Once primarily considered a marketing tool, healthcare institutions and insurance companies are maximizing the benefits of social media platforms to educate patients and industry professionals to improve the health consumer experience.
Healthcare giants like the Mayo Clinic and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have long employed web technology to disseminate health information, but in recent years, they have led the charge to become models for healthcare institutions that view social media as a necessity, not a choice. What makes them successful social media practitioners? The willingness to listen more than they talk.
More than 1,200 hospitals participate in 4,200 social networking sites including Facebook, twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, foursquare and blogs, according to a study conducted by the PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute.
Mayo Clinic
With nearly 300,000 twitter followers, the Mayo Clinic has recognized the value of platforms to the extent of establishing a Center for Social Media in 2010. The Center has become a reliable resource for tech-savvy patients and healthcare providers who seek to integrate social media into their services. Lee Aase, director of Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, said the Mayo Clinic introduced social media as another way to connect with patients.
“We wanted to see how we could best use social media tools beyond public relations and marketing. We saw social media as an opportunity for feedback and wanted to listen to patients,” Aase said.
”There is no faster tool than twitter to connect people of common interests,” he said. “Social media has accelerated the speed of communication and healthcare institutions have to keep the pace with the conversation. A recent example would be people finding out about the East Coast earthquake on twitter before they even felt the shocks. Harnessing that widespread impact is immensely beneficial for the industry,” Aase said.
Aase said social media’s strength also lies in employee training and selecting the right voices who are at ease social media.
“We provide training resources for employees to get comfortable with social media platforms,” he said. “Given the immense growth of social media, people often need guidance to communicate well and without fear.” he said.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Barbara Reynolds, director for news and electronic media at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the CDC put social media to the test during the outbreak of H1N1 (swine flu).
“The CDC has always made a robust effort to disseminate routine health news, but H1N1 was the first time we used social media on a grand scale for crisis communication,” Reynolds said. “At first, we weren’t sure if the juice worth the squeeze – how social media would affect our credibility and integrity as a scientific institution. We found that we were not only able to give people information when they needed it, but we were also able to squash bad rumors and misinformation quickly.”
Since then, Reynolds said the CDC has continued to embrace social media as valuable tool for engagement. The CDC has opened the conversation to more voices, they are working to improve web content interface with mobile devices, and have just launched their first iPad app.
“We recognize the need for institutions to be personalized – people want to talk to people, so we are increasing the number of experts on blogs and twitter,” Reynolds said.
Cigna
Cigna, a major healthcare insurance provider, has used social media to engage with policy holders since 2009. Joseph Mondy, a corporate spokesman for Cigna, said they were among the first insurance companies to launch a 24-hour daily online service center, and social media quickly followed.
“In the past, health insurance could be very opaque and difficult to access except during bankers’ hours. Social media is changing all of that,” Mondy said. “It allows us to listen to our customers. Things are more transparent, and we are trying to be more proactive to meet people where they are.”
Mondy said customers frequently tweet questions and customer support service representatives respond privately to issues.
“Social media reinforces our sense of urgency of being available to help our customers,” he said. “Even if customers initiate outreach and reveal personal information, we are legally required to protect privacy.”
Follow the Mayo Clinic @MayoClinic, the CDC @CDCgov and Cigna @Cigna
-Elise Rambaud Marrion
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