Can Online Scheduling Increase Patient Satisfaction?

     Take Care Health Systems, a subsidiary of Walgreens, have introduced online scheduling into their care clinics. Take Care Clinics are in select Walgreens stores throughout the country and provide primary care to patients. The online scheduling option at Take Care Clinics allows patients to review the available appoint times, as well as actually book their appointment on the internet or through an in-store kiosk. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), about 20% of Family Practice physicians offer the opportunity for patients to request appointment times online, however, they still need to call to actually set the appointments.

     Even though Take Care Clinics tend to have quick, less complex appointments than other specialties, the technology is worth consideration. Online scheduling provides another avenue to engage patients through technology. It gives patients the autonomy to decide what time best fits their busy lifestyles and increases patient satisfaction.

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YouTube in Healthcare

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     Everyone has gone on YouTube to watch the single ladies dancing baby, the double rainbow guy and that cute sneezing panda, but the site isn't just for entertainment. YouTube is the 3rd most visited website behind Google and Facebook and it’s already being used for patient education and healthcare marketing.

     Several people are using YouTube to self-diagnose and self-treat. You’ll find videos of people with no medical training performing at-home remedies or do-it-yourself procedures and the viewers take this advice to heart. “I don’t have the money to have a doctor remove my cyst, but this guy on YouTube removed his, so it can’t be that hard.”

     Healthcare professionals can do their part by providing free access to accurate information on health related topics. Children’s Hospital in Boston has over 1,000 videos on their YouTube Channel. Several of their videos are targeted towards patient education with topics ranging from Eating Out with Celiac Disease to Putting Contact Lenses in Young Children. By inserting themselves into the YouTube community, they are ensuring their customers have a reliable source for healthcare advice.

     Aside from acting as a source for patient education, if used correctly, YouTube can be a very useful business tool. Carolinas Healthcare System uses YouTube to broadcast a weekly news segment to market their facilities. They talk about current events in healthcare and they make sure to highlight new site openings and cutting-edge technology at their locations. Several facilities like Altoona Regional Healthcare System and University of Maryland Medical System have even turned to YouTube to help with their recruiting efforts. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be even better!

     YouTube also provides free analytical tools that help measure the success of videos. The “Insight” feature tracks viewer demographics, shows when people stop watching your video and even how much time viewers spend on each part of your video. With all these features available for free, taking advantage of them as a business should be a no-brainer.

     Social Media outlets like YouTube are contributing to the establishment of online reputations of healthcare companies and providers. That trend is only forecasted to continue, so it behooves hospitals and doctors to proactively establish a social media presence.

     Of course, the entertainment side is not going away, but there’s plenty of healthcare entertainment out there as well!

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Lindsay Harris is the Director of Business Development at Medestar.
Connect with Lindsay:
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Social Media as a Way to Track Epidemics

     According to an article on the Voice of America website, Harvard Medical School in association with Children’s Hospital Boston found that social media and news reports can accurately track the growth of epidemics such as the cholera outbreak in Haiti in 2010, while also delivering data faster than government agencies.
   
     When epidemics begin, hospitals and clinics begin sending official reports to agencies such as the Ministry of Public Health, while at the same time stories concerning the epidemics are relayed on news reports as well as social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter. As Rumi Chunara confirms in her official research published in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the informal media—meaning Facebook, Twitter, and news sources—do a fairly reliable job of tracking official reports. For instance, as the official number of reported cases of an epidemic rises, so does the amount of informal media coverage; and when the official number of reported cases of an epidemic falls, so does the amount of informal media coverage.
   
     We can’t solely rely on informal media reports to keep us informed about official epidemic coverage, however. Official statistics reported to agencies such as the Ministry of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are carefully validated and go through a rigorous evaluation process. In contrast, news and social media reports don’t have a validation process, however they are available more quickly. Each has its place—informal media to indicate a general understanding of epidemiological patterns in real time giving the ability to deploy control measures faster and official statistics as a way to accurately track the spread, official cases, and (hopefully) eradication of any given epidemic.

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5 Advantages of Social Media for Physicians in Practice

Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, blogging, and Four Square as a business tool offers practicing physicians multiple opportunities to connect with patients and grow their practice. Here is a roundup of some of the advantages of social media for your practice.

     1.) Low cost
          Using traditional advertising strategies such as radio, TV, newspapers, billboards, or internet banner ads can cost a small fortune and are out of reach for smaller hospitals or practices. One of the greatest benefits of social media networks is that they effectively reach a wide range of consumers free of cost. As a physician, you can dive into the social media culture by utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. Increase your competitive advantage and market your skills, knowledge, and services to potential patients, all for free!

     2.) Builds Credibility
          Social media allows your current patients to express their satisfaction with your knowledge and clinical skill while also allowing potential patients to read these reviews and chose you over the doctor down the street. With the internet readily available, use it to be more accessible to your patients with advice and healthcare news thus proving you are a better resource than WebMD and therefore driving patients to you.

     3.) Increase Patient Pool
          The base of social networking is human connections. When you connect with your patients, it indirectly connects you to their friends and followers who in turn can become new patients. When someone visits your Facebook page and sees five of their friends are a fan of you, they are more likely to pick up the phone and make an appointment with you.

     4.) Up-to-Date Information
          Practices change daily and so can social media. It can easily and quickly inform and keep current and potential patients involved in your practice by informing them of business hour changes, flu shot specials, and anything else happening in your practice.

     5.) Fast and Reliable Feedback
          Social media allows you to gather and interpret patient feedback directly from the patients themselves much faster than any other means. You can see exactly what your patients are saying about you and your practice and obtain an improved understanding of what patients want. For instance, if multiple patients ask you similar questions about the flu shot each fall, you can proactively post/tweet an article that addresses their concerns.

It is important to remember to always maintain a professional persona on all social networking sites. People are looking for information online; let them look to you for answers.

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Who Can See Your Personal Information?

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     Apps can have access to your various social media accounts; do you know which apps have access to which accounts? Chances are, probably not. Allowing apps to have access to your accounts is simple task done when you first create an account, we don't even think about it anymore. The tricky part is, however, remembering which apps have access to which accounts, and remembering when to disconnect these apps from your personal information. The good news is there is a fast, easy solution: mypermissions.org. This site lists eight major social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Flickr.
   
     Does it sound like just another app to grant permission to? Well it’s not! It is simply a list of handy links to help you check your own permissions as well as a service to remind you to clean up your permissions once monthly (if you choose). The site’s main purpose, above all else, is to be an aggregator and a way to make sure you are aware of who can see the personal information you are sharing online through social media sites.

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Primary Care - Virtual Health Care

     Virtual Health, a virtual service provider that supplements home health amenities to seniors and caregivers, announced today that its subscription-based service is available nationwide to assist seniors to live independently at home, while also assisting family caregivers. In addition to expanding their reach nationwide, Virtual Health has partnered with multiple healthcare providers. Tom Blue, the Executive Director of the American Academy of Private Physicians, a new partner of Virtual Health, explained the importance of technology in health care today. He stated, "The healthcare landscape is changing dramatically, and primary care physicians need to find innovative services which leverage technology, differentiate our services and offer opportunities for revenue enhancement for non-covered services."
    
     Tom Blue makes an interesting call to action for primary care physicians. With increased technology use, physicians need to provide services to entice patients to seek their care. According to a recent study by an New York University research team, 26% of children in the United States did not see a general health care provider in 2008, which proves it is wise for primary care physicians to implement innovative ways to connect with patients through the use of technology. With healthcare resources at their fingertips, many patients may choose to "Google" their symptoms as opposed to going to the doctor’s office. Creating value in technological services, like what Virtual Health is attempting, it is possible for primary care physicians to increase their client base and effectiveness of providing care.

     What are ways in which you use technology in your own practices?

     As patients, what would you like to see more from a technology perspective?

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Get to Know Fidelis Partners and Medestar!

Rebecca Ander

Career:
   
     • Rebecca is a Senior Search Consultant and has been with Fidelis Partners since its founding in 2009. She most enjoys being an integral part of helping her clients fulfill staffing needs that they wouldn’t have been able to fill on their own. She also enjoys helping candidates make life altering changes to increase their quality of living.
     • One of Rebecca’s biggest professional strengths is her ability to tailor her services for each individual client and candidate, making sure each has a beneficial and fulfilling experience with Fidelis Partners. She also has a great ability to make others feel comfortable which helps her guide her candidates and clients in the right direction when it comes to their professional needs.
     • Rebecca had an outstanding year in 2010 and was recognized as the Recruiter of the Year!

Personal:

Background Information:

     • Rebecca grew up in Fremont, California, located in the Bay Area.
     • She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from UC Irvine where she studied sociology and management.

In Her Free Time:
     • In her free time, Rebecca enjoys reading and being with her family.
     • Rebecca is a sports enthusiast and greatly enjoys watching football, basketball, and baseball.

Interesting Things You Probably Didn’t Know:
     • Rebecca has lived in California her whole life-starting in the Bay Area until she was 16, then moving to San Diego until her Freshman year in college when she moved to attend UC Irvine.
     • Rebecca has been in physician recruiting since her senior year in college when she started as an intern, and has since moved her way up to Senior Search Consultant!

Contact Rebecca For:
     - Permanent placement opportunities
Connect with Rebecca:
     - Apply to jobs
     - Email Rebecca

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