Let’s turn patients into evangelists; join our beta and find out how

We would all love to see great healthcare organizations rewarded by great community support, both on and offline — but the truth it’s rarely that easy.  If you want feedback — even well-earned praise — you generally have to work for it.

The problem seems to be particularly acute for hospitals. Even patients who have had a great experience with labor and delivery, about the most heartwarming,  upbeat experience a healthcare provider can deliver, seldom go online to rave about the lovely setting, the attentive nurses, the modern birthing practices or family-friendly room design. Still,  it’s a problem for providers across the board.

So, what will it take to get patients to share their feelings online? Let’s find out!

nextHealth Media is pulling together  a group of providers who want to build a better community engagement model, specifically by using social media tools.

Our idea is to create a single plan and implement it across a few environments — making it easier to share ideas and make progress — then tell the story of what we’ve learned.

The model will be very simple and the time we invest fairly modest, but we think the returns could be great.  As things progress, Twitter and TweetChat will keep ideas flowing (#engagedpatient).

If you’re interested, drop me a note at engagementproject@nexthealthmedia.com or call me at (703) 537-8105. And if the spirit moves you, please do comment here on what you think it will take to get this project off the ground. Would love to get your input!