Home care companies may be on the cutting edge of technology, but many lag behind in social media efforts.
Many home care companies tread lightly in social media because of HIPAA concerns. HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which prohibits companies from releasing information about a patient’s health status, provision of health care or payment of health care. The act, meant to protect patient privacy, has become a hindrance to many home care companies’ social media efforts.
A recent presentation by CareNetworks showed that only 17 percent of hospitals and only 1/3 of home care providers were using social media. But more home care companies can find social media success despite HIPAA’s rules.
Here are three tips to keep HIPAA from holding up your social media success:
- Get patient permission. The most obvious step might seem like the most difficult for home care companies. But that trend is starting to change. Many organizations have created patient waiver forms, which patients can sign to allow their stories to be publicized. Liberty HomeCare & Hospice Services recently surprised a hospice patient with a puppy, but had received her permission through a waiver before allowing her story to be publicized on traditional and social media channels.Patients are often willing to sign waiver forms, once they understand your intentions (noting their remarkable recovery, telling their special story to media outlets, etc.). They won’t always agree to the request, but many do.
- Educate your staff. Staff members of a home care or hospice company must also familiarize themselves with HIPAA regulations. Permission forms allow senior health companies to showcase patients, but those forms must be used even for something as simple as a photo on Facebook.If your staff takes a group photo of patients at an event, they must all have waiver forms signed in order to end the risk of a HIPAA violation.
- Let patients do the promoting themselves. HIPAA regulations are only enforced for organizations providing the care of the patient. Patients and their caregivers can post photos of themselves and tell their stories on a home care company’s Facebook page freely. The Children’s Hospital of Boston is one of the leaders in the nation for this effort, and already has more than 500,000 likes to its Facebook Page.
Home care companies can ask for patient success stories on their Facebook Page, and allow the patients and their caregivers to post. All of that is allowable under the current HIPAA rules.
HIPAA is designed to protect patients, not stunt your social media growth. How have you found success in social media while still following HIPAA guidelines?
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