Maintaining a good name in the digital era is becoming increasingly important as social media tools and platforms continue to expand the services they offer. As a health center, having a professional social media presence is becoming an influential channel in which to engage patient populations.

A Health Center’s online reputation plays an ever-growing role in client satisfaction, as 6 out of 10 patients use online patient reviews before selecting a physician. This webinar and related handouts recommend three specific steps to managing your reputation online to improve patient engagement.

As Health Centers increase the amount of electronic communications sent out to their patients they need to continually assess the literacy level of the content that they are sending out across patient portals, text messages, and social networks. This guide provided by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion helps staff "develop intuitive health websites and digital tools that can be easily accessed and understood by all users — including the millions of Americans who struggle to find, process, and use online health information."

This article written by Dr. John Halamka, CIO at Harvard Medical School and a Health IT adoption thought-leader, provides examples from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center on best practices for healthcare providers in trying to manage social media efforts.

The Texting for Better Care Toolkit provided by the Center for Care Innovations includes resources and guides for healthcare providers interested in implementing texting campaigns at their facilities. Tools include example consent forms and workflows, procedural diagrams for texting message flow, texting vendors and overall program strategies for use within safety net populations.