While healthcare practitioners and organizations should be
careful of the potential dangers of using social media carelessly while sharing
information, its positive impacts on the success of a medical practice cannot
be ignored as well. If used in an appropriate manner, social media can be very
beneficial for your healthcare organization while continuing to maintain
patient privacy and confidentiality.
Communicate with
patients
You can effectively use social media, in accordance to
healthcare compliance Las Vegas obviously, as a great tool to communicate
general information about your medical practice, such as office policies,
websites, availability, and appointment scheduling. Social media can be a great
platform to provide patients with direct links to secure websites where the
patients can log in securely and have access to their information.
Educate your patients
Healthcare organizations can also use social media to
effectively educate their patients on the conditions and diseases that are
treated on the facility, procedures performed, emerging technology, events in
news, and medical symptoms. Pictures of your medical staff and physicians and
their pictures can also be shared to better connect with their patients.
Educating patients on healthcare policies can also help prevent Medicare investigations.
Interact with your
patients
While internet isn’t a great platform for sharing private
information, social media can be utilized for general Question & Answer
type conversations. There are some medical practices who have successfully set
up specific scheduled hours for answering questions asked by patients on social
media and official websites. If a medical practice is receiving high traffic on
their social media handle, they may consider designating a staff member to
respond to the postings, comments and questions.