Home Health & Hospice Week

Plan ahead to maximize online presence.

If you fail to present a robust online presence, you may be losing out on a valuable patient referral stream. But it’s easy for a potential marketing tool to turn into a referral-draining hindrance if you’re not careful.

Warning: The ramifications of negative cyber babble from patients, former employees, business partners, and even competitors can force a well-meaning provider to fold — not to mention recognizing in your plans the importance of HIPAA, the ONC, the OCR, and a plethora of other governmental rules and regulations that relate to health care and the internet.

Whether you are a social media novice or you are the envy of networkers everywhere, it’s always a smart idea to set parameters, regularly reevaluate the benefits, and generally police your agency’s digital output.

Put Together A Plan First

Before you click “like” and upload your services to the web, you may want to consider asking yourself and your team why and how you plan to implement, utilize, and promote social media for your agency. What you post and advocate says a lot about you as a provider, so outlining your objectives up-front is always a wise decision.

“Social media is the chosen means of communication, sourcing and learning for billions of people worldwide, ”says MD Howard Luks, principal with Symplur. This may lead providers to “feel there is a rush to jumping onboard,” Luks cautions. Providers that rush to implement a social media strategy risk spending “very little time determining what their goals are, what their message is and exactly how they’re going to try to get that message to resonate.”

“You need to be able to craft a message to reach that audience, and you must be available to answer the audience when they question you in return,” Luks says. “Otherwise your time in the social sphere will be a big waste of time, energy, and money.” That’s likely to mean hiring an outside health IT expert, he believes.

To begin, consider conducting a social media audit and include your staff in the process. (For audit question suggestions, see box, p. 259.)

An audit will allow you to look at inconsistencies online, determine whether your online presence (or lack of one) is causing you to lose patients, and pinpoint what you really want to pursue with social media. Patient engagement, learning and sharing information with other providers, or simply stating your contact information and services — a comprehensive study will determine the advice you should seek.

Locate The Problem Zones

Once you’ve outlined your plan, ensure that your information is safe and secure. Going forward, more patient engagement will occur online. But cyberattacks are on the rise and you must be ready.

It’s impossible to guard against hacking altogether, Luks says. Providers must have policies and procedures in place so that everyone knows what to do if a laptop is stolen, a thumb drive disappears, or their system is breached.

Look ahead: Don’t get stuck in the present. For example, “within a few years most of the information on Facebook will be predominantly videobased,” Luks notes. “How are you going to prepare for that? If you’re not, your competitors are ... and your potential patients will find them before they find you.”