Big changes are afoot for the selection of healthcare products and services, and with individuals about to player a bigger role in that process, social media will be front and center. That prediction was made Don Gerhardt, chairman of start-up accelerator company, Tri-Med LLC, and former president of LifeScience Alley. He spoke at last month’s Medical Silicone Conference in Minneapolis.

“If you’re going to be in the game, be in the game. With what’s happening to us now, you’re going to have to be in the game to survive it,” he said. “As you think about your company and those you are supplying, think about how it’s going to be marketed into the future.”

With that, Gerhardt said that the “singular most important thing that is happening right now” is something that will result from healthcare reform. In the future healthcare landscape, state exchanges will allow for individuals to get health insurance, putting much more power into the hands of individuals. That pool of patients, he said, will be demanding the best possible healthcare options and they will turn to social media for information.

So, for medical device companies, Gerhardt said that social media is not just a fad. “Soon patients will come into their doctor’s office and say ‘I am an insured patient and here’s what I want’ and they will have [the product] on their iPhone. It will be their policy and they will know what they want.”

And, he said, they will get their information, not from traditional sources, but from interacting with other patients and with healthcare organizations via social media. He cited the Mayo Clinic’s use of social media as an illustration, referring to the clinic’s creation of its Center for Social Media in July 2010.

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