Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2009, 6, 492-525; doi:10.3390/ijerph6020492 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article Melanie Swan * Emerging Patient-Driven Health Care Models: An Examination of Health Social Networks, Consumer Personalized Medicine and Quantified Self-Tracking Research Associate, MS Futures Group, P.O. Box 61258, Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: m@melanieswan.com; Tel.: +1-415- 505-4426; Fax: +1-504-910-3803 Received: 9 January 2009 / Accepted: 2 February 2009 / Published: 5 February 2009 Abstract: A new class of patient-driven health care services is emerging to supplement and extend traditional health care delivery models and empower patient self-care. Patient-driven health care can be characterized as having an increased level of information flow, transparency, customization, collaboration and patient choice and responsibility-taking, as well as quantitative, predictive and preventive aspects. The potential exists to both improve traditional health care systems and expand the concept of health care though new services. This paper examines three categories of novel health services: health social networks, consumer personalized medicine and quantified self-tracking. Keywords: Patient-driven health care; health social networks; personalized medicine; quantified self-tracking; health care delivery; predictive health care; preventive health care; long-tail medicine; Internet; open source. 1. Introduction The life sciences field is advancing and changing in nearly every dimension, both content-wise and structurally. Volumes of new content are coming forth in the form of key research findings, affordable new technologies and simultaneous holistic and reductionist expansions via systems biology approaches and new sub-field branching. Structurally, life sciences are changing in three important