While the idea of patients taking a big role in their own medical monitoring initially worried some healthcare providers, it has become obvious that patient self-care not only saves money but improves health outcomes.

In the past decade, studies have demonstrated the positive effects of patient empowerment. Many of these landmark studies come of out diabetes research, where the difference between the empowered patient and the passive one can be a matter of life and death.

The study “Patient Empowerment,” published in Patient Education and Counseling in 2005, was one of the first to document the importance of giving patients the tools they need to monitor their own care. Since then, breakthroughs in technology have made it easier for patients to engage in self-care and self-monitoring. People use digital and online tools to track their eating, their activities, and even their vital signs. Often the tools help them interpret the data, translating amounts of food or minutes of exercise into caloric values.

Increasingly, patients are using the social features of the Internet for health purposes. They report the ups and downs of their diet and exercise programs on Facebook and other web-based communities, where friends and strangers support them as they work to meet their goals. They play competitive games that involve the tracking of healthy activities. These games range from puzzles and memory exercises aimed at seniors to nutrition education challenges for kids. The renowned Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has started a Health Games Research Program to find out more about how and why these games are effective.

Most providers are impressed to see patients getting day-to-day attention and encouragement far beyond what even the most dedicated healthcare professional could provide. As physician Jay Parkinson notes in this post on his own experience with patient empowerment, “Most health solutions aren’t medical — they’re social.”