To Avoid Liability, Skilled Nursing Providers Must Avoid Social Media Perils
We know the legal consequences that follow when a skilled nursing facility employee posts an explicit photo of a patient on social media. But what about an innocent Facebook post of an employee with a favorite patient?
Social media, a fixture of everyday life, poses a significant liability to skilled nursing facilities, both via posts by employees that intentionally or unintentionally violate HIPPA, and the additional responsibility SNFs have to adhere to abuse reporting requirements.
Waller's Beth Pitman told Skilled Nursing News, "When it comes to social media, those two areas of law intersect, so the facility and the employees would have liability in two different areas."
Because the risk of violations via social media are so hard to avoid, Beth offers a few suggestions to SNFs help decrease the chance of serious liability.