February 22, 2013 Gabriel Perna
blog
Social media and healthcare, especially when you’re talking about hospitals, is most assuredly an awkward marriage. However, those in the industry who wish to dismiss social media, should look no further than a recent study from the Healthcare Innovation Technology Laboratory as potential proof of its value in assessing quality and patient satisfaction.
February 12, 2013 Rajiv Leventhal
news
According to new UCLA research, Facebook and other social networking technologies could serve as effective tools for preventing HIV infection among at-risk groups.
January 3, 2013 John DeGaspari
blog
A large number of physicians are coming under scrutiny on physician-review websites. One problem, though, is that many of those sites rely on few patient reviews. In fact, according to a study of 500 urologists by Loyola University Medical Center, ratings are based on scores of only 2.4 patients on average.
December 12, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
This week, at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT’s (ONC) third annual meeting, held in Washington, D.C., a pair of panelists looked at the various opportunities of patient engagement, while exploring current government and private-led initiatives and technologies.
November 28, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
A group of researchers from Kansas State University are exploring the effect social media platforms could have on preventing infectious diseases from spreading. The researchers say that a tweet from an influential source could be just as effective as a flu shot.
November 21, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
Reed Smith, an independent strategic consultant for hospitals and founder of the start-up Social Health Institute, recently looked at how 13 different hospitals were using Facebook from May to August of this year. What he found was a gap between what actually gets patients engaged on the platform and what hospitals are doing currently. He spoke with HCI Associate Editor Gabriel Perna to talk about the results of the study.
November 21, 2012 John DeGaspari
news
Patients with online access to their medical records and secure email communication with clinicians have increased use of clinical services, including office visits and telephone encounters, compared to patients who do not have online access.
November 20, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to a recent study conducted by Harris Interactive, 26 percent of American adults that have used the internet have discussed health information online in the past 12 months. Thirty percent of those people have altered a health behavior as a result of these discussions. For those who hadn’t used the internet to search for information, they cited privacy concerns as the main reason why.
November 8, 2012 Gabriel Perna
news
According to Pew Internet Research, a project of the Washington D.C.-based non-profit organization Pew Research Center, one out of three (31 percent) cell phone owners have used their phone to look for health information. In the same survey two years ago, this number was only at 17 percent. Pew attributes this growth to the fact more people have bought smartphones over this two year period.
October 31, 2012 Gabriel Perna
blog
A recent report, brought to my attention by the nice folks at The Advisory Board Company, looked at how more doctors in the U.K. are using the Medical Defence Union (MDU) because they are being stalked on social media by an infatuated patient. Reading this report and having covered social media in healthcare extensively, I can understand why some doctors are reluctant to connect with their patients on social media, even when it has nothing to do with love.
September 27, 2012
news
According to a study recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, physicians are increasingly using social media applications to keep up-to-date and to share newly acquired medical knowledge with other physicians within the medical community and to improve the quality of patient care. Of the physician respondents, 61 percent used social media on a weekly basis or more to to scan or explore medical information.
September 20, 2012 Gabriel Perna
article
West County Health Centers, a Guerneville, Calif.-based not-for-profit community health center, recently decided to invest in and deploy a social media platform. While many providers are turning to more tested third-party platforms, West County’s medical director, Jason Cunningham, D.O., in this Q&A with HCI Associate Editor Gabriel Perna, explains why his organization thinks this platform is the best way to change patient behavior.
