Guidelines for Use of Social Media

While Social Media is fast becoming an effective and popular way for healthcare organizations to stay connected, serious new patient privacy risks created by it are often not fully taken into consideration. The result can be significant breaches of protected health information (PHI), increasingly stiff regulatory fines, and serious damage to our organization’s reputation.

Loma Linda University Health and its related entities currently utilize various social media venues to reach out to students, patients and health plan members, in order to inform them about services and resources available to them. An inventory of LLUH official social networking sites can be found on Social Media website.

All social networking sites and public postings of content that relate to any of LLUH’s entities, business, marketing and operations must be set up and maintained by the Office of Marketing and Communications in accordance with the social media policy and guidelines available at the Office of Marketing and Communications OnePortal page and PolicyTech site.

Online editors (i.e., someone responsible for updating content and ensuring proper use of the site) must be appointed by Administration and follow requirements as set forth by the Office of Marketing and Communications.

If your department would like to have a presence online in social media sites please contact the Office of Marketing and Communications for approval and guidance.

Reporting Requirement

Inappropriate content or postings that violate policy or state and federal laws must be reported immediately to the Office of Corporate Compliance at 909-651-4200.

Additional Resources:

• Quick Decision Tool – Guidance on the use of patient photograph and/or information for purposes other than treatment, payment or healthcare operations.
• Social Media training – This 10-minute topic is available in OWL/Moodle under the Master Code (M:INSV635), and provides additional guidelines on the proper use of social media.  
• Social Media Policies – Search PolicyTech for the term “Social Networking and Media” or the your corresponding LLUH entity policy number (i.e., MC – I-97, CH – CH-I-97 , Murrieta – M-I-97, BMC – BI-97 , UHC – HR-76).