Patients Like Me: An Online Community of Patients - Case Study Example

Patients Like Me: An Online Community of Patients – Company Analysis A. Essential case facts Patients Like Me is an online community of patients whose founders are James Heywood, the current Chairman, Ben Heywood, who is the current President of the company, and Jeff Cole. The company was developed from a personal passion during the time when the Heywood’s elder brother was suffering from the ALS or the Lou Gehrig’s disease. Patients Like Me has fifteen communities of patients that are made up of more than 80,000 patients who are engaged in discussions revolving around 19 diseases of which the most popular diseases are ALS and epilepsy.

Patients Like Me provide patients with a platform whereby they can exchange information about their diseases or illnesses and issues related with the treatment they are undergoing, so that they can learn from other people with similar diseases. The platform was designed in such manner that patients could be able to tell the best outcome they could possible wait for based on the kind of treatment they were undergoing and how to possibly attain this best outcome. The company generates revenue from three different sources.

50% of the total revenue is generated by offering pharmaceuticals companies with outcome studies on the safety and efficacy of the medical drugs they manufacture. 40% of the total revenue is generated by assisting pharmaceutical companies with tracking the level of awareness, usage, and even the perception that patients have on their drugs. 10% of the total revenue is generated from the recruitment fee that the company collects from recruiting patients for clinical trials. B. Major issues/ dilemmas and Recommendations Presently, the company is faced with a dilemma of how best to increase its revenues whilst making patients feel better and without violating any laws.

The other dilemma facing the company is how to assist healthcare insurance providers with cutting down their operating costs and being paid on per patient basis for this service. Alternative paths of action Create a General Platform Pros Increased enrollment Meet the increased demand for more community of patients and coverage of many diseases Enhance the commercial opportunities of the site/ company Cons Low motivation to join the platform Lack of sense of belonging in the expanded platform High cost in acquiring members for the General Platform Encourage users of the site to comply with the treatment Pros Could improve patients quality of life and reduce insurance Cons It would be hard to prove that indeed the company improved a patient’s quality of life Recommendation It would be better to launch the General Platform as means of improving the company’s total revenue.

This is because the General Platform will most importantly increase membership, which will attract more pharmaceutical companies that are willing to work with the company and therefore, it would be able to generate additional income. C. Essential concepts from an online community of patients Social media health sites are revolutionizing how patients perceive and undertake their treatment. This is because patients tend to have more trust on other patients who are suffering from the same ailment (Gupta and Riis, 1-2).

It is because of this revolution that sites such as Patients Like Me has been termed as one of the companies that is bound to change the world. It is would be ideal to increase the scope of services offered by a business in order to enjoy greater economies of scales with increased profits. The General Platform will ensure the company caters to more people and it offers more services, which will ultimately increase the company’s profit levels. Work Cited Gupta, Sunil and Riis, Jason. Patients Like Me: An Online Community of Patients.

Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA. 2011 Print