Social media is increasingly used in healthcare for customer service, community outreach, education, and public relations. Hospitals use platforms like YouTube and Twitter, but must consider HIPAA privacy laws and managing professional online identities. Patient support groups on Facebook have been created by some hospitals, including the University of Maryland Medical Center, to provide a restricted space for patients to connect over shared health topics and experiences in a moderated environment. These groups see varying levels of engagement from members discussing health issues and organizing offline meetups.

1. Social Media in Healthcare Overview and Current Realities Ed Bennett University of Maryland Medical System e-Patient Connections Philadelphia, PA | September 20, 2011

2. How Hospitals Use Social Media Customer Service Community Outreach Education Public Relations Crisis Communications Recruitment Brand Monitoring

3. Hospital Social Media Types

4. Rapid Growth: YouTube and Twitter

5. Hospital Values Social Media Values Risk averse Risk taking Information from authoritative sources Network Reputation Privacy and security regulated Anyone can publish anything Data tightly controlled Information freely distributed Tight intellectual property Use licenses with few restrictions

6. Special Issues for Healthcare Professionals HIPAA / PHI Professional vs. Private presence Appropriate use Social Media access on hospital networks Professional Guidelines / HR policies Finding answers in the “grey zone” “ The Placenta Incident”

7. Patient Support Groups on Facebook University of Maryland Medical Center currently has four groups: Post Liver Transplant Digestive Diseases Hepatitis C Trauma Survivors First group launched in March 2011 – between 10 and 40 members

8. Patient Support Groups on Facebook Requested by our patients Restricted to our patients Outgrowth of traditional IRL groups Managed by the same group leader Set up and Sanctioned by the UMMC Communications Department

9. Patient Support Groups on Facebook Mix of Closed & Secret Groups Members must be approved by Moderator Posts are private to the group Secret groups are invisible, do not show up in FB search results Reviewed and approved by UMMS Legal

12. Patient Support Groups on Facebook Results: Activity level varies by group Support, knowledge exchange “ Does this happen to anyone else?” Mix of health and other topics Events and projects like a group luncheon

13. Ed Bennett Director, Web & Communications Technology University of Maryland Medical System Phone: 410-328-0771 Email: ebennett@umm.edu / ed@ebennett.org Web: umm.edu - ebennett.org Twitter: @edbennett Presentation and resource links: http://ebennett.org/ePatientConnections