By investing 90 minutes per week to reaching patients via Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and three Facebook accounts, Dr. Vandna Jerath said she's been able to build her credibility and build a bond with patients before they ever step through the door to her office, Optima Women's Healthcare Practice in Colorado.

"As many as a third of my patients are coming from social media," Jerath told 9news.com, who added that other physicians have sought her help building their businesses via social media.

And Jerath isn't the only physician who claims to have reaped tangible benefits from engaging in social media. Primary care physician Dr. Robert Zaid recently told Physicians Practice that he attributes 30 new patients each month to his digital online presence, conservatively estimating a $125,000 annual return on his $60 investment.

In addition, specialists promoting a particular niche might have even greater opportunity for social media success, according to the article's author, pediatric ENT surgeon Dr. Russell Faust, who claims that his online persona as the "boogordoctor" draws more than half of his new patients.

Faust's original intent for launching his blog, however, wasn't to increase business, but to overcome frustration with patients' coming to his office with stacks of inaccurate medical information gleaned from the Internet. By providing education on popular topics within his specialty himself, Faust wrote in Physicians Practice that he's been able to build better relationships with patients right off the bat.

"Because they have read about my approach to various illnesses ... we can spend all of our time in clinic together focusing on their specific signs and symptoms ... This is just one of the operational efficiency returns: our clinic time is streamlined, efficient."

According to Faust, these are but a few of many similar examples. "As more practices 'get engaged,' it will become evident that there is tremendous ROI with social media in healthcare," he wrote.

To learn more:
- see the article from 9news.com
- read the post from Physicians Practice

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