The Explosion of Health and Medical Information: Are Patients Any Better Off?

Event Date: March 7, 2011

Americans have access to an abundance of information related to diseases, conditions, drugs, devices, alternative therapies and scientific studies. But what are they doing with all of this information? Has this explosion led to empowerment or to confusion and information overload? Has access encouraged better communication between physicians and patients? Or it is leading to a breakdown between the two. To discuss and debate these issues, we assembled a panel of thought leaders in this area. Our speakers were:

• Dr. Scott Haig, an orthopedic surgeon and TIME contributor, who wrote the seminal piece “When The Patient is a Googler
• Ivan Oransky, the executive editor of Reuters Health and founder of Embargo Watch and Retraction Watch.
• Mitchel Rothschild, CEO of Vitals.com, a site that has aggregated data on 720,000 doctors nationwide and gives patients a chance to rate medical providers
• Dr. Lisa Sanders, the renowned New York Times writer whose “Diagnosis” column was the inspiration for Fox TV’s House MD. Dr. Sanders is the author of several books including Every Patient Tells a Story, a practicing physician, and a Yale Medical School professor.
• Bill Silberg, whose career has included senior editor roles at Medscape and JAMA, as well as executive level positions at New York Academy of Sciences and The Commonwealth Fund.