The Now Economy

In an annual review of the most pressing issues for health executives and policy makers, PwC identified nine top issues for 2009:

1. The economic downturn will hit healthcare
2. The underinsured will surpass the uninsured as healthcare’s biggest headache
3. Big pharma turns to M&A to build the drug pipeline
4. From vaccines to regulation, prevention is on the rise
5. Genetic testing reaching a price point for the masses
6. The Internet and social networking is a powerful health extended “Technology will empower patients in new ways during 2009. The increased information and growing patient-to-patient interaction over social networking platforms and websites such as patientslikeme.com and americanwell.com are changing how healthcare is navigated and experienced by consumers, especially as electronic health records become more common.”
7. Hospitals must perform to get paid
8. Payers and employers to give incentives for wellness programs
9. ICD-10 will require a major resource investment

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ReadWriteWeb included PatientsLikeMe, a CommerceNet portfolio company, in their list of top “real world apps that have made our offline lives easier in 2008.”

“PatientsLikeMe is an online community for people with life-changing medical conditions like multiple sclerosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, or fibromyalgia. Even though the site is still relatively new, it already provides one of the largest patient communities, and also features a wide range of research tools for symptoms and treatments.

“PatientsLikeMe was founded in 2004 and defines its mission as providing a platform for sharing real world medical data. Members of the site often share data about their individual health experiences like symptoms, weight, mood swings, or drugs they have taken. Thanks to this, you can easily find others who are in the same situation as you and what treatments are working for them.”

PatientsLikeMe was also name to ReadWriteWeb’s “Top 100 products of 2008.”

Read full “Top 10 Real World Web Apps of 2008″ article

On December 8, Vivaty, a CommerceNet portfolio company, launched Vivaty Points, a way to start earning points for all the events and activities that users do when in Vivaty, such as sending gifts. Points is the first in a long series of upcoming features and building blocks for the virtual economy.

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