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The hunt for the first brave Health 2.0 experimenters has begun. The place: Austin, Texas and the surrounding counties. Nearly 1.5 million people live in Central Texas, over half of them in family units. They are educated well above the national average, have more wireless capability than any other city after Seattle and San Francisco/Bay Area, and are considered a blend of the “weird” in Austin, and the “soccer mom” population in outlying communities. They also have a mixed population, mostly white and a third Hispanic, and one out of four has no health insurance.

This Central Texas area challenges the providers serving the healthcare consumer with cultural and language differences, and a large amount of uncompensated care, but it also is home to a hip, young and educated population, focused on growing their families and their communities. Four distinct healthcare systems reach out to this group, plus many smaller clinics and public health services. Over 3,000 doctors and 1,200 dentists serve the Central Texas patients, as well as thousands of other care and wellness specialists and therapists.

CareSeek, a Health 2.0 communications company, is developing a model for empowering the healthcare consumer using online tools for research, sourcing and community. With the understanding that while the Internet may be global, an individual’s need for competent healthcare is LOCAL, CareSeek is developing community-based healthcare portals and has selected for its pilot online Health Community the five counties surrounding the state capital: Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays and Williamson. Here is where the healthcare seeker can begin the quest for quality care, learn more about providers and services, and exchange information with others in order to confidently make the best choices. Providers of care and services can promote their offerings, highlight their expertise and invite patients to discover their excellence. In one centralized online location, the participants in both giving and receiving care can conveniently meet to effectively gain local access to each other.

New concepts bring challenges of their own, and in the case of CentralTexas.CareSeek.com it will be to assure competing healthcare systems that sharing the same sandbox is a good thing. The model of a shopping mall comes to mind, where competing stores (Sears, Pennys, Nordstrom, Macys) come together in a centralized location for easy access to the consumer. Shoppers prefer the convenience of a one-stop shopping location, and stores benefit from the flow of everyone’s customers. The design decisions for a mall are based on the customer experience, and so is the design of the Community.CareSeek web portal. The interactive online resource, which benefits from the participation of competitive providers, is designed with the healthcare consumer in mind.

The CareSeek Health 2.0 portal gives providers a chance to meet consumers online in a neutral forum. Conversations that may be impossible to participate in under the brand of a hospital or HIPAA surveillance of a medical practice, can happen openly and anonymously between everyone, patients, care seekers and care givers. Opinions can be expressed, feedback given and information shared. Will this communication and observation take us to a higher place nourished by the “wisdom of the crowds”? That, is the hope and the premise behind science and education, and if ever there were a field that hinges it knowledge on those two forces, it is healthcare.