Employee Confidentiality Cannot Extend to Employment Terms—Including on Social Media

Employee Confidentiality Cannot Extend to Employment Terms—Including on Social Media

Urgent message: Nondisclosure agreements that are commonly required of management and providers to protect a company’s business strategies, intellectual property and human capital generally cannot prohibit employees from sharing their own pay, benefits, working conditions, or conditions of employment even on social media. Alan A. Ayers, MBA, MAcc is President of Experity Networks and is Practice Management Editor of The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine Many companies expect and even demand confidentiality of proprietary information. …

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Dangerous Fake News Story Spreads Flu Misinformation on Social Media

Dangerous Fake News Story Spreads Flu Misinformation on Social Media

Fake news has been lamented, scorned, or poked fun at for various reasons and from various political perspectives for the past year, but right now a fake news story circulating on social media could put lives in danger. First appearing on Facebook, the “article” falsely claims that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged that influenza vaccine has been responsible for many deaths attributed to flu this year. The myth-busting website Snopes debunked the …

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Wronged on Social Media? Maybe There’s Recourse

Wronged on Social Media? Maybe There’s Recourse

The case of Texas newlyweds whom a court ordered to pay a photographer $1 million after engaging in a social media smear campaign has gotten a lot of attention. The headlines will fade, but the decision could give all businesses—including urgent care centers—cause to take another look at their options if they feel they’ve been wrongfully defamed online. In the Texas case, a newly married couple claimed the photographer was holding their wedding album “hostage” …

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Let Patients Know How You’re Weathering in Winter

Let Patients Know How You’re Weathering in Winter

Inclement winter weather doesn’t stop people from needing fast access to good medical care—if anything, the perils of walking or driving on icy surfaces may lead some to seek an urgent care center for the first time. Even if their complaints are the garden variety sore throat or UTI, some may think twice about venturing out to a crowded emergency room. And primary care offices do close suddenly on occasion. It would be wise to …

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Don’t Post That! Protecting Patient Privacy in the Age of Social Media

Don’t Post That! Protecting Patient Privacy in the Age of Social Media

Urgent message: Using social media platforms helps your community get to know your urgent care center. But be sure that you protect your patients’ privacy when doing so. Introduction Social media has great utility for urgent care centers, providing invaluable opportunities to connect with the local community and offering a host of educational tools for providers and patients. The explosion of myriad social media platforms, however, has created a variety of new channels for exposure …

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Use Digital Marketing and Social Media to Attract and Engage New Urgent Care Patients

Use Digital Marketing and Social Media to Attract and Engage New Urgent Care Patients

URGENT MESSAGE: A seismic shift away from traditional marketing toward digital media and popular consumer social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube has led most medical practices to focus on attracting and engaging both current and new patients via the internet. Urgent care practices, often the best-kept secrets in their communities, now have an unprecedented opportunity for growth using digital marketing and social media to their advantage. Parham Javaherian, MBA, is Chief Executive …

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Make Your Social Media Platform a Pro-Social Media Voice

Make Your Social Media Platform a Pro-Social Media Voice

There’s no softening the blow when a community faces a devastating loss, as Dallas did recently when five police officers were murdered and nine others injured. As seen in New York City after 9/11, though, devastation can also be the catalyst for banding together and inspire ordinary citizens to support each other like never before. In the aftermath of the Dallas tragedy, the staff at Legacy ER and Urgent Care, which serves North Texas, expressed …

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Social Media Vital Signs: How Urgent Care Centers Can Connect, Interact and Build Relationships with Patients

Social Media Vital Signs: How Urgent Care Centers Can Connect, Interact and Build Relationships with Patients Urgent message: Social media such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can help urgent care operators better understand patients’ needs and communicate the value of urgent care medicine―ultimately driving more visits to their centers. Author: Caroline Ryan and Jan Sisko Author Information: This article was presented as a white paper at the 2012 Urgent Care Association Conference. Caroline Ryan …

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Marketing to Local Schools

Offering preparticipation physicals to student athletes is a win-win-win proposition. It can be lucrative. It renders an important service. And because of the exalted place of school sports in American society, ensuring that young athletes are healthy enough to participate spotlights your urgent care in your community and makes people aware of the many other services you offer. The key to profitability is effective marketing. Area school children who participate in sports are required to …

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