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More Social Media Examples – Medical Practices

Suzanne Dewey — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:59:50 +0000

What are physicians doing with social media? Physicians are exploring various forms of social media to communicate with each other and with their patients. Let’s see specifically how physicians are using blogs (akin to a practice newsletter), Facebook and Twitter.

Blogging

One of the more popular physician bloggers with over 20,000 RSS subscribers is Kevin Pho, a board-certified Internal Medicine physician in New Hampshire. His blog provides a running commentary on what is happening in the medical world. KevinMD.com describes the blog’s intent, “With health care at the forefront of the American mindset, patients often have no idea what goes on behind the scenes of medicine today. I aim to pull that curtain back.”

Some of Dr. Pho’s recent posts have the following titles:

How Connected Are You to Your Primary Care Doctor?

Mid-levels for Primary Care, But Not for Surgery

Op-ed: Not All Screening Tests Lead to Early, Better Treatment

Facebook

Advantage Primary Care Physician, a South Carolina medical practice uses Facebook to communicate with their patients the very basics about their practice and its location and hours.

Eastside Primary Care and Wellness, a Washington practice, takes their Facebook page further and provides on-going health update reports and videos. As a primary care practice, they take the opportunity to educate their “fans” on the role of a medical home. A recent update:

MEDSPA EVENING AT OUR CLINIC!!!! This Friday, May 8th… 5:30PM-8:30PM… Wine and appetizers… door prices and discounted pricing… RSVP 425.467.1314

Another example is Care Practice that has the following informational blurb on their Facebook page:

Care Practice is both an Urgent Care and a Primary Medical clinic dedicated to serving the community through personalized and timely medical visits. The clinic is located at 508 A 14th Street in the heart of the San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Neighborhood.

Care Practice started in September 2008 with a mission to break down the growing barriers put between doctors and patients in the current health care setting and reinstitute transparency and affordability to medical costs. The location and atmosphere of the clinic also reflects a strong desire to bring doctors out of the medical office building and the hospital complex and back to the neighborhoods where they belong.

We offer 24/7 Urgent Care and House Call services with an On Call Doctor available after hours and on weekends to meet patients that require Urgent Care services.

They also have interactive exchanges on their site with information about H1N1 and patient feedback such as this recent post:

Hi – just thought I’d add a post. My husband Lawrence and I recently became patients of Care Practice. I found them through a Google search, on a Saturday, during what was a horrible time for us both – our long-time doctor had suddenly closed up shop and disappeared with no referral or notice.
Dr. Blackledge came in on his day off (sorry to out you, Dr., I don’t want to set up any unrealistic expectations!) – and saw Lawrence. The office is lovely, the office manager is sweet and very kind, and Dr. Blackledge treated us with respect and dignity. It was by far the most positive experience I’ve had with a medical professional.
I can’t say enough about this clinic, and Dr. Blackledge -if you read the mission statement above, you can get an idea of what they’re about, and it’s not P.R. B.S.. They care about their patients. They don’t waste your time, but more than that, they’re willing to spend time, and they listen. Care Practice is fantastic – can’t recommend highly enough! – Sarah

Twitter

There are many ways to use Twitter. A physician and Twitter enthusiast wrote in a recent blog post, How Physicians (Should) Use Twitter. In his post, Dr. Lara categorizes the three main applications of Twitter for physicians. He provides specific examples for 1) Information Collection, 2) Information Sharing and 3) Communications Regarding Direct Patient Care.

Dr. Gwenn is Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Pediatrics Now who also has a blog and tweets. A recent post from Dr. Gwenn:

Video passed on FB by @doctor_v http://tinyurl.com/q3yulv “ode to Jenny McCarthy from Measles,Mumps,Rubella”. (someone pass this to Oprah!)12:16 PM May 15th from web

Twitter can be used as a remarkable listening tool. If you are not ready to put yourself or your practice persona out, consider finding out what others are doing and thinking. There are some very good patient advocates on Twitter who deftly articulate the experience and feelings of patients. Check out ePatientDave and TrishaTorrey.

Some Health Care Social Media Examples (hospitals)

Suzanne Dewey — Thu, 07 May 2009 17:09:42 +0000

In my last post, thanks to the Pew Survey Data, we know that many people are on-line and engaging in a variety of activities. Some of the activities include simple searches and project/service investigation while others are engaging in social media. Organizations have to decide if they are going to enter into this conversational mode and how they will meet their objectives.

In this post, I just want to provide some examples of what some health care organizations (mostly hospitals) are doing:

The American Cancer Society is on Twitter (@AmericanCancer). Their updates center on the latest cancer news and research. You can also catch the Lance Armstrong Foundation on Twitter (@livestrong). Cancer survivors are sure to follow LiveStrong and discuss and celebrate their news.

Many hospitals and health systems also are on Twitter. Some provide health updates. Here is an example from Beth Israel Deaconess (@healthwithbidmc) in Boston:

HealthwithBIDMC:

Obama Administration May Recommend 3 Flu Shots for Americans This Fall. http://bit.ly/103yfdabout 23 hours ago from web
Swine Flu Likely to Return to U.S. Next Winter. http://bit.ly/r6rq0about 23 hours ago from web

Henry Ford Hospital is experimenting with various social media outputs – they recently transmitted the robotic procedure for the removal of a cancerous bladder by satellite to the International Robotic Urology Symposium and they also provided updates on Twitter. Physicians “tweeted” directly from the operating room in a detailed description of the procedure. Physicians also answered question “tweets” about the surgery. The hospital indicated they hoped to provide awareness of the hospital’s new surgical capabilities

The Henry Ford health system has utilized YouTube and podcasting as well, offering medical advice, educational updates and a variety of health information.

Some organizations are experimenting with FaceBook accounts. Scripps Health in California has a Facebook account where they provide information about their organization and health tips. Here is a recent post:

Sneak peek! See the online version of the Scripps 2008 Annual Report, complete with video. This year’s edition, “A New Era of Medicine,” focuses on the many exciting medical advancements that Scripps employs or is helping to develop.

Mayo Clinic’s penetration into social media was recently detailed in the Star Tribune:

These days, Lee Aase of the Mayo Clinic is a walking, talking, blogging, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTubing force who’s blasting Mayo into the social networking world faster than you can say “Mayo Brothers.”

Aase says Mayo is simply spreading its reputation as it always has: through word-of-mouth. In fact, Mayo spends very little on advertising. It has had the same logo — three overlapping blue shields symbolizing research, education and clinical practice — for years.

The Web, however, seemed a natural move to Mayo executives. “As we see people communicating in new ways, we want Mayo Clinic to be part of the conversation,” said Dr. Thoralf Sundt, chair of Mayo’s marketing committee. “We know the conversations are happening out there. This is a chance for us to join.”

Does any of this actually get patients in the door?

Several patients with rare diseases have told their doctors at Mayo they came after watching another patient’s video on the Sharing Mayo Clinic blog. But numbers are hard to pin down, Aase said. What he does know is people are watching.

What this produces in patients and revenue remains to be seen, said Bevolo. But since Web tools are free, he added, “the risk of it is so little.”

In my next post, we will look at what medical practices and physicians are doing in the social media realm.

Getting the Message “Out”

Suzanne Dewey — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:06:54 +0000

I have been around health care organizations long enough to have witnessed more than a few transformations. I am not talking about clinical care, either. Early in my health care career, many hospitals had public relations departments, development offices, even planning functions but very few had marketing or business development departments. Those roles were defined by those of us who broke into that new territory. We were often quiet about saying the word, “marketing” for fear it would be too off putting preferring the less offensive “outreach” to imply our intent.

Time moved forward and the focus of marketing became PROMOTION. Hospitals and provider organizations worked to promote their organizations by advertising and more advertising. Websites developed that were static vehicles for messaging – they were not interactive and only a few organizations developed a community within their on-line presence.

Today we have many choices to promote the work we do. A thoughtful marketing plan will integrate varied tools to disseminate the message. Recently I heard David Plouffe, chief campaign manager for President Obama’s presidential campaign discuss the success of their endeavors. He said the campaign cared deeply about their message but were more relaxed about the vehicle in which it was conveyed. They allowed innovation to take place in the delivery of that message. Whether it was Twitter, blogging, YouTube, email, texting, door to door contact or phone calling, they employed whatever vehicle had people on the receiving end.

They didn’t stop with innovative tools. They measured everything so they could see what was working and where. While they cared about their message, they did not try to script anyone. They determined that an individual’s “authentic” voice carried them more meaningfully. They supported vibrant innovation, tried new things and were open minded about how the message got out. They were swift to act if the message somehow became altered.

How can we apply the success of this political campaign to our organizations? Here are five tenants to consider for your own marketing-communications endeavors:

1. develop your message for your audience and stick to it
2. don’t be afraid to try new vehicles but don’t have an either/or approach. It is okay to use a variety of tools
3. measure everything you do so you can see what works and build upon your successes
4. keep it real – tell stories about real people or have them tell their own stories in their own natural voices
5. monitor the market and if something is being said about your organization that is not right, act swiftly to clear confusion and error.