Social Media and HIPAA

Protecting patient privacy in the world of social media

One of the main reasons doctors give for not using social media to communicate with patients is that they are afraid of violating HIPAA. Although this is a valid concern, the odds of a physician violating HIPAA on social media are the same as in any other environment, from the hospital halls to a social setting.

Nicola Ziady and Leigh McMillan shared some tips for physicians navigating the world of social media and HIPAA on Ragan’s Health Care Communication News. Ziady reviews that HIPAA (in relation to marketing) simply restricts hospitals or physician groups from using private patient information to promote products or services without written permission, and that a patient may “revoke a written authorization at any time.”

Keeping that in mind, McMillan suggests that physicians do not talk about patients, even without stating their name, on social networks. This doesn’t mean that you can’t get inspiration for a blog post from one of your patients, but rather than writing about the patient, make the illness or condition the subject of the post. Once a post or tweet is complete, McMillan recommends applying the “elevator test” before submitting. This means that you should read the post out loud, and if there is any part that you would not be comfortable saying in public, you should not publish it online.

In addition to crafting posts carefully, physicians should keep personal and private social media accounts separate. You can direct patients to “like” or “follow” your professional pages, but do not add them on your personal accounts. Lastly, although technically everything you post or write online is considered public, McMillan encourages physicians to pay close attention to account privacy settings, especially on their personal accounts.

The Mayo Clinic produced a video on social media guidelines with the help of internet savvy physicians around the country: Dr. Bryan Vartabedian, Dr. Wendy Sue Swanson, Dr. Katherine Chretien, and Dr. Victor Montori. Watch it below: