Healthcare Providers and Social Media

The American Medical Association has issued a new policy on the use of social media (AMA Issues New Policy To Guide Physicians’ Use of Social Media on the Health Care Law Blog). The new policy "aims at helping physicians to maintain a positive online presence and preserve the integrity of the patient-physician relationship."

Do you think that the AMA guidelines would be helpful for other types of healthcare providers, such as midwives, doulas, chiropractors, and so on? Although these types of providers often have a much closer, personal relationship with their clients than do medical doctors, it is always a good idea to protect client's privacy (whether or not the provider is a HIPAA-covered entity) and to separate personal and professional online content.