bust. With the limits of the advertising model being tested in this current downturn and Facebook mulling the possibility of charging users some type of fee, perhaps the time has come for health social media sites to consider charging users as well. Charging users would certainly eliminate potential conflict-of-interest issues in the burgeoning health social networking field where people's health information is involved. It is a troubling dilemma given that most sites, like Facebook, need scale in order to begin being useful to users. This dilemma has meant opening the gates and providing the service for free in the past. Perhaps a limited free-trial period would allow members to see the benefit of the site before signing up for a membership. It is difficult to believe that users would assign a higher economic value to finding a date Friday night with finding someone who could provide caregiving tips for a parent with Alzheimer's disease. 

New Website Designed to Take Health 2.0 to the Next Level by Connecting Consumers One-on-One With Each Other

LOUISVILLE, CO--(Marketwire - April 14, 2009) - FacetoFace Health, a Colorado-based company, launched a new online health community that connects healthcare consumers one-on-one with others who share similar health conditions and experiences. In addition, the site will automatically couple users with relevant information and resources based upon their medical conditions, treatments, medications, medical facility and more. The goal of FacetoFace Health is to enable healthcare consumers to make knowledgeable decisions with information from real people who have experienced similar medical issues -- people helping people.

The website is the brainchild of FacetoFace Health President and CEO, Nowell Outlaw. Outlaw recognized there was a tremendous need for a vehicle which allowed healthcare consumers to find, connect and share information directly with each other after two family members were diagnosed with serious medical conditions. He wanted to connect with patients who had been treated for the same illnesses at a particular medical facility, but became frustrated when he was unable to find a website which matched people to people based upon specific medical criteria. Nowell Outlaw's dissatisfaction with the limited resources available prompted him to create FacetoFace Health.

The website allows registered users to input health-related information about themselves and/or their loved ones. For privacy and security reasons, users identify themselves via screen names and are discouraged from using their real names anywhere on the website. The site is designed to securely provide resources, contacts and information not only for patients, but also for the patients' caregivers, parents, spouse or loved ones. "Our goal is to humanize healthcare. We want to provide a straightforward and secure means for people to share their healthcare experiences and knowledge with others who may be going thru similar medical challenges," says Outlaw. Now the husband of a breast cancer patient or the mother of an ill child can reach out and ask others about their experiences with specific treatments, or medications -- without having to post the question on a message board and wait for someone to reply.

In addition to connecting consumers to each other, FacetoFace Health connects relevant products or services to the consumer based upon information in their health profile via pay-per-click advertisements. This design allows the user to control which ads they'd like to review and which to skip. The site matches informational advertisements to users based upon the relevance to the user's unique healthcare profile. Outlaw believes that this advertising layout is optimum for both the consumer and the advertiser: "We believe consumers do not want to be bombarded with banner ads and advertisements that are not relevant to them. Limiting the advertising space on our site allows the consumer to control the information they see. In addition, it gives the advertiser the assurance that their ads are being seen by the people that matter most -- those who are actively seeking healthcare information."

The site also allows registered users to upload health-related articles and link to other relevant online resources via the "Healthy News" portal. "The site is intended to put the healthcare consumer in the driver's seat," says Gerald Henderson, Executive Director of Business Development. "We've taken steps to ensure that the consumer is controlling the information and being given the resources they need to make educated healthcare decisions."

FacetoFace Health launched on April 7, 2009. For additional information on FacetoFace Health, visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com. Registration is free to all users.

About FacetoFace Health

FacetoFace Health is a social networking site designed to connect healthcare consumers one-on-one to others who share similar health conditions and experiences. The site is designed to provide people a secure and straightforward means to communicate with others who may be able to provide answers and/or support for health challenges. For additional information on the company, visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com. For information on advertising opportunities visit www.FacetoFaceHealth.com/Partners.