Mark S. Boguski*, Resounding Health Incorporated, Chestnut Hill, United States Michele R. Berman, Celebrity Diagnosis LLC, Chestnut Hill, United States Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Health information on the web: Supply and Demand Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: LKSC Conference Center Stanford Room: Breakout Classroom Date: 2011-09-17 02:30 PM – 04:00 PM Last modified: 2011-08-12

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In its report Healthy People 2020, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that one of its major objectives is to use communication strategically to improve health and that one of the ways in which this can be done is through images of health in the media and popular culture. Health information campaigns have traditionally relied on mass communication (such as public service announcements on billboards, radio and television) and educational messages in printed materials. However, fueled by social networking technologies and the emergence of participatory medicine, the ways in which consumers find and use health information are undergoing dramatic change. Based on new insights into the theory and operational characteristics of “teachable moments”, and novel adaptations of theoretical models of health behavior change, we have created a multi-channel platform to systematically create and distribute Teachable Moments in Medicine® using blogs, Facebook and Twitter. This system has the potential to educate and inform millions of consumers in a cost-effective manner since three-fourths of all Americans are online and virtually all take some interest in popular culture. The system has also proven popular among professional healthcare providers as a new mode of communication and understanding with their patients.