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Building Virtual Communities and Social Networking Applications
for Health Care Policy MakersDon Juzwishin PhD
JCI, Edmonton, AlbertaAdjunct Associate Professor, University of Victoria
September 18, 2009
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Character of health information in a contemporary world
Ubiquitou
s
OpenCollaborative
Health Information
Health Data
Knowledge
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What are the primary predictors of adult-onset diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, and many other diseases?
The social determinants of health ◦ the socio-economic conditions that shape the health of
individuals, communities, and jurisdictions as a whole. Social determinants establish the extent to which Canadians possess the resources to identify and achieve personal aspirations, satisfy needs, and cope with the environment. This perspective is the key to understanding patterns of health and illness in Canada today.
Move to a public policy approach that sees the mainsprings of health emerging from the social distribution of resources.
Dennis Raphael, Social Determinants of Health
Move from institutional model to social determinants model
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Health policy is not just a process that simply requires management of health care facilities and human resources. It is a public policy area that is driven and influenced by social, political and economic forces
Consider the political, economic, and social forces that shape both health care policy and health
Aim to effectively utilize the processes and means of producing health policy in the service of health
Toba Bryant, An Introduction to Health Policy
The Health Policy Maker Redefined
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What are examples
Help for Health Care Providers Putting Policy into Practice
http://www.gapminder.org
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Assurance of security and confidentiality Management of risk Widespread acceptance in practice, education
and research Assurance of quality, credibility & authority Demonstrated effectiveness
◦ Does it work as it was designed? Demonstrated outcome & impact
◦ Does it make a difference? Demonstrated value
◦ Allocative efficiency
What do health policy makers need from Web 2.0 and 3.0?
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Medium for accessing and assessing public opinion
Create reservoirs of data, information & knowledge
Sharing information and interacting with the public and health care providers
Public and provider education – move from curative model to population health orientation
Shaping public opinion Mobilizing the public
What can Web 2.0 and 3.0 do for health care policy makers?
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Provide another medium of interaction with the public
Provide transparency and accountability on policy agenda, instruments, design, implementation, communities and evaluation
Encourage best practice and benchmarking in policy making
Provide an opportunity for ubiquitous dynamic visualization of health and health care issues and problems
How can Web 2.0 and 3.0 improve health care policy making?
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Speaking truth to power Separate the wheat from the chaff Preserve the public interest Avoid manipulation by interest group
interaction and dynamics Identifying the “truth” Preserve legitimacy and authority
Challenges for Policy Makers
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Embrace the Web 2.0 and 3.0 platforms but with caution
Move toward people centered health (care) Create, link and make available anonymous
and secure databases Pilot innovative technologies – publish
successes and failures
Recommendations