All the buzz about Facebook and privacy issues further reinforces the need for social media policies and procedures in the healthcare industry according to a recent article in InformationWeek Healthcare.

“… with health CIOs thinking about electronic medical record implementations, preparations for meeting the requirements of meaningful use of health IT, virtualization projects, HIPAA regulations, and the explosion of patient data and how to store it securely, social networking guidelines may not be getting the attention it deserves.”

Presentation from Bridget M. Forney.

At one point or another, 80% of Internet users have looked online for health information.  Social networking sites, blogs and podcasts have opened up two-way communication lines for patients and providers.  The days of patients merely listening to doctors, associations or even print advertisements appear to be diminishing.

But patients aren’t the only users benefiting from social media.  Hospitals and healthcare providers can and should us social media to their benefit, as well.

Health Care Marketing, PR and Communications professionals around the world are working hard to understand how new media platforms like social media can help them better connect with patients and create more awareness.  Besides actual participation, there are many information channels (including the social web itself) to learn more including an upcoming event from Ragan and Kaiser Permanente.

Next month Ragan Communications and Kaiser Permanente are offering a Health Care Communicators Summit: A practical how-to conference for Health Care, Public Relations, Marketing, and Social Media on June 7-9, 2010 at the Kaiser Permanente Sidney R. Garfield Health Care Innovation Center in San Leandro, CA.

When it comes to hospitals engaging with patients and their families on the social web, too many are concerned with justifying the efforts. But a recent blog post from Ragan Communications suggests that’s the wrong strategy completely:

How do hospitals measure their social media ROI? Are they simply tilting at windmills like Don Quixote? Too often, we find ourselves counting the number of Facebook fans or Twitter followers or the number of people who viewed You Tube videos, trying to justify engagement in social media.

However, the bigger question is whether hospitals can afford not to engage.

Find more videos like this on The Healthcare Marketing Community and Blog

Gone are the days when health care marketers were full-time professional storytellers — focused on how best to package stories and engaged in one-way conversations.

Today, storytelling is just a part of the job of health care marketers. With the rise of social media, health care marketers must be focused on facilitating conversations and sharing information.

Clearly, 2009 was a year of new beginnings for the health care industry — particularly in regards to the acceptance of social media channels like Twitter. But as we move into 2010, will that acceptance shrink, remain stagnant or skyrocket?

We don’t have a health care Twitter crystal ball. But we do have an interview with Phil Baumann, registered nurse and author, by HCPLive. Baumann shared with HCPLive his predictions for the future of Twitter for health care marketing:

For health care organizations first embarking on a social media strategy, there’s no definitive formula for what works and what doesn’t work. Perhaps the greatest tool health care organizations have for developing a social media strategy are others’ success stories.

The Significant Science blog recently interviewed John Sharp of Cleveland Clinic, which has successfully rolled out a social media strategy that includes blogging, microblogging and participation on other social networking sites.

Here’s what Sharp had to say about the stakeholders within healthcare organizations that should be involved in launching social media efforts:

60 million consumers now using social media to share their health experiences online, according to recent health care social media research by the HealthCare New Media Marketing Conference. it’s no wonder that more and more hospitals are trying to determine ways to effectively leverage social media channels.

And with Twitter being one of the fastest growing social media tools of recent years, it’s a good place for hospitals to start.

For hospitals unsure of how to use Twitter to reach health consumers, SMUG (Social Media University, Global) blogger Lee Aase provides some examples of how hospitals have been using Twitter.

If you think health care consumers haven’t widely embraced social media to research health care providers, gather information on treatments and diseases, and support one another, think again.

This health care social media video, created by the organizers of the HealthCare New Media Marketing Conference, offers a host of interesting statistics that prove the use of online media outlets for gaining access to health care information.

Did you know?

• 60 million consumers now use new media to share their health experiences online
• 216 US hospitals use social media
• 142 US hospitals have You Tube channels

It was the perfect storm: As social media sites were gaining in popularity, health care was becoming more expensive and doctors’ time was becoming more finite and valuable.

It was only a matter of time before patients and their families began turning to health care social networks for medical information and even emotional support.

The Wall Street Journal discusses the trend in an insight article:

Online health sites have been booming in the past five years … Many of the sites have recently experienced heavy traffic from users seeking information on the H1N1 virus. Officials of the Health 2.0 Conference, which tracks the industry, estimate that the number of such sites climbed to nearly 500 from about 35 four years ago.