Hi Class,
Here it is:
Blog assignment - Go to the NCMIC website. Log on with the
username “college” and the password “NCMIC”.
Click on the “case studies/articles” selection on the left side of the
screen. Next, look under the “summer
2011”articles. Select and read: Do the Risks of
Social Networking Outweigh the Benefits?
For the blog, discuss the pitfalls and benefits. Your discussion should contain at least 2 key points. The 2nd person in each group will post on the blog. This assignment is worth 2 points & is due Monday, December 3, 2012.
For the blog, discuss the pitfalls and benefits. Your discussion should contain at least 2 key points. The 2nd person in each group will post on the blog. This assignment is worth 2 points & is due Monday, December 3, 2012.
Thanks,
Dr. Frost
A benefit of social media sites is the opportunity to engage in practically free marketing to people who have already self-selected to hear your message. Pitfalls of social media sites include accidentally releasing PHI into a public venue, as well as presenting a negative professional image online, which can be used against you in court or socially.
ReplyDeleteMichael Robinson and Joshua Leeder
Another benefit of social media not discussed by my group is the ability that social media has in creating "network contacts" for example, if one of your patients "Likes" you on facebook this is posted in their feed and also on their wall, this would allow many of their friends who may be looking for your service to find you based on their friends postings. In essence a free word of mouth referral.
DeleteSocial media has many benefits as well a downfalls. It offers the opportunity to reach thousands, or even millions of people for free. Spreading information about Chiropractic, practice related or not, across social media can be very effective for education. Posting information makes it available to the public for any usage, good or bad. Opening up to the public creates security voids that could allow for release of personal information that could be detrimental to the doctor himself, his practice, or his patients. Another issue that never brings up much concern is the usage of social media in office by employees or patients. Although they may have no intentions to release sensitive material, it is often unknown by them that they are doing such. Overall, the easiest way to avoid problems is to avoid social media all together.
ReplyDeleteJordan Hagar (John Crouse, Emily, Kelly, Nicole)
One of the benefits of social media is quick and fast access to the information that you need. It is a tool that is used universally and easy to market your clinic. The downfall would be the fact that the information of a patient is leaked very easily. For example, facebook is the most commonly used as marketing tool in today’s society, but many times it violets the regulation of PHI and HIPPA such as talking about a condition of a patient, posting photos and mixing professional life with personal life. Social media is not only an issue for doctors, but your staff plays same important role. It is significant to train your staff regarding PHI and HIPPA regulation annually in order to avoid lawsuits for your clinic. Overall, social media can be a powerful tool if used in proper manner.
ReplyDeleteMeet Patel ( Laura P, Hyun J, Eric B, Luke P)
Our comment is regarding the concept of Professional Versus Personal Posts and “Friending”:
ReplyDelete--Social network, such as FB, twitter, linkedin, are very useful as a new tool for business marketing.
In our society today, it does not matter what kind of public service we need, first of all we look at search engines, like google to get more information and to visualize better what kind of service it has been offered lately and look for customers reviews. We consider that the business now a days that is not connected to social networking and the internet is in extremely disadvantage.
However, regarding health care services, such as chiropractic care, there are several barriers and limitations that must be consider to correctly use internet and social networks.
For example; it is recommended by most of the risk management companies that the chiropractor/clinic have a personal page and a professional page. This will filter the kind of information to be posted and the "friend" on FB. It is important to understand ethical violations regarding patient confidentiality and avoid to blurry the "patient-doctor"relationship.
When doctors don't use the social network as it should be used, they ended up adding patients as friends on their professional page and personal page, and this kind of situation interferes with the relationship of being the Doctor and the patient. The patient may start seeing you as a friend and not as his health care provider anymore.
At the same time, the internet and the social network is a great place for exposure of other concepts, such as photos or comments that may expose the personality of the DC and affect their relationship with patients and possibly their attorneys. It is not uncommon for attorneys to use information gather online against the doctor. Anything can be used, starting from an incriminating simple photo, to a patient private information exposure comment regarding a case or simply a FB status update or comment.
FInally, our conclusion is that we should use social networking and internet as the most powerful business marketing tool, but we should use it with ethics and with the understanding of its pros and cons. Even as a student, we must understand that we are being seen as future doctors, therefore what we do and post on the internet now, it will matter in our future as doctors.
Vinicius Francio, John Rockas, Hirofumi Horikawa, Dee King.
Our group feels that even if you are against social media it is something that needs to be used. A doctor needs to have complete control over all forms of social media. Office staff need to be trained on how to use it.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is a very fast and effective way to get information out to patients. It is excellent for patient education and letting them know what is going on around the office when done correctly.
Jay, Felicia, Britni, Mark, Daniel
Social media has become a part of today's society, just like browsing the internet, consumers look on social media for more information about people and companies they come intact with. This makes it easy for patient to find more information at the click of a button.
ReplyDeleteAs doctors however, we need to be particularly careful not to display any patients health information, and have privacy settings to determine who can post and filter through what other's do. Another thing was the idea of having separate accounts for your business and personal life, either way we need to think before we post anything and understand that we are representing both.
Ashley C, Liz G, Ryan D, Jarod M, MJ
There are many risks and benefits when dealing with social networking. One key component of social networking would be that it is great free advertising that the Doctor can allow the public to view. Many people use social networks to look up businesses and compare to other businesses. Like stated in this article there are many things that can go wrong when getting involved in social networking or allowing social networks into your business (via employees or patient). These social networks can lead to heavy fines or even possibly a loss of license. I believe one thing that doctors should due is to eliminate their employees from using social networks while at work. This opens up a huge amount of risks that one of the employees could accidently violate patient confidentiality. One thing that each doctor should do is think before they go and post things on the internet, even if it is a private account.
ReplyDeleteCollin S (Ryan R, Tucker B, Dave S, Matt M)
Social Networking and maintaing patient confidentiality is a very grey area that will continue to be exploited throughout the legal field but also throughout office management. There are several areas to consider when thinking about using social networking in ones office. 1. Is patient information being shared. 2. Can a person infer who you are referring to when talking about a case. 3. How often and who is allowed to post and see/view what is being posted. 4. Is the information something you would like to be permanent. 5. Do you have permission to share. 6. What is the value of sharing. And these are just issues to be worked out when creating/using a professional account. When is comes to personal accounts there are other issues to keep in mind like whether or not your staff are using your time on their accounts, are they posting things that would "turn off" a potential patient from your practice etc.
ReplyDeleteThese are just risks/considerations on the negative aspect, but there are several positive aspects too to social networking. Patients like to be able to see what is going on, and have that constant communication that social networking provides. There is an element to community healing when patients can see/talk/hear from other patients. It also works as a reminder for people to come in and seek care. Its a place where a potential patient can gather information or a "feeling" as to the office and if it would be a good fit for them. Its a place where a Doctor can put up general health advice or a thought to help promote healthy trends.
As a business the more visible you are the more scrutiny you face, but also the more people you tend to reach. So, if done conservatively, with standards and careful watch I think social networking can be managed without harming PHI or the Doctor/Patient relationship, but it takes work and attention. Pictures and stories should be carefully thought about before posting, and patients should sign a waiver allowing the use of that information prior to use. Networks should be secure, and maybe not even used from the same server as the office. And remember, when it comes to PI/Workers comp/lawsuits etc. social networking could in fact work in your favor.
Is it manageable, yes, is there also a risk...most definitely. If you chose to utilize social networking you should also plan how you will handle a situation if something does unfortunately go awry.
Kali E (Jerome M, Brad K, Lionel B, Tor)
Social media can be an extremely valuable tool when trying to market a practice. The mass amount of people that can be reached for little to no cost is amazing. However the risks that are posed by doing this may outweigh the benefits. Once on the internet the number of possibilities to having your system hacked and then losing all of the patient information are gigantic and could be devastating to a new practice. Also even if having the best of intentions and putting up a success story of a patient could get the Doctor in huge trouble.
ReplyDeleteMy personal opinion would be to have a page that people could like but that users can not see who else has liked the page. Then all that would be put on the page is promotional information for he office and different events throughout the community. No patient success stories would be on there or anything that would possibly identify a patient.
Justin Casey ( Melissa, Dick, Scott, Jesse)
There are good reasons why you should have a social network page where you can befriend your patients and post health information and tips that can help with their well being. It can also be a great way to educate the patients on things that pertain to their health but would take too much time in the office to explain to every single patient individually. Having such pages where you can advertise to patients and can be invited to your office events, or advanced talks can be a great reminder and a way to reach people who could become prospective patients.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major problems for a doctor who posts things that pertain to their personal life or about specific is compliance. Today it is very easy to have information that we say taken in a way that can harm either the doctor or the patient. It is very important to realize that as a doctor you have great responsibility in how you use the information that the patients give you trusting that you will use it for professional purposes and not putting their identity in danger.
Diana Martinez (Cierra, Erin, Simone, Lakyn)
Social networking has risen in the past few years to become one of the predominant forms of communication between us. A savvy chiropractor that understands how to use social media to reach patients, while maintaining a level of professionalism can see unlimited potential of growth. There are two main ways to view social media as a healthcare professional; as a way to create and sustain a solid patient base and as a liability.
ReplyDeleteAn office facebook page has the ability to let new patients visit the world of your office without having to leave their house. They can learn who you are, what you do and maybe even see what other satisfied patients have said about you. It's an easy and free way to advertise and display information you feel is relevant and helpful to current and prospective patients.
On the other hand, mishandling of social networking can lead a doctor into financial and legal trouble. Posting a patient's PHI in a picture or through words without their verbal and written consent can lead to lawsuits, as well as doctor/patient trust issues within your office itself.
Social media is a free, easy tool that savvy chiropractors see as a potential for unlimited patient growth within their practice. It should, however, always be used with the patient's PHI in mind to ensure everyone has any enjoyable experience online.
Rhys E, Holly C, Nina P, Derek P.
As technology advances exponentially each year, more people not only have access to view what's out there but also post and comment in various forms like websites and blogs. Being part of the technology era it may seem tempting to use these forms to post about their career because so many people have it and it's a good way to stay connected to the people in the community. Due to the fact that it is easy and cheap to use, a doctor could easily post about their business and get the word out to the residents about their practice. However, just because one can doesn't mean one should. There are numerous potential risks that can occur. Patient information which is supposed to be kept safe by law could easily be stolen by anyone such as a coworker with a cell phone or a patient who watches the computer when typing passwords. Hence doctors should use firewalls and safety measures such as automatic log-offs on the computers as well as having a policy about cell phone usage by employees when working to keep information private. Having a separate Facebook page is popular with some doctors in order to keep their personal and professional lives apart but once there is information out there, it cannot be taken back. Therefore any comments or advice given automatically creates a doctor-patient relationship and holds the doctor liable. The lines of doctor-patient can also be crossed when accepting patient friend requests. So social media has it's flaws and benefits but it is up to the doctor to draw the line as to how they want to approach the topics with their own practices.
ReplyDeleteJordan L, Kasey R, Shannon S, Christa S
When considering Social Media and it's uses in a professional setting, it seems that appropriate and intelligent training must be utilized throughout the office. (This training will, of course, evolve as the technology evolves.) Employees must be trained to recognize that SM such as Facebook and Twitter are not to be used (in this instance) as informal means of communication. In an employment setting, these sites carry responsibility and power. An employee can cause irreparable damage to a practice through one thoughtless post. It would be interesting to see if these sites are interested in creating "failsafes" where the owner would have to sign off on content before it was posted. Draconian, perhaps; time consuming, probably; important, absolutely. I, for one, do not want to lose my license because of some ignorant action of an employee.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the topic of friending patients, it seems less than prudent. As with most things in this day and age, I would suggest approaching the action with moderation. Be moderate in what you allow, be moderate in how you publicize, and be moderate in your relationships with patients.
Dee K., Kurt S., and "The Belkinator"
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLike few other groups stated, we also think the benefit of social media use doesn't outweigh the risk of using it. It seems very difficult to use social media wisely.
ReplyDeleteOur group mainly discussed regarding Facebook. If you ever decides to use the Facebook either as a marketing tool or as a supplement to a clinic website, the first thing you got to do is to create a page for the clinic. Using a personal account as a communication tool with patients is not a good idea since it can (most of the time) harm the doctor's professionalism.
All the information on the Facebook page should match exactly to those on the clinic's official website and better not contain more information(e.g. personal opinion) than the clinic website. That's because those extra information may mislead the patients' perception. As long as the page remains objectively informative, that can be a great "free" tool to use.
Sangwoo, Anthony, Jordan, Tammie, Yoonsun
The negative aspects of using social media are very real and need to be taken seriously. The benefits of using it depend on the person, the business, and the business' intentions. The benefits of using social media are very subjective, so in my professional opinion, I believe that the benefits of using social media WISELY outweigh the negatives.
ReplyDeleteDue to the potential consequences of your personal information being used to violate PHI, or being personally used against you in court, it may be a wise decision to permanently delete your personal networking pages. If you don't delete accounts in their entirety, it would then be necessary to delete photos, or information that could somehow be used against you. It would also be necessary to secure your personal account with added security features that could "hide" your account from people that you have not directly allowed to access it. It is also important to remember, however, that anything you have ever posted onto the internet is never "permanently deleted", but you should at least take every precaution to try and clean up your accounts as much as possible.
The reason why I still believe that social networking is a valuable tool, is that it is now possible to create professional pages to use for networking, marketing, promotional events, etc. This is a great way to let people know, or remind people who have chosen to be in your "group" about special events that are taking place. Since most people now use social networking sites daily, it is a great way to keep people updated. Patients or potential patients need only be allowed access to your professional pages, however, as any access to a personal account of yours could be detrimental to both the patient, and you.
Alyssa Kurth (Tara G, Paxton S, Tomohide M, Calihan D)
Social media can be a great tool. The consequences however, of being negligent in what is posted can cost a doctor and his practice more harm than good. The positive end of using a social networking site is that you are able to provide information based on your practice, such as location, hours, techniques, philosophy, and in my opinion one of the most important, events in the community that you as a doctor will be present at. Its a free way to promote and get your name out to the cyber world. The negatives however can cause you problems in a vartiety of way. PHI is probably the biggest reason social networking needs to be cautiously monitored. The ability for patient information to reach the cyberworld is extremely easy, and if guidelines and proper training is not enforced with every employee in your office, then you are putting yourself and your practice in danger. As the doctor, I personally would have everything ran through me before being posted. That way, because I know Im trained on right and wrong, I would be able to monitor whats hitting the web. This is just one way to keep your name in the social media world without having concerns of what someone else has posted. Also keeping you and your employees personal sites completely separate from the office is a must in order for your patients still percieve you as a doctor and not a social butterfly. Think about what you've posted and you'll know what I mean. Keep it separate.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
TJ Harpham, Wesley Harpham, Ryan Madigan, Eric Dickerson, Andrew "the hawk" Weihler.
One of the most important benefits of social networking is that it can be used as a marketing tool for a practice. Facebook, for example, is a very useful way to stay in contact with other local businesses, community events, and even former classmates. Keeping personal and professional accounts separate is always a good idea, and keeping a personal account somewhat professional is also extremely important to keep a good appearance in the public eye. When creating social media sites, it is a good idea to only allow one person to be in charge of updating the account and the information that is published. Personally, I dont believe that a professional account should be used to carry on conversations. I feel like it is smarter to keep a business page for posting about events or promotions or whatever that are involved with the business. As far as hacking patient information, I feel like there are dangers any way you look at it. Storing information in EHR software can be hacked, but so can paper files and documents. At the end of the day, all you can do is be smart, professional, and take precautions when dealing with others' personal information like it was your own.
ReplyDeleteEmily Wentworth (Chris Nelson, Ryan Vermeesh, Jim Fitzgerald, Matt Curran)
Wendy, Cristine & Jill
ReplyDeleteOne sentence on your social media site could cost you up to $1,500,000. One comment by one of your office staff could cost you $1,500,000. For any patient breech of confidentiality, via a social media network by you or anyone in your office, on or after 2/18/2009, you could be charged a penalty in the amount of anywhere between $100 to $50,000 or more per violation. In any one calendar year you could be charged up to 1,500,000. Is that really worth taking a chance on 'free advertiseent'?
As a Doctor, NCMIC suggests that you consider a strict policy with respect to the use of social portals. This is good protection for not only you and your staff, but most importantly your patients personal information as well. The Doctor should consider two separate media sights one for personal use and one for business use. Both should have a high level of security/privacy setting and be updated often.
There is a level of trust that a patient has for a medical professional when they walk in the door and a level of trust after care. Trust can lead to tens of referrals, lack of can lead to bankruptcy. One small slip can destroy the relationship that we as providers put a lot of effort into with out patients.
Social media sites do offer exposure to thousands of potential patients. Managed carefully and professionally they can be a positive for us. They can be utilized in a variety of ways to advertise as well as educate the readers.
Wendy, Cristine & Jill
Social media, seen as some as free advertising, and others as an ivasion of provacy. Many younger adults feel that they can and should post there lives on the internet. While this may be a sign of the times it is only a matter of time before identities, bank accounts and personal family are hungout for the world to judge. While this is seem harmless to many, the rest are frightned my the possiblity of a hard earned credit score ruined by an artfull hacker, or worse your practice destroyed because of a missed hacker that stole all yourpatient information and protected health information. Two words, BAD IDEA!!! make a webpage and leave it for your information oulet. Keep Personal information personal and your friends as friends, not patients.
ReplyDelete