Healthshare taps doctors for online advice

A new health information website aims to provide healthcare information to Australians, provided by Australians. Joshua Gliddon reports on the site’s growth. 

The Challenge: To provide relevant healthcare information, written by Australians, for Australians

The Approach: Healthshare is an information and discussion portal for healthcare information

The Outcomes: It currently has 3,000 members, with the aim of increasing that to tens of thousands over the next 12 months.

The Lessons Learned: A pilot launch demonstrated the need for robust monitoring and moderating of comments.

The Upside for:

Clinicians: Clinicians on the site can boost their profile and generate professional leads – within the restrictions of their discipline.

Patients: Can access relevant, Australian health information, as well as interact with their peers through discussion.

The Organisation: Plans to generate revenue through sponsorship of discussion forums.

The Healthshare story

Got a health problem? The simple way to find an answer, instead of visiting your GP, is to ask Dr Google. But using the world’s number one search engine for health advice has its problems. There’s no-one to vouch for the accuracy of the information, and much of what’s presented comes from overseas.

Darryl Jackson, chief executive of start-up health information website Healthshare, wants to change all that. “The genesis of the site is simple,” explains Mr Jackson. “The internet does not provide credible information relevant to Australians. We want to change that.”

The idea behind Healthshare is simple. Visitors to the site can ask health-related questions, and those questions are answered either by experts in their field, or by other users who have had similar health experiences.

The site is divided into two areas. First is the question and answer area. The other area is for people with similar health conditions to discuss their illnesses and treatment.

However, given online healthcare’s lack of veracity, how does Healthshare vet its experts, and what’s in it for the experts themselves?

According to Mr Jackson, the healthcare experts on the site are all verified through the relevant colleges and professional bodies before they’re allowed to answer questions.

As for incentives, Mr Jackson said the experts do it for several reasons. “In general they’re sick of the misinformation online,” he said. “It also helps to boost their reputation online, and to demonstrate thought leadership.”

Experts can also use the site for lead generation, although it is up to each expert to adhere to the relevant regulations about self-promotion within their discipline. It’s against the law, for example, for many types of health professionals to actively advertise their services.

The discussion areas of the site are heavily monitored and moderated by the Healthshare team. Mr Jackson said all comments are vetted before being posted to the site. “We learned this was necessary when we piloted the site,” he commented.

The monitor avoids spam and ensures discussions remain civil – and appropriate. “In a number of our communities there are people who are in a difficult personal place,” he said. “They’re seeking relevant information, and because of their situation, they could be susceptible to inappropriate material.”

The Healthshare team is based in Bondi, in Sydney’s East. The site was piloted last year to learn about what users wanted, and was subsequently soft-launched on January 26 of this year.

“We currently have around 3000 members,” said Mr Jackson, “but it’s our goal to grow that to tens of thousands of members over the next year or so.”

The site is free to use, and experts aren’t charged (or remunerated) for their advice. The business model, said Mr Jackson, is to offer sponsorship of the various communities and forums to industry groups, pharmaceutical companies and the like. Further down the track, the company has set its sites on charging experts for marketing tools and marketing support.

Mr Jackson and his business partners have self-funded the site without external investors. “We plan to continue our privately-held status into the future,” he said.