A quick search on Apple’s App Store produces hundreds of health related applications (apps) – ranging from health news portals to fitness and diet tips. But health, science and pharma companies should take note that two recently launched apps – Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform and Outbreaks Near Me – represent the healthcare industry’s introductory foray into true mobilization via this tool.
Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform
Howard Dean has long been recognized for his ability to build grassroots networks and mobilize voters online. In keeping with his efforts to encourage interactive citizen engagement, last month Dean released his solution to the healthcare conundrum – as an iPhone app.
For $4.99, Apple customers can download Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform – an app which includes Dean’s synonymously-titled book, a citizen action toolkit and a video of Dean detailing his plan.
In the midst of the increasingly crowded healthcare debate, with this iPhone app, Dean is providing a tool which breaks through the clutter and encourages direct social action. As app users read Dean’s plan, they can simultaneously interject themselves into the conversation by using the toolkit. Readers are able to:
- Contact Congress. Tapping into the iPhone’s current location, the app generates telephone numbers for the corresponding Congressional representatives and allows readers to place a call to their political representation from their iPhone.
- Sign a petition. Fans of Dean’s plan can express their approval by linking to and signing his online petition.
- Involve friends. The app enables readers to forward emails to their stored phone contacts about Dean’s book, the healthcare reform debate and how to get involved, as well as to post to their Twitter and Facebook profiles.
Outbreaks Near Me
Just as Dean is using the iPhone to encourage citizen engagement, earlier this month, researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston, in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, launched Outbreaks Near Me – a free app which allows users to track and report infectious disease outbreaks in real time, such as H1N1 (swine flu).
The foundation for the app is HealthMap, an online resource which collects, filters and disseminates content provided by the government and user-generated information about emerging infectious diseases and provides an overview of a user’s location and any known infectious disease outbreaks in the area. It also allows users to search by geographic location and disease type. App users can set alerts that will notify them when new outbreaks are reported in their area. Users are encouraged to submit information on outbreaks they witness and send photos of situations leading to the disease, which HealthMap reviews and posts on their worldwide alert system.
“This is grassroots, participatory epidemiology,” said HealthMap co-founder Clark Freifeld. “In releasing this app we aim to empower citizens in the cause of public health, not only by providing ready access to real-time information, but also by encouraging them to contribute their own knowledge, expertise and observations.”
Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform and Outbreaks Near Me exemplify the next generation iPhone app. For health-minded businesses, the experience shouldn’t end with the download, rather it should be the start to social interaction and mobilization – grassroots through gadgetry.