Health 2.0 comes to Boston --October 7, 2008

The next Health 2.0 Northeast event is coming to Boston October 7. The first event was held in January and it was an excellent session with great speakers and networking. (I also had a chance to meet the "other" David Williams, Head of Business Development and Marketing at PatientsLikeMe, so that was a treat, too.)From the looks of it the upcoming event will be at least as good as the kickoff. I plan to be there and I hope to see you. If you register in advance you'll save $10.Here's the press release:

Boston Becomes a Hotbed for Health 2.0Industry Leaders Converge on Cambridge for Second Health 2.0 Northeast Forum

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As Boston drives to the forefront of the Health 2.0 sector, industry leaders from health care, finance, academia, technology, and related fields will come together at Health 2.0 Northeast (http://www.healthforum2.com) on Oct. 7, 2008 at the Cambridge Marriott, Cambridge, MA, to discuss where the emerging Health 2.0 field is going and how Greater Boston will continue to lead. Speakers will include Ben Heywood of Patients Like Me, Jack Barrette of Wego Health, and Matthew Jarman of American Well.Health 2.0 is a new concept of health care that employs social software and other web-based tools to promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders in health care to create a better, more knowledgeable and cost effective environment for better well being.Over the past year, there has been a tremendous amount of buzz about the emergence of Health 2.0, and how innovative applications and start-ups will revolutionize healthcare by providing services directly to providers and consumers through the use of the Internet and digital media. Boston has become a Mecca for the Health 2.0 with large players such as Google Health, Trizetto, Yahoo Health, AthenaHealth and Microsoft recently entering partnerships with some of the area's leading hospitals and companies. Innovative start-ups have emerged as well, including as Patients Like Me, Tangerine Wellness, Virgin Health, American Well, MZinga, and Wego Health."The concentration of leading academic medical centers and high tech hospitals, well-trained technology professionals, and the growing number of Health 2.0 companies in the Boston area, is driving demand for this event. We expect great turn out and great dialog," said Peter Mueller, Millennium Ventures Group. He added, "No other region has the mix of Health 2.0 innovators."The multi-trillion dollar health care sector is hitting a critical stage in its development with costs exploding, more and more Americans going uninsured and the Silver Tsunami of Baby Boomers driving massive expansion of treatment and services. New developments in social networking are providing untold opportunities for managing the challenges of the chaotic healthcare landscape. The Internet offers a new platform for information, services, analysis and monitoring – providing for more personal control, cost savings as well as enhanced delivery of services and information to patients.With that in mind, the upcoming Health 2.0 Northeast Forum will tackle such issues as "Where is e-health now?," "How is health 2.0 disrupting the health and Internet landscape?," and "How will the region continue to build and lead?""The debut Health 2.0 Northeast event was assembled at the last minute, yet we ended up with an overflow crowd and an incredible conversation on the issues and needs of Health 2.0," said Vincent Caprio, President, New York NanoBusiness Alliance. "People are yearning for a place to discuss the issues around Health 2.0 and build the region into the dominant player and we hope to create a new forward looking discussion at this event."The Health 2.0 Northeast forum's goal is to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, technologists, health care professionals, insurers and others interested in the emerging Health 2.0 sector throughout the Northeast to discuss, brainstorm, and act on developing the emerging convergence of health care and social networking."The act of getting these health and technology leaders together to discuss and debate the future of Health 2.0 can be magical. I must have seen ten ideas for companies to address consumer health needs emerge from the last event," said technology entrepreneur and NanoBusiness Alliance co-founder F. Mark Modzelewski. "The Health 2.0 Northeast forum is only place in the region where you see this incredible convergence of health and technology leaders coming together to reshape the future of health care."For more information on the event and to get tickets go to: http://www.healthforum2.com.