5 Key Things Physicians Can Do to Boost Their Online Reputation September 22, 2015 Physician Resource, Sponsored Post, Technology Cooperative of American Physicians, online reputation 0 This is the second in a three-part series on protecting your online reputation brought to you by the San Francisco Medical Society and The Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc. (CAP). Read Part 1 and Part 3. You can download the complete copy of CAP’s full Online Reputation Action Guide here. A study published by the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) found that patients’ opinions on quality of care largely rely on nonmedical factors, including: A physician’s communication skills during a clinical encounter; Communication between a physician and patient outside of the office visit; The ability to make an appointment, contact a physician, or be seen in a timely manner during a clinic visit; and, Personality and general helpfulness of the office staff. Patient Satisfaction is Critical Bedside manner, the way your patients interact with your staff, and the communications that patients receive from you are the main ways in which patients evaluate physician quality. In other words, your online reputation is based primarily upon how your patients feel they are treated by your practice. Of course, optimizing clinical outcomes must remain your primary focus. But high patient satisfaction can complement, rather than compete with, good outcomes. Keeping that in mind, here are five key things physicians can do to boost their online reputation. 1. Start by Determining Patient Satisfaction Don’t guess about how you’re doing with patient satisfaction. Ask your patients directly with a patient survey. When crafting your survey, think about it as if you run a Neiman Marcus store and are analyzing retail experiences. Think about nonclinical factors — like wait times and staff behavior — in terms of traditional customer service. The survey should be anonymous, with questions designed to evaluate both clinical and nonclinical qualities. And it should be short, taking no more than five minutes to complete. Don’t skip the patient survey! The feedback you receive will show you the areas of your service that may need work. And unhappy patients who feel like they’ve been given space to be “heard” may be less inclined to air grievances online. 2. Increase Your Positive Online Reviews If patient satisfaction is the primary driver of your online reputation, online patient reviews are the conduit by which the quality of your care is most frequently communicated. Many physicians mistakenly believe that a passive approach to their online reputation is a safe strategy to avoid the chance of having an unfavorable spotlight cast upon them. But research shows that the majority of online reviews are actually positive. That said, if you aren’t actively building a repository of positive reviews, aberrant negative reviews can have more power. Start with a simple request: Ask your patients to write reviews. By asking directly and politely, giving them the review site’s URL, and thanking them in advance, you can significantly increase the likelihood of receiving a positive review. Great ways to solicit patient reviews: Email Follow-up. After a patient’s visit, send him or her a follow-up email asking for a rating of the visit on the review site(s) of your choice. Be certain to include the links to your practice’s listing on review sites. In-person request. You can also ask patients for a review as they leave your office. Give them a card or brochure with the web addresses of the review sites on which you wish to be rated. For greater efficacy, your staff can bundle this card with the printed appointment summary patients receive at the end of their visit. Share on social media. Include links to applicable review sites on your practice’s Facebook page, website, blog, and any other applicable social media platforms for easy access. A study by Software Advice found that the most trusted review sites are Yelp and Healthgrades, followed by Vitals and ZocDoc. Monitor your reviews on all patient review sites, but when requesting reviews you can focus on these four sites. 3. Handle Negative Online Reviews Carefully Even the best physicians will receive negative feedback occasionally. If you receive a negative review, remain calm, respond only in generalities, and keep the issue in perspective. Make sure to offer the reviewer a way to contact you offline to further discuss his or her concerns. And be careful to respond without revealing any patient health information (PHI) and accidentally violating HIPAA. 4. Create Original Content Online Original content offers your audience a deeper understanding of your perspective as a physician. Medical professionals often use a blog as a platform to create an authoritative voice. Blogs allow you to create content in multiple formats: long-form op-eds, short Q&A pieces, videos, and even anonymized case studies (only with your patients’ permission, of course). They are uniquely positioned to help you educate and engage with both your patients and the medical community. Publishing platforms like Tumblr, Blogger, Medium, and WordPress are good ready-made solutions for first-time bloggers. 5. Participate in Social Media Social media is more powerful than you might think. And it can be one of the easiest ways to make a constant, lasting impression. Social media can also be a powerful way to establish credibility as an authority in your field. Using social platforms like Twitter and Facebook on a regular basis is an excellent way to share your medical expertise and important health care-related news. We’ll talk more about how to handle social media safely in our next week’s blog post Why Your Practice Needs a Social Media Policy. In the meantime, you can learn even more about building a strong and positive online presence by downloading CAP’s full Online Reputation Action Guide. The Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc. (CAP) provides medical professional liability coverage to nearly 12,000 of California’s finest physicians. Click here for more information about CAP and the Online Reputation Action Guide. Comments are closed.
