Is Social Media Influencing How People Retrieve Medical Information?
People use the Internet to make numerous health inquiries. With websites such as WebMD, people can check their symptoms and access health and medical information. We have been using the Internet to search for information since we first started cyber surging. People began by interacting with complete strangers in forums where they could ask salient questions. Now, we have social media sites and apps where people can post their health related questions and concerns and expect pertinent responses.
A study compiled by Demi & Cooper Advertising and DC Interactive Group shows that more than 90% of people ages 18-24 said they would trust health information they found on social media channels (1). While this can be beneficial as a way to talk to people with similar conditions for support or advice it can be dangerous as well. Not every source on the Internet is reliable and people need to be hesitant when seeking health and medical information from unknown ‘experts’. People should always consult with their healthcare professionals about any health or medical concerns they may have.
Patients are also taking to the Internet to talk about the care they receive: 44% of people said they would share positive or negative experiences of a hospital or medical facility, and 42% said they wouldn’t hesitate to post comments about a doctor, nurse or healthcare provider on social media (1). This can have a positive or negative outcome for the doctors depending on the review or experience the person is posting.
While patients use social media to vent their frustrations or praise the care they received, doctors have also been found to use social media. More than a quarter of hospitals have a social media presence and 60% of doctors say social media improves the quality of care (1). The difference with doctors posting on social media is they have to be extremely careful what they post due to liability issues.
Since doctors are required to keep healthcare information private, in accordance with HIPAA laws, its essential that they are aware of boundaries while using social media, says Ryan Greysen, assistant clinical professor in the department of medicine at University of California, San Francisco (1).
Greysen tells Mashable that doctors should be careful what information they give to patients on social networks. The security of such sites is important to consider since medical advice and information should be completely private (1). Social media is constantly shared and can be viewed by innumerable people. While it’s great that people are communicating health concerns and keeping track of their health, this can be dangerous for doctors to feed into, even if they are just trying to help. Doctors should withhold from commenting on public forums to prevent liability issues. However “secured patient portals are a great way to leverage mobile technology to promote healthy behavior (1).”
Greysen states, “A lot of medical conditions require much more detail and dialogue between the patient and the physician. In many cases it [a website] doesn’t substitute for an in-person visit (1).”
People seeking serious health and medical information should consult with healthcare professionals in person or through secure portals provided by the doctor or medical facility. While the Internet is a great place to do research and consult with others for support and advice regarding mundane things, taking medical advice from unknown sources should be avoided.
Works Cited
(1) Freeman, Kate. "How Social Media, Mobile Are Playing a Bigger Part in Healthcare." Mashable. Mashable, 20 2012. Web. 20 Dec 2012.
FORCE Therapeutics designs web and mobile applications for injury rehabilitation and prevention.
FORCE TherEx and FORCE Premium are known to be the BEST EMR and HEP products in Physical Therapy and Rehab.
Please visit our website at www.forcetherapeutics.com
Blue Button
By Christina Cool MPH
& Bronwyn Spira PT
Although it’s been out over a year and was announced by president Obama, I’m confidant saying many people especially those who would be taking advantage of such a great innovation have never heard of Blue Button. What is Blue button? Directly from The United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Blue Button “allows Veterans to download their personal health information from their My HealtheVet account” (1). This is a major step in closing the gap between physicians and patients. This is saving Grandpa’s life when he was given Digoxin by an on call physician while he was taking Quinidine (a commonly known toxic combination).
Blue button is a simple technology that could decrease the 1.5 million hospitalizations and 1000,0000 fatalities a year caused by adverse drug reactions and the 7,000 deaths a year from medication errors in hospitals (2)(3). Drug reactions and deaths aside, why shouldn’t everyone have this kind of access to their own personal health information? Blue button allows patients in a click to download a wide range of information from emergency contact info to lab and test results, immunizations, vitals, family history, and even treatment facilities. In August of 2010 the White House Administration formally announcd the launch of Blue Button for Veterans and Medicare beneficiaries and here we are in November of 2011 still having trouble accessing our records (4).
Earlier this year at a StartUp health roundtable meeting in New York City, Thomas Goetz, Joe McCannon, Steven Krein and Todd Park led a rountable discussion on ‘Bridging the Gap Between Health Entrepreneurs and Government.’ I was attending with FORCE Therapeutics (my employer) and was lucky enough to learn from this talented panel. Todd Park, the CTO of US Department of Health & Human Services had a lot to say about his experiences and more to say about Blue Button and the ability it has to really improve healthcare. Blue button is not only available to VA hospitals and patients as well as Medicare beneficiaries, but is available to Healthcare Organization in all arenas. Additionally, Blue Button is available at no cost. This all made Blue Button a hot topic at other conferences I attended with FORCE Therapeutics including NYeC in New York City and mHealth in DC. Luckily the company I work for makes all their data available to their patients and will be working to integrate blue button as well, but this leaves me with one question? Why doesn’t the medical clinic where I receive care use Blue Button? I hope this has you thinking: ‘well mine does!’ If not, I hope it has you wondering why yours doesn’t.
As said on the Blue Button website “To improve healthcare, we must empower patients. Join the effort to give all Americans the information they need to become active participants in their own care" (5).
To learn more about Blue Button see: http://bluebuttondata.org/
To get Blue Button see: http://www.va.gov/bluebutton/apps/License/
1) (2010). Blue button. Retrieved from United States Department of Veterans Affairs website: http://www.va.gov/bluebutton/
2) Lazarou J, Pomeranz BH, Corey PN. Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: A meta-analysis of prospective studies. Journal of the American Medical Association Apr 15, 1998; 279: 1200 - 1205
3) Starfield, B. (2000). Medical errors - a leading cause of death. The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 26,2000; 284(4)
4) Chopra, A., Park, T., and Levin, P. (2010). ‘blue button’ provides access to downloadable personal health data . Retrieved from The White House, Office of Science and Technology Police website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/10/07/blue-button-provides-access-downloadable-personal-health-data
Blue button. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://bluebuttondata.org/
FORCE Therapeutics at mHealth Summit
by Kathryn Sorte MPH and Bronwyn Spira PT
FORCE Therapeutics attended last month’s mHealth Summit in Washington DC. The Summit was a three day conference that brought together leaders from many different organizations across the mHealth sector including government, the private sector, industry, academia, providers, and not for profit organizations to work together to advance the use of wireless technology to improve health outcomes both in the US and abroad. During our time at the conference we had the opportunity to share how FORCE is transforming the physical therapy delivery system through the FORCE TherEx online platform and our soon to be released mobile app. We also met many other digital health care start ups with great ideas for improving health and health care accessibility through the use of mobile devices.
There were a number of keynote speakers in attendance, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Also in attendance was Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm, who shared his perspective on the future of mobile health in the health care industry. He predicted that mobile devices will play a significant role in the future of health care delivery, estimating that by 2020 160 million Americans will be treated remotely via mobile devices. This is great news for both the suppliers and creators of such technology as well as the patients and end users who will receive the benefits of mobile health.
FORCE is already engaged in the mhealth revolution with the release of our mobile app which will be available on the iTunes and Android app markets this month. The FORCE app is a consumer app that will provide individuals the ability to sort through video exercises by type and region to find an exercise for their particular rehabilitation need. The FORCE app will reach those who may not have access to physical therapy, or for those who are not currently using the FORCE TherEx on-line platform and are in need of video exercises to enhance their physical therapy experience. According to Paul Jacobs: “individuals are ready to stay healthy”, and with the introduction of our mobile app, consumers will have 24/7 access to quality of life improving video exercises.
Avoiding the Breach: Is our patient data really protected?
by Bronwyn Spira, PT and Mark Fields, PhD, MPH
Electronic health records (EHRs) are the future of the provider-patient relationship. As the storage, retrieval and sharing of information via EHR accelerates, providers benefit from the most accurate and up-to-date information available. The delivery of care is optimized through these systems giving providers the information necessary to make the most effective clinical decisions for their patients.
The issue of patient security is an ongoing concern. Privacy of our medical data is one of the cornerstones of our healthcare system. This code of confidentiality empowers patients to share critical information with providers and, in turn, allows them to make the most appropriate diagnosis and plan of care necessary. In a recent blog entitled Living on a Cloud we discussed how physical therapists are beginning to embrace ‘cloud computing’ as the new standard for accessing patient information any time and anywhere without having to purchase a server, upload a program or even back up their information. We emphasized that these services must provide Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant user logins to ensure patient-therapist confidentiality and should be SSL encrypted to the level required by CMS guidelines.
So, just as with our financial information we must ask the same questions concerning our patient data: Is this data vulnerable to internet attacks and security breaches? What precautions are providers taking to avoid these issues?
So here are some facts on EHR security. A recent study conducted by the consulting firm, Software Advice, found that security breaches of patient data through internet hacking only account for a small percentage (6%) of HIPAA violations (2, 3). A majority (63%) actually came from physical theft and unauthorized access or disclosure (16%). Of EHR violations, all involved on-premise violations as opposed to ‘cloud based’ breaches. The author of the study points out that, “HIPAA violations aren’t happening in the cloud, rather, they’re happening in the doctor’s office, hospital IT closets, cars, subways, and homes.”
In order to continue the safety of patient data, providers need to take precautions to comply with HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules (1). These include:
- Ensuring that any disclosure of patient information comply with HIPAA Privacy Rule
- Ensure the service performs a HIPAA Security Rule risk analysis indentifying potential threats and vulnerabilities to protected health information
- Ensure that service conforms to the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule which requires the reporting of breaches of protected health information
It is clear that EHRs can enhance the quality of patient care and that taking the necessary precautions to protect privacy is a crucial step to ensure that our healthcare system moves closer to a paperless practice model.
Resources
1. Dolan, B. 2011. Mobile Health: How to Comply with HIPAA, mobihealthnews, http://mobihealthnews.com/11272/mobile-health-how-to-comply-with-hipaa/.
2. Koploy, M. 2011. HHS Data Tells the True Story of HIPAA Violations in the Cloud, http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/hipaa-violations-arent-in-the-cloud-1062011/#ixzz1TYEUKe4G.
3. Simmons, j. 2011. Can 'clouds' protect patient data from security breaches?, FierceEMR, http://www.fierceemr.com/story/can-clouds-protect-patient-data-security-breaches/2011-06-23.
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