Episode 20

2018, Doctor Money Matters

http://www.doctormoneymatters.com

Episode 20. Kevin Pho, MD — Kevin MD This episode is about using social media to spread your voice beyond the your local area. Obviously social media has had a tremendous impact on our lives in its relatively short existence from connecting with friends and families to how we get our news to professional development. But how can physicians and other healthcare professionals really take advantage of it and should they? I discuss this with my guest Dr. Kevin Pho. He started this website KevinMD long ago (in Internet time). He talks about how he started and how it has grown and allowed him to also become a leading physician voice. I want to thank Dr. Pho, because he agreed to do this podcast at a time when I had just started out and really had no audience. I purposely delayed releasing this episode in order to build up the audience on my own a little and I want to thank you the listeners for being part of that growth. One of the great things about social media that has allowed us to get into contact with other people like Kevin who are generous with their time and expertise. I hope he inspired you to get out there and get your voice heard on social media. It’s vitally important that people with real scientific expertise engage the public and not be drowned out by the celebrity pseudoscience. Dr. Pho’s website is at KevinMD He started a Physician Speaking Facebook group recently for physicians interested in becoming speakers. Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on. More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook. Twitter @drmoneymatters Instagram @doctormoneymatters Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group. Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues. Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are: Docs Outside The Box The Hippocratic Hustle The Happy Doc Doctors Unbound The White Coat Investor There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Transcript

Main Intro 

Intro Outro: 
[0:16] Welcome to this episode of deduct Money Matters podcast today’s episode is about using social media to spread your voice beyond your local reach.

[0:25] Obviously social media has had a tremendous impact on our lives and it’s relatively short existence from connecting with friends and Families 2 how we get our news to professional development.

[0:36] How can Physicians and other Healthcare professionals really take advantage of it and should they.

[0:40] I discussed this with my guest Doctor Kevin PO he started the Kevin MD website long ago and he talks about how he got started and how it’s grown and allowed him to become a leading Physicians.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[0:52] Okay welcome to another episode of the doctor Money Matters podcast I’m excited to welcome our guest today dr. Kevin Poe many of you will know him from the website.
Doctor po12 undergrad and med school and residency at the Boston University in the Boston University Medical Center in Nashua New Hampshire.

[1:14] Is Kevin MD website is one of the leading platforms on the internet for healthcare professionals to share their perspective on matters relating to their profession.

[1:23] He’s also on the editorial board of USA Today and has been interviewed by CBS News and given many addresses to physician groups and conferences.

[1:32] He’s also co-authored a book establishing managing and protecting your online reputation is social media guide to Physicians and medical practices.
Doctor Phil welcome to the podcast and thank you for coming on.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[1:44] Thanks for having me it’s great to be here.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[1:46] So what’s this talk a bit about your background what got you into medicine and then talk a little bit after that about.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[1:55] Sure so what are the reasons why going to medicine is because I wanted to really give patients a voice and whenever they come see a doctor there at the most vulnerable,
and we have such a dysfunctional Health Care System where patients are often silenced or they don’t have a say in terms of what happens to them so as a physician I wanted to give patient,
that voice as they navigate are dysfunctional Health Care system,
add Shirley. Has evolve throughout my career in terms of giving not only patients a voice but Physicians of voice and we’re going to be talking about the house social media gives us a platform where everyone can have a voice but it really started,
because I wanted to give patients. Voice when they’re at the most want her Bowl when they enter our Healthcare System.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[2:38] I so talk about when you started the Kevin MD site and the green said you’ve had over the years.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[2:44] Sure be back in the spring of 2004 so that was 13 years ago when it comes to social media.
I’m pretty much a dinosaur when it comes to Health Care social media,
Acumen blogging was in its infancy back then and I really had no idea what to expect or where this was going,
so I think it started back in 2004 there was a major drug we called it was a medicine called vioxx which is Burke’s anti-inflammatory.
And I remember writing a column on that on my site talking about what patients should do what kind of questions they should ask their doctors.

[3:31] Add a few days after I publish a post I remember a patient and example I walk into the exam room in the first thing she said to me this morning and it was comforting,
to read what you had to say and now I know what kind of questions to ask and I think that was the proverbial lightbulb moment for me where I realize that,
I had a voice outside the exam room and with my blog I was able to interact with. Only one patient exam,
many patients at once and having this power.
As a physician just having this publishing power was tremendously liberating and tremendously powerful.
Obviously that has evolved over the years we not only have blogs but we also have Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube we have dozens and dozens of social media platforms and it’s tremendously powerful.
Or doctors to utilize these tools. Only to connect with patients but,
will be talking about it certainly how they can use it to find her online reputations and really how to make their voices heard as our Healthcare System is evolving and I think these tools.
I’ve given this type of publishing power to the every person and of course that translate to all of us it in healthcare as well.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[4:48] And so you mentioned obviously your blog is exploded in the medical community and lots of positions now post on it and read it and see how does that change your professional life or you still practice medicine correct.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[5:02] I do I have a primary care clinic in Nashua New Hampshire and I see patients 4 days a week still and it’s something I still have corset I love to do,
the blog gives me a balance I think that,
physician burnout certainly is a topic that is very prominent right now especially on my site and.
There are so many pressures when it comes to practicing medicine you know you do see patients every 10 to 15 minutes we’re dealing with clunky electronic medical records and one of the things I always talk to doctors what I do talk about what is that,
Physicians need to have a passion outside of clinical medicine that parallels their clinical medicine journey and for me it’s my family of course but also,
what I do on Kevin MD and having these patches really gives me that balance were,
I can only do things outside of clinical medicine but it will help me maintain my passion for clinical Madison so.
It’s been so gratifying. Not only to read what these thousands of voices have to say about what they are going through and I’ve learned so much by reading. Only their stories by patients,
but stores are patients as well if you gain their perspective so I think that having my site is really and richte I view of Medicine,
and it’s really opened up a window into the larger Healthcare world and some of the stories that they’re sharing as well.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[6:25] And so let’s talk about social media so your blog obviously started before the explosion of social media and.
Your blog is still up on the web.com also have or your side has accounts for Twitter Facebook how has social media changed your blog and then also.
How is it change your actual medical practice.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[6:50] Sure so.

[6:53] The block has certainly evolved and I think that information consumption as a whole has also involve evolve as well people don’t just go to the website now to read information,
they consume information from different silos for instance you could either go to New York Times to read the website and you can get the New York Times feed on Facebook on Twitter you can read various New York Times podcast.
So I think that information consumption has become siloed and I’ve kind of mirror that on my side.
Obviously I have the stories on my side 68 times per day but I also broadcast those post on different silos as well specifically face,
Twitter LinkedIn I’ve Google plus I’ve Pinterest because different people consume that information in different ways,
so I think that Kevin MD is no longer doesn’t block I like to call it a day social media platform where a lot of my posts are only consumed on Kevin nd.com but also on the various social media platform as well so how does it.
Change my practice I think. I’m certainly found easier if you look at some recent studies.
About half of caitians they Google their doctors before they see them and when my name is Google. Obviously my various online assets come up.
Not only but also on Facebook and Twitter so people can proverbially meet me before they see me in the exam room and it’s also giving me a semblance of control over how I appear online I’m no longer just defined by a.

[8:23] Random physician rating site but by being active in social media it’s may be proactive in terms of how I appear online I can have some semblance of control of what my Google,
present is and I think going forward that’s tremendously powerful because one more doctors are going to be online whether you like it or not,
and 1 more patients are going to be Googling their doctor so I think it’s important for everyone and health care whether you’re a doctor or a dentist or at Allied Health professional to have that control your online presence because,
whether you like it or not if they don’t do themselves other people are going to do it for them.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[8:58] The average physician today sees that okay it may have a personal Facebook account.
Certain about Twitter profile other than just sharing their typical Facebook friends and family post.
How do you encourage them to actually get more professionally involved.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[9:22] I talked to doctors.
There are a little bit apprehensive about social media they always hear social media from her perspective of risk I’m sure they get talks at the hospital or at the clinic from Risk Managers and lawyers and,
they always show stories front page headlines about doctors and nurses getting fired because they’re taking pictures of,
people’s body parts in the operating room in the emergency room right is it so you can hear stories like that all the time so if you’re a practicing physician.

[9:51] You ask yourself why the heck am I going to be using social media has nothing positive could ever come of it,
so what I do is I try to present social media from a perspective of a more positive perspective and I think it does have tremendous positives for physician I normally start by Googling a physician’s name,
and a lot of them are surprised because they already have it all in present.
And that’s in the form of East physician rating sites like ratemds or health grades are vitals whether doctors like it or not they already have that type of all my presents and they could be populated by less-than-stellar rating so.
For a lot of doctors that’s really the type of lightbulb moment they say Hey you know I already have it all in present but I’m not in control of it so what should they do to take control their online presence.
I always recommend LinkedIn first LinkedIn is as you know a professional social network and simply.
Filling out a LinkedIn profile is just a digital translation of one’s CV so just put in your CV in a LinkedIn and,
and put in a nice picture and you put in a summary and you have a complete LinkedIn profile that gets ranked high on Google searches and in a lot of cases can even above things like healthgrades these and push them lower down on the search page so they become less visible.
So that’s number one and number two I recommend doximity doximity is a physician social network,
add again a profile there is just a translation of your CV in fact you could even upload to see Vita doximity and they will have staff members enter it in into their profile for you so those.

[11:30] Start off with at a minimum and doing that probably takes a few hours to do at most and then I have to do that position should stop.

[11:39] Awesome sauce what did he want to use social media for and if the answer is nothing.
Then that’s better than nothing I think that what they’ve done already by creating a profile on LinkedIn and doximity is.
Plenty powerful enough I will put them ahead of the game compared to the majority of their peers.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[11:57] And how about goes that may want to go a little bit further what platforms would you.

[12:03] As far as professional development goes what platforms besides like you said doximity in LinkedIn would you establish your md present as your personal Facebook page.

[12:15] Any recommendations that way or.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[12:18] I’m going to refrain that question I’m going to ask.
What’s their ultimate goal when they come to use social media to use social media to connect and educate patients.
Do you want to use social media to connect with your colleagues.
Social media to advocate for a cause or Health Care reform topics and depending on what their goals are there are specific social media platforms that fit those goals.
For Cynthia physician are interested in connecting with patients.
I think having a professional Facebook page is tremendously powerful if you want to do video to connect with patients they can certainly do YouTube or,
again a Facebook page if you want to connect with colleagues I think Twitter is probably better suited for that because there’s a lot of professional conversations that happened on Twitter or they can start a blog.

[13:07] But if you want to cry I think is really the ultimate social media and point then they should certainly start a blog created videos on YouTube or Facebook I think and then.
They could do what I do and disseminate information on the various social media silos that’s around that so.

[13:27] The answer to that is really what did he want to use social media for and depending on those goals they are various platforms that best fit those specific goals and Physicians are going to realize that the more social media platforms that they engaging,
the bigger their online presence will be anyway so rather than approaching it from a question what social media platform should be engaging start with a goals first.
And then the presents would sort itself out as usual should be to fit those goals.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[13:54] And depending on what your goal would be would you recommend doing it yourself hiring a social media marketing person what are your thoughts on that.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[14:04] So I think that there are pros and cons to both obviously when you do social media yourself it does take a little bit of time but I think that if you can do yourself you should because you should educate yourself,
with these tools because social media isn’t going away patients are going to be used to a certain amount of transparency,
if you see out of their Industries whether you go to Amazon whether you book a hotel Airline restaurant is a certain amount of transparency to other industries that.
People are going to expect.
Eventually Healthcare going to catch up to that so there’s a certain expectation that patients are going to have so I think as Physicians we do need to educate ourselves with the various tools that are available to us,
call Sabor Portland that if is this themselves you social media isn’t there a voice it’s a more authentic voice rather than Outsourcing it to,
a social media marketer so it’s best that position learn how to use these tools and speak with their own voice.

[15:02] That being said if you’re a busy doctor and you really don’t have the time for this yes spending the money and Outsourcing it to a social media consultant is better than nothing is better than having no social media presence so if your choices are.
Not doing it all versus Outsourcing it then yes Outsourcing it probably would be better than nothing.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[15:20] And I think a lot of people think they well I can understand for those positions or dentist if you don’t have their own practice or trying to promote their private practice but.

[15:31] What about for those who are employed and they don’t really trying to drum up business do you still think that it’s important to establish a presence.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[15:41] I do because even if you work for a hospital or a large employer when a patient sees a particular doctor they’re not necessarily going to Google.
Calle De Mayo Clinic and I’m going to Google the Kaiser Permanente they’re going to still Google that individual doctor you know I’m seeing dr. Poe.

[15:57] I would have Google that doctor and I what comes up is still,
information specifically. Physicians name is not going to be specific that institution so I do think that is important for every physician whether they work independently or work for a large Healthcare conglomerate to take charge of their individual online presence also you may not be with that same employer.

[16:19] Forever right people change jobs so I think that’s also important that you take control of your own individual online presence in you don’t want to leave that in the hands of your employer.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[16:27] So now let’s flip to the other side of things that you see many young medical students residence pre-meds they have large social media following.

[16:38] What cautions advice would you have for them before they even really are into their prime practice here is about social media.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[16:46] I think that they should evaluate what’s been written to pass and assume that residency directors and credentialing committees are Googling them.
Because they are and I know for a fact that hospital credentialing committees Google every applicant I know residency directors a Google applicants so it’s tremendously important to be aware of what comes up when your name is Google. What’s public on your Facebook profile what’s public on,
Instagram you want to be aware of that in and cleaned it up obviously because,
Stoli is that going to cost you when you apply for residency or apply for a job but also prospective patients are going to be seeing this as well when they Google Google you looking for a physician so.

[17:28] I always have a rule of thumb when I talk to every position weather do young and old it’s called the elevator test and it goes like this whatever is posted online.
It needs to be appropriate if you say it aloud in the crowd at hospital elevator,
so I think you want that to be the minimum standard when it comes to your public presence is on every social media Network.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[17:49] I think I just got a good base line for anything because I feel.
A lot of people social media and then on the flip side a lot of people have social media.
Sometimes a little bit to open but then that just maybe the sign of the times.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[18:13] Absolutely and I think that position they need to realize that fair or not we are held to a higher standard in the public compared to,
anyone else so what we say or do obviously reflection not only are cells but of the profession,
of who we work for as well and the consequences that Physicians face is greater than most every profession so whether that’s fair or not. That’s part of the burden of responsibility of being a physician so I think that’s something that we all have to keep in mind.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[18:42] I do want to talk about your coaching program that you have and what Physicians can gain from that.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[18:50] Church so I recently started a physician,
coaching program because I realize that a lot of the skills that we talked about in this podcast latest not known by a lot of doctors,
specifically using social media to Define your online reputation I went over some Basics but you’re certainly more to do than that,
are there a lot of doctors who want to step outside of their clinical work and they wanted to be a speaker they want to Keynote medical conferences and in order to do that you have to build an online platform,
so I’ve been doing this for 13 years now and,
I can say that annoying and learning all of this stuff online that’s almost like having another degree almost right in the actually don’t teach this in medical school and residency,
so I definitely wanted to give other Physicians and health professionals an opportunity where I can share my knowledge and Coach them one or one.
To realize our goals.
I would work with some Internet only to find her all the reputation but if they want I can expand their social media platform and I could share exactly what I do too,
help some of my pieces go viral and be heard and also I can certainly coach him in terms of,
being a speaker and what event organizers are looking for when you’re looking for a physician keynote speaker how to structure 2 talks how to deliver talks how to work on your visuals what are some of the Cutting Edge trends when it comes to Keynote speaking,
because this is stuff that no one taught me I had to.
Do a lot of research and other Industries in and take my own lumps on to Chino circuit as well and I think that this is valuable information to pass on to.

[20:25] Position because this type of stuff isn’t readily available.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[20:29] I think you know there’s so much to learn in medical school.
Unfortunately so much gets crowded out and aside from just the medical knowledge that we have to continuously educate ourselves on.
There’s an entire other realm of business and personal knowledge and things like that that kind of get pushed aside but also need to be put in the curriculum whether it’s a medical school residency or what not so it’s great that they sell for doing these kind of things and helping.
Other Physicians out.
Doctor but I want to thank you for appearing on the podcast I did have another quick question. What do you see in the next 5 or 10 years or a Kevin MD.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[21:06] I’m certainly happy with my current trajectory it’s now platform where thousands of healthcare,
voices can tell their stories and get their voices heard and as you know with our Healthcare System there’s always going to be,
topics to talk about so I see continued growth I see the platform enlarging and I see that this is a needed platform because doctors,
often don’t have a voice when you read New York Times on the editorial Pages you see a lot of doctors who unnecessarily Frontline clinician,
they don’t necessarily see patients and I think it’s important to have the voice of the practicing physician out there because if we don’t have a say if we don’t make decisions,
these decisions will be imposed on us by politicians and non practicing clinicians,
so I think Kevin MD is going to grow in importance I think that it’s one of the few if only platforms where doctors can have that prominent publishing space where they can tell their Frontline stories and I think about voice is going to be tremendously.
Important as we move forward because as Physicians we cannot be marginalizing to healthcare debate.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[22:12] City of our listeners one to get an article or something published on Kevin & Bean how do they do that.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[22:19] Go to Kevin md.com and I’ll stop there is a contribution tab with a specific instructions on what type of articles I like.
I can tell you right off the bat I like stories I think stories are very powerful and I think that the public.
They don’t have access to a lot of physician story so I am partial to some of the stories that positions face everyday but they can go to Kevin nd.com and go to the Contra butab and will be instructions there and how they can contribute.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[22:49] And if they wanted to get your book that we mentioned earlier about social media is that available on your website as well.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[22:57] It is available on the website as well as Amazon so you go to Kevin md.com and click the book top and it’s establishing managing and protecting your online reputation and also if you’re interested in coaching as well it’s all on coming to me.com so it’s easier.

Tarang Patel, Do: 
[23:12] Alright well thank you very much I appreciate you coming on the podcast and we look forward to it more great things from Kevin MD and end yourself in the future.

Kevin Pho, Md: 
[23:20] Fantastic thanks for having me on.

Intro Outro: 
[23:23] I want to thank dr. PO for agreeing to do this podcast.

[23:29] He had agreed to do this podcast of the time when I just started out and really had no audience I purposely delayed releasing this episode in order to build up the audience on my own a little bit and I want to thank you the listeners for being part of that growth.

[23:41] What are the great things about social media is that it’s allowed us to get into contact with people like dr. Poe who are generous with their time and expertise I hope he inspired you to get out there and get your voice heard on social media.

[23:55] It’s vitally important that Physicians and other Healthcare professionals with real scientific expertise and gauge the public and not be drowned out by the celebrity pseudoscience that’s.

[24:06] Becoming more and more prevalent.

[24:09] Decompose website is Kevin MD I’m sure you all heard of it just Google Kevin MD or Kevin md.com.

[24:18] He also recently started a physician speaking Facebook group in order to help Physicians develop into.

[24:25] Speakers at conventions conferences and in front of meetings and so I could you to join his group.

[24:35] How to encourage you to join my doctor Money Matters Facebook group or we discussed Financial topics.

[24:40] And share this podcast with your friends and colleagues by text WhatsApp or whatever social media platform that you currently are on you can.

[24:51] Listen to this podcast on Apple podcast Google play Stitcher.

[24:56] And the episodes are now also available on YouTube and as usual you can follow me on Twitter at Dr Money Matters or.

[25:04] Facebook doctor Money Matters or Instagram doctor Money Matters in on Facebook and Instagram it’s doctor spelled out.

[25:13] So thanks again for listening please leave positive reviews for this and any other part.

Main Intro