Social media efforts put hospitals in the spotlight

Mayo Clinic tops a blogger's list of 20 healthcare organizations with "inspiring" social media strategies. That choice is not surprising: The Rochester, Minn.-based hospital has its own social media network and last October hosted its third annual Healthcare Social Media Summit.

The Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha also made The Medical Billing & Coding blog's list. The author pointed out that NMC has created quite the YouTube presence, in addition to a policy that encourages patients to share their experiences.

San Diego-based Scripps Health got a nod for its use of social media to handle customer service. "Scripps developed a new position of Electronic Customer Service Representative, specifically created to reach out to patients through social media and respond to online reviews," the author wrote. "Scripps tends to use different sites for different purposes, like Facebook for recruitment and LinkedIn for employee connections."

Meanwhile, the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children's Hospital made the list after it used social media to raise more than $1 million for a new children's hospital. "About 165,000 people blew past the hospital's initial $100,000 fundraising goal thanks to social media channels including Facebook and Twitter," according to the blog. "The amazingly successful challenge paved the way for a new children's hospital in Mission Bay, set for completion in 2014."

To see the rest of the list:
- read the Medical Billing & Coding blog post

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