I was curious to see which were the top 5 posts, traffic-wise, and figured readers might be interested, too. Here’s the line-up:

#1: Open knowledge saves lives. Oppose H.R. 3699! by Gilles Frydman

The e-patients.net post with the highest number of views is a clear call to action in favor of open access to research. I just searched the Library of Congress’s Thomas site and the bill appears to still be in committee. If anyone has information about its status, please comment below.

#2: Visualize This: An e-Patient’s Medical Life History, by Katie McCurdy

An epic comment that we elevated to a post — well worth the read, even for the second time. I was thrilled to meet Katie in person at the Medicine X conference in September. She is an inspiration to many, including me.

#3: What’s the future for self-tracking? by me

I used this post and the conversation it generated to hone research ideas for a survey that Pew Internet fielded in August and September (the results of which I previewed in a couple of speeches in the fall). It was one of the many examples this year of an e-patients.net comment thread that far outpaced the original post in insight.

#4: Star Tribune: Simple pharmacy change produces major quality improvement, by E-patient Dave

Another popular post from last January (#1 was also posted 12 months ago), this time an excellent case study combined with concrete advice about avoiding medical errors. Note that the post garnered just 4 comments, but thousands of views.

#5: Health Care Hackers, by me

I had tears in my eyes as I wrote this post and was deeply moved again by the conversation it sparked in the comments. I’m humbled to recall what I’ve learned this year from e-patients.