A large thank you to my guests, Dr. Jeffery Segal of Medical Justice and Amy Tenderich of Diabetes Mine, for their appearance on Social Media Throwdown – Should Patients Blog About Their Doctors.

To listen to the program click the play arrow on the player above. I also thank all those that tweeted comments from the hashtag #hcmktg. The conversation focused on three elements, 1) patients blogging, 2) health rating sites, and 3) disease community sites and their impact on healthcare.

On the issue of patients blogging about their doctors, the Medical Justice position is that single negative comments can be ruinous to the reputation of a physician when viewed in either isolation, the blogger is anonymous, or the full story is not disclosed. They essentially are not looking to curtail speech but recognize in many situations half a story can be misleading. As Dr. Segal mentioned on the show, he’d rather have physicians work in conjunction with patients to encourage more of them to blog so that the reader can form an opinion based on more instances rather than less.

Even Tenderich, a dedicated blogger advocate in healthcare, believes patients who blog about their healthcare experiences should do so with some rules, a Patient Blogger Code of Ethics, starting with never blogging anonymously. Her blog Diabetes Mine has turned into a resource for innovation and support for patients and caregivers of diabetes. One example is the Diabetes Mine Design Challenge an online competition of products to improve living with diabetes. A winner for this year will be announced later this month.

I invite healthcare marketers and PR practitioners to listen to this edition of Social Media Throwdown. I found the discussion provided insights into how patients can become part of the information pool about healthcare delivery promotion and delivery improvement. Getting beyond the lightening rod issues of stifling or at the very least structuring patient commentary, the idea advocated by Dr. Segal of a shared risk among patient and physician may well be the future of healthcare. In the show he cites an example of a woman with breast cancer who also wants to have a child, seeking a physician with whom she can work with to achieve her goals. As more information is available online, physician ratings becoming more comprehensive, perhaps even standardized, the concept of taking an active part in physician selection as opposed to being directed to see specific physician, will be commonly accepted by younger generations.

This concept is right in line with the generational trend to be in greater control, whether it’s online music, travel arrangements, banking, or healthcare, the trend is for a more engaged, informed consumer who also has the ability to share their experience, good, bad, or indifferent.

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Speaking Appearances:

Media Relations Summit – New York City -May 18 – 19 – Highlighting the ways companies can use multimedia to secure media relations.

Jeff Pulver’s #140 Conf – New York City – June 16 – 17 – Ways Twitter is impacting, business, advertising, media, and democracy

Midwest Society of Association Executives – Minneapolis – June 2 – Twitter Smart Medium or Time Waster?

American Hospital Association – Orlando, FL – September 30 – Using Social Media in Healthcare

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