Page 20 - Layout 1

MEDICAL PRACTICE
STRATEGIES & ISSUES

Responding to Social Media –

Physicians Beware!

By Gracie Awalt, Marketing Associate, TMLT, and Laura Hale Brockway, Assistant Vice President, Marketing, TMLT

Case study
A dental practice in dallas was recently fined $10,000 by the Of- • revise policies and procedures annually;
fice of Civil Rights (OCR) after publishing protected health infor- • revise authorization forms and the Notice of Privacy Practices
mation (PHI) in response to a patient review on Yelp, a social media to comply with the HIPAA Privacy Rule;
platform. In a complaint filed with the OCR, a patient reported that • identify Elite employees who must be contacted in the event of
Elite dental Associates posted their name, details of their treatment a HIPAA violation or questions; and
plan, insurance, and cost information in a comment on the Yelp re- • apply sanctions to those who fail to comply with policies.
view page.
While investigating the complaint, the OCR discovered that the Risk management considerations
practice had responded to several patient reviews on Yelp and re- Yelp is one of the most popular physician review sites used by
vealed patient information in the process. patients. A survey found 61% of patient respondents read online
“Social media is not the place for providers to discuss a patient’s care. reviews before choosing a physician, and 20% used online reviews
Doctors and dentists must think carefully about patient privacy before to evaluate their current physician. 3
responding to online reviews,” said OCR director Roger Severino. As more people go online to research products and services, on-
The OCR also found that Elite dental Associates did not have line reputation management has become increasingly relevant for
policies or procedures addressing the release of PHI on social media physicians. Online reputation management often involves address-
or public platforms. The practice also failed to create a sufficient ing reviews on sites like Yelp. 4
Notice of Privacy Practices. 1 because of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, physicians cannot respond
to online reviews in any way that reveals PHI. Even if a patient dis-
Along with the $10,000 fine, the practice implemented a closes their own personal information in a review, physicians cannot
corrective action plan with the following requirements. 2 respond with the same level of disclosure. 5
• develop, maintain, and revise federally approved PHI policies
and standards and distribute to all employees; What you CAN do
• train employees on PHI policies and procedures; 1. Speak in person with the patient who wrote the review. listening

20 San Antonio Medicine • January 2020