Rising Stars in Health Reform

Sermo has arisen in the past three years as a powerful media voice for the grass roots of physicians.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sermo Named to Fast Company Magazine’s List of World’s Most Innovative Companies

Largest Physician Community Recognized as ‘Political Force’ Behind Healthcare Reform Efforts

Cambridge, MA, February 24, 2010 — Sermo (http://www.sermo.com), the world’s largest online community for physicians, today announced it has been named to Fast Company Magazine’s list of the world's most innovative companies. Sermo earned its ranking for providing a free web service – referenced by Fast Company as a ‘facebook for doctors’ - where physicians can collaborate and improve patient care. The company was also cited as a ‘political force’ after 11,500 physician members composed, signed and delivered a petition opposing the American Medical Association's acceptance of the House healthcare reform bill in the summer of 2009.

To create this year’s list, Fast Company’s editorial team analyzed information on thousands of businesses across the globe to identify creative models and progressive cultures. Sermo was recognized alongside the most respected healthcare innovators in the world, including athenahealth, GE, Cisco, Patientslikeme, and Kaiser Permanente.

“Since launching in 2006, more than 20% of all US physicians have joined the Sermo community,” said Dr. Daniel Palestrant, CEO & Founder of Sermo. “As the physician community has grown, so too has our client list, which now includes 10 of the top 12 pharmaceutical companies. These companies are engaging physicians through our social media offerings built specifically to increase brand awareness and provide valuable market intelligence not possible through other channels.”

Unlike other models, Sermo is free of advertising and free to physicians. Revenue is generated as clients purchase products to interact with specialists. To learn more about Sermo’s social media offerings, visit www.sermo.com/clients.

The complete Fast Company Most Innovative Companies list and related stories appear in the March 2010 issue of Fast Company magazine, on newsstands currently and online at www.fastcompany.com/MIC.

About Sermo
Sermo is the largest online physician community, where over 112,000 physicians collaborate to improve patient care. Sermo provides access to its community for clients that need fast, actionable insights into treatments, drugs and devices. Learn more at www.sermo.com.

Of some interest is the fact that Sermo and the AMA originally were in a partnership which dissolved within the first  year of their agreement.  Sermo’s contention is that the AMA does not truly represent any majority of American Physicians and  has a conflict of interest in holding the copyright for the CPT codes.

 

Another embryonic politically active forum is Docs4Patientcare.org   This organization abruptly sprouted last year during the health reform debates. For more information go to their website.