Saturday, February 06, 2010

From Twitter 02-05-2010





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Friday, February 05, 2010

Avoiding Social Media Malpractice

By Chad Capellman Friday, February 5, 2010

Source: Media Post Blog | Marketing: Health Newsletter

Much like a patient who is about to undergo an unfamiliar medical procedure, social media can be a scary endeavor to the uninitiated.


In both cases, the mind can easily drift into anxiety-ridden territory: What if something goes wrong? What if I hear something I didn't want to hear? What if the people operating these instruments are not up to the task?

Based on the relatively small number of hospitals fully committing to social media, it's clear that a great deal of uncertainty remains despite the explosive growth in popularity of the medium over the past few years.

According to the tireless tracking of this space on his personal blog by Ed Bennett, the director web strategy for the University of Maryland Medical System, less than 5% of hospitals (23 out of 540) are reported to have activated the "big four": blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.

We polled some of those who maintain the Web presence of fully involved organizations and asked them about the challenges, opportunities and reasons for their successes in creating both an extended web presence through social media as well as how they went about crafting their social media policies.

"We are satisfied with all our platforms but found our Facebook page to be where many of our patients, family members/friends of patients and fans of Hopkins have really connected with us," said Wendy Ruenzel, Internet marketing manager for Johns Hopkins Medicine. "Facebook tends to be a more personal platform and gives the patients and fans a place to connect to Hopkins."

In our own experience at Genuine Interactive, we have seen success with Facebook pay off for clients. The web manager for a specific department at our client's hospital learned through its Google Analytics reporting that more traffic was driven to the department's front page from Facebook than from prominent links on the hospital's main home page.

Texas-based Christus Health, meantime, has been on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook since 2008. Yet its CEO's blog has been the biggest success story, according to Abby Lowe, senior communications specialist for Christus Health.

"Luckily, our CEO has long been committed to total transparency and is also a dynamic speaker, so his passion regularly comes across in this medium," Lowe said.

In addition to blogging, the top leadership of many organizations has also been involved in the crafting of their social media policies.

Everyone said that they had to create their own policies. A range of stakeholders was included in the process: executive leadership, IT, marketing, public relations, legal, corporate compliance, HR, web producers, and internet security teams.

"The biggest challenge we faced was dispelling myths of what internal stakeholders had previously thought social media was going to do or what it was really about," said Aaron Hughling, the web and creative editor at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas. "We had an 'educational campaign' internally with presentations outlining exactly what our social media strategy was, what all we were planning, and most importantly, exactly what it was not."

Handling the many layers of social media requires a nuanced approach that differs greatly from the more strict approach a hospital might take with its own web site.

"The major challenge we faced was how to balance the rights of the individual with the rights of the employer," said Jeremy Jensen, an application specialist with the corporate communications department at the Luther Midelfort-Mayo Health System in Eau Claire, Wisc. "Where is the line between a personal opinion made on unpaid time versus a comment made that may damage ... what the organization stands for? Photos, comments, likes, links, personal web pages, blogs -- how much do we monitor these?"

But while launching new products and policies are a major piece of the puzzle, constant review and revisions are a major factor in ensuring their effectiveness.

Mercy Health System of Wisconsin has a "Web 2.0 team" of seven individuals who meet quarterly to discuss strengths, weaknesses, improvements and statistics before reporting the result to the executive leadership.

"It's working beautifully so far because our committee is passionate about their responsibilities¬ ...," said Trish Skram, media/PR specialist at Mercy Health. "Meeting on a quarterly basis allows us to come together as a group and listen, collaborate and help one another. The reports are great to show the effectiveness to us as a committee as well as our executive teams."

As is the case for most initiatives at large institutions, top-level buy-in is key to success. That's something that has been evolving at Sherman Health in Elgin, Ill.

"I think they viewed all of our online/social media initiatives as kind of our 'pet' projects. But, now they realize it's far more important than that, said Josh McColough, marketing communications manager. "Everyone at the hospital is realizing this is less of a 'fringe' group of patients, and more of the norm in terms of how people communicate or interact with businesses now."

The payoff for committing to social media, said Scott & White's Hughling, is worth the effort. "Embracing these tools allows our healthcare system to engage with our audience in a very genuine way. It takes guts for organizations of our size and bigger to get in the social media space. Leadership here trusted us and I think we've done great in proving they made the right decision."
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Thursday, February 04, 2010

From Twitter 02-03-2010





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Wednesday, February 03, 2010

Cancer Patients Now Have Access to Comprehensive Oncology Care Guide

Source: Press Release

Plainsboro, NJ// Feb. 3, 2010 – Patients with cancer face physical, mental, financial, and emotional challenges. A new, comprehensive resource guide from Intellisphere’s Oncology Specialty Group—the Support and Assistance Guide for Cancer Patients—aims to help patients navigate each of these challenges.

The Guide compiles resources for nearly every aspect of care and support need oncology patients face, and it includes the following key sections:

• “The Guide to Financial Assistance” lists charitable organizations that assist with basic household expenses, medical costs, and housing and transportation needs for patients receiving treatment away from home. Some of the resources are dedicated specifically to helping uninsured patients afford medical care and underinsured patients afford medical supplies and drug expenses not covered by insurance. Others offer college scholarships for cancer survivors or grant the last wish of a terminally ill child.


• The “Online Resource Guide” describes nonprofit groups that advocate on behalf of patients with cancer or address non-financial concerns, like coping and staying employed. Many provide information on diagnosis and treatment of specific types of cancer, match patients to clinical trials, or host online communities where patients, survivors, and their families and caregivers can share their experiences. Several offer toll-free hotlines for patients in crisis.

• The “Drug Resources” section comprises fact sheets for an A-to-Z list of common drugs used to treat cancer and their approved uses, provides a brief description of how each drug works, and outlines Patient Assistance Programs offered by the drug’s manufacturer to help ensure that underinsured or uninsured patients have access to the appropriate treatment.

“A cancer diagnosis is tough to deal with on so many levels, so a resource that truly helps patients navigate every aspect of their care fills a vast need for oncology patients,” said Peter Ciszewski, President of Intellisphere’s Oncology Division. “We believe this resource will also be of tremendous value to oncologists, nurses, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals in their efforts to provide patients with the best of the best resources at their disposal.”

The Support and Assistance Guide for Cancer Patients was mailed recently to readers of Oncology Net Guide, OncNurse, Pharmacy Times, and MD Net Guide. Christin Melton, an editor with Intellisphere, says she receives daily calls from pharmacists, social workers, hospital directors, patients, nurses, radiologists, and physicians from across the country praising the Guide and asking for additional copies. “We are delighted at the overwhelming response to the Guide,” says Melton. “A lot of people are surprised that there is no charge for copies, but our goal is to help connect as many patients as possible with the resources they need.”

Oncology professionals and others who work with people who have cancer consider the Guide a valuable tool for patients. A leader of a Florida breast cancer support group wrote, “Newly diagnosed/treated patients often show up at our meetings in fairly serious mental and financial turmoil. What we liked about the booklet was its extensive list of resources. Anybody who felt she might be drowning would certainly feel she had been handed a lifeline to see that there are so many resources available.” Another requestor called it “one of the most concise and helpful booklets I’ve ever seen for helping cancer patients receive assistance.”

In addition to fulfilling individual requests, the Intellisphere Oncology Specialty Group plans to mail 100 copies to all 41 NCI-designated National Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the United States, to the 80-plus advocacy groups highlighted in the publication, and to several other cancer treatment centers across the United States. Ciszewski said his group plans to update the Guide and redistribute it to readers at the end of the year, with the ultimate aim of making it an annual endeavor.

To receive copies of the Guide in print or PDF form, e-mail your request to the Intellisphere Oncology Specialty Group at cmelton@onclive.com or call Christin Melton or Jason Broderick at (609) 716-7777.

About Intellisphere
Intellisphere is a leading provider of healthcare publishing, research, information, and education for the medical industry. Operating within both traditional and digital media channels that support the dissemination of relevant content on healthcare technology and clinical research, our company serves the needs of hundreds of thousands of general practitioners, specialists, nurses, pharmacists, and managed care professionals through an extensive suite of magazines, journals, e-mail databases, websites, events, and personal meetings.

With publications such as Oncology & Biotech News, Oncology Net Guide, Contemporary Oncology, Oncology Net Guide: Nurses’ Edition, The American Journal of Managed Care, Pharmacy Times, MDNG, and HCPlive.com as part of the publishing group, Intellisphere reaches more than a half million healthcare professionals across nearly all segments of care.
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From Twitter 02-02-2010





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Tuesday, February 02, 2010

From Twitter 02-01-2010



  • 12:26:38: PLS READ & RT: Follow @palio_saratoga, 4 each follow $5 DONATED 2 RedCross/Haiti. Don't care abt Palio? Unfollow later! http://bit.ly/bm24TX
  • 12:28:09: AWESOME POST/ANALYSIS! RT @jonmrich: " The Best Pharma Products According to Patients": http://bit.ly/9JKzWd #hcsm #fdasm
  • 12:32:56: In Case You Missed It. COMING SOON: Interview w/FDA on Guidance 4 Drug Promotion via Internet & Social Media: http://bit.ly/af0DKa #fdasm
  • 12:33:53: Flatter me you do. RT @shwen: @SusannahFox LOL! I always wanted to be a jedi knight ;-) Does that make @skypen Yoda? :-) #fdasm
  • 12:46:46: In case you didn't know -- all 70+ presos from FDA public hearings are already considered officially "SUBMITTED" as comments. #fdasm
  • 13:25:57: Just Released: "THE HEALTH TWEEDER", a beautiful disease-state focused twitter visualization tool: http://bit.ly/bUWPaA #hcsm
  • 13:48:32: Direct all questions/comments re: "The Health Tweeder" to @pixelsandpills; the creators of the tool.
  • 15:50:38: VERY INTERESTING: CDC releases SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDELINES to share best practices: http://bit.ly/95m4NX (via @roskadigital) #hcsm #fdasm
  • 23:46:57: MinnPost - Drug, device companies want to 'talk' to you via social media http://bit.ly/cl5Ufg #fdasm
  • 23:59:34: Provocative new post (or mini whitepaper!) by @PhilBaumann "The ROI of the Tweet" http://bit.ly/aPPpzR (via @simchabe)


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Monday, February 01, 2010

From Twitter 01-31-2010





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Sunday, January 31, 2010

COMING SOON: A Conversation With The FDA/DDMAC Regarding Guidance for Drug Promotion Using Internet & Social Media

In a new, soon-to-be published interview, the FDA re-emphasizes its need for comments and data from the public, and also explains why it's not too late for companies to start gathering their data now, despite the upcoming Feb 28, 2010 deadline.

On January 28, 2010 Fabio Gratton, Chief Innovation Officer of Ignite Health and founder of FDASM.COM, sat down with Dr. Jean-Ah Kang, Special Assistant to DDMAC Director Thomas Abrams, for a 2-hour interview at FDA's Silver Spring (MD) offices to discuss the recent Part 15 public hearings on promotion of FDA-regulated medical products using the Internet and Social Media Tools -- some of the topics covered include the guidance process, the comments period, the public criticism, and What the Industry Can Do Now.


Follow @fdasm or @skypen on Twitter to be notified when the article is published.
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From Twitter 01-30-2010





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