I was doing research for a client recently on how healthcare providers are using social media and came across Ed Bennett’s great list of U.S. hospitals using social networking tools. I decided to dig a little deeper into Maryland hospitals (where I live) to determine how they were using social media to help foster patient relationships and build awareness among the community.

Maryland Hospitals and Social Media

In Maryland, 31 hospitals were tracked in Bennett’s list and (as of January 2011) 81% were on Twitter, 74% on Facebook, 90% on Foursquare, and a little less than half were on YouTube. The three hospitals that really stood out in social media were Lifebridge Health, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and The University of Maryland Medical Center. Each had a presence in numerous social networks but, even more importantly, was how active they were in each channel.

How Hospitals are Using YouTube

The Johns Hopkins Medicine’s YouTube Channel is a diverse mix of videos primarily geared towards patients and consumers. A recent video shows Dr. Weingart explaining next steps for patients diagnosed with a brain tumor. Many of the videos in JHM’s channel address conditions patients may be dealing with such as Liver Cancer, Warfarin, Neuroendocrine Tumors – with doctors explaining options for treatment. As of this writing, the hospital had 765 YouTube channel subscribers and 290,920 total upload views.

Recent videos posted on Lifebridge Health’s YouTube Channel are geared towards parents including: “Teaching Children Healthy Eating Habits”, “How to Prepare your Children for College“, and “Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies”. The LifeBridge channel has 26,429 total upload views and 35 subscribers.

The University of Maryland Medical Center YouTube channel has 2,038 subscribers – one of the largest subscriber bases of all the hospitals reviewed in Maryland – with 1,130,473 total upload views. Their channel has a wide variety of videos appealing to different audiences however, an interesting focus was on videos featuring former patients (or family members) describing their experiences at the hospital. One video was of a mom describing how her husband donated his kidney to save his son’s life and another had parents describing the care their son received during his stay at the Medical Center. There was also a video interview with a cancer survivor.

How Hospitals are Doing on Twitter

Over the past 3 months, Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Twitter following has grown 25% to 6,382 followers, surpassing The University of Maryland Medical Center’s 6,082 followers. LifeBridge Health’s Twitter following has remained steady at 3,763 followers.

What is Johns Hopkins Medicine doing differently on Twitter?

For one thing, they are live tweeting during their health seminars, such as the recent seminar on pediatric ear, nose, and throat conditions. In addition, JHM tweets appear to be retweeted more often than the other hospitals compared – 1,000 total retweets (250 unique retweets). Their overall online influence – or Klout score – is 47.

A Klout score is based on multiple factors and ranges from 1-100 (with a higher score representing stronger influence). Klout also provides a matrix of 16 possible classifications to describe your influence on Twitter. The classifications are determined by how often you tweet, your following, who you follow, as well as retweeting activity.

For JHM, the Klout classification used to describe their influence is as follows:

Johns Hopkins Medicine is a Thought Leader
You are a thought leader in your industry. Your followers rely on you, not only to share the relevant news, but to give your opinion on the issues. People look to you to help them understand the day’s developments. You understand what’s important and what your audience values.

University of Maryland Medical Center Klout Score: 45

According to Klout, they have 250 total retweets and 100 unique retweets. Their Klout influence:

University of Maryland Medical Center is a Specialist
You may not be a celebrity, but within your area of expertise your opinion is second to none. Your content is likely focused around a specific topic or industry with a focused, highly-engaged audience.

LifeBridge Health Klout Score: 36

Their influence:

LifeBridge Health is an Explorer
You actively engage in the social web, constantly trying out new ways to interact and network. You’re exploring the ecosystem and making it work for you. Your level of activity and engagement shows that you “get it”, we predict you’ll be moving up.

For more information visit:

• LifeBridge Health’s Twitter account
• Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Twitter account
• University of Maryland Medical Center’s Twitter account

How Maryland Hospitals are Using Facebook

The University of Maryland Medical Center’s Facebook Page has over 9,105 likes and a pretty engaged community on Facebook. Their Facebook page includes an Ask the Expert section with a list of health-related topics that link to their website where visitors can ask and get answers from University of Maryland experts.

LifeBridge Health’s Facebook Page highlights career opportunities throughout their system. Their print magazine and newsletters are promoted (with a PDF of each opening in separate windows). They attempt to engage through the use of an online poll. Most of their updates appear to be fed via Twitterfeed. As of this writing, they had 853 likes.

Johns Hopkins Medicine Facebook Page has 10,974 likes (highest of all 3) and a relatively engaged community, however their discussion area – which I am sure presents some challenges – had a few topics started without any feedback.

In all, I think social media presents a great opportunity for hospitals to connect more closely with patients and engage the community on health-related topics. Many hospitals have made great strides just in the last few months in managing their social media environments more regularly and appear to be doing a better job of leveraging social media platforms to promote their activities in other channels such as health seminars and patient care Q&As.