Ed Bennett, web guru at University of Maryland Medical Center and author of the Found in Cache blog, just updated his well-known Hospital Social Media List.

It includes 1,188 Hospitals using:

• 548 YouTube channels
• 1018 Facebook pages
• 788 Twitter accounts
• 458 LinkedIn accounts
• 913 Foursquare accounts
• 137 Blogs

About a year ago, the number of hospitals on Twitter was higher than the number on Facebook. Since then, Facebook has not only made up ground but also began to outpace every other category.

In the last six months, Ed has added 300 Facebook accounts to the list – the largest area of social media adoption. But Foursquare is hot on its heels after a slow start (In January, less than 10% of surveyed hospitals had claimed their listing.)

If the list included Gowalla and similar sites, location-based services would likely beat out Facebook.

Reed Smith recently shared some great ideas to maximize how hospital marketing teams can use Gowalla and Foursquare with brand pages, tips and offers.

The virtual badges of honor from checking in with these sites help customers and patients share (or show off) activities.

A few more ideas:

• Create badges to encourage those meeting progressive wellness goals
• Recognize cancer fighters and survivors
• Applaud volunteers
• Shout outs to staff recognized for exceptional patient care
• Add special tips for new parents
• Ask partners (visiting musicians, healing pets) to check in to promote their services

Seen other ideas for hospital and healthcare marketers to use Foursquare?

Please share!