Social Media Cuts Healthcare Costs

Wouldn't it be nice if you could convince your management team that the use of social media can cut healthcare costs? Perhaps you'll soon have the evidence you need to show that it does.

The report, "Healthcare Performance Management in the Era of 'Twitter,'" was published earlier this month by the Healthcare Performance Management Institute. Here's a snippet from the executive summary:

In this report, we will examine how social media and other Health 2.0 initia-tives are transforming the healthcare marketplace and how organizations can leverage the power of HPM technology to connect plan sponsors, mem-bers and the provider community in a cost-efficient interactive healthcare system that promotes better health for employees.

If we look at social media as an engaging way to share information, then it makes sense that the use of social media would lead to reduced heatlhcare costs. After all, people would be more informed and they'd be making better decisions about their health. The only problem is that so much health information that is being shared on social media is inaccurate or misleading. How do we correct for that problem? I don't think we have an answer for that question yet, but let's hope that we get some clarity around that point so that patients are not being misinformed by all the information that's being shared through social media channels.