The TAP-IN Blog

Sermo: Update on a Large Online Doctor's Community

At Tap-In, we believe that health care professionals interested in and engaged in volunteering at free clinics can benefit by interacting with one another via the Web. That's why we invite you to comment on these blog posts. Some question whether busy doctors, nurses and dentists can or will find the time to do so. But there's some strong evidence that doctors do use the Web to interact with one another.

This past October 22 and 23 in San Francisco, the third Health 2.0 Conference was held. Drawing from the widely used term "Web 2.0" this conference highlights the increasing use of social and interactive media in the health care industry. One of its presenters, who was interviewed on stage, was Daniel Palestrant, the CEO of Sermo, an online social network of physicians that was started about two years ago.

The business model of Sermo is to provide sponsoring companies - pharmaceuticals, medical products, and more recently financial news publishers - access to doctors and their conversations. There are no advertisements on the site and access is free as long as you can be verified as a practicing physician.

What makes Sermo newsworthy for Tap-In visitors and partners, is the assertion by Palestrant that it has over 90,000 member physicians and is adding about 7,000 new physician per month. And that "99.9%" of member visits are what is described as "peer exchange" rather than participation in surveys presented by commercial sponsors. As seen in this video of Palestrant's interview, he claims that almost 1/5 of the total number of physicians in America are registered members, and that contrary to expectations, the busiest doctors do join and log in.

Enhancing an Online Community for Clinic Workers

On several occasions I've blogged about the Community Clinics Initiative, created by the Tides Foundation to serve the needs of clinics in California. Specifically I've sung the praises of the Community Clinic Voice, the online community and resource pool that allows clinics to collaborate and share ideas.

Now, with the receipt of new funding, the Voice is extending a Request for Applications (RFP) seeking four issue-area experts as consultants to an Editorial Review Board (ERB) that will enhance its online library of tools and resources for clinics.

The Community Clinic Voice was launched in 2001 to provide an online gathering place for clinic professionals to network, share information and exchange ideas in order to build stronger and healthier communities.

To further support operational efficiencies in clinics, the Community Clinic Voice (CCV) will expand and enhance its collection of peer-recommended tools and resources in each of our four issue areas: Clinical, Financial, Information Technology and Operations. Our aim is for the CCV site to be a lasting resource for the field that continues to provide members with key information and tools to support their work.

Needed tools and resources will be identified and evaluated on specific criteria through an editorial review process, then organized in a "Recommended" collection that will include such documents as best practices, clinical protocols and guidelines, operational policies and procedures, model human resources forms, job descriptions, salary surveys, regulatory guidelines, IT strategic plans, fund development tools, and others.

For more detail on responsibilities, compensation and a timeline for the project, please follow the link to the RFA. The window for applications closes October 31. 2008.