Webinar presented to the Idaho Medical Association and Idaho Medical Group Management Association on May 3, 2012

1. A Social Media Prescription for Physicians
and Medical Practice Executives
I’ve heard I need to Tweet my
LinkedIn Facebook to YouTube!
Help!
James Lineberger, PhD, MHA
Principal

2. Learning Objectives
• Define & differentiate various social media channels
• Describe why and how physicians and medical practices are
using social media
• Understand privacy, security & professional association
guidelines
• Utilize practical steps for establishing a social media presence

3. Simultaneous “Tweet Chat”
During today’s Webinar, Tweet your comments & questions
in real time using Twitter Hashtag
#HCSMID
Type “#HCSMID” into your Twitter search box to see
everyone’s Tweets!

4. Why Use Social Media?
• Branding – significant & differentiated presence to attract &
retain patients and position you and your practice as a
trusted expert(s)
• Connect with key influential contacts - members of Congress
and the media
– Majority of Congressional members & their staff use social media to
receive & send messages
– Journalists use social media (Facebook & LinkedIn to source articles)
• Safely engage with patients - 42% use SM to access reviews
of treatments or physicians & 45% use SM in deciding for a
2nd opinion
• Connect with affiliated physicians and referral sources &
resources
1 Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers

5. Examples of Healthcare Social Media
• Several Idaho practices, physicians & executives are using
HCSM; many examples across U.S./World
• Institute of Medicine: Natural disasters – Texting or tweeting
on a smart phone – works when infrastructure compromised
• CDC: Public health – Twitter trending used during cholera
outbreak in Haiti in 2010 – identified pandemic potential
(GAO to DHHS – make a plan!”
• USOC: SM used as a surveillance system in Vancouver (2010)
& will be used in London (2012)
1 Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers

6. Reasons to Avoid Social Media
• It won’t drive more patients to the practice (will it?)
• No one (BC/BS, CMS) pays me to use social media!
• I’m already too busy
• I’m afraid I’ll do it “wrong”
• Exposes me/us to too much risk

7. Featured Social Media Channels
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Google+
Blogs

8. Facebook
• Connects people personally & professionally
• Message, photos, videos, events, games
• Over 900M monthly active users; Over 526M daily active
users; if it were a country, it’d be the 3rd largest one!
• The average user has 130 friends & “Likes” 80 pages
• 56% of consumer say that they are more likely to recommend
a brand after becoming a fan
• Each week on Facebook more than 3.5 billion pieces of
content are shared
• Fastest growing segment is women over the age of 55

9. Facebook – Getting Started
• Your logo
• A creative cover photo or photo of your practice
• Your mission statement
• Basic contact information
• Ideas for updates:
– Clinical research study recruitment
– Presentations open to the public
– Community events you or your practice supports
– Content to encourage patients & to motivate compliance

10. Facebook Examples
• Saltzer Medical Group
• Primary Health Medical Group
• Others? Tweet it using #HCSMID

11. Twitter
• A “micro-blog” service for friends, family, and
co-workers to communicate with quick, frequent
messages.
• 500M registered users tweeting 175M times/day;
100K users added every day
• Over 1,500 physicians registered with
TwitterDoctors.net
• “Tweets” of up to 140 characters – your own or
“Re-Tweets” (RTs) of those you follow
• Use “Hashtags” (#) to ease searching (i.e. #HCSMID)

12. Twitter – Getting Started
• Profile photo
• Profile statement – 140 character description of your
practice (or you!)
• Search for topics (hashtags) of interest to you &
follow people who Tweet about them
• Save searches to enable quick review of new Tweets
• Send Tweets to Evernote for retrieval later

13. Twitter Examples
• Medical Group Management Association (@MGMA)
• Idaho Medical Group Management Association
(@IdahoMGMA)
• Who do you follow? Tweet it using #HCSMID

14. LinkedIn
• Over 150M users – grew 45% between Jan 2011 & Jan 2012
• Nearly 4 out of 10 members are titled Manager, Director, Owner,
Chief Executive or Vice President
• The world’s largest professional network allows people to interact
with each other and businesses
• Features include individual profiles, Groups & Companies
• Additional applications available including Amazon reading list,
events, polls, blogs & Slideshare (among others)
• Physician recruitment – 70% of physicians use LinkedIn when
looking for a position*
• A company page helps others learn more about your
organization’s job opportunities, work culture & services
Physicians Practice

15. LinkedIn – Getting Started
• Join & establish a profile with company e-mail
domain (i.e. Margy@IdMed.Org)
• In the “Companies” button, click “Add a
Company”
• Complete the company profile information &
invite others to the page
• Establish a “Group” instead of a “Company” if
there’s no domain e-mail (i.e.
Margy@gmail.com)

16. LinkedIn Examples
• Saltzer Medical Group
• Rocky Mountain Diabetes and Osteoporosis
Center PA
• Which companies do you follow? Of which
groups are you a member? Tweet it using
#HCSMID

17. • YouTube is owned by Google – the 2 largest search engines
• 490M users & 92B page views/month
• 1 hour of video is uploaded ever second
• YouTube visitors/viewers generally stay on the site longer &
view more content
• Visit YouTube and get familiar with how the video search
engine works

18. Getting Started
• Establish your YouTube channel & link it back to your website
• Embed YouTube videos on website & link to your YouTube channel
• Transform a patient education article into an 8-slide PowerPoint &
export to a 3-minute video
– Use with patients while in clinic (iPad, tablet, etc.)
– Use to prepare patients for visits, procedures, etc.
• Prepare a screencast (Jing, Camtasia) of a patient education website
tour - show patients how to get the most out of the site
• Take digital photos of your practice & convert to a video slideshow
• Remember to optimize your videos by including keywords & link
your SM accounts to announce when you’ve posted new videos
• Tweet your favorite YouTube channel(s) using #HCSMID

19. Google+
• Social networking site for the world’s largest search engine –
items “+1” rank higher in Google’s search engine algorithm (i.e.
show up earlier/higher in searches)
• Users establish “Circles” of contacts – connect with the right
people for the right things
• Permits sharing of conversations, links, photos, video – those
you’ve “circled” can “+1” (like), share & comment
• Integrated live audio/video chat called “Hangouts” including
screen sharing
• Many applications and plug-ins available

20. Blogs
• A digital publication that allows for comments from readers and
allows them to subscribe to the content
• Thought leadership – positions you & the practice as industry experts
• Helps patients understand why to visit you & your practice (as
opposed to others)
• Gives patients a “feel” for your culture
• Your blog should include information about your practice and link to
your website or be housed on your website
• Use metadata: keywords, tags, and hyperlinks; Search engines use
metadata to direct people to blogs
• Blogs indexed in search engines – drives traffic back to your web site

21. Blogs – Examples
• Bill Jonakin, MD (http://ipnmd.wordpress.com)
• MedMan (www.medman.com/blog)
• Idaho Medical Association (http://idmed.wordpress.com)
• Primary Health Medical Group (blog.phmgidaho.com)
• Saltzer Medical Group (www.saltzermed.com/news)
• Others? Tweet it using #HCSMID

22. SM Channel Summary
I naps!
I’m taking a #Nap via @NapInstituteofAmerica
I am a Board Certified Nap-ologist
Join my Hangout/Circle of Nap-taking friends
Here’s a cool video of me napping (& snoring!)
Read about my obsession to napping; includes
links to the best ear plugs & eye shades

23. Legal & Regulatory Risks
For Discussion Purposes Only
• HIPAA & other privacy statues - must de-identify PHI
– Don’t reply to comments on Facebook, Blog if PHI involved
– Write about fictionalized/composite patients
• Professional liability for professional advice provided via social
media
• Groupon/Living Social “daily deal” sites – issues with AKS, fee-
splitting & other statutes
• Develop a social media policy
– For physicians & other clinicians
– For employees
– For patients (consider updating Notice of Privacy Practices)
– Include general disclaimers (“Tweets are my own”) & actively moderate
all channels
– Involve your legal counsel & professional liability carrier

24. Professional Association Guidelines
• American Medical Association – conservative (be cautious,
beware of down-sides of SM)
• Veterans Administration – progressive (use it to inform &
engage with patients)
• Mayo Clinic – 12 words (don’t lie, don’t pry, don’t cheat, can’t
delete, don’t steal, don’t reveal)

25. Feedback From Today’s Tweet Chat
Tweet your comments & questions now using Twitter
Hashtag
#HCSMID
Type “#HCSMID” into your Twitter search box to see
everyone’s Tweets!

26. Parting Thoughts
• Consider developing a formal social media plan
– Web site w/blog is the nucleus – start here!
– YouTube, Google+, Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn (Pinterest?) in
subsequent stages
• Consider “lurking” and following to gain comfort
– @kevinmd (Kevin Pho, MD)
– @hjluks (Howard Luks, MD)
– @DrAttai (Deanna Attai, MD)
• Divide up the work – assign responsibilities for content (updates,
blogs, tweets, etc.)
• Track outcomes – FB “likes”, Twitter followers, Google+1’s, blog
subscribers/commenters, etc. – Platforms offer free “analytics”
• Check your Klout score (www.Klout.com)

27. Thank You!
James Lineberger, PhD, MHA | FACMPE | FACHE | CPHIMS
linejboise@gmail.com | 208 440 1545
Twitter: @JMLineberger