Social Networking 101 for Physicians

Be Mindful of Patient Confidentiality

Online networking presents a risk of a doctor compromising patient information and facing a compliance action under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or a lawsuit. Take, for example, a physician who shares a detailed anecdote about a patient on his or her personal Facebook page, or on Sermo. The information a physician shares “needs to be generic enough that nobody can identify a patient in the course of reading a post,” says David Harlow, a Newton lawyer and health care consultant who writes the blog HealthBlawg. 

Though this sounds like common sense, the potential for carelessness is always present, says Kevin Pho, an internist in Nashua, N.H., whose 5-year-old blog, KevinMD.com, is one of the most popular health care blogs on the Internet, currently boasting more than 26,000 RSS subscribers. “The easier it is to publish something, like a [Facebook] status update or a [tweet], the easier it is to slip up and give identifying information,” says Pho, who has more than 500 Facebook fans and 14,000 followers on Twitter, a “microblogging” site where users can post 140 character “tweets” on issues of interest. Daniel Palestrant, the Cambridge-based founder and CEO of Sermo, says the same is true for doctors posting on his site. “Though Sermo is a secure site and we make every effort to keep information in the community, there may be situations where information is cut and pasted out or someone is motivated to pull information out of the community in one way or another,” says Palestrant, himself a physician.

Confidentiality issues may also arise when doctors allow patients to post on their websites or Facebook pages. A patient might be too open in a “wall” post and later realize he’s made his own information public. He might then blame – and perhaps sue – the doctor. “Once a patient posts, [he or she has] essentially consented that it be public, but most [patients] won’t view it that way,” says Harlow. There’s no guarantee such a case would hold up in court. But to be safe, Harlow advises doctors to block patient access to their personal Facebook pages, and provide clear warnings on any public sites against posting medical information.

Next:  Remember That Your Patients Are Not Your Friends