How Providers are Leveraging the Influencer Ecosystem to Elevate the Patient Journey 

On January 28, the VSP Global Innovation Center (GIC) and MATTER co-hosted the fourth event in its Lens Into the Future virtual series, exploring how the healthcare influencer ecosystem is reconstructing the patient journey. 

Moderated by Zachary Poll, Ecosystem Principal at the GIC, the discussion focused on a key trend identified in the Patient of the Future Futurist Report, investigating how providers are leveraging social platforms to offer patient education, advocacy, and even direct access to care.   

Across five conversations with provider influencers from optometry, emergency medicine, pediatrics, women’s health, and longevity medicine, experts shared how they are harnessing social tools to grow their practices and deliver personalized care.  

Social Media is the New Business Card 

During the session, Brianna Rhue, OD, FAAO, FSLS, and CEO of Dr. Contact Lens, explained that as her career progressed—from clinician to practice owner to tech founder—so did her social media activity.  

“I went all in about a year-and-a-half ago. They call it going ‘pro,’” she said. “Social media has become my journal. It’s not about the likes. It’s your journey.” 

As Rhue’s visibility grew, so did her confidence in the business aspects of care. 

“What it’s allowed me to do is go from being a physician to now a vendor,” she explained. “Realize that you are the shark in ‘Shark Tank.’ If everybody’s pitching you, you have to ask better questions to move your business forward.” 

Social media, in her view, is what puts providers in that “shark” seat — attracting patients, partners, and opportunities that strengthen the entire practice. 

Fighting Misinformation at Scale 

Owais Durrani, Emergency Medicine Physician at Memorial Hermann Health System, sees misinformation’s worst outcomes daily.  

“I literally had a patient who saw a video on TikTok that cinnamon could cure diabetes. They stopped taking their insulin—and came in with diabetic ketoacidosis,” he said. “I know this patient will be in the hospital for a few days, be discharged, and will likely end up back here.” 

Instead of remaining frustrated, Durrani decided to use social media to get ahead of it by posting about preventive care to keep more patients out of the emergency room.  

 “My way of combating that is getting on social media and basically saying, ‘Here’s how you can avoid being here,’” he said.  

Durrani also uses social media to learn about other specialties and new treatment approaches.   

“I follow family medicine physicians, OBs, and cardiologists. They mention something, and then I’ll go to the literature to see if it’s ready for prime time,” he said. 

Closing the Blind Spot Between Visits 

Dr. Natalie Davis, Physician and Chief Medical Officer of PreventScripts, told attendees that one of primary care’s biggest gaps is the year between annual visits, during which full-blown chronic diseases and conditions can manifest.  

“In pediatrics, nutrition is one of those absolute cornerstones of care that we don't have time to discuss,” she said. “You can hand a parent a Mediterranean diet handout, but that is absolutely not enough. Parents go home, they promptly forget everything you said, and the handout goes in the trash.” 

Davis said she uses social media to stay in contact with her patients beyond the annual 15-minute visit and to provide continuous support for families managing weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar.  

 “For me, my role is trying to automate this one‑to‑many communication. That’s how you scale prevention,” she said. 

Why Women Are Turning to Medfluencers 

GenWell Founder/CEO Eris Hansen-Cooper’s approach to social media is simple: Focus on the demographic that searches the most for health information online.  

“Women talk, and it sparked an entire generation of doctors willing and able to do that,” she said.  

Because women’s health can be “complex,” Hanser-Cooper said that women tend to share information with each other to fill in the gaps.  

“Social media has helped women engage more and feel more confident going in and actually pursuing different care opportunities,” she said. “It’s helped the average consumer understand healthcare, which in America is complicated.” 

And now that women are sharing their health experiences online, Hanser-Cooper said that there’s a higher level of awareness about conditions such as perimenopause and menopause.  

“Women are understanding their hormonal health cycles more,” she said. “Women are understanding care pathways more simply by listening to other women who have had the shared kind of patient journey.”  

Scientific Rigor as a Sign of Trust  

Longevity expert Hilary Lin, MD, who began her career at Columbia and Stanford hospitals, described the difference between working within academic medicine and operating as a medfluencer.  

“I can’t even emphasize how much it’s night and day,” she said. “In academic centers, they’re watching what you post. You have to get everything approved. They don’t incentivize you to get out there. You turn over to the independent side, and it’s an entirely different picture.” 

In the age of social media and AI-generated content, Lin says that patients no longer go to healthcare institutions for answers; they go straight to the source.   

“Historically, your reputation was tied to Stanford, Mayo, Harvard, Cleveland Clinic, but now people want to know your opinion about an intervention,” she said.  

She added that this shift also means that medfluencers must work hard to gain audience trust.  

“To break through the crisis of noise, scientific rigor is the differentiator,” she said. “Don’t infantilize your audience. The more you explain why science changes, the more people trust you.” 

From Influence to Impact 

As patients increasingly navigate their health journeys online, provider‑influencers are emerging as trusted guides - offering clarity, combating misinformation, and delivering expertise. 

Click here to watch the full recording of the discussion. 

For more vision innovation news and updates, check out the Global Innovation Center's LinkedIn page.