Last month I wrote about Blogging for Business and how it helps promote your marketing message. I was flipping through the February issue of Physicians Practice and came across this: Are You Saying to Much Online?
While we advocate blogging for our healthcare clients it’s important to keep patient confidentiality in mind. The Physicians Practice article has a few tips:
Read it over. Before you hit the “publish” or “share” key to display your thoughts to the Internet world, review what you’ve written. Make sure there are no identifying details or information that patients or colleagues might take issue with, says healthcare attorney Steven Kern. Remember that what might seem funny or harmless to you may offend others. “If you think for a second that what you are writing could be misconstrued, take your [fingers] off the keyboard,” Kern says.
Consultant Kenneth Hertz says physicians should take a page from a carpenter’s book. Where they measure twice and cut once, so should the doc read twice and hit send once.
Keep separate profiles. If you publish a social networking profile or broadcast bits on Twitter, keep your professional persona separate from your personal one. As a physician, you should maintain a professional boundary with your patients, Kern says. “As soon as you start mixing friendship or the social or the comfortable zone with the professional zone, I think you can run into some problems,” he says. So don’t post your family’s Disneyland vacation photos to your professional Facebook page.
Look beyond HIPAA. All-out privacy violations such as listing a patient’s name, age, or address are likely rare, but plenty of forays into the cybernetworking world may be inappropriate without being technical HIPAA violations. “Physicians really have an obligation to go well beyond what HIPAA mandates,” says Vartabedian. More subtle ethical violations are far more common — and perhaps just as dangerous.
Follow other bloggers. If you’re considering broadcasting your thoughts online via a blog, first spend a couple weeks reading other medical bloggers, says Vartabedian. Following your trusted and more experienced peers is a good way to learn the optimal topics and the boundaries. “Looking and listening is one of the best things you can do to learn the standards,” Vartabedian says.
Blend cases. If you feel compelled to wax clinical, you should take great pains to fictionalize the case, or blend several cases to ensure one is not identifiable. Perhaps present a story representative of the case or problem you had, Jones says.
Consider a policy. Larger practices should consider a policy outlining what physicians and staff can and cannot communicate online and what media they can use without prior authorization, says Kern. Practices may even need policies for social networking pages. “I think that is an area ripe for all kinds of problems, even if it’s a private access site,” he says.
Use your common sense. “If you wouldn’t say it on an elevator, don’t say it on your blog,” Jones says. Remember, nothing is private anymore, and everything you type — everything— can wind up going viral. “Write as if everything you type can be on CNN, because if it’s anything controversial, it will be.”
While most of these tips apply to Doctors publishing in blogs about their practices some of them apply to larger company sites as well. Use your best judgment when posting and keep HIPPA laws in mind.
Check out the entire article, Are You Saying to Much Online, on the Physicians Practice website for more information.
