Physicians Adopting New Social Networking Sites

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. - April 4, 2013 - PRLog -- Dr. Steven Levy is well known in the LinkedIn community as the most connected physician on LinkedIn.  With over 26,000 direct connections and over 29 Million professionals in total he can reach, he ranks among the most networked members of that business focused social networking site.  His connectivity has contributed to his success in several business areas including recruiting for physicians and healthcare, career change and coaching, and patient facilitation.  When it comes to physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other healthcare professionals, his place as a trusted colleague has connected him with many of the world’s finest and most knowledgeable providers of medical care.   Dr. Levy is now doing a series on physicians and their use of LinkedIn for the renowned PhysicianNexus physician networking website which connects physician expertise worldwide.

“LinkedIn has traditionally been a business development and career focused social networking site” notes Dr. Levy.  “Previously the typical healthcare professional that joined was employed within pharmaceutical, biotech or medical device and looking to advance his or her career within industry.   Although always represented on LinkedIn, clinicians were usually less visible because their primary interest was direct delivery of healthcare services.  Now that we are all experiencing major shifts in the healthcare delivery system, it is benefiting physicians to become more involved on sites that can improve networking. “
Dr. Levy goes on to mention several Sea changes.  “There are two major tsunamis that are upending the traditional healthcare system and making it difficult to maintain the usual health services delivery paradigms.  The first is the ARRA or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 .  Most people remember this as a multifaceted job creation and unemployment support act.  But a key component was the HITECH act- the Health Information Technology for Economics and Clinical Health Act.  It provided over 25 billion dollars for HIT investments and incentive payments to implement Electronic Health Records.  That is finally beginning to bite and make major changes in the way medicine is being practiced.  The second is the ACA or Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare,  which is not only adding millions of people to the healthcare system over the next couple of years but making major regulatory changes.  While both are complicated, the net-net is that physicians and mid-level healthcare providers including nurse practitioners and physician assistants are moving away from a small business ownership model of healthcare delivery and towards  an employment or midsized business organization model.”    
“Any process of change will be smoothed out by increasing your networking and LinkedIn is well positioned to provide that service” opines Dr. Levy.  “While uncomfortable, change opens up new and exciting business opportunities for healthcare providers who are ready to embrace networking and ready to use their knowledge to benefit all stakeholders.  There is an enormous need to make the system more efficient. Add-ons, extender software systems, new medical devices, new service models and innumerable innovations are all going to emerge from these required shifts. ”  
Dr. Levy concludes, “The more physicians and other clinicians network, particularly on websites such as PhysicianNexus and LinkedIn, the more they will see these revolutionary changes as an opportunity to expand their careers beyond what they had previously envisioned them to be.  It’s very exciting to be part of this process.”
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Steven Levy MD  is president of The Acoma Group LLC, a global healthcare and life sciences executive search firm.  They search for Physicians, mid-level healthcare providers including Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants, Hospital Executives and within HIT including physicians providing implementation of EHRs. They also provide search for the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries.  The Acoma Group also provides business development, sales and marketing for several businesses in the healthcare vertical.   He can be reached at 203-423-9494.