INDIANAPOLIS – Two Indianapolis-based companies - one with expertise in health care technology and the other a social media expert - have partnered to help individuals and organizations in the health care sector implement and use social media platforms for a variety of solutions including physician training, physician collaboration and legal concerns.

The partnership between CoreTech Revolution LLC, based at the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis, and Cast a Bigger Net LLC will help clients prepare to adopt Internet-based community interaction.

The companies will offer a service called Social Media & Medicine that will evaluate clients' needs and goals, develop a social media strategy, provide training on the strategy and implement it. Health care professionals can learn more at http://www.coretechrevolution.com

Michelle Burton, CEO of CoreTech Revolution, said health care organizations already are leveraging social media strategies to reach out to current patients and future clients.

"More than 500 hospitals currently use YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and blogging sites for physician education and collaboration," she said. "The realm of digital medicine encompasses more than social networking, however, including telemedicine, podcasts, weblogs and microblogs, online face-to-face communication and digital policy."

Health care organization leadership should ask several questions to be prepared to adopt social media and create a plan to use it, Burton said.

"There are legal issues, policy issues, hierarchy issues, and training and implementation issues that must be addressed for any organization to successfully deploy a social media strategy," Burton said. "Cast a Bigger Net and CoreTech Revolution can help organizations shorten their adoption cycle while maintaining integrity and minimizing the associated risks."

Chris Reed, founder of Cast a Bigger Net, said social media offers organizations the opportunity to engage and interact with patients, their families and their friends but research and training are required.

"Where organizations can go wrong is if they treat social media as another media channel and attempt to broadcast at their fans and followers instead of engage them in conversations," he said. "That can be detrimental for the long-term image of the brand."

Burton and Reed explained why they aligned their companies on Social Media & Medicine.

"We sought Cast a Bigger Net because of the company's expertise in the social media arena," Burton said. "Their unique perspective and client interaction practices are exactly what are needed to bring life to health care interactions in the digital space."

Reed said, "We welcomed the opportunity to partner with CoreTech Revolution because of their experience in the health care industry and their successful track record with implementing technology."

About CoreTech Revolution

From physician practices to multisite integrated hospital systems and national health benefits companies, CoreTech Revolution (http://www.coretechrevolution.com) has the experience needed to successfully complete your project. Whether it is starting from the beginning of a project or jumpstarting a stalled one, we're focused on a successful completion. With a deep understanding of business, clinical engineering and information systems, we can help you streamline and manage complex projects, integrate or develop IT systems and procedures or simply serve as a liaison within an organization or with outside vendors.

About Cast a Bigger Net

Companies of all sizes are attempting to leverage social media platforms to create lead generation strategies. The growing army of creative and social media experts at Cast a Bigger Net (http://www.castabigger.net) help breakthrough businesses harness the power of these Internet based platforms to create and leverage fans or followers that will grow the company’s business over time.

About Purdue Research Park

The Purdue Research Park (http://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation complex in the country with four locations across Indiana. The parks are home to about 200 companies that employ 4,000 people and are located in West Lafayette, Merrillville, Indianapolis and New Albany.