1. Social Media in
Healthcare
A Reasoned Approach
John Sharp
Cleveland Clinic

2. Manager, Research Informatics, Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
JOHN SHARP

3. Cleveland Clinic
• 1300 bed main hospital
• 9 Regional Hospitals
• 54,000 admissions, 2 million visits
• Group practice of 2700 salaried physicians and scientists
• 3000+ research projects
• Innovative Medical School
• 30 spin off companies
• Office of Patient
Experience

4. • Continuing Medical Education
• Cleveland Clinic Leadership Academy
• Affiliate Program
• Innovations
Opportunities for Collaboration

5. The Question
• Is Social Media in Healthcare
Helpful or Harmful?

6. My Approach
• With proper controls in place,
Social Media can have many benefits in healthcare

7. Changing Medicine

8. Why do hospital fear and block
social media?
• Revealing confidential patient information
• Posting unauthorized photos or videos of patients
• Looking unprofessional
• Making negative comments about patients or the hospital
• Giving unauthorized medical advice
• Negative comments by patients
• Employees waste time, distracted

9. But the Advantages
outweigh the Risks
• Ease of use of Web 2.0 technology
• Low barrier to entry
• Improved communication – another tool for communication
especially around common themes
• Engagement – particularly for patients. Encourages
interaction, no longer one-way communication
• People can find other coping with similar conditions
• Participatory Healthcare

10. How to Proceed
• CASE STUDY: CLEVELAND CLINIC TAKES A STEPLADDER
APPROACH TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL MEDIA SUCCESS
• Start Small And Engage The Enterprise To Overcome A
Regulated Environment
• Forrester Research white paper

11. Brief History
• 2007 – 2008
• Several individual bloggers also using Twitter, no one
representing the hospital in social media
• No policy
• Little awareness among leadership or employees of how to
use, its impact
• No one listening

12. Importance of Social Media
to Listen
• People are already talking about your hospital on social media
• Are they saying good things or bad?
• Temperament analysis
• Many tools available to monitor, listen
“You all are the best at CC.
Thank you for your care!
May 2011 heart valve recipient!”
”Cleveland Clinic is the best place to have this treatment”
“Once again, Cleveland Clinic is on the cutting edge of technology!”

13. Transformation
Step 1
• Chief Marketing Officer brought together key stakeholders
• Developed a strategy – where to start, what to do
• Facebook and Twitter accounts started – only a few posts per
week, most pointing to news about us and press releases
• Employee policy developed

14. Employee Social Media Policy
• Don’t share patient information
• Only specified employees post information on official social
media accounts
• If you have a personal account, state that these are your own
opinions, not those of the hospital
• Don’t let social media distract you from your work – Patients
First

15. Transformation
Step 2
• Expand YouTube Channel –
post existing library of
videos, produce more using
Flipcam. Interviews with
patients, physicians, researc
hers
• Focus on wellness messages
on Facebook and Twitter
• Initiate and expand online
chats
• Integrate messages with
traditional media

16. Transformation
Step 3
• Develop blogs – Heart, Rheumatology, general with key
physicians writing with guidance
• New programs – MoveIt – using social media and local sports
team to encourage physical activity
• Routinely use links back to the hospital website
• Encourage posting by patients on Facebook
• Engaging patient communities

17. Engaging Patient Communities
• Rare disease ideal for this – patients disconnected
geographically, practical information often lacking
Marfan’s Syndrome online community

18. Missteps
• Not having a social media expert on the team from the start
• Wanting to play catch up with other hospitals instead of
focusing on our unique approach to social media for our
patients
• Delay in allowing use of social media at work
• Blocking YouTube, streaming media
• Lack of education of employees about social media
advantages

19. Thecourse.
Webicina.com

20. Digital Professionalism
• Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Texas Children’s Hospital blogs at
33charts.com
• Posted video orientation for physicians:

21. Legal Issues
1. Privacy
2. Content Ownership
3. Intellectual property infringement
4. Unauthorized activities
5. Regulatory compliance
6. Codes of professional responsibility
7. Conflict of Interest

22. Conclusions
• Social media has great potential in healthcare
• Patient engagement with hospitals, providers
• Patient communities, ePatients
• Professional online communities
• Apps and tools to improve health
• There have been misuses
• Can be minimized through employee policies and education
• Need to listen to what people are saying about you on social
media
• Minimize the use of personal mobile devices in care settings

23. Contact me
• @JohnSharp
• Ehealth.johnwsharp.com
• Linkedin.com/in/johnsharp
• Slideshare.net/johnsharp
______________________
• ClevelandClinic.org
• @ClevelandClinic
• Facebook.com/ClevelandClinic
• youtube.com/clevelandclinic