Top Twitterers in Health Information Technology
On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me, two turtle doves…
On day two of our 12 Days of Christmas Posts we turn to Twitter. What would our year have looked like without Twitter? Our version of an alternate ending to It’s a Wonderful Life? Thankfully, our health information technology universe is just as it is, in part due to this list of great Twitterers. They kept us informed, engaged, and often amused throughout the year.
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Farzad Mostashari, MD had a pretty busy year with the release of Stage 2 final rules and other ONC Health IT initiatives. He managed to find the time to tweet about it all. What we loved most, though, was his obvious passion for the Blue Button initiative. Go Farzad. Go Blue. Follow Dr. Mostashari @Farzad_ONC.
Patient Engagement was a huge focus this year and when we think “patient engagement” and “Twitter” we look no further than the iconic Dave deBronkart, aka e-Patient Dave. He’s been talking, and tweeting, about the subject for years now. We loved following his antics at the various conferences he spoke at this year, and his 140-character airport and general travel follies were priceless. Give us our damn data. Give us e-Patient Dave. Follow him @ePatientDave.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Standards, Standards, Standards. This is our mantra when Keith Boone, aka Motorycle Guy, comes up in our conversations. A self-proclaimed Standards geek, Keith does what some might think is near impossible – make the topic of Standards tweetable. In health information technology, Standards Geek rules. Plus, his Twitter pic is cool. Follow Keith @Motorcycle_Guy.
The list of great bloggers, reporters and health information technology pundits we follow on Twitter is long and varied so it was a tough task narrowing our picks to just a few. That being said, our Twitter life in 2012 would have been a whole lot less meaningful without these fellow contributors. First, worthy of making anyone’s holiday list are the competitors from yesterday’s Sled Games I video that includes Tom Sullivan (@GovHITEditor), Brian Ahier (@Ahier), John Lynn (@TechGuy) and Dr. Nick van Terheyden (@DrNic1). Rounding out this list we recommend Harry Greenspun, MD (@harrygreenspun), Janice McCallum (@janicemccallum), Joseph Kim, MD (@DrJosephKim), Jon Mertz (@jonmertz), and Jennifer Dennard (@SmyrnaGirl). Do yourself a big favor in 2013, follow them all.
Finally, our list would not be complete without our own HITECH Answers blogger and partner Jim Tate. Jim is founder of EMR Advocate and an expert on meaningful use. One of the secrets to Jim’s success is his folksy communication style, suited perfectly as host for our MU Live! radio show and for tweets. We love how he weaves history and calls on spiritual references to make his point. Who else would think to write and tweet “Sun Tzu and the Art of EHR Adoption” or “4 Noble Truths of Buddhism, the 4 Core Tenets of meaningful use”? Jim, that’s who. Follow him @JimTate.
Who made your top list of Twitterers in 2012?