"The Backstory – How I got started in Healthcare Social Media"

We found the following article interesting and inspiring for anyone that hasn’t yet taken the bait when it comes to social media in the health care world.

by ED BENNETT on NOVEMBER 1, 2011
in UNCATEGORIZED
Note – the following essay was included in Mayo Clinic Social Media Residency Handbook 

My passion for social media was sparked by two events separated by ten years.

In the late 1990’s, back when the commercial web began, I helped dozens of organizations develop their first web presence.

Many business leaders understood the radical changes a web site could bring, but they were in the minority. Most belittled the idea, sticking with business as usual. (“Our customers use the Yellow Pages.”) Sadly, the most skeptical industry was healthcare. Some major hospitals didn’t have a web site until 2006.

                             
The second event was more personal – watching my daughter grow up as texting, MySpace and then Facebook became the glue holding her friends together. As I explored these services two things became clear and by 2008 I was convinced that:

1. Social media was redefining the web – providing tools people wanted and were using at extraordinary rates. It wasn’t going away and seemed to be in the early stages of something big.
2. Hospitals would, once again, stay behind.

That’s what motivated me in 2009 to build the Hospital Social Network List. A tool for hospital marketing communications (aka, marcomm) folks, it answered the critical management question, “You want our hospital to be on Facebook? Is anyone else doing it?”

Three years later, a significant percentage hospitals are active on social media and we’re just starting to understand the value for our patients, community, and organizations.

These trends are now converging within the healthcare industry:

1. Workforce demographics – staff who grew up with social media are getting into more senior management positions.
2. Patient expectations – patients use these social media to connect with hospitals and healthcare professionals for themselves and families.
3. Patient communities – empowered patients use social media to take charge of their own health and encourage others to do the same.

What can you do to prepare for these changes?

1. Learn these tools and become comfortable with the communities they build.
2. Prepare your organization for change. Educate and encourage the participation of your peers and management.
3. Healthcare has hundreds of topics/areas, what’s your special interest? Find your niche and become knowledgeable and passionate.
4. Build a network of trusted colleagues beyond your organization. Share ideas, answer questions, and don’t be afraid to ask for advice. (You are always welcome to call me – the telephone is still my favorite social media tool)

But most of all – have fun! There’s a reason 800 million people use Facebook

Read more: http://ebennett.org/#ixzz1du8i4eZC

Supreme Court to Rule on Individual Health Care Mandate

After months of discourse on the constitutionality of President Obama’s health-care overhaul legislation, The U.S. Supreme court has announced its agreement to rule on the individual health care mandate that was pushed through Congress in 2010.  The concern of the members of Congress who are supporting the lawsuit is that the law over-steps its threshold of power and authority in regards to making it a requirement for Americans to acquire insurance by 2014.  Often times patients prefer to pay their own health expenses, especially when they take into consideration the trend in pricing transparency and price shopping for health care.

                         

  The court hearings will begin in March and will most likely commence in late June.  The basis of the dispute lies in the government’s power to regulate interstate commerce.  Since reimbursements, collections and insurance is all state-to-state based, it has been argued from the beginning that the health care legislation referred to as “ObamaCare,” is unconstitutional.  

   The American Center for Law and Justice is the legal group that has been lobbying against “ObamaCare” since the beginning and just a few weeks ago, they released an amicus brief to the Supreme Court requesting that the Justices take the case, representing the 105 members of Congress and the innumerable Americans that are in support of the lawsuit.  This announcement serves as a ray of hope for all of those individuals in opposition to the mandate, but The New York Times Caucus Blog says that it could serve as a risk to some of the potential presidential candidates.

Self-Referral & Its Impact on Radiologists

With reimbursements crashing like avalanches and costs for medical services rising at the rate of King Kong climbing a skyscraper, health care professionals’ revenue situation is comparable to a bad horror movie.  The villain varies for many, but for Radiologists, that villain is undeniably, Self-Referral.

           

      Self-Referral is an issue since radiologists  do not refer patients for studies; rather they simply provide the interpretation of those studies, while other physicians have the opportunity to do both.  Unfortunately, some Physician’s end-up referring their patients to facilities he or she has financial interest in.  This is called Self Referral.  This interest ranges from full ownership of, partial investment in, or structured compensation arrangement with the facility that is performing the procedure.  This concept sounds like a great idea in theory, however it is considered a conflict of interest that has resulted in over-utilization of services and over-scans.  Referring doctors that own their own equipment simply use it more frequently, but combative marketing to help change this is on the rise. 

 It has become evident that self-referral is a problem because it has driven up health care costs and inspired a decline in reimbursements for the procedures, thanks to supply and demand.  Laws such as the Stark Law, have been enacted to control this issue, however exceptions have enabled physicians to find ways around the intent of the law.  The impact of this practice has affected Radiologists the most.  In order to limit self-referral, Medicare and insurances have wretched down payments to Radiologists.  Unfortunately, radiologists have little influence on referrals and the impact of cuts does little to slow self-referral.

Dr. Jayson Lord, one of Advanced Imaging Center’s onsite radiologists, commented on the issue stating, “It is a convoluted system that has really taken a beating on radiologists.”  Due to referring physicians’ practices attempting to keep patients in-house to increase their revenue, independent facilities (those that do not accept self referral) have seen a large decrease in volume. He says many self-referring facilities do not purchase high quality equipment and do not have the ability to update technology, which means patients are not receiving the highest quality care they deserve.  “Patients think they are getting a pretty great deal, they can get an appointment set almost immediately at a lower cost, but what they don’t know, is that they are not going to be getting the best reads if their scans have to be outsourced,” says Dr. Lord.

    It is also important to understand that physicians are essentially paid to order or perform tests and procedures, not to think about the most effective options.   Patients should be aware that this can sometimes lead to physicians finding themselves over-scanning and over-utilizing scans, ultimately costing the system more.  Insurance companies have combated self-referral by cutting the costs of services, so that they save money, but as in physics; for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.  So, physicians simply order more and more, which only feeds the vicious cycle.  Hospitals and other practices will survive this challenge because they have other services to fall back on, unlike Radiologists who do not have reoccurring patients and varied services outside of diagnostic imaging.

“Self-Referral will eventually go away, as they can only cut costs for so long before centers will have to start closing their door,” says Dr. Lord.  However, the ramifications of the new health care system will eventually prevail over the self-referral villain, and the doors will open for new opportunities.  Until then, radiologists will continue to stress their ability to provide the highest quality care and services and hope that patients make the decisions that are best for them.

 Learn more about Self-Referral and The Stark Laws and what it means for you!

Radiation Benefits for Breast Cancer Patients

Just because October is over and Breast Cancer Awareness Month has ended, does not mean that the quest for breast cancer survival techniques and treatments ends.  ASTRO, The American Society for Therapeutic Radiation Oncology, recently released an announcement confirming the advancements and radiation benefits for early-stage breast cancer patients. 

The release states, “Spreading the word that this life-saving treatment will help women keep their breasts and avoid a potentially disfiguring mastectomy while allowing them to live long, cancer-free lives is an important mission of ASTRO.”

In conjunction with surgery, radiation has been proven to reduce the risk of cancer spreading or reoccurring within the next 10 to 15 years.  The studies also “showed that radiation after surgery reduced the recurrence risk by half and the death rate by approximately one-sixth compared to women who had surgery alone.”


Many radiation oncology practices and outpatient radiology treatment centers agree with the findings in the article. Both Thomas Buchholz, MD, of the world famous MD Anderson Cancer Center and Bruce Haffty, MD, FASTRO, Chairman of Radiation Oncology at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical School, comment on the studies and the proven survival rates.

“It is important that patients are well-informed when it comes to their treatment options, which is why this announcement is so important.  The will to live and the drive to fight in cancer patients is unparalleled. This is a game-changer,” says Mike Ellis of University of Colorado Hospital’s TomoTherapy® Treatment Facility.

For more news on radiation oncology and radiation treatment advancements, visit any of the aforementioned links.  Also, feel free to read the entire press release by ASTRO for more information.

5 Steps to Improving Your Practice's Patient Experience

     In our opinion, the patient experience has always been at the highest level of importance when it comes to our company’s mission.  We are involved in the health care field because we are dedicated to providing quality care.  With an improved focus on the interactions between providers and patients due to the reform of our nations health care and the changes in terms of how medical services are paid for, many facilities and hospitals have been searching for a way to improve the patient experience.  Hospitals are automatically placed at a disadvantage when it comes to the patients’ experiences in comparison to independent facilities due in large part to their more expansive, often times impersonal, staff, stiff culture and focus on HCAHPS scores.  There are many ways for hospitals to combat these disadvantages but it takes a lot of work to implement change in large institutions.  However, for independent physicians and their centers, the steps to improving the patient experience are simple and easily attainable.

    There are 5 basic steps that can be taken to ensure the highest quality of care and service possible at your facility.  Patients and their families want to feel special and truly taken care of so the attention and integration of these steps by the full staff is imperative.

1. Adopting a Provider-Patient Communication Framework
2. Create a Culture of Care Reflective of Your Center’s Mission
3. Lead Quality Meetings to Improve Inter-Office Communication
4. Include Leaders in Communication Plan
5. Utilize Transparency to Learn From Patients