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Today’s consumers can easily document their satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) and post it for the world to see on one or more of the many very popular review websites (e.g. Yelp, Angie’s List, Google, Yellow Pages, etc.) or social media websites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.). As a result, consumers are now more empowered than ever before because their reviews can impact consumer demand, which steers business operations. Unsurprisingly, physicians are similarly susceptible to being reviewed on these public platforms. The difficulty, however, is that many physicians feel that this is unfair because they are more limited than other service providers to respond to these reviews due to the restrictions placed on them to not divulge personal information about their patients (think HIPAA).

To some degree, the physicians are correct-they do have restrictions placed on them that other service providers do not have to overcome. However, there is a very effective strategy physicians should put in place immediately to overcome negative online reviews. The strategy is a proactive rather than a reactive one. Rather than responding to negative reviews, they should implement an offensive strategy by requesting all of their patients, or ones that they think are especially satisfied with their care, to post reviews online in these public arenas. When physicians embrace these tools and encourage more of their patients to be outspoken, they will almost certainly overcome any of their negative online reviews with positive ones. In fact, we have a bit of science to justify our strategy. A study, the results of which were published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, found that an overwhelming majority (88 percent) of online reviews of physicians were positive. Here is an excerpt of their findings (the source: Patients’ Evaluations of Health Care Providers in the Era of Social Networking: An Analysis of Physician-Rating Websites):

We identified 33 physician-rating websites, which contained 190 reviews for 81 physicians. Most reviews were positive (88%). Six percent were negative, and six percent were neutral. Generalists and subspecialists did not significantly differ in number or nature of reviews. We identified several narrative reviews that appeared to be written by the physicians themselves.

So, here is the ideal way to proactively combat negative online reviews:

• Follow up with each patient soon after their visit (we do this on behalf of our clients using multiple forms of media at different time intervals – we call this putting each patient on a “cadence” – hence CadenceMed. It’s just one of our many built-in services). Practices should touch base with their patients at this time, thank them for their business, log any questions or concerns they might have and request that they fill out an anonymous patient satisfaction survey online. The percentage of patients who will actually take the online survey will increase if they are sent a link to the survey with instructions.
  
  Logic: this gives patients the opportunity to vent privately and demonstrates to them that the practice is concerned about their patients’ satisfaction and well being.
  Results: less public defamatory reviews and more honest feedback for the practice.

• When patients depart from their second or third appointment,  practices should send them off with a simple form that asks them to weigh in on the online review sites. Our friend Mary Pat Whalen of Managemypractice.com offers a recommended format for such a handout (read the article here). It is effective because it is concise, requests a single task of them and provides instructions. We would also recommend that it encourage patients to post on other outlets (Yelp, Angie’s List, Twitter, Vitals, HealthGrades, etc.).
  
  Logic: by requesting it after their second or third appointment, they have already been given the chance to vent via their follow up call and patient satisfaction survey. The practice has also been given ample time to make amends for any complaints that the patient had since their previous visit, so their complaints will be minimized. Requesting all of these reviews should result in a large number of positive reviews, which will drown out any negative reviews. It also communicates that the practice is concerned that their patients are being heard.
  Results: More reviews, especially positive ones, which will overwhelm any negative feedback, increase the practice’s web presence and their referral rate.
  Here is the format recommended by ManageMyPractice.com:

Dear Sir/Madam:

Hope you received satisfying care at PRACTICE NAME.

We are trying to raise online visibility of PRACTICE NAME and would like to request you to write a short review of your experience.

You can write a review at Google.

1. Please go to http://maps.google.com
2. Search for “PRACTICE NAME CITY STATE”
3. Click on “more info”
4. Click on “Write a review” link

We sincerely appreciate your assistance.

DR. SMITH DR. JONES DR. BLACK

• Here’s a real bonus: practices can provide their patients with access to a computer or tablet, like an iPad, so they can login to these sites and review their physician immediately after their appointment. The number of reviews will skyrocket when the practice provides this availability of technology and the reviews will likely be more positive because the patient is filling out the survey at the practice.

Physicians are susceptible to online reviews. Managing their reputation online is incredibly important, but a bit more difficult to do in comparison to those working in other, less monitored, industries. Nevertheless, physicians can squelch negative reviews and boost positive ones by taking a much more proactive, rather than reactive strategy, as outlined.

To the health of practices and patients,

The CadenceMed Team

Tagged as: medical marketing, patient feedback, patient followup, patient satisfaction, practice management