by Patricia Salber
First published 3/10/11 on The Doctor Weighs In
There is a new social networking site for doctors only. It is called Doximity (www.doximity.com). Not only do you have to say you are a doc, the site has to verify that you actually are one to use the site – they say they do this so you don’t get “spammed” by folks joining just so they can sell you stuff (i.e., pharma reps, etc.)
Jeff Tangney, the CEO of the company was at the same meeting I was at this am. He took me through the site on his iPhone. First thing he showed me was that I was already in their database because I have an active California license – even though I am no longer in active clinical practice (any doctor with a unique identifier is in the Doximity data base). Some of my personal information was also there – e.g., the fact that I graduated from UCSF. Because Jeff looked for me initially by my last name only, my son, Jason (a radiologist in Boise) also showed up. And so did one other guy named Salber. Pretty funny.
You have to manually add the other info that you want to share with your doctor “friends,” such as your photo, lists of your jobs, details of your education, and so on. But the site makes it pretty easy. If you have published in journals catalogued by PubMed, you can click on a link and your publications (with hyperlinks) come up and can be uploaded into your profile with one click. Slick.
Colleagues you went to medical school and residency show up in lists and you can just click on their names to add them to your contacts. I had lost track of some of my classmates so really enjoyed seeing where they were and what they are doing now. Other great features are that you can click on pharmacies or facilities near your practice and quickly see their location, phone number and hours of operation.
Jeff described his hope that docs would use the site not only to catch up with old friends, but also to learn the credentials, interests, and expertise of docs they might want to refer to. Interestingly, he said the most common search term, when docs are checking out other docs for referral, was “languages spoken.”
Doximity also offers physicians a free, secure, group texting (with confirmation receipts) – called DocText. This allows a HIPAA compliant way of communicating Personal Health Information (PHI) with colleagues via smart phones.
Jeff and his co-founders (one of whom is a doc) also founded Epocrates – one of the most popular clinical information and decision support sites out there in cyberspace. I think he has another winner.
Pat Salber MD MBA is Principal of Zolo Health Solutions. She writes at The Doctor Weighs In.
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