Social Media: Ubiquitous Community and Patient Engagement

The business model of healthcare is changing. Value-based purchasing and accountable care initiatives, along with reimbursement incentives and penalties, are creating pressures that are reshaping healthcare delivery approaches and care processes. And today's patients are more engaged and familiar with multimedia information technologies. This article highlights how healthcare organizations are applying social media technologies to address the challenges they face. I explore how these tools are useful for monitoring conversations, proactively resolving complaints, and facilitating transparency. I also review how these tools contribute to enhanced patient experiences and help organizations comply with meaningful use criteria, such as engaging patients and families in their care, improving quality and care coordination, and reducing disparities. The story of Louise, a virtual patient-discharge advocate, demonstrates how social media is helping providers improve health outcomes, reduce costs, and decrease rehospitalizations. Other examples highlight how one secure social networking community is helping case managers better support patients who are on the road to recovery from addiction and describe one hospital's use of a virtual world to help train staff for emergency evacuation. Social media can be used to deliver more patient-centered care and fluid care processes between patients and physicians. Combined with today's mobile technologies, it is a ubiquitous tool that can easily be applied in healthcare environments to solve today's challenges.