GREAT NEW PATIENT NETWORKING SITE

“Patients Helping Patients Live Better Every Day” is the motto of a new website called PatientsLikeMe. The site provides information and networking for patients with “life-changing diseases.” Diseases included so far are ALS, MS (multiple sclerosis), HIV, Parkinson’s, and Mood Disorders (depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar, or anxiety). You create a profile of your condition, your mood (today), your medicines and dosages (!), a history of your symptoms, and your weight. Not only can you connect with others who have similar conditions or are on similar medications, but you can track your condition over time. You can even print out a sheet to take to your doctor.
It was founded by three engineers from MIT who were inspired by a young friend with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). How do they make money? By selling “anonymized” data and permission-based access to healthcare providers. (They tell you which information they share and which they don’t.)
I really like this site and see great things for it once there are more people on it.

URL: http://www.patientslikeme.com