A Social Network Just for Physicians

Social media isn’t always an easy sell in the healthcare community. Not only do physicians have limited time to spend on social media, the platforms can be minefields of HIPAA and patient confidentiality violations.

But at a time when value-based care is growing, communication between hospitals and providers is more important than ever. Social media, while tricky to navigate, can play an important role in this communication.

“Social media can be a tremendously powerful medium for healthcare institutions to get their message to physicians,” says Peter Alperin, MD, vice president of connectivity solutions at Doximity, a mobile and web-based social network for healthcare professionals. Alperin is also staff physician for the VA Medical Center in San Francisco.

Doximity and Stanford Children’s Health have been working together for more than three years, focusing mainly on physician referral marketing communications through Colleague Connect, which helps hospitals expand their referral networks. The platform allows them to target specific audiences and market the right content to the right people. The partnership with Doximity has brought measurable results for Stanford Children’s Health and has given the organization more control over messaging shared by its physicians.

One of the selling points for Doximity is that you must be a medical professional to use the platform — physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists. Limiting membership to medical professionals helps physicians feel more comfortable joining and contributing, Alperin says.

“Physicians will use a social network if they have the opportunity, if they feel comfortable, and if they find value,” he says. The strategy seems sound: More than 675,000 physicians were listed on Doximity as of October 2017.

To learn more about Doximity, read our new story now:

How Physician-Focused Social Networks Boost Physician Referrals

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