Networks of Innovation

In The Innovator's Prescription, we estimated that facilitated networks -- business models in which customers exchange resources with one another -- comprise up to 40% of GDP. In comparison to the general economy, networks seem drastically underutilized in health care, despite the increasing ubiquity of telecommunications that has allowed providers and patients to connect in new ways. However, there are many innovative network models beginning to take shape.

We highlighted how patient networks like PatientsLikeMe.com are an ideal model for managing chronic diseases, if for no other reason than the fact that they foster frequent contact at minimal cost among a community of trusted individuals. It's certainly more efficient than trying to manage chronic diseases through business models built for acute, episodic care. But we're only just beginning to realize the value of these self-organized communities. A BusinessWeek profile describes how 250 ALS patients on PatientsLikeMe went as far as running their own clinical trial.

Beyond assembling patients with shared chronic diseases, facilitated networks are also the perfect setting for encouraging lifelong, preventive health behaviors. One of the most dramatic examples is the community of CRONies, a voluntary society of individuals who have elected to follow a calorie-restricted diet with optimum nutrition (CRON). Data from this patient population have revealed some eye-popping results that correlate with previous animal research, which has linked CRON to longer healthspans. However, just as incredible is that long-term clinical data could be collected from a community that is related only through the Internet and not coordinated by any particular researcher.

Finally, given the current widespread media attention to swine flu, we shouldn't ignore how facilitated networks are changing disease surveillance. To track outbreaks of infectious diseases, HealthMap integrates and plots data from sources as varied as Google News, ProMED, and World Health Organization. According to Frank Moss, Director of MIT's Media Lab, HealthMap detected swine flu on April 1, 2009, well before major news outlets and health systems were aware of the concern. Similarly, Google's Flu Trends aggregates search data to generate models of flu activity and spread. Its findings consistently predate figures from the CDC by 2 weeks.