A Risk Worth Taking

This is the tale of two people. Each with an entirely different take on the idea of risks and rewards when using social media in the context of health care. And each with much to be gained when the two strike a balance.                                                       

The first asks, “What’s the ROI of adopting social media in my practice?” then adds, “Can I be reimbursed for the time spent there? It seems after all that the risk of a HIPAA violation is greater than the return on investing in its use.”  He’s a health care provider.

The second is among the about 80% of patients in a recent survey who said, “I’d give up chocolate, eating out, my cell phone even sex to be healthy.” You’ll find them on social media looking for answers from people who share their ailments and those who might help him get better.

It’s natural. Each of us is inclined to think about risk and reward from our individual perspective, but for healthcare providers it may be time to consider this issue from the patient’s point-of-view.

For health providers, reward means return on investment and is associated with dollars and cents. Meanwhile risk is often associated with maintaining HIPAA requirements and avoiding malpractice suits (also dollars and cents).

Reward is seen as, “How will it drive revenue?” Risk is seen as, “How do we protect earnings?”

But patients view risk and reward in a much different light. It’s all about their health.

A patient’s greatest asset is their wellness. If using social media to improve their health requires some risk, then they’ll take it. 

Reward is seen as, "having someone or learning something that might improve my health." Risk is seen as, "What do I need to do to get better?"

As for how that applies to social media, rewards are found in strategies that revolve around the patient experience and specifically what they value from you. Your knowledge of issues that affect their wellness. Your patients are your ambassadors. And don’t you want a healthy ambassador? After all, their experience with you determines the value of your brand. And it seems that their satisfaction with your services has even become a factor in determining your reimbursement. More rewards.

But don’t take my word for it. Consider Pediatric Otolaryngology specialist Dr. Russell Faust. He is a health care provider with a social presence. In a recent article for Physicians Practice he said this about ROI:

“I achieve many returns from my presence in the digital world, things that are difficult to assign a number-value to: enhanced connection with my patient community; enhanced recognition by my referring physician community for my areas of expertise; significant improvement in operational efficiency in my clinics; improved patient advocacy.”

“Besides that,” he adds, “30 to 50 percent of new patients report that they learned about me online.”

Rewards for Dr. Faust are evident even though “returns” aren’t why he developed his social presence. He started so that his patients could spend less time sorting through misinformation and more time focusing on the real reason they were at his office – their wellness.

In the meantime, Baylor Medical reports no HIPAA violations in the year since their decision to open access to social media sites for all employees. It seems that risk is being somewhat mitigated by experience and good policy.

So while our tale of two people may have started with them being at odds, there’s still hope for a happy ending. And it looks like this:

Risk? Not getting better - neither the provider’s balance sheet or the patient’s condition.

Reward? Getting better - on the provider’s bottom line and the patient’s health prognosis. 

Let's talk about it. I'm on Twitter as @timbigfish or email me.