Maintaining a Safe and Fair Forum for Patients and Surgeons
The Hair Transplant Network has a reputation for integrity because we enable patients to share their true experiences online, without us sweeping any genuine and legitimate concerns under the carpet. This holds true whether a hair restoration surgeon is recommended by our community or not. Whereas high visibility can be bought, credibility and trust must be earned and maintained.
Ultimately we want our hair loss forum to be free and open as well as fair and just to all participants – both patients and physicians. Therefore just as we expect physicians to be held responsible for their actions we expect those who post to be responsible for their actions.
HIPAA laws prevent doctors from sharing confidential information about a patient publicly, and most times, a poster’s anonymity prevents the doctor from knowing who the patient is at all. Whereas posters can usually hide behind anonymous names, physicians and clinics can’t. And it’s their reputations that are sometimes on the line.
Therefore when patients share their concerns on our hair loss forum, we may require them to provide information to their doctor on a case by case basis.
These guidelines have been in place forever – but we’ve recently documented how we create a fair and balanced discussion for patients and physicians on our forum. For more information, read “Maintaining a Safe and Fair Environment on our Forum for Patients and Physicians“.
Like the world at large, our hair loss community is never completely free from controversy and dissenting opinions. However, we are committed to balancing our hard earned reputation for running a fair and open forum with the need to assure that patients are free to share genuine experiences and physicians are not unfairly maligned on our community.
Bill and Pat
Associate Publisher and Publisher of the Hair Transplant Network and the Coalition Hair Loss Learning Center
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