Healthcare communications and marketing news and information

Bob Coffield, a lawyer and blogger practicing in West Virginia, and I have been having an interesting conversation about transparency in healthcare.  He turned me on to a recent post from Running A Hospital, which is written by hospital CEO Paul Levy.  In his post Levy asks: “Do I get paid too much?”  

What I found most interesting is that Levy had the courage to candidly discuss his compensation and ask his readers what they think about it.  This was surprising for two reasons:

1. Corporations – especially their chief executives – are traditionally very leery of discussing executive compensation.  

2. A CEO blogger has fully embraced the ethos of the blogosphere: honesty builds credibility with your readers.

Levy’s post illustrates why corporate blogging is about much more than publishing carefully crafted messages and spouting lawyer-speak.  Organizations have to be willing to tear down some of the communications barriers that have traditionally been placed between them and their constituents.  Corporations thinking about blogging should be prepared mentally and physically to start and maintain a successful Weblog.  

To find out whether your corporation is really ready to get involved in social media, take this quiz developed by John Bell.