It is exciting times for those promoting better engagement of patients. The rapidly evolving online and mobile platforms are enabling better and more effective channelling of information, better mutual access between patients and care providers and is generally bringing the concept of participatory health closer to everyone. So why does this area deserve so much attention?

The world over, health care costs are increasing faster than economies are growing. While medical innovations, in the form of clinical technologies and prescription drugs, have lengthened lives and, in many cases, enhanced quality of lives, they are usually cost-increasing. What can be done to stem the health cost spiral while fostering innovation in health? The answer is engaging people-patients more integrally and intimately in their care. Leveraging information and communications technologies as platforms for connecting patients with providers, health coaches, and trusted health advisors is the real health reform. All research shows that the patients and clinicians alike are increasingly happy to embrace the new channels and are starting to realize the huge benefits.

So this is an area with great potential for those with expertise in managing the online and mobile solutions – which is what we will focus on at Thursday’s Online Health track. We will be featuring projects that have been making strides and hear the experiences from the people behind – such as the case of the Danish public health portal “sundhed.dk”

Philadelphia based health economist, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn has got her finger firmly on the pulse in terms of developments in this ever-expanding field. She researches, talks, writes and advises on the many activities at the intersection of health and technology. Jane will open the track by making the case for using online and mobile to better engage health citizens. She will moreover chair a discussion on the challenges around trust in online health.

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