Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 @ 01:12 PM
This post is part of our Social Media Success Series, which features interviews with innovative and fearless socially networked senior living, home care, and LTC companies that are achieving positive business results using social technologies. If you would like to have your organization included in this series, contact us.
For this interview, Jennifer Hill connected with Erin Schmidt, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for one of our favorite socially savvy companies, BrightStar Care. BrightStar was just featured in our new Social Media Video, which you can view here.
Interview
Q: What is your company's primary goal of using social media?
A: Our primary goal for social media is two-pronged: we seek to “get found” by and add value for individuals, families and organizations who/that may need us (providing helpful content, serving as a resource), and then earn the trust of qualified leads that will convert into client business for our 150+ locations nationwide.
Q: What types of social media tools do you use and why did you choose them?
A: We maintain an active presence in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and publish our videos to YouTube.
Twitter: Twitter serves as a great engagement platform as well as a river of information to stay on the pulse of what is being talked about in our industry.
Facebook: For starters, one of our target audiences (women aged 55+) is the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, but beyond that the platform allows for a lot more interactivity, better means of identifying where key audiences may be engaging and the ability to share multiple forms of content.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has been important to our staffing and recruiting efforts, in both identifying qualified candidates to fill more skilled positions as well as key referral sources. But overall, the ability to serve as a resource in the Q & A forums is a value not to be ignored, as we view this type of activity as spreading seeds throughout the Web to help those in need to find us.
Q: Are you planning to expand your social media reach?
A: Yes, everything we do, both online and offline, is geared toward increasing our overall reach. In fact, we have seen significant incremental growth over the past six months and, with new features and functionality rolling out over the next six months, we predict that this will continue to grow.
Q: How much time do you invest in social media per week?
A: At the Corporate level, we invest no more than five to ten hours each week, but this does not include the time we’ve taken to create a series of “Inbound Marketing” webinars we’ve created to train our franchisees on how to leverage social media, online listening, link building, etc. to ramp up their online presence.
Q: Have you seen a return on your investment?
A: While it’s difficult to monetize the value of “reach,” having a captive audience of qualified leads with which to create multiple touch points has had a significant value in and of itself. In addition, a growing portion of our Website traffic comes from the various social media platforms and we’ve recently added some additional means to track these visits through the sales funnel on the back-end to calculate ROI from a dollar standpoint. Here are some interesting statistics:
Worth noting: we endured a Website re-design in February, so these numbers may be the result of a number of factors and not just social media.
- Reach. Our current reach is over four times what it was six months ago – equating to an average of just over 500 contacts per month.
- Website traffic. Site traffic is up by just over 20% in the past six months (potentially due in part to our other new Website changes), but the number of social media referrals to our site has quadrupled in the past year.
- Lead base. We’re still evaluating the impact of social media on our lead generation.
- Marketing costs. Aside from our time, social media is free, so the improved Web traffic and significant growth of our reach has cost us very little compared to other marketing initiatives.
Q: How do you measure the success of your social media strategy?
A: Primarily, the number of Website visits (and, soon, the number and quality of leads) and reach (number of blog subscribers, Twitter followers, LinkdeIn connections, Facebook fans, YouTube subscribers).
Q: What are your biggest challenges?
A: One of the biggest challenges has been conveying the benefits of leveraging social media to our franchisees and, again, the issue of “monetizing” reach.
Q: Who manages your social media initiatives?
A: At the Corporate level, our social media strategy is devised and executed upon by the marketing department.
Q: In regards to content, what do you think is a good strategy?
A: We’ve experimented with a few different things, but we love the idea of recruiting guest authors and tapping other industry experts to contribute. We’ve also set up an online listening station to gather content ideas in addition to taking common questions individuals, families and organizations have to inspire our content.
Q: Do you think that companies are apprehensive about using social media because of HIPAA restrictions?
A: Yes, absolutely.
Q: Does HIPAA effect the way that you use social media?
A: The privacy of the individuals, families and organizations we care for is of the utmost importance to us. We are certain never to provide any information that may be remotely sensitive and/or confidential. This methodology is woven into the fabric of all that we do at BrightStar, both online and offline.
Q: What new features do you see your company using to help expand you social media outreach in the coming months?
A: We’ll be rolling out the ability for our franchisees to add up to five pages to their local Websites in addition to the ability to blog, which will undoubtedly ramp up their local social media efforts and, thus, contribute to our national strategy.
Q: do you view social media as a PR tool in addition to a marketing tool?
A: Absolutely! In addition to being able to publish content and interact with our target audiences, social media is a great means of highlighting key happenings via a public facing platform.
Q: Do you have any PR examples?
A: From time to time, our franchisees will get some media coverage and we’ll use our blog to feature these stories and publish them to our social media profiles as a means of giving them some additional “push” (and, of course, kudos).
Q: Finally, Do any of your C-level executives use social media? Why or why not?
A: Many of our executive team members maintain an active presence on LinkedIn and some on Facebook and our CEO is on Twitter. But LinkedIn makes the most sense from a networking and business perspective. In fact, our executive team’s collective presence on LinkedIn has generated just over 1,000 Website visits in the past six months.
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Posted by Jennifer Hill on Mon, Jun 28, 2010 @ 01:19 PM
These days, an increasing number of senior living, home care, and LTC companies are using social media to reach out to social customers and prospects. At CareNetworks, we're always on the look out for companies who are innovating in this space and who are helping to shape social media best practices for the industry. So we scanned the web and found five companies worth taking a look at.
1. Senior Helpers. This non-medical home care company has a well designed website that acts as their social media hub with active outposts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. They also have a WordPress blog
where they post generic articles about wellness, aging, and care giving. Their reach is pretty significant with 2,302 Twitter followers, 488 Facebook fans, and thousands of views of their many YouTube videos.
2. Adeste In-Home Care. This welcoming site is definitely one of my favorites. The non-medical home care company has an awesome blog
that is updated multiple times per month with search-optimized articles such as, "Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Companion Agency for Your Elderly Parents." The blog provides great information and tips, especially for people whose parents need home care. On Twitter, they post tons of informational articles to over 1,550 followers. I was also very impressed with the list of resources they provide. They suggest support sites like Senior Information Network and SeniorNet to help family members feel comfortable and confident with their decisions. Their Facebook page seems to be new with very little content and only a few fans.
3. Emeritus Senior Living.
This national senior living company has definitely made a dent in the social media world. They have one of the best senior living Facebook pages
I’ve seen with over 1,440 fans. There are tons of images of different events they've held or conferences they have attended. It includes discussion boards and personal testimonials about the transition into senior living from both residents and family members. I was also impressed by the “Ask the Expert” portion of the website. Viewers can ask Dr. Vicki Rackner, M.D. any question and have an answer within 24 hours. Emeritus has partnered with an agency called Aging with Grace that seniors and their loved ones can call with questions and see what others are asking. They also have a Twitter page with about 345 followers.
4. Provision Living. This senior living company website includes links to developing Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn pages, as well as a tab dedicated to their Senior Assisted Living Blog. The blog is updated often and keeps readers informed on current events and happenings in the each of the companies communities. Blog readers have the option to e-mail articles or share them on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and LinkedIn. The blog's most popular article to date is "Green Tree at Post Road Opens New Units and Adds Jobs."
5. Senior Living Communities. While this senior living company has a Fledgling social media presence, what they seem to do very well is video. For example, Donald Thompson, the company CEO, has a series of video blog posts where he talks candidly about everything from the cost of living in one of their communities to the company's stability over the past 21 years. The videos are very well done, except for the fact that there doesn't seem to be a way to share them across the social web - big mistake! Additionally, the company's Facebook page is not very engaging and doesn't take advantage of the great videos they produce. This is a good example of missed opportunity where a company has great social objects (videos) to share, but no way to easily share them on social sites.
If you find other senior living, home care, or LTC companies experimenting with social media and they're worthy of writing about, let us know about them in the comments section below. Also, we welcome your feedback on these sites!
Related Posts:
To learn more about how we can help you build or enhance your social media presence, contact us.
You can also join our free Online Marketing Community for marketing professionals and executives in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow:
Jennifer Hill
is currently at senior at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She is a Communications major concentrating in Public Relations and Journalism and minoring in Psychology. You can connect with her on Twitter on LinkedIn.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Jun 14, 2010 @ 10:15 AM
Richard Edelman, President and CEO of the worlds largest independent public relations firm, speaks to the business benefits of blogging and being connected on the social Web. Is your senior living, LTC, or home care leadership engaged?
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Jun 09, 2010 @ 08:43 AM
Paul Levy, one of the country's best known hospital CEOs, is the chief executive at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He's also a self proclaimed blogging addict, an advocate for transparency regarding hospital operations, and is on a growing list of "social" CEOs who leverage social media to communicate with their audience. Levy writes his own blog called Running a Hospital, where he shares his thoughts on hospitals, medicine, and health care issues.
Our own Jennifer Hill spoke with Levy about health care executives and their organizations using social media. Here's what he had to say:
1. Do you think it's important for health care CEOs and other C-level execs to be educated about and to use social media?
Yes. They are definitely important tools just as telephones were when they were first invented. To not use them would mean losing opportunities to communicate and educate. Different segments of the population use different tools. For example, patients that come to the hospital in their 20s would rather use Facebook or text than e-mail. For me not to use those forms of media would mean that I wasn't hearing from them.
2. What tools would you advocate? (Blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, others?) and why?
Different people prefer different tools and each tool has a different use. Facebook is a great communication tool and using it means that you are accessible. It is a good way to keep in touch with people. For me, Twitter acts as a library. I follow a bunch of people in the field who are up to date with what is going on. They act as librarians for me and are a valuable resource. Blogging is a time commitment that requires a personal commitment and interest in networking so that my blog gets picked up and read. All of them are valuable tools for different reasons.
3. Do you think having the CEO, or perhaps other C-level execs, involved with social media helps set the tone for the whole organization to embrace social media too?
Yes. I think it is a combination of leading by example and of being available. health care is becoming more accepting and more comfortable with the idea. However, many hospitals still block sites, but we have an open access policy for two reasons: one, these social media sites are tools that help to create a sense of community; and two, if the sites are blocked on the server, people will just go on them on their iPhones.
4. What do you see as the major benefits to C-levels execs using social media?
I think there a two major benefits. First, social media is a way to get educated about what is going on and to keep up to date. It provides information that we used to get from books, magazines and newspapers. Second, it creates a sense of community, which is very important.
5. What advice would you give to executives / organizations who are apprehensive about using social technologies? What advice do you have about the content that executives should be posting online?
Regarding what executives should be posting online, it is important to make judgments as to what you want to accomplish. These media outlets are flexible and can be used for many different goals. It is more powerful than traditional media because the outreach is so great. I think that it is actually lower risk because if you make a mistake it can be fixed whereas is if you make a mistake in an ad or on television, it's there forever.
6. How much time do you spend blogging or using other social tools each week?
I don't keep track, just like I don't keep track of how much time I spend on the phone. It is a more efficient way to communicate. I can talk to thousands of people at once. It is asynchronous and people can communicate when it is convenient for them. When I talk on the phone, I can only talk to one person at a time and I'm usually leaving a message.
7. Some experts believe that there is a trend developing called the "social executive" and that "open leadership" is the way of the future. Do you agree? How do you envision social media will impact health care organizations and health care leaders in the future?
I'm not really sure. In the health care field it is very hard to predict trends. The medical field is slow to adopt things and different people have different approaches.
Here's a video interview with Levy and other social CEOs from Ragan Communications:
Finally, we've been having a lively discussion about senior living and long-term care CEOs using social media over at the ALFA Exchange community. If you want to dive deeper into this subject, feel free to drop by there and join the conversation.
We want to thank Paul Levy for taking the time to talk with us and we wish him well with his blogging efforts.
To view more health care executive blogs, check out this list:
Photo credit: BostonHerald.com
Jennifer Hill is currently at senior at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She is a Communications major concentrating in Public Relations and Journalism and minoring in Psychology. You can connect with her on Twitter on LinkedIn.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, May 28, 2010 @ 04:22 PM
Elder Care Marketing Industry Report
Ryan Malone of Elder Care Marketer recently published results of a study in a white paper called the Elder Care Marketing Industry Report. The study surveyed 160 elder care marketers to glean insights into their marketing habits, what tools they use, and what impact social media has on their business. I've embedded the entire report below. It's definitely worth checking out. Nice job Ryan! You can find Ryan on Twitter , LinkedIn ,Facebook or YouTube.
Here are the social media highlights from the Report:
- Small companies (1-50 employees) are twice as likely than big companies (50-500+ employees) to use social media in their marketing
- Overall, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular for marketing purposes
- Marketers spend an average of 6.6 hours per week on social media and would like to learn most about Twitter and blogs
- Interest is high in learning more about social media tools, which reflects the overall recognition of social media as a marketing vehicle
- Small businesses used a much broader base of social media tools than large businesses for marketing purposes
- Both B2B and B2C businesses benefited most from social media through increased mailing lists, traffic and subscribers, generating leads and creating partnerships.
- B2C reported a high increase in search rankings and B2B
businesses reported a higher benefit for identifying new products more often
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Dec 30, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
This was the year that senior living, long-term care, homecare, and hospice providers began experimenting with social media. Social tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; blogging/publishing platforms like WordPress; and white-label social/group networking platforms like Ning and Groupsite have started to penetrate these industry segments and are slowly beginning to change the way these companies are doing business. Even ALFA, the Assisted Living Federation of America, launched a social media initiative this year and is active on multiple social sites.
Since August when I launched this blog, I have posted many articles about companies in our industry, both small and large, that are beginning to use social technologies to derive business benefits. Some posts feature interviews with industry insiders who share their experiences and offer great insights into what's working, and what's not. Other articles provide information, tips, and resources designed to help your company navigate the social media landscape. In case you missed any, here is a list of my Top 10 Most Popular Posts for 2009:
- California's Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media [Interview]
- Home Care Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More [Interview]
- 7 Best Social Media Tools For Senior Living And Long-Term Care
- Social Media And HIPAA: What You Need To Know
- Nation's Largest Senior Living Company Embraces Social Media [Interview]
- How Senior Living And Eldercare Companies Can Build A Winning Social Media Team
- Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!
- Beacon Hill Retirement Community Launches Resident Blog - Smart Move
- Blog, Twitter, And Facebook = Big ROI At SeniorsForLiving.com [Interview]
- Web-Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
What We Have Learned: A Year In Review [Part 1 of 2]
Below is a summary of important lessons from the world of social media as they apply to the senior living and long-term care industries, along with links to more detailed content if you want more juice:
- Social technologies are transformative and are here to stay. The statistics are mind blowing. This video drives that point home.
- The static, brochure-style website is going the way of the dinosaurs. Dynamic, interactive websites that encourage dialog and participation and help you build relationships with customers and prospects is where it's at. If you don't have social and community-building elements built into your website, it's time to rethink your online strategy.
- Your customers are online, in a big way, and they love social networking and social media. This video from MSNBC is one example. The fact that seniors are Facebook's fastest growing demographic, by far, is another.
- Many experts, including myself, believe that social media/networking can and will have a profound impact on the quality of life of seniors living at home and in retirement communities - allowing them to stay connected to friends and family like never before. This study from the University of Alabama, and others like it, aim to prove that point with real data.
- Social media can be used for employer branding purposes and to help you recruit top talent. Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter can help you attract and engage both management and care staff. Branded online communities, like the one over at Terrace Communities, can function as a recruiting tool by posting jobs in the discussion forums and asking prospective employees participate in the online community during the interview process.
- Privacy and HIPAA issues, while important in our industry, should not prevent companies from adopting social technologies. With the proper strategies, policies, and guidelines in place, senior living and LTC companies can safely participate on the social web.
- A company blog is a critical tool in the social media tool box. It can drive traffic to your site, position your company as a trusted resource, and help you build community on the web. Whether you have a company blog or have yet to build one, these articles can help with your blogging strategy.
- Keeping up with the fast paced world of social media can be a job in and of itself, and presents as one of the biggest challenges for companies in every industry. New tools and applications enter the market every day. For companies in our industry, these 7 tools are the best place to start.
- Most senior living and LTC companies I've interviewed believe that social media ROI is difficult, if not impossible, to measure. Lucky for us, a couple of smart social media pros have shown that this is not necessarily the case. These articles cover the all-important ROI issue.
In part 2 of this series, which will be published next week, I will summarize what we learned from the interviews I conducted in the Social Media Success Series.
Build Your Social Media Presence In 2010
Thinking about starting a company blog? Interested in getting into social media but don't know where to start? Fascinated by the prospect of online community? Contact us. CareNetworks is the only company dedicated soley to providing social media strategy and solutions to senior living and LTC providers.
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator, blogger, social media strategist, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 @ 01:57 PM
As we've seen from my Social Media Success interview series and related posts, innovative senior living and LTC companies are beginning to discover the many benefits of social media and online community. These early adopters are paving the way for everyone else as they discover what works, and what doesn't on the social Web. Based on these posts, I've compiled a list (not in any particular order) of the top seven social media tools for the industry, along with some descriptions of why they made the list and how they can help your organization.
Social media is not a panacea. Your online presence and activities won't replace the relationships you build with residents and families and the great work you do in the physical world. However, used properly, these tools can accelerate your growth by helping you expand your online reach, attract and engage new customers, build relationships with prospects, and participate in the online conversations. Here's the list:
- Twitter. Noelle Kurth, Marketing Director for At Home Personal Care in Mesa, AZ showed us in this post that Twitter can be an easy, powerful, and free tool for networking with other professionals, broadcasting news and information about your company, recruiting, and building brand awareness. Twitter can help you build a community around your brand as well as keep you on top of important industry news and events in real time. By syndicating content from your blog or website to Twitter, you can build a following, enable sharing of your content, and drive traffic back to your website.
- Facebook. If there is one place online that you can bet many of your customers and prospects are hanging out, it's Facebook. Building a Facebook Page is a smart move for companies in our industry because it allows you to tap into an existing popular online community of boomers and seniors that's growing by the minute, literally. People who already have a Facebook account (and there's only about 300 million last I checked) can easily follow and engage with your company. The best part is that they can easily share their love for you with their friends. Like Twitter, Facebook Pages can be used to syndicate blog content, post news, information, and events, and share other multimedia content (like YouTube videos) with your followers. And like Twitter, Facebook can be used to help with employer branding and recruiting.
- Linkedin. This is THE social network for professionals. If you're a senior living or LTC professional, you should have a free Linkedin account. Linkedin allows you to build a professional network, share content, post job openings, research prospects, join industry groups, participate in forums, scan industry news, and much more.
- Blog. These days, a company blog is an essential tool in the online arsenal. I review the details of why you need a company blog in this post, but the bottom line is that a blog is a fantastic tool for building community, and for many companies, it can serve as a social media hub. Content and links are currency on the new social Web, and a blog allows you to publish content and distribute that content to your social media outposts like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. From there, your community can share your content with their friends - driving traffic back to your blog and website organically. This is called inbound marketing and it's much more powerful these days than in-your-face interruptive marketing. Another creative way to use a blog is to build one for your customers to use, like Beacon Hill Retirement Community did. You can check out an example of that here.
- YouTube. My friends over at Brookdale Senior Living do some good stuff with YouTube. Here's an example. YouTube makes it very easy to publish video content to your Website. If you have a blog, it's even easier to take your YouTube videos and embed them right into your posts. Video is an incredibly powerful medium, and with little or no money, you can create fantastic video content that your Twitter and Facebook fans will love (and share).
- Branded Online Community. For a more comprehensive social media solution (and here's the shameless plug for my business), a branded online community like the ones built by Terrace Communities and Living Well Assisted Living At Home may be your best bet. Branded online communities have a distinct advantage over using, say, Facebook to build community in that you have much more control over the platform, the features, the branding, the ads, and the content. Most community platforms include a blog and discussion forums and some, like the ones mentioned above, come with community calendars, file cabinets, and photo galleries - all of which can be syndicated to your social media outposts like Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. Learn more about branded online communities here.
- Email. Yes that's right, I said email. Email is actually the largest and most popular (by far) social media and online community platform in the world. If you think about it, anybody who uses email has an address book filled with the contact information of people in their various networks - and they connect, communicate, and share with their networks via email all the time. Tools like eNewsletters using platforms like MailChimp and ConstantContact can be a great way to stay in touch with your customers and provide them with interesting news and information (with linkbacks to your site or blog) that they can pass on to their email networks.
While all of these tools take proper strategy, resources, and time, the potential benefits to your organization, your customers, your staff, and your prospects are clear. Social networks and social media are fundamentally changing the way your customers and prospects learn, evaluate and ultimately make decisions. Social tools like the ones mentioned above are increasingly influential in marketing and sales practices. Customers seek evidence online to validate decisions and get instant feedback from their peers through social networks. By joining the conversation and giving people an opportunity to connect with you online, you have the ability to educate, inform, support and engage your audience in new ways never before possible. Are you using social media?
Related Posts
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Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator,
blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs
regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you
on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Sat, Nov 14, 2009 @ 10:25 AM
One of the best presentations on social media ROI I've seen. humorous, informative, entertaining. A little long, but worth it. If you're wondering about how your senior living, eldercare, LTC, or homecare business can afford social media, watch and learn...
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 12:00 PM
Here's a great example of a senior living company building an online community using a blog as their platform. Beacon Hill Retirement Community, located in Lombard, Illinois, recently set up and launched a resident-owned "online magazine" called "Let's Talk" built on the popular blogging platform WordPress. The blog allows residents (average age of 86) to publish multimedia content to the site including articles, videos, photos, menus, polls, and more.
According to the marketing firm that helped Beacon Hill set up the blog, nearly 1500 visitors have visited the site to date. Fresh content is added to the site over 50 times per month with an average of 23 feature stories designed to appeal to seniors and their adult children along with other items geared to resident's interests. A Beacon Hill resident committee helps steer and develop content by telling management what they want to read, link to, write themselves; and also how to promote the site to other residents, peers and family members.
Management is also helping to promote the use of the site. They have installed two computers in common areas that are dedicated to Let's Talk; they've added special suggestion boxes in the dining areas; they promote the site in the monthly newsletter; and local TV stations have apparently picked up on the story.
Beacon Hill's marketing firm created the site and assists with community engagement, content creation, site management, evaluation metrics and strategy. According to the firm, Let's Talk is becoming as popular with the resident's as Nintendo Wii and the site is helping with marketing to prospects.
This is just another example of what the future holds for senior living and eldercare as more and more seniors take to the social web and social media marketing moves into the mainstream.
To learn more about how online community and social media can benefit your senior living, homecare, or eldercare company, visit CareNetworks.com. To ensure you continue to get great articles and news like this delivered as it's published, subcribe to our blog.
Related Articles
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician,
consultant, educator, blogger, online community manager and the founder
of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs regularly here at Carenetworks.com and
would love to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Sun, Oct 18, 2009 @ 07:24 PM
One question I'm always asked about when it comes to health care or senior care and social media is, "What about HIPAA?" Online privacy and security are important issues, especially on the new social Web. But I have good news for the those folks in health care, senior care, home care, hospice, and dementia care who want to start using social media but fear HIPAA: It's not as complicated as you think. In fact, it's all about common sense. Below I provide a brief overview of the main issues, three examples of health care/senior living organizations effectively using social media without violating HIPAA, and some resources for developing your own social media and online communications policies.
HIPAA & Social Media
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that a patient's identity and personal health information be protected (also called Protected Health Information, or PHI). Health care providers who violate HIPAA can face stiff penalties, including fines up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years for knowingly misusing individually identifiable health information. As a result, many care-related organizations shy away from deploying social media, blogs, and online communities due to fear of HIPAA violations. This is unfortunate as these organizations are missing out on the many opportunities and benefits that social technologies offer.
Senior living companies, homecare agencies, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals and the like, should feel free to engage in social media - as long as mechanisms to secure PHI are employed. Information posted to blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, or online communities by health care companies should be prepared for public consumption and each organization engaging in social media should have policies and guidelines related to social media and online communications in place prior to deploying these technologies. Here are three examples of health care and senior care organizations using social media, as well as some social media policies and online communications guidelines for your reference:
Innovis Health
Innovis Health is a non-profit hospital and health care organization based out of Fargo North Dakota. Innovis has a blog (shown below) plus Twitter, Facebook (show below), YouTube, and Flikr accounts. On the blog, Innovis publishes hospital news and general health news. This content is then syndicated out to their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The blog also features a Twitter feed - showing Innovis Twitter activity in real-time. The Innovis YouTube channel features hospital commercials and local news coverage. Their Flikr account displays photos of their various facilities, their staff, and marketing images from different marketing campaigns. This complement of social media tools allows Innovis to broadcast their message, engage a following, and drive traffic back to their website.
There's very little patient-specific information on any of their social media properties, however, the blog does feature two stories about babies that were born at the hospital during a March 2009 flood, including parent names and, in one case, a photo of the new parents with their infant. The assumption here is that the parents gave Innovis specific written permission to publish these stories (a must if you plan to publish PHI or patient identity).
Innovis Health Blog
Innovis Health Facebook Page
Children's Hospital L.A.
Children's Hospital L.A. actually encourages patients and families to tell their stories on the hospital website. The way they work within HIPPA rules is by employing a 3-step process where the person submitting the story must:
- Review a "Use and Access" Statement
- Review the hospital HIPAA policy
- Fill out a secure online form where the story, images, and any links are uploaded to and reviewed by hospital staff for approval prior to being posted to the site for public viewing
Children's Hosptial L.A. "Share Your Story" Page
Children's hospital L.A. "Use & Access" Statement
This is a shrewd business move on the hospital's part because it allows them to publish vetted positive stories from actual patients - which clearly has marketing benefits - without violating HIPAA.
Terrace Communities
Terrace Communities is a group of seven assisted living residences located in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Florida. Terrace uses a member-only, public facing branded online community to connect residents, staff, and family members from all seven facilities. Members have unique profile pages and can participate in discussions, post to the group blog, add to the calendar, and upload photos to the galleries. Below you can see the community homepage with a photo of a Terrace resident and her son prominently displayed.
Terrace Communities
Notice that, like Children's Hospital L.A., Terrace Communities encourages their members to interact and post content to the community website. Also, as you can see from the screenshot below, Terrace regularly posts photos of and stories about residents, family members, and staff to their community site. One difference here is that residents of Terrace communities are NOT considered or referred to as "patients." Therefore, while privacy and information security are issues for Terrace, HIPAA is not a major concern. Terrace does have each resident and family sign a generic photo release form allowing them to publish photos on their website and in marketing materials.
Terrace Communities (Cont.)
Conclusion
Blogs, social media, and online communities can be powerful tools for organizations to broadcast news and information, as well as engage prospects and customers. The vast majority of what health care and senior care organizations publish using social technologies has nothing to do with PHI. As long as organizations take proper measures to ensure that Protected Health Information is kept private and secure there's nothing to fear. If you are going to publish patient photos or stories, get a written release. Of course, it's always possible that a rogue employee who doesn't follow the rules can violate HIPAA, but that can happen offline even more easily than online - and should not be a reason to avoid getting into social media. Additionally, proper social media management allows companies to monitor posted content and quickly remove anything inappropriate. The following resources can help you get started developing your own social media policies.
Resources
Related Posts
References
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator, blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.