Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and Web from October 31-November 6.

Iowa Headlines

Hospice workers get life out of caring for dying
Joyce  Hutchison continues to use her passion and years of experience to educate others about the benefits of hospice. Part of that is overcoming fear. Going to hospice won’t make patients die any sooner, she said.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

Genesis will demonstrate da Vinci surgery system
Da Vinci offers a precise, minimally invasive procedure for hysterectomies and prostatectomies. Patients benefit with a faster recovery time, shorter hospital stay, less pain, less scarring and quicker return to normal activities.  (November 5, Quad-City Times)

Harkin asks big insurers to explain rate practices
Sen. Tom Harkin said this week he was launching an investigation into health insurance pricing, asking four major insurers to justify their pricing practices.  An industry spokesman called the move unfair and misguided.  (November 4, Des Moines Register)

U.S.  Headlines

Costs at urban hospitals may get extra scrutiny in health bill
As Congress struggles to rein in health care costs as part of its sweeping reform efforts, hospitals in New York City and other urban areas that provide some of the most expensive care are among the primary targets.  (November 2, New York Times)

Health bills aim a light on doctors’ conflicts
As part of the health care overhaul under consideration by Congress, lawmakers have included so-called sunshine provisions intended to shed light on the financial relationships between the medical industry and doctors.  (November 3, New York Times)

Program will monitor Maryland doctors’ hand-washing
State officials said this week they’re creating teams of staff members at hospitals around the state to secretly monitor their colleagues’ hand-washing habits as part of a first-of-its-kind program. The monitors will contribute to a systemwide report on hand-washing, using $100,000 in federal stimulus money.  (November 3, Associated Press)

Texas lawmakers try to give doctor-owned hospitals a dose of help
Texas House members are mounting a late effort to delay new limits on physician-owned hospitals, putting them at odds with Democratic leaders who think the facilities drive up health care costs.  (November 5, Dallas Morning News)

Nurses union reaches deal on H1N1 safety in U.S.
The H1N1 pact, announced on Monday as part of a contract settlement between the California Nurses Association and Catholic Healthcare West, averted a one-day strike threatened by thousands of registered nurses at more than 30 hospitals.  (November 2, Reuters)

Hospitals make slow progress in harnessing the ‘social’ aspects of social media
Hospitals’ current social media activties can be classified across to five major areas: brand management, real-time public relations, volume generation, non-marketing functions and community building. But only a small amount of hospital activity in the social media space could be described as “social.”  Rather, the majority of these efforts are either one-way “monologues” or bounded two-way conversations with little staying power.   (October 31, iHealthBeat)

Story County Medical Center, known as @storymedical on Twitter, is a full-service primary care hospital that has served Story County residents since 1951.

The Nevada-based hospital began using several social networking sites in July of this year as a way to help promote the opening of their new facility, Story Medical – South Campus.

One Web site the hospital is using in particular is Twitter, a popular service that allows users to send short messages to one another in a public forum.

Among the messages Story Medical is sending (known as tweets to Twitter users) related to the opening of their new facility and the services the hospital offers, they have also been sending at least one update per day tagged with #dailymedterm.

“As someone who doesn’t have a medical background, I knew that a lot of our patients weren’t familiar with many of the medical terms that physicians use every day. I thought the #dailymedterm would be a fun way to educate people.” – Ashley Moore, Ancillary Services Assistant at Story County Medical Center

This method of tagging tweets is called using a hashtag, which allows other messages using that same tag to be grouped together. When a user does a search for that hashtag on Twitter, #dailymedterm in this case, they have the opportunity to only view updates that include that term.

Although Story Medical started the hashtag, there are no rules that say others cannot participate. In fact, the #dailymedterm hashtag could be an opportunity for other Twitter users to ask questions about medical terms and what they mean. With other users suggesting terms, the process could become even more interactive.

I’ve seen a number of users commenting on how much they enjoy the #dailymedterm and think it is exactly the type of unique approach to Twitter that more organizations should be thinking about.

Congratulations Story Medical! Keep up the good work.

A lot of hospitals are entering the social media space, including hospitals in Iowa. IHA is working diligently to bring best practices and examples to our hospitals, but there are also great resources out there from other groups as well.

One such resource, being provided by HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), is an upcoming webinar that will teach participants about how M.D. Anderson Cancer Center created its new Web strategy and presence.

Part of the discussion will focus on the transformation M.D. Anderson made from a managing a largely information-oriented Web site to a focus on customer interaction and transactional capabilities.

Webinar Details

August 20, 2009
1-2 p.m. CST

Read more about the webinar plus find registration details on the HIMSS Web site.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the key drivers, business objectives and business value of a new Web strategy.
2. Describe the process for developing the new strategy and business case.
3. Describe the type of services and technology solutions planned for the revamped Web presence.

Presenters

• Alan Powell, Director, Internet Services, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
• Sue Sutton, RN, PhD, President/CEO, Tower Strategies
• John Foster,Vice President of Business Value Services & Healthcare Business Development, Oracle

Cost

There is no cost to attend this webinar.

The 2008 presidential campaign introduced mainstream America to the power of social media and online communication in a way it had never experienced before.  People organized events, made donations and contacted supporters like they have always done, but the amplification for their messages that social technology provided enabled them to reach more people more quickly.  As people began realizing how impactful this technology could be when used in the right way, more organizations and political groups began integrating it into their communications strategies.

Social media penetrates politics and the public

This leads us to today, when individuals, groups and companies are using freely available technology to engage loyal supporters and introduce their messages to people who may never have heard them before.  Aside from consumers and private-sector organizations, these users also include members of local, state and federal government.

What was once often only discussed behind closed doors or in whispers between party members is now made available to consume in the public forum.  This new age of transparency and interaction allows people to make opinions and thoughts known before they have the chance to pass through political filters or press secretaries.

Be ready for real-time feedback and responses

A recent example includes several messages sourced from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) illustrating his frustration with President Obama, who was making a stop in Europe last week.  There is nothing new about Senators and politicians having disagreements with the president, but the channel through which Grassley’s views were presented and the public availability of said comments would have been unheard of just a few years earlier.

Grassley posted several messages on his Twitter account, a microblogging social network where users can exchange short messages with friends, addressing his concerns with the president:

“Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us ‘time to deliver’ on health care.  We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.”

“Pres Obama while u sightseeing in Paris u said ‘time to delivr on healthcare’ When you are a ‘hammer’ u think evrything is NAIL I’m no NAIL.”

These messages from Senator Grassley were seen by at least 11,000 people who follow the senator’s messages (tweets) directly, while hundreds and perhaps thousands more read them as the media caught wind of the story.  There is nothing inherently wrong with what Grassley posted (and they are still available to see at http://twitter.com/chuckgrassley), but the message and the lesson are that we need to be aware of the tools that surround us and know how best to use them.

People are out there talking; are you ready to listen?

Conversations are taking place all over the world about the topics, issues and concerns of everyone, just as they always have.  The new problem is understanding how those messages can spread and what role we play in addressing or interacting with them.

IHA has taken a strong stance in the realm of social media – this interactive, participatory two-way type of dialogue – by establishing our own grounds online and staking claim to the issues most important to Iowa’s community hospitals.  As the voice of hospitals and health care in Iowa, it is IHA’s responsibility to be represented wherever discussions are happening, be it on Capitol Hill or Facebook.

Apart from the IHA Web site, the blog acts as IHA’s authoritative clearinghouse for contact via social media with the public and beyond.  All of our interactive actions direct back to this home base in an effort to clarify IHA’s mission, vision and values.

As IHA continues along this path into the future of communication and dialogue, it will adapt to change, but the core existence and purpose will remain:  supporting the missions of Iowa’s hospitals.

Looking to learn more about how IHA is engaging individuals and influencers by using these social technologies? Keep reading our blog and see the about page for more details.

What questions do you have? How are you using these techologies to impact your goals?

There are several new additions to IHA’s list of Iowa hospitals using social media.

• Iowa Health – Des Moines, Des Moines, has launched three pages on Facebook:
  • John Stoddard Cancer Center
  • Blank Children’s Hospital
  • Live Well progran
• Knoxville Hospital and Clinics, Knoxville, launched a blog and is on Twitter

Of nine Iowa hospitals implementing some form of social media, Twitter seems to be the dominant tool for getting started. Facebook pages come in at a close second and hospital blogs are third.

What do you want to know about social media?

I will continue updating IHA’s list of Iowa hospitals using social media to keep everyone abreast of hospital efforts, but what else would you like to know about social media?

Part of my responsibility at IHA is to be an educator in marketing web strategy, so I’d love to address any questions or concerns you may have.