Leveraging Social Media for Better Health

Furthering community health and wellness initiatives nationwide by connecting citizens and healthcare professionals online.

In March 2009, a diverse group of healthcare professionals convened in Omaha, Nebraska for a roundtable examining how social media tools could be used to further community health and wellness initiatives nationwide.

Sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton and the Center for Health Transformation (CHT), the Roundtable Discussion on Social Media and Community Health involved 17 organizations representing government, business, academia, and nonprofit sectors. The summary report, “Social Media and Community Health: Leveraging Online Tools for Healthier Communities,” provides an overview of key findings.

The Omaha roundtable was the third in a series of initiatives that studied new ways contributors from the public, private, and non-profit sectors can improve health behavior and reduce Type II diabetes in the United States. A Booz Allen team started in early 2008 by interviewing thought leaders for information with which to conduct a stakeholder analysis of key organizations and individuals contributing to the fight against Type II diabetes. Booz Allen and CHT then hosted a diabetes roundtable discussion in October 2008 to allow key stakeholders to review the results of the analysis. Two of the behavioral themes highlighted during the diabetes roundtable were selected for follow-on discussions:

Individual behavior can be modified by changing environmental and cultural context
Messages about positive lifestyle choices can be communicated at locations where people congregate, including online communities

The Omaha roundtable examined these themes and achieved three objectives: Exploring the benefits and limits of social media tools; sharing lessons learned about community health initiatives from users of social media; and identifying opportunities and challenges in using social media to support community health and wellness initiatives.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich used his introductory remarks to kick off the discussions and identify three important and converging trends:

The U.S. increasingly needs to put greater focus on health promotion and wellness rather than on healthcare and treatment to keep our healthcare costs under control.
The use of social media allows those in the healthcare industry to engage in conversation with the public on an infinite number of health issues.
There is a growing body of successful health program best practices available today that are trapped in organizational and cultural silos rather than being shared across the healthcare community. These best practices can and should be studied and replicated, as feasible, to achieve increased impact with lower cost.

At the conclusion of the Omaha roundtable, participants were encouraged to explore new technologies to improve programs and patient outreach. Booz Allen and CHT will continue to host follow on discussions in the coming year to further explore the most appropriate ways to leverage social media tools to promote health and wellness.

Booz Allen principal Grant McLaughlin, senior associate Beth Meagher, and CHT project director Julie Eckstein led the team that conducted the Omaha roundtable.

study posted June 3, 2009