Facebook, the social media giant is launching a tool
called Preventive Health to prompt its users to get regular checkups and
connect them to service providers.The architect of the new service is Dr.
Freddy Abnousi, the head of the company’s healthcare research, who was
previously linked to an earlier skunk works initiative that would collect
anonymous hospital data and use a technique called “hashing” to match the data
to individuals that exist in both data sets for research.
Working with the American Cancer Society; the American College
of Cardiology; the American Heart Association;
and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Facebook is developing
a series of digital prompts that will encourage users to get a standard battery
of tests that’s important to ensure health for populations of a certain age.
The company’s initial focus is on the top two leading
causes of death in the world: heart disease and cancer along with the flu,
which affects millions of people around the world each.
Heart disease is the number one killer of men and women
around the world and in many cases it is 100% preventable. By incorporating
prevention reminders into social platforms people are accessing every day, Facebook
is giving people the tools they need to be proactive about their heart health.
Users who want to access Facebook Preventive Health tools can search
in the company’s mobile app to find which checkups are recommended by the
company’s partner organizations based on the age and gender of a user.The tool
allows users to mark when the tests are completed, set reminders to scheduled
future tests and tell people in their social network about the tool.
Facebook will even direct users to resources on where to
have the tests. One thing that the company will not do, Facebook assures
potential users, is collect the results of any test.
“Health is particularly personal, so we took privacy and
safety into account from the beginning. For example, Preventive Health allows
you to set reminders for your future checkups and mark them as done, but it
doesn’t provide us, or the health organizations we’re working with, access to
your actual test results,” the company wrote in a statement.
Personal information about your activity in Preventive
Health is and should not be shared with third parties, such as health
organizations or insurance companies. Therefore it can’t be used for purposes
like insurance eligibility.
The company said that people can also use the new health
tool to find locations that administer flu shots.
“Flu vaccines can have wide-ranging benefits beyond just
preventing the disease, such as reducing the risk of hospitalization,
preventing serious medical events for some people with chronic diseases, and
protecting women during and after pregnancy,” said Dr. Nancy Messonnier,
Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, CDC, in a
statement.
These new tools will empower users with instant access to
information and resources they need to become a flu fighter in their own
communities. This type of Social media marketing for health care used
by Facebook provides unprecedented opportunities for educating patients,
increasing outreach, and recruiting a new generation of health care
professionals. The virtual aspect of social media enhances
communications by creating a comfortable, often anonymous, environment for
engaging and exchanging health information. Some may share a health goal to
generate support or engage in a patient community to interact with other
patients
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