New HealthTree Feature Promotes Patient-to-Patient Communication

The navigation platform HealthTree has added a feature that enables people with myeloma to communicate with other patients on specific disease topics.

Called Myeloma Crowd Community Forums, the feature organizes forums by topics that can be easily found. Patients may toggle among posts, pose questions, and have chats with other patients.

“Facebook groups are often a patient’s go-to disease navigation tool, however, they were not intended for this purpose and they can be difficult to use in this way,” Jenny Ahlstrom, HealthTree founder, said in a press release.

“While Facebook groups can offer patients community and encouragement, the information is random and unorganized, making it difficult for patients to find information again once additional posts have been added,” she said. “HealthTree’s new Community Forums provide patients with a sense of community with their peers as well as support in the form of organized, searchable information. These forums offer one more way for HealthTree users to become better informed and empowered patients.”

HealthTree is a free online community tool that helps people with myeloma explore their best therapeutic options, find clinical trials, and contribute their de-identified data in order to speed a myeloma cure. The Myeloma Crowd, which runs the platform, provides multiple myeloma patient education, advocacy, and research funding.

In addition to Myeloma Crowd Community Forums, other HealthTree features include Track Your Myeloma, which allows patients to store their myeloma data — including genetic reports, blood test results, and other information — in a single location.

Using the feature HealthTree University, patients can learn from more than 75 myeloma experts about hundreds of topics from how to build a healthcare team to the classes of myeloma drugs available. And in Myeloma Stories, individuals can share experiences that may lead to better healthcare outcomes for others.

For patients, the Twin Machine Tool helps users to find, connect, and chat with others whose myeloma shares identical genetic characteristics. Patients can view their “twin’s” therapies and outcomes, and also can locate individuals who have lived the longest with myeloma, and discover what treatments or efforts works for them.

With Help Accelerate Myeloma Research, patients can assist researchers by answering questions and participating in HealthTree studies that help scientists gain new insights in as little as weeks instead of years. And, Find Personally Relevant Treatment Options helps patients make treatment decisions using guidance from 25 leading myeloma experts.

In collaboration with SparkCures, HealthTree also offers a feature called Clinical Trials, which reduces more than 450 open myeloma clinical trials to a manageable list of studies that specific patients are eligible to join.

“HealthTree connects the dots between you, other patients, and cutting-edge scientists to accelerate research towards a cure,” Ahlstrom said.