Facebook fan pages help practices engage patients

The subject of physicians and social media is rife with questions: Should physicians "friend" their patients on Facebook? How should physicians conduct themselves online, whether in a personal or professional forum?

At the American Medical Association's annual meeting in June, these issues were on the agenda at the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs open forum, which resulted in the House of Delegates asking the AMA to study physician use of social media, reports American Medical News. Meanwhile, CEJA is already working on ethical guidance that could be presented as a report within the next 12 to 18 months.

"Common sense prevails here," said Robert T. Phillips, MD, PhD, an Annapolis, Md., psychiatrist and delegate for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. "We've had this issue long before the Internet. Certain behaviors may cast aspersions on your character, and how you behave will put your career in jeopardy. There always will be someone out there looking--that's the nature of our society. So, caveat emptor."

But while some physicians may decide that these concerns make maintaining a personal Facebook page, for example, simply not worth the trouble, they may still find compelling reasons to use social media as a professional tool to connect with their clientèle.

As a recent article in Physicians Practice notes, "engaging online through social media can allow physicians to show--not just tell--that they are the experts." While a website might detail the doctors' credentials, office hours and so on, a Facebook fan page for the business may offer a forum not only to share helpful information and resources with patients, but to also learn more about the population you serve.

For example, in a recent blog post, pediatric practice manager Brandon Betancourt noted that the demographic information provided by his practice's Facebook page revealed that 24 percent of the fans fell into the 13-17 age group--as many as the 35-44-year-old bracket and more than the 18-24 group.

"I thought that is pretty remarkable," Betancourt wrote. "That means we have a lot of teenagers [mostly girls] that are interested in what we have to say."

Accordingly, the page is packed full of information--including articles about acne and Pap smears, physician blog entries as well as general interest pieces--appealing directly to teens, parents or both.

As for marketing to new patients, social networks also can boost your search-engine rankings, Jim Tobin, president of Ignite Social Media and author of "Social Media Is a Cocktail Party," told Physicians Practice. Posts on Facebook and blogs, for example, are indexed and searched by Google and other engines, so fresh content will appear high on the list when a patient searches for a physician online.

And while administrators of such networks, whether physicians or other staff, should be cognizant not to post any patient information or provide direct medical advice to an individual online, new issues arise regarding how to address potential inappropriate comments or questions made by patients.

Charlene Burgett, MS-HCM, administrator at North Scottsdale (Ariz.) Family Medicine, tells FiercePracticeManagement that she has not run into privacy or related problems since launching her practice's Facebook fan page about six months ago. But if inappropriate remarks should begin to crop up, Burgett, who handles all of the page's updates, is prepared to "go in and babysit or moderate" as needed.

Although the NSFM page and rules surrounding it remain a work in progress, Burgett is careful to ensure that none of her physicians' personal profiles are connected to the page (which might lead patients to try to friend them), which means that they refrain from "liking" their own practice.

A key goal of the page is to provide inspiration to the practice's community through positive, noncontroversial articles, Burgett says. Eventually, she hopes to expand the forum to include physician-generated articles and discussion points, but without providing direct patient care.

To learn more:
- read this article in Physicians Practice
- see this piece in American Medical News
- here's the Pediatric Inc. blog post

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