David Harlow presents two webinars this week: one on health care social media, the other on accountable care organizations

I am presenting two webinars this week, one on health care social media and the other on accountable care organizations, or ACOs.

Details:

Health Care Social Media: An Introduction to Engaging Intelligently and Legally

(Title links to registration information)

Webinar: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 

Time: 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET

Health care organizations, professionals and patients alike are embracing the social media movement with vigor as online tools like blogs, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube grow in popularity. It is no longer a question of whether you should be using social media tools to promote your practice and institution and connect – effectively, legally and ethically — with patients and referral sources; it is a question of when, and how.  

A skilled user of social media has the opportunity to become a trusted source, a convener, an influencer; and can effectively and efficiently utilize these tools for reputation enhancement and building strong relationships with existing patients and referral sources while “expanding the sales funnel” to attract new patients and referral sources.  However, the use of these tools requires interaction and engagement at a level that many health care organizations find uncomfortable. Balancing the inherent tension between transparency and privacy, openness and control, can be difficult. While the legal land mines are there, you can make your way through and emerge unscathed if you have a clear understanding of HIPAA and other relevant rules – and how they apply to social media initiatives.  

Learn more during this interactive 90-minute webinar about the value of social media tools, the range of issues they present, and some key strategies for using these tools effectively while steering clear of trouble by social media expert and charter member of the Advisory Board of the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, David Harlow.  Become comfortable with social media for your facility!

Learning Objectives:

• Gain greater familiarity with social media tools and tactics and their value to the health care enterprise.
• Achieve understanding of legal, regulatory and risk management issues related to the use of social media in health care.
• High-level introduction to best practices.

Accountable Care Organizations, Bundled Payments, and the Future of Health Care

(Title links to free registration information)

Webinar: Thursday, October 27, 2011

Time:  1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET

David Harlow previews HCPLive Webinar on ACOs

In the future (starting tomorrow!) health care providers will have to do more with less. Total reimbursement by both public and private sector payors is dropping, and the metrics for success are changing. Instead of thinking about this as a zero-sum game, payors and providers are moving away from fee-for-service payment systems to bundled payment systems. The health reform law spells out one such program in detail — the ACO, or shared savings, program — and created the CMS Center for Innovation, and funded it with $25 billion. The Center for Innovation’s mandate is to run experiments on how to do more with less, and to scale up successful experiments quickly.  

In this webinar, noted attorney, consultant, blogger and speaker David Harlow will describe the future contours of the health care market, defined by emerging federal and private sector programs in a post-fee-for-service environment, and identify ways in which provider organizations should be preparing themselves in order to succeed in this brave new world.

Join the simultaneous tweetchat at #ACOchat.

See you later this week.

David Harlow
The Harlow Group LLC
Health Care Law and Consulting