Physician Connect is a new community area on Medscape that allows physicians to securely engage online with other physicians in discussions on clinical as well as non-clinical topics that are relevant to the practice of medicine. The site was launched early this year, and is claimed to have gathered 20,000 registrants since (according to their Q1 FY08 Earnings Call Transcript). I guess that is enough for them to call themselves “…the largest online community of physicians and healthcare professionals today”. Why bother with modesty or proof.
The business idea is to mine the community generated data and monetize it by letting sponsors directly participate and gain real-time insights into physician attitudes and perceptions. They provide online CME (free), journal articles and news/meetings/conference coverage. The standard WebMD fare of Medscape Drug Reference, expert columns and interviews are included too.