What does it mean when Google creates a Health Advisory Council? It means over a dozen of the nation's most influential business, health and technology moguls gather to improve the search, delivery and storage of health information to millions of people worldwide. The days of calling grandma for a remedy are all but gone. With resources like Web MD, Revolution Health and soon iMedExchange, we all benefit from expedited communication with health experts and easily accessible yet more accurate information on health.

For those of you who follow the markets, these trends have not gone unnoticed. Healthcare is not only a focus politically, but from a business development and acquisition standpoint. A recent article in the New York Times notes the resources that Google and Microsoft are channeling towards healthcare is growing rapidly - especially in the area of acquisitions.

Decide for yourself what this means for the future of health information technology. I'm certainly excited about the trends.

Dr. Subrahmanyam Karuturi recently summarized a number of social networking sites aimed at the physician community. This list is useful, especially for physicians who are looking for or need resources. And, the sites listed are interesting.

One comment following Dr. Karuturi's blog entry raises the question of what constitutes a social network and what does not. This current debate is a component of the larger discussion related to the definition of Web 2.0. Wikipedia provides a definition as good as any. As an aside, a quiz in a recent eWeek article included the following question: "What did Tim O'Reilly (of Silicon Valley publishing fame) say about companies that advertise themselves as Web 2.0? Answer: That if a company advertises themselves as Web 2.0, then they probably aren't."

From my perspective, forums and message boards continue to be helpful vehicles tools for online discussion and can offer value as components of often more extensive social networking environments. In fact, many of today's more robust "social networking" sites are really direct descendants of the forum genre.

Furthermore, while debates may continue as to whether certain physician-oriented sites, such as Sermo.com or StudentDoctor.net qualify as social networks, I believe it is more important to focus on the fact that more and more tools and "online communities" are being introduced for physicians. This is clearly in response to the increasingly challenging role physicians hold. As in any marketplace, more options and competition mean more value for the customer.