How do you deal with a disgruntled patient who is posting false and negative reviews about you and your practice online? This post will discuss online physician reputation management through ratings and reviews. We’ll look at the history of physician ratings, the most relevant websites, and techniques and systems that you can integrate into your practice to encourage and enhance your online reviews and reputation. We’ll also look at best practices for responding to negative reviews.
How Valuable is Your Physician Rating?
Online physician rating websites have been growing in popularity in recent years. These sites have introduced numerous challenges for physicians in terms of accuracy of reviews, fake reviews, and the inability to respond to criticisms. Yet, these sites persist and grow. Physicians who take an active role in online reputation management can come out ahead despite the limitations.
Are Online Referrals Valuable?
HealthGrades.com is one of the oldest and best-known sites that includes 1-5 star ratings, as well as descriptive reviews. Listings are based on public NPI data, but physicians may claim their profile to add more complete information. Vitals.com provides similar ratings and reviews. Today, the most important review sites are now Google and Yelp. Registering your practice on Google Business allows Google searchers to find your practice and read reviews. Because it’s the most used search engine on the planet, you should definitely register your free Google My Business listing. Yelp is a close second to Google.
Benefits of Improving Your Online Profile
Improving your online profile can facilitate smoother visits that start from a place of trust and confidence from what patients have read about you online. Patients often have preconceived expectations about their interaction based on a quick Google search. Some hospital systems even use online ratings as a variable to determine department promotions, bonuses, and reappointments. A positive review also reinforces your commitment to do what you do – everyone loves to hear that they’re making their customers happy.
Collecting Your 5-Star Reviews
Most doctors are uncomfortable asking patients to leave reviews. A lot of this comes from the appropriateness of self-promotion within the medical field. Another viewpoint is that online physician ratings exist whether you approve of them or not. We live in the information age, it’s going to be available, so why not give patients more transparency and the ability to choose a physician that has earned the respect of their patients?
The best way to start accumulating reviews is to ask your satisfied patients to leave a review online. If you want to be specific, you can send a thank you email with a link that lets them leave the review to the website of your choice.
