State Medicaid agency to monitor social media

The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Resources will pay Clemson University’s Social Analytics Institute $50,000 as part of an effort to improve customer service related to the delivery of Medicaid services, the Associated Press is reporting.

The university institute, using a "sophisticated search" process, will look for comments and complaints on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites and will relay results to the state daily, weekly and monthly. The state hopes to learn what people think about Medicaid and whether individuals are experiencing difficulty with their health coverage so that it can address issues.

All information being monitored by the institute is considered public.