Have you heard of Sermo?

I came across this company the other day, thought it was interesting enough to write something about it.

What is Sermo? Well, I cannot be 100% certain, but from what I can see they are creating an online community for physicians to share information, clinical information.

What does it really mean? It means they basically compensate physicians to provide a documented clinical information in the form of an observation. They will then store these observations in some type of structured database, then disseminate the information back into the larger Physician community.

I assume they plan to sell this information as a service back to physicians and healthcare organizations. Probably some type of searchable online database. I am not really sure as the company has been in stealth mode. However, I have noticed several posts on Craigslist for physicians to provide sermo with clinical observations for $50. Take a look for yourself (http://www.craigslist.org/sfc/hea/160179629.html).

Is this a viable business model? Possibly, but this will depend on how they market and position this database. Not to mention how easy and relevant the information will be.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this is similar to how >digg.com operates. I could talk for hours of how I think sites like digg.com, will have a significant impact on the delivery of healthcare information. If anyone is interested in starting a venture in this area, send me a note, I will like to speak with someone interested in making a change.