More than ever, it’s essential for hospitals and health providers to rethink their healthcare marketing mix to include social media.
The proof is in the numbers: 34% of consumers use social media to search for health information, according to research data from How America Searches: Health and Wellness.
While it’s easy to identify demand, many healthcare marketers are not exactly sure how they might tap into the social web to reach business goals. To help understand the possible applications, consider these five examples of how the social web can work for hospitals and others in the healthcare industry:
1. Tweet Live Procedures
In the past year, social media channels have helped open up an area of healthcare previously only available to a select few: the operating room.
Last February, Henry Ford Hospital became one of the first hospitals to Tweet a live procedure from an operating room. Doctors, medical students and curious non-medical personnel followed along as surgeons tweeted short updates on the kidney surgery to remove a cancerous tumor.
This healthcare marketing tactic can effectively create excitement and raise public awareness for a healthcare organization. In the case of the Henry Ford procedure, Twitter was abuzz that February day with users both re-tweeting the messages from Henry Ford and adding their own thoughts on the event. That buzz can help healthcare organizations both attract new patients and recruit medical personnel.
2. Train Medical Personnel
Some healthcare organizations are beginning to recognize the potential impact of leveraging social media channels to complement training efforts. Mayo Clinic Social Media Manager Lee Aase, for example, incorporated social media into a recent training presentation for local chapters of the American Heart Association. (Check out Lee Odden’s social media interview with Aase for Online Marketing Blog.) During the presentation, Aase leveraged Twitter to encourage participants to contribute to the discussion using the #AHAchat hashtag.
Weaving social media into healthcare training initiatives can provide multiple benefits, including:
3. Reach Mainstream Media
70% of journalists now use social networks to assist reporting, compared to 41% the year before, according to a Middleberg Communications survey reported by PRWeek. With numbers that high, it only makes sense for healthcare marketers to leverage social media channels in order to achieve coverage by both mainstream media and industry publications.
As part of healthcare marketing efforts, organizations can use social media channels – including blogs, forums and microblogs – to share success stories from out-of-the-ordinary operations or treatments, medical research or other significant achievements. For example, when Aurora Health Care tweeted a knee operation in April, it received significant media attention, both from mainstream media and industry publications including Good Morning America, the local Milwaukee public radio network and Hospital Management Magazine.
4. Communicate in Times of Crisis
When disaster strikes – whether it be a flood, an earthquake or a terrorist attack – hospitals and healthcare providers are at the center of it all. Healthcare providers can leverage social media networks to provide real-time updates both for those directly affected by the crisis and those watching from afar.
During the November Fort Hood shooting attack, Steven Widman of Scott & White Healthcare – one of the hospitals that treated Fort Hood victims, used Twitter to provide up-to-the-minute news. Through Twitter, Widman provided updates on emergency room access and hospital operation status, re-tweeted news from Red Cross and communicated with reporters.
Widman shared with Found In Cache Blog the results of the social media crisis communication efforts:
5. Provide Accurate Information to Patients
73% of patients search for medical information online before or after doctors visits, according to this video from the HealthCare New Media Conference. With the magnitude of health information available on the web – both accurate and inaccurate – it’s likely that these patients can easily be misinformed.
By integrating social media into the healthcare marketing mix, organizations can share accurate, timely information regarding symptoms, diseases, medications, treatments and more. Social sites like Inspire are providing a forum for patients to share their health problems and questions about treatments with other patients, as well as qualified medical personnel. Inspire, for instance, partners with trusted health nonprofit organizations to ensure information is accurate and its community is safe.
The benefits of integrating social media into healthcare marketing efforts are priceless – from improving patient care to gaining media coverage to attracting new patients and staff. If your healthcare organization hasn’t already taken advantage of social networking channels, now is the time. If you’re having challenges getting approval, check out “Social Media in Healthcare Marketing: Making the Case“.
Source: TopRank
Traditionally, healthcare clinics have relied on physical media to reach local consumers. For example, doctors often send brochures and postcards to potential patients in their immediate vicinity to maximize response rates and ensure they reach the greatest number of local residents.
However, with more than 200 million Americans connected to the web and internet penetration growing steadily, many organizations in the healthcare industry have turned to online marketing platforms, ranging from email marketing to social media.
In particular, many organizations are finding social media to be especially effective at generating buzz and reaching both existing patients and prospective clients. Recently, the online marketing blog TopRank offered some tips to healthcare organizations looking to leverage the channel to expand their traditional advertising campaigns.
Inform existing patients
One of the best uses of social media among healthcare organizations is not for customer acquisition, but retention. According to the HealthCare New Media Conference, 73 percent of patients search online for medical information either before or after an appointment.
Social sites are the perfect way to reach these patients doing online research. Doctors could post information about popular sicknesses and treatments online, especially if there is a widespread fear of a condition, such as the swine flu panic in 2009.
Doctors should tailor their social media marketing initiatives for the specific sites they are using. For example, if they opt to use Twitter, they could actively answer followers’ questions. On Facebook, they could use status updates to post industry-relevant news and articles. They could also join medical communities such as Inspire and establish themselves as thought leaders, which could lead to referrals.
Whichever platforms clinics decide to use for their social media marketing, they should be sure to include their organizations’ information and a link to their websites so followers can book appointments if they need their services.
Disaster communications
Whenever disasters hit, regardless of whether they are floods, earthquakes, or man-made tragedies, hospitals are almost always involved in one way or another. Healthcare providers can use their social media profiles to deliver updates to followers, while also providing emergency information to those who are directly affected by the disaster.
For example, after the November 2009 Fort Hood shootings, Scott & White Healthcare, an organization that treated victims, used its social media presence to retweet news about the event to those affected. It also provided users with information about emergency room access and hospital operation status.
Though its Twitter efforts, the organization was able to boost its number of followers by 78 percent in three days, while its YouTube channel was in the top 100 during the week of the crisis. Meanwhile, “Scott & White Healthcare” was also listed on the front page of Twitter as a trending topic, helping it popularize itself even further.
Other uses
Healthcare clinics can use social media for other purposes as well. For example, during employee training sessions, instructors could use Twitter to collect relevant questions and gauge how well students understand subject material. Clinics could also use their social media to talk to journalists, which may help drive their mainstream media exposure.
Regardless of how healthcare organizations use social media, it’s vital that they have some sort of presence on the channel. Facebook recently acquired its 500 millionth member, while Twitter is on the fast track to the 200 million mark. With such a large audience of prospective and existing patients, organizations are missing out a huge source of potential referrals if they aren’t active on social media.
Source: Deluxe for Business
National labor attorneys are advising clients, including physician practices, to develop social media guidelines after the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against a Connecticut-based ambulance company for firing an employee who criticized her supervisor on Facebook, American Medical News reports.
NLRB argued that the comments were allowed under the National Labor Relations Act, which defines employee “protected concerted activities” as any circumstance that includes an employee speaking out to his or her employer as a way to improve working conditions.
NLRB — which oversees protections for private workers, including in hospitals and physician practices — issued guidelines for employers and employees to decide what qualifies as protected speech. The four-point test examines the place, subject and nature of the employee’s comments and if they were provoked by an unfair labor practice.
National labor attorneys said the NLRB complaint clarifies that medical practices and other employers have the right to tell employees they cannot post comments online that could harm the reputation of the business.
Susan Keating Anderson, an attorney with Walter & Haverfield, said physician practices should implement specific policies that explain what is acceptable and that ban workers from disclosing patient information and breaking HIPAA rules (Dolan, American Medical News, 11/29).
Source: iHealthBeat
For any questions regarding social media, please feel free to contact us and we can discuss how we can help.
Market research group Black Book Rankings has released rankings of the top electronic health record vendors for 2011 based on metrics in 10 categories, Healthcare IT News reports.
Black Book Rankings is a division of the Brown-Wilson Group, a market research firm.
For the report, researchers conducted a four-month survey of more than 30,000 physician practice administrators, hospital IT leaders and health care records professionals.
The report named the top 20 EHR vendors for each category. Researchers took into account factors such as cost, implementation and meaningful use of electronic health records. Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified EHRs can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.
Vendors were ranked in:
A complete list of the rankings is available from Healthcare IT News.
Source: iHealthBeat
Don’t hesitate to contact us regarding any of your EMR needs or questions.
In response to public comments, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has adjusted its objectives for empowering individuals to improve their health and the health care system through health IT, Health Data Management reports.
Jodi Daniel, director of ONC’s Office of Policy and Planning, posted an entry on ONC’s “Health IT Buzz” blog outlining changes to the consumer empowerment objectives (Goedert, Health Data Management, 11/22).
In the blog entry, Daniel lists the initial versions of the objectives and describes the reasoning behind revisions. The revised objectives call for ONC to:
Daniel also noted that ONC is considering using the word “individual” instead of “consumer” in the objectives. She said ONC is seeking public comment on the idea (Daniel, “Health IT Buzz,” ONC, 11/19).
Source: iHealthBeat
A preliminary study from University of Toronto researchers indicates that a cell phone telemonitoring program can help individuals with diabetes control their blood pressure, HealthDay reports.
For the study, a cell phone monitoring system:
After one year, 37% of patients were able to improve control of their blood pressure, compared with 14.2% of patients using traditional blood pressure monitoring equipment.
Additional Features
The system also allows physicians to check patient readings online. In addition, doctors are notified if averages from a three-day or two-week period go beyond a specified average.
Researchers will continue the telemonitoring study to determine what features of the system are responsible for the improvements (Mozes, HealthDay, 11/17).
Source: iHealthBeat
Using electronic health records could help improve patient care within integrated health care delivery systems, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, Modern Healthcare reports (Grace, Modern Healthcare, 11/17).
For the report, GAO examined 15 public and private health care systems that integrate primary, specialty and acute medical care. Investigators found that EHR use is one of many strategies that integrated delivery systems use to support patient care (Dunn, Becker’s Hospital Review, 11/17).
Benefits of EHRs
In the GAO report, several health officials noted that EHRs had improved care quality by:
The report also noted that EHRs equipped with electronic prescribing systems or computerized provider order entry systems helped reduce errors and curb costs (Pulley, NextGov, 11/17).
Challenges With EHRs
Although EHRs have the potential to improve care, the GAO report noted that significant financial and operational challenges still hinder health care providers’ ability to maximize health IT use (Modern Healthcare, 11/17).
For example, many health care providers face obstacles related to:
Source: iHealthBeat
For any questions on implementing EMR/EHR into your practice, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Within the next five years, about 500 million individuals will be using mobile health care applications on their smart phones, according to a new report, Computerworld reports.The report — titled “Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010-2015” — was produced by market research company research2guidance.
Report Details
The report estimates that there will be 1.4 billion smart phone users by 2015 and that more than one-third of them will have a health-related app.
According to the report, there are about 17,000 mobile health apps in major stores, 74% of which are obtained through application service providers.
The report found that:
Market GrowthRalf-Gordon Jahns, head of research at research2guidance, said the market for mobile health apps is ready to accelerate.According to the report:
Source: iHealthBeat
A new not-for-profit organization, Honor Vet, is aiming to link veterans and active-duty service members with mental health professionals online through social networking technology, the Bergen Record reports.
The website, HonorVet.org, was developed by veteran Jesse Canella and Jim McCain, son of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).
Once launched, the website will allow users to access mental health professionals at any time of day through online video conferencing, instant messaging chat rooms or phone. Users will be able to speak to someone immediately or schedule an appointment.
Service members will be able to choose from several options for mental health treatment, and the website will link users with experts in the selected area.
Honor Vet COO Richard Moore said the service will provide mental health professionals with a secure case file about a soldier or veteran.
Moore said the organization is seeking to have the website up and running by next spring (Lipman, Bergen Record, 11/13).
Tool Simulates Doctor-Patient Conversation
In related news, Military Pathways — a voluntary mental health and alcohol screening program for members of the military and their families — recently launched Video Doctor, a Web-based counseling tool that simulates conversations with physicians, Modern Healthcare reports.
An actor portraying a doctor guides tool users through questions meant to assess risk for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The tool also suggests treatment options and provides information on where to seek care (McKinney, Modern Healthcare, 11/12).
Source: iHealthBeat
On Monday, the not-for-profit health care industry group iHealth Alliance launched EHRevent.org, an online service that allows health care providers to report issues associated with electronic health record systems, Government Health IT reports (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 11/15).
Tool Details
At a Washington, D.C., event to launch the site, speakers said they expect challenges to arise as health care delivery organizations accelerate their adoption of EHRs (Lewis, InformationWeek, 11/15).
The tool lets health care providers describe risks and concerns about patient safety relating to the implementation of EHRs. Information will be kept confidential, according to officials.
The goal of the system is to reduce professional liability and improve patient and EHR safety.
EHRevent.org is modeled after the Federal Aviation Administration’s national reporting system, which reports safety threats related to software problems, security breaches and inadequate user training, among other issues (Government Health IT, 11/15).
PDR Network, a drug safety and communications company, will operate the network (Goedert, Health Data Management, 11/15).
How It Works
The new system will allow physicians to report health IT-related errors immediately. Once physicians report a problem, they answer several questions that alert the vendor to the issue. A patient’s record will be de-identified and data will be stored with a patient safety organization, which will study the data to identify why mistakes occurred (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 11/15).
The site will then develop reports that medical societies and government agencies, such as FDA, can use to help educate health care providers (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 11/15).
National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said, “Improving safety begins with an understanding of where the threats to safety are occurring, and that means having better information” (InformationWeek, 11/15). He added, “This is an opportunity to discern patterns and learn lessons” (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 11/16).
A similar iHealth Alliance site for reporting adverse medication events, RxEvent.org, is expected to launch within two months (Health Data Management, 11/15).
Source: iHealthBeat
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