Online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, and experiences with each other are empowering, engaging, and educating consumers and providers in health care, writes Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, a health care economist and management consultant.

Consumers are quickly adopting such social networks: One in three Americans used some form of social media online for health in 2007. People with chronic health conditions are sharing their stories with each other, not just for emotional support, but also for the clinical knowledge they gain from participating with "patients like me" in an online community.

Doctors are meeting up online to discuss challenging cases with colleagues. Researchers are coming together with patients to learn about side effects in real-time to improve therapeutic regimens.

In the next few years, Sarasohn-Kahn says we will see countless social media projects focusing on specific diseases and sub-specialty areas, built by and for patients, caregivers, and providers. The ongoing demands of a consumer-driven health marketplace will inspire innovation in applications that integrate clinical and financial information and ratings sites will grow in number and type.

Only a consumer-centered health care system offers the incentives needed to maximize value and produce more for less systemically and consistently over the long term, writes Ed Haislmaier of The Heritage Foundation.