HIPAA Compliant Social Media Marketing For Dentists - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

About This Presentation
Title:

HIPAA Compliant Social Media Marketing For Dentists

Description:

HIPAA compliance when marketing on social media is the responsibility of every health care provider, dentists included. Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have fast become lucrative marketplaces for dental professionals, and offer these companies offer important advertising tools to help drive business. – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:15
Slides: 12
Provided by: dentalsoftware
Category: Other

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: HIPAA Compliant Social Media Marketing For Dentists


1
  • HIPAA Compliant Social Media Marketing For
    Dentists

2
  • HIPAA compliance when marketing on social media
    is the responsibility of every health care
    provider, dentists included. Social media
    platforms like Instagram and Facebook have fast
    become lucrative marketplaces for dental
    professionals, and offer these companies offer
    important advertising tools to help drive
    business.
  • How can your dental company remain compliant when
    responding to reviews, post comments, and
    advertising campaigns on these popular sites? As
    a leading provider of HIPAA-compliant marketing
    services for dental healthcare providers, Adit
    regularly helps industry professionals navigate
    this challenging landscape.
  • This brief guide provides essential tips and
    explanations to help your office and interactions
    with your patients observe these important laws
    while maximizing your advertising ROI.
  • Common Social Media Marketing HIPAA Violations

3
  • When developing your social media advertising
    strategy for your dental office, it's crucial to
    consider how violating HIPAA regulations affect
    your business. Specifically, you and your staff
    need to be aware of how you could violate these
    requirements, whether intentionally or by
    accident.
  • Below are the most frequently violated provisions
    of HIPAA guidelines that dental offices often
    struggle to avoid
  • Sharing Protected Health Information (PHI)
  • While it seems an easy mistake to avoid,
    disclosing a patient's PHI is one of the most
    serious HIPAA violations your staff could make
    when posting on social media. It doesn't matter
    if you're sharing this information through an
    account that is private or public. Sharing their
    name, where they live, or anything about their
    health is illegal.
  • Of course, you and your team members can share
    procedures performed at your office and other
    work-related details, but keep your patients'
    privacy in mind.
  • Spreading Gossip
  • As a dental professional, your office will see
    its fair share of unique cases that may be
    tempting to share on social media. Asking for
    opinions from other doctors on your social media
    page about a particular condition is one thing,
    but directly referring to a case you treated as a
    point of discussion isn't okay.
  • Violating HIPAA policy in this way can have
    serious consequences for your practice.

4
  • Posting Multimedia With Patient Photos Or PHI
  • Sharing photos of your staff, products,
    equipment, and happy patients are important as a
    dental company. You want to create a sense of
    trust and compassion your patients and prospects
    can connect with. But you can't compromise their
    privacy. Any photos and videos that include
    identifying information or images cannot be used.
    Of course, if you receive written authorization
    permitting you from a patient to use a photo with
    their face in it, you can share it. But this is
    only for pictures and videos of their image, not
    their medical history or treatment.
  • It's common to take photographs and virtual tours
    of dental offices nowadays, but ensure that any
    identifying files, documents, and other
    information aren't visible when creating this
    type of multimedia. So, practice those camera
    angles and be sure to use cropping and editing
    tools to mask out anything that might be revealed
    before sharing online.
  • Sharing Patient PHI In A Private Group
  • The rule of thumb is if you can't post it in a
    public forum on social media, it doesn't belong
    in a private venue online either. For example,
    dental professionals often network with one
    another about a variety of practice and
    patient-related matters. However, it's a
    violation of HIPAA policy to use social media to
    have these conversations because they are
    encrypted as securely as your practice
    management's messaging system.

5
  • Best Practices to Avoid HIPAA Violations on
    Social Media

6
  • HIPAA compliance on social media is best
    accomplished by following some general best
    practices to protect your employees and
    organization from making costly mistakes. In
    addition, the following recommendations will
    ensure that your dental office always prioritizes
    the privacy of your patients and their health
    records when using social media
  • Implement A Carefully Crafted Social Media Policy
  • When marketing on social media, having a policy
    to ensure advertisements are compliant is a must.
    HIPPA compliant marketing for dentists is much
    like the rules you would put in place for
    individual employees. The difference is it should
    also include instruction on the type of content
    your team can use when marketing your brand.
  • This is especially important if you decide to
    hire a social media advertising agency, though
    firms like Adit can help you create this policy
    and implement it.
  • Create A Company-Wide Social Media Policy

7
  • Implement a set of guidelines outlining how your
    team members can use social media and what
    content they are permitted to post. It should
    cover both work hours and those after so that you
    can be sure no one accidentally shares PIH.
  • When creating your policies, be as
    straightforward as possible, including any
    disciplinary action should a HIPAA violation
    occur. This will ensure that reoccurrences don't
    happen.
  • Provide Examples Of HIPAA Non-Compliance On
    Social Media
  • Simply stating what is or isn't okay for staff
    members to post on social media isn't enough. You
    need to include clear examples of what
    constitutes a HIPAA violation, so everyone
    understands what is off-limits.
  • Take example pictures of what PHI in a photograph
    looks like versus not, and provide a video
    example if possible, too. Make sure to include a
    point of contact if they have questions about
    your policy and consider having them undergo a
    training course that further explains what HIPAA
    protects.
  • Conduct Regular Audits And Reporting
  • For practices with multiple branches or a large
    staff team, monitoring personal accounts can be a
    challenge. Instead, it would be best if you
    considered working with a dental marketing firm
    like Adit that can provide regular audits and
    reporting for instances of violations.

8
  • You can also implement an anonymous reporting
    form so employees can make you aware of
    troublesome social media posts and/or
    conversations.
  • Keep Work Life And Personal Life Separate
  • As a dental professional, it's probably tempting
    to share some of your work experiences on your
    social media pages and vice versa. The reality is
    it's better to keep these profiles separate and
    not let them overlap. This ensures you or your
    staff members don't accidentally make a patient's
    private health information public.
  • Actively Monitor Your Social Media Accounts
  • Ideally, any marketing material you post will
    first get reviewed by yourself or those you
    authorize to handle this important step. Still,
    monitoring your social media accounts should be a
    priority. If something questionable should get
    shared or wasn't reviewed first, you can quickly
    have it removed for further assessment.
  • Another significant benefit of keeping an eye on
    your ads and shared posts is controlling what
    your followers and other users might post. Should
    they share their PHI or violate HIPAA
    regulations, you can quickly take these posts
    down as well.
  • Avoid Social Media For Communicating About
    Treatment Issues
  • Social media platforms have made it increasingly
    easy to find the personal pages of dental
    providers. When patients discover your private
    profile.

9
  • they may try to contact you regarding a health
    issue instead of through your dental business.
    When this happens, it's important to redirect
    them to your patient portal on your website or to
    set up an appointment through your mobile app.
    It's your responsibility to ensure their PHI data
    is safe and that you comply with HIPAA.
  • Avoid Giving Personal Health Advice
  • Engaging social media content is important to any
    successful marketing strategy. Still, you should
    avoid sharing your favorite health advice,
    whether you are marketing a new product, service
    or sharing your latest successful treatment
    programs. The reason is it can lead to patients
    wanting more information that could reveal their
    PHI.
  • For instance, providing general advice to
    everyone about flossing is one thing, but giving
    individualized recommendations is not
    recommended. What if someone who isn't your
    dental patient finds your page and uses your
    suggestion that was only intended for that one
    particular person?
  • Assess Your Social Media Marketing Policies
    Regularly
  • HIPAA law frequently experiences adjustments, so
    you mustn't treat your policies as one-and-done
    events. Instead, review your policies every year
    to ensure that you are compliant.

10
  • Make Your Growing Dental Practice HIPAA Compliant
    Today

11
  • At Adit, we understand that the safety and
    comfort of your patients come first in everything
    you do at your dental practice. Our digital
    marketing agency can help your office achieve the
    same level of care and responsibility regarding
    PIH and social media advertising. From creating a
    brand new HIPAA compliance policy for your
    employees to assisting you in providing your team
    with the necessary training to be compliant, our
    years of experience will prove invaluable to your
    entire marketing strategy.
  • Reach out to one of our helpful representatives
    today to learn more about how we can help you
    find success on major platforms like Facebook,
    Instagram, Twitter, and more!
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com