Facebook Ready To Get Into Healthcare

New submitter Ted_Margaris_Chicago sends a report from Reuters indicating Facebook will be adding healthcare features to their social network. The company is exploring creating online "support communities" that would connect Facebook users suffering from various ailments. A small team is also considering new "preventative care" applications that would help people improve their lifestyles. In recent months, the sources said, the social networking giant has been holding meetings with medical industry experts and entrepreneurs, and is setting up a research and development unit to test new health apps. Facebook is still in the idea-gathering stage, the people said. The article notes two reasons in particular that spurred Facebook to this course of action. First, the day that Facebook let people share their organ donor status, the U.S. saw a 21-fold increase in people registering to be organ donors. Second, they noticed users with chronic conditions had a tendency to search Facebook for advice.

Comments

Re:There goes HIPAA

[cayenne8]

I'm thinking my God....are people so fucking stupid to voluntarily put all that information out there, and on Facebook to top it off?!?!

I can see a LOT of insurance companies flocking to "friend" everyone to get a share of this info, not to mention the other thousands of advertisers, and of course the govt, since it is becoming so entangled into a person's private healthcare history.