Those of us in public health or that segment of the pharmaceutical industry involved in cancer care are likely familiar with the concept of "patient navigation." To be honest, until recently I wasn't. But I'm catching up....

It seems the phrase originated with a series of hearings conducted by the American Cancer Society in the late eighties to better understand the needs of this country's poor in regard to access to effective cancer care. For cancer patients especially, early diagnosis is critical to patient outcomes. As you might imagine, their report offered a grim picture of the healthcare challenges facing this underserved group and helped spur change from a number of fronts.

Now, nearly 20 years later, "patient navigation" has grown to include other disease states, as well. Improving outcomes, however, has remained the primary goal.

When I consider the subject of "patient navigation" from a web perspective, I find myself considering a number of factors....who's online, where people are finding information, what tools are most helpful in providing support and how an organization integrates related services are but a few of the key issues that come to mind. Then there's the concept of the navigation itself and how effectively that helps improve outcomes.

All considered, these are big issues that a number of organizations are dealing with. I'm curious to find out more about how others have been approaching this subject....through web design and online community development, especially. For web services groups, there's much available to quantify....but how effectively are we doing that and how can we improve? This seems like a great opportunity to partner with our program and service departments.

Please share your experiences, your thoughts and your advice on improving outcomes online.