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People often read reviews on hotels or restaurants before making reservations, but how many of us read online reviews before making a doctor’s appointment? According to a recent survey, about 25 percent of patients use online reviews to research their doctors.
If physicians don’t maintain a favorable presence online, they, just like restaurants, could lose out on potential new patients.
Study Results
The main sites used to search for online reviews are Healthgrades and Yelp. While Healthgrades was the most used, Yelp was found to be the most trusted. With the younger demographic (under age 35), Yelp was the most used and the most trustworthy.
For those who use online reviews, patients are most interested in information pertaining to quality of care provided, with 45 percent ranking it most important. This was followed by patient rating scores and wait times.
The most important information sought within quality of care was accuracy of diagnosis, with 46 percent of votes, and how well the doctor explains things with 17 percent of the votes.
Patients also feel that years of experience are most important when looking at a doctor’s demographics, even more so than a doctor’s certifications or academic background. However, certifications were still ranked most important by 27 percent of patients; thus, if you’re a younger doctor, stressing those accomplishments is important.
It’s not just about medical expertise…
Having valuable experience and great quality of care can still be overshadowed, however, by negative reviews involving administrative details. Wait times and billing or payment issues are what concern most patients.
In an analysis of almost 250,000 online doctor reviews, a physician’s staff and office were each mentioned in more than 20% of the reviews. Once again wait times and billing issues were found to be top complaints, along with rudeness.
What Should Physicians Do?
An online review poll found that 47 percent of patients who look up a doctor online felt differently about the doctor after viewing their profile. So how do you ensure that what patients see online is a reflection of reality? Create a marketing checklist for your online presence.
- Check review sites monthly to stay up-to-date with comments about your practice
- Feel free to address any negative comments in a respectful, non-confrontational way, making sure HIPAA is always followed
- Make sure your website accurately reflects your information (update if needed)
- Control what’s being said about you online by creating your own content. Consider adding a Facebook page for your practice or even a blog, then potential patients can get a sense of what you’re really like.
Do you maintain an active online presence, or do you feel it’s unnecessary? How would you handle a negative review, if at all? If you’re an M.D. or a D.O. we’ll be discussing this more inside Sermo, please join us.
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