Registration is now open for the first Social Media Residency

Author: Thuc Huynh, MD

Social Media in medicine has been steadily increasing.  Twitter began in 2006 but it wasn't until 2009 that  healthcare engaged in it truly.  That was when the #hcsm twitter hashtag was created for all people interested in healthcare social media.  Steadily, conferences added lectures pertaining to it in order to bring awareness to this new field.  Conferences like HIMSS had a special social media booth where Dr. Kim has been a regular speaker.   Even mainstream conferences like SXSW had tracks in healthcare social media.

Now, Mayo Clinic is launching their inaugural 2011 Social Media Residency.  The residency will provide didactic lectures and hands-on experience to quickly implement social media strategies that work.

Mayo Clinic's Social Media Health Network

Recently, we heard that the folks at the Mayo Clinic began something called the Center for Social Media. Now, they've formed the Global Social Media Health Network. Here's a snippet from the recent press release:

"We believe the Social Media Health Network will be a significant force for learning how to apply social media tools effectively in the health context," says Victor Montori, M.D., medical director for Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. "It will be a vehicle for us to share what we've learned about social media, including our training resources, and for others to join us in learning together and developing best practices. Ultimately, we want to help health-related organizations of all sizes and types to harness these powerful communication tools to help patients and improve human health globally." See the post on the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media site for more information, including video from Dr. Montori.

It's great to see that social media is gaining tremendous traction and momentum in the health care space, but do doctor's really get it? Do they understand the value of social media? Do they know how to use it effectively? I think there are some significant gaps that need to close before we start seeing the majority of physicians using social media tools effectively in the health care context.

Mayo Clinic launches Center for Social Media

The Mayo Clinic has launched the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. Mayo Clinic was on TIME's 50 best websites of 2010.  The Mayo Clinic is all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Now, they're going to fully embrace the social media revolution through their Social Media Center.

So what's this Social Media Center all about?

The Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients.

Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Philosophy:

Mayo Clinic believes individuals have the right and responsibility to advocate for their own health, and that it is our responsibility to help them use social media tools to get the best information, connect with providers and with each other, and inspire healthy choices. We intend to lead the health care community in applying these revolutionary tools to spread knowledge and encourage collaboration among providers, improving health care quality everywhere.

Mission of the Center:

Lead the social media revolution in health care, contributing to health and well being for people everywhere.

Vision for the Center:

Mayo Clinic will be the authentic voice for patients and health care professionals, building relationships through the revolutionary power of social media.

You can learn more here: http://socialmedia.mayoclinic.org

Mayo Clinic to open social media center

According to the StarTribune:

Mayo Clinic is opening a Center for Social Media to train other health care organizations to use Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to connect patients and doctors. The new center will run workshops, offer consulting and host conferences.

Here are some of the specifics:

• Mayo Clinic is opening a Center for Social Media to train other health care organizations to use Twitter, YouTube and Facebook to connect patients and doctors.
• The center will employ about eight people and have $800,000 a year in initial funding.
• In addition to marketing, Aase said he hopes to explore using social media to deliver continuing medical education courses for physicians and also help Mayo's 56,000 employees communicate better among themselves.

There's definitely a need for hospitals and health care professionals to get more involved in social media. In fact, they need to develop policies and strategies that will ultimately take their organizations to new levels. I like the idea of using social media to deliver continuing medical education or CME courses, but unless they're strictly talking about podcasting technology, they'll be facing many challenges because of the rules and regulations that govern electronic CME (computer-based continuing education for physicians). Regardless, I think it will be great to see doctors and hospitals using social media to engage their patients and to communicate among colleagues.

Sermo physicians discussing a Mayo Clinic site dropping Medicare

You may have heard that a Mayo Clinic primary care clinic in Arizona will be dropping Medicare coverage. Well, this is one of the "hot" discussion topics on Sermo.

What do physicians think about this? So far, there are over 140 comments and over 760 "votes" regarding this topic. I won't get into details to maintain privacy, but what do you think physicians are saying about this?

Mayo Clinic primary care clinic in Arizona to drop Medicare

It's no surprise. A Mayo Clinic primary care clinic in Arizona will be dropping Medicare coverage. According to this article on Bloomberg:

The Mayo organization had 3,700 staff physicians and scientists and treated 526,000 patients in 2008. It lost $840 million last year on Medicare, the government’s health program for the disabled and those 65 and older, Mayo spokeswoman Lynn Closway said.

If medical groups are dropping Medicare coverage, what does this suggest for the proposed health care reform plan that will include a Public Option? If physicians and medical groups choose to drop Medicare and eventually adopt a cash-only practice model, then what will be the value of health insurance? If patients are directly dealing with claims reimbursement, wouldn't that be interesting?

MayoClinic.com partners with Everyday Health

Wow, this is big. No, this is huge! MayoClinic.com (owned by Mayo Clinic) has partnered with Everyday Health (operated by Waterfront Media). Will this form the ultimate consumer healthcare portal?

You may be wondering, "why this partnership?" I think the answer is rooted in advertising revenues. Consumers are drawn to healthcare ads and many companies are willing to pay quite a bit to target consumers. Sometimes I wonder if people will eventually learn to completely ignore ads. The truth is that certain ads can be very difficult to ignore. What does this do to WebMD? Maybe they should partner with Google.

Here's a snippet from the press release:

Everyday Health, operated by Waterfront Media, will support Mayo Clinic's online advertising efforts through a multi-year relationship. Waterfront Media will represent MayoClinic.com in the following business categories: CPG (consumer packaged goods), OTC (over the counter drugs), retail consumer goods and services, cosmetics, food and beverage, auto, finance, entertainment, technology and media MayoClinic.com will continue to work directly with pharmaceutical advertisers.

Note of clarification from Ginger Plumbo, the publicist for MayoClinic.com:

MayoClinic.com is still owned and operated by Mayo Clinic. We are only working with Everyday Health for advertising representation in certain categories of advertising, but will continue to represent ourselves in the pharmaceutical category. Mayo Clinic will continue to manage MayoClinic.com's content, navigation, and overall management of the site.