You might be surprised to find that HIPAA guidelines are still very much in need, even when using dental marketing strategies to boost your dental practice’s presence online. However, despite using a different platform, the risk of violating HIPAA regulations is a very real thing that you face.
It only takes one comment or post to accidentally reveal classified patient information. When carrying out your dental marketing strategies, it can be a real challenge trying to maintain anonymity online, especially on social media.
To help you out, here are some tips to help make sure that you stay well within HIPAA guidelines while carrying out your dental marketing strategies.
Go over guidelines with your staff
The thing about running a dental practice is that the reputation of your practice is not dependent only on what you post and how you act, but on the actions of your staff members as well.
You might be doing everything that you can to make sure that you’re not violating HIPAA guidelines, but if one of your staff members accidentally exposes confidential patient information, it won’t do much good for your practice’s reputation.
This is especially true if you’ve hired one of your staff members to take care of your social media marketing for you. Make sure that you orient everyone in your dental practice to help them be more aware of what they post online so that it does not reflect badly on your dental practice.
Assess each post your create
This might seem tedious, but you should seriously consider reviewing each and every post that you put up on social media. While it might seem like a lot of extra work, it is necessary if you’re looking to follow HIPAA guidelines.
If you post a picture of your dental practice, you might not have noticed a folder of info that was included in the photo or a patient who was accidentally included in the shot. Taking a couple of extra minutes to review your content before you post can go a long way in avoiding the violation of HIPAA guidelines.
Maintain professionalism
It is so easy to get defensive online if someone posts a negative review of your dental practice and use all kinds of information to defend yourself and your practice. However, in the process of doing so, you might have accidentally exposed confidential patient information, which is detrimental to your dental practice’s reputation.
When it comes to responding to comments and reviews online, you should always maintain your professionalism even though it is very tempting to lash out at negative reviews. If you need to clarify something with a user, you can send them a private message to help understand their negative review. Maintaining your professionalism is the key to making sure that you don’t violate HIPAA guidelines.