CMOs: Here’s the Deal with Social Media

Social media can be a powerful tool for CMOs, other healthcare leaders, and physicians. However, there are pitfalls.

A recent pitfall example is a wrongful termination lawsuit filed in North Carolina by a pharmacist who had complained on LinkedIn about inadequate staffing at her hospital and its corporate parent, HCA Healthcare. The lawsuit claims the pharmacist was fired to silence her and cover up staffing shortages at Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.

The firing of the pharmacist puts Mission Hospital and HCA Healthcare in legal jeopardy. According to Amanda Hill, JD, founder of Hill Health Law Group, health systems and hospitals should have social media policies, but there are limits to restricting speech on social media platforms.

“There is a fine line in setting rules,” Hill says. “That is why you should have your social media policy reviewed by legal counsel. Sometimes, organizations go too far. They say you cannot talk about your pay and workplace conditions. But that is protected speech.”

While physicians and other healthcare professionals can air grievances on social media platforms, they should be cautious, Hill explains.

Particular care should be taken when airing grievances about patients. Identifying patients on social media without their permission is forbidden by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

“Sometimes, doctors think that they are not using a patient’s name or date of birth, so posting is not a problem,” Hill says. “But there are many ways you can identify a patient in a social media post. … You just need to be cautious when you are talking about patients because if you identify a patient, it can turn into a train wreck.”

Physicians and other healthcare professionals should refrain from airing grievances on social media platforms, says Jennifer Khelil, DO, MBA, executive vice president and chief clinical officer at Virtua Health.

“It is not a good idea,” Khelil says. “I would never recommend for a physician to air grievances on social media. There are ways of dealing with grievances in a respectful way. People need to remember that anything that is put out on a social media platform is there forever.”

Physicians have other options to address grievances such as internal processes at health systems and hospitals, Khelil explains.

“Physicians should use the processes and resources that are available to them to address grievances,” Khelil says. “Social media is not the place to do that sort of thing.”

However, there are several good uses of social media for CMOs and other healthcare leaders, Hill and Khelil say. For example, social media can be used to provide inspiration.

“If you get on social media as the CMO of a hospital, you can share your heart and where your mission lies,” Hill says. “Instead of being seen as sitting in an ivory tower as an administrator, you can go on social media and talk about issues that matter to the community.”

Social media was a helpful communication channel during the coronavirus pandemic in a time when there was a lot of misinformation, according to Khelil.

“There were shortages of COVID-19 tests and personal protective equipment,” Khelil says. “People were distressed. We created videos that we put on social media to inform the population and let people know how we were handling things such as testing.”

During the pandemic, social media enabled Virtua Health to “take the temperature down for our patients,” Khelil explains.

“Social media was a way for patients to get information in a modality they felt comfortable with and in a time that was convenient for them. It opened lines of communication,” Khelil says. “Using social media, we were able to reach thousands of people and give them information that they were seeking.”

Social media is great for CMOs and other healthcare leaders whenever there is something big going on such as an infectious disease outbreak, according to Khelil.

Social media uses to avoid

CMOs and other healthcare leaders should avoid some uses of social media, Khelil and Hill say.

Leaders should not post anything that would jeopardize patient confidentiality or patient safety, according to Khelil.

“The main thing is to remind leaders that when they are using social media in a professional capacity, they are speaking on behalf of the organization,” Khelil says. “Leaders should also partner with the marketing team—it is important to have a collaborative relationship with people who are experts in social media.”

CMOs should avoid polarizing topics on social media platforms, Hill explains.

“CMOs and other healthcare leaders should avoid commenting on politics or religion, unless they are comfortable with the backlash,” Hill says. “They should stick with the mission of their organization without making it political. The more polarizing you are on social media, the more anger you are going to generate from one side or the other.”