January 28, 2012 — Healthcare is ever-changing and information is everywhere. Searching for the right doctors, researching health, and online booking of appointments are what healthcare consumers do every day.

Now there is a growing and comprehensive health community that offers these options and more and is changing the way consumers find practitioners and track their health.

Jill's List enables a network of patients, practitioners, and organizations to connect with, learn from and help one another. The Boston-based company believes that patients, whom they refer to as health consumers, should know about and have easy access to all types of health and wellness providers, and they have built Jill’s List as an open, growing community that any credentialed provider of conventional, integrative, complementary or alternative medicine can join.

The partnership with MCS will help health consumers in or visiting Massachusetts find credible doctors of chiropractic.

“Our new partnership with the MCS is important to the growth of the Jill’s List network overall. Success in health means finding a practitioner who is right for the individual and this new relationship potentially adds 700 new Chiropractors to our directory, meaning that any health consumer using Jill’s List will have a better chance of finding the practitioner who is right for them.” says Founder of Jill’s List, Jill Shah.

"This is a wonderful partnership" says Dr. Scott Darragh, a vice president with the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society. "We are aiming to have all our 700 plus members of the MCS on Jill's List and it's a great way for us to collaborate with other practitioners, help patients get the right information about their overall health and even work with other doctors to complement our patients overall well being."

Having access to information about all types of health and wellness programs, treatments, as well as the practitioners who are trained in these disciplines is what Jill's List calls comprehensive health. As more research is done about the effects of low cost, non-invasive modalities, the hope is that Jill’s List will provide a platform for conventional medicine practitioners and health consumers broadly to find solutions and practitioners that benefit a total health plan,

which keeps people healthy and lowers the overall cost of healthcare.

Jill's List is all about sharing the health — the resources, information, practitioners — so consumers can have one place to go to evaluate and construct their overall comprehensive health and wellness plan.

Health consumers need to know more about the healthcare options available to them and how healthcare practitioners collaborate with each other. Jill’s List has a tremendous Integrative Health directory, adding thousands of new practitioners and attracting interested health consumers and professionals to the website. They are excited about the partnership with the MCS as it will help consumers make educated decisions about their healthcare needs.

"We are creating an environment for information, collaboration, inspiration, and referrals," says Shah. "We want to make it easier for health consumers to navigate through all that healthcare has to offer. Forty percent of consumers are making decisions about how to take care of themselves and are choosing to pay out of pocket for care that is not covered by insurance. We have created a place online where they — and their doctors — can find health practitioners who treat the whole person. Plus we allow these savvy health shoppers to share reviews and treatment recommendations and learn about the latest research and news on the healthcare front."

Practitioners, such as the members of MCS, are able to market their practice, share information and recommendations, and, in a secure account, manage their calendar and allow health consumers the ability to book appointments online. MCS members who create profiles on Jill’s List will also be invited to be early users of the Jill’s List Referral Network, which will allow all health professionals who hold credentials to refer patients and clients to one another via a private, secure, closed system.

Health consumers can go to Jill's List today to find practitioners, invite their favorites to be added to the Jill’s List directory, write reviews and create private, secure accounts where they can store any and all of their health information and share it with any practitioner to whom they allow access.

For more information, log onto jillslist.com.

Source: Massachusetts Chiropractic Society, masschiro.org