Perficient has created this series, “Responding to Healthcare Consumerism with Social Media” in order to identify the benefits and drawbacks of using social media and collaboration tools in healthcare, explore the doctor and patient communities currently interacting online, outline social media’s impact on the quality of care, and use current innovations to predict the future of social media collaboration in the healthcare industry.
Communication among doctors, patients, providers, and health plans are what healthcare networks are built upon. If you take away this communication, then the network simply does not exist. Today there are more ways to communicate than ever before. Collaboration and social media, by way of portals, email, and webcasts, are drastically altering the old way of doing business in healthcare.
These new communication tools present both challenges and opportunities for healthcare organizations. Two recent examples illustrate different approaches healthcare organizations have with regard to incorporating collaboration into a healthcare organization’s culture. We will examine them here.
When Hospitals Don’t Participate
Like the majority of healthcare organizations, London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario, one of the most prestigious healthcare organizations in Canada, did not place heavy emphasis on collaboration and social media in their practice of healthcare. With the lack of instruction on privacy issues surrounding social media in medicine, they stuck with the old way of doing business. Enter Baby Joseph into the communication network at London Health. Baby Joseph was a patient with a “severe and progressively deteriorating neurological condition.” Baby Joseph’s parents were at odds with the hospital on their recommendations for care. As a result, Baby Joseph’s family turned to social media. They posted videos that soon went viral. London Health was quickly in the midst of a PR firestorm as the communication that was occurring in their network, by way of social media channels, did not include their own expertise.
“There was a lot of misinformation that was beginning to circulate in a variety of media, including the social media concepts,” said Mary Gillett, Director of Communications at London Health Sciences Centre.
This firestorm put London Health in a defensive position that they, at first, did not respond to. They eventually entered the social media conversation in order to put out the flames. However, given their lack of investment in the technologies necessary to open these new lines of communication, London Health was at a distinct disadvantage. For purposes of this post, I will tip toe around the political debate surrounding this case and simply posit that healthcare organizations are often at the center of very emotional issues and decisions. Social media has become a steam valve for issues of this nature. By adding their voice to the conversation, healthcare organizations can continue to correct misleading information about healthcare issues and the care that they provide.
When Hospitals Do Participate
On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have healthcare organizations like Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which is leading the charge in social media. Palo Alto regularly posts to their Facebook page, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. They have found that social media is a natural extension to the other communication vehicles they use as a part of their network. They have successfully used social media to dispense healthcare information and promote events. Best yet, they have used social media and collaboration to build personal connections with their patients, doctors, and network hospitals. In one case, a Facebook posting caught the attention of urgent care physician Dr. Enoch Choi at Palo Alto. A patient of the facility posted that she was having difficulty sleeping and posted her sleep patterns as a graphic. Dr. Choi immediately responded with “I can help you with that!” This is a great example of extending the lines of communication to grow a healthcare network.
Dr. Enoch Choi has been quoted as saying, “A doctor can show compassion online via social media and can make a difference.”
These two anecdotes symbolize an important movement occurring within the healthcare industry that those utilizing the “old way” of doing business will not realize. Today’s healthcare consumers value engagement. They want access to care, and they want open communication enabled by the technologies they use to communicate every day. I am certain that I am not alone when I say that, in today’s world, I selected my personal physician, and the healthcare organization she is affiliated with, based on the technology she has at her disposal to communicate with me about my care. By investing in these collaborative technologies, my physician can now count me, and many others, as part of an expanding healthcare network.
