How To Make Sure Your Online Reputation Is Accurate as a Health Practitioner?

Patients find health care providers through a variety of methods, including insurance directories, doctor referrals, referrals from friends and family, and online searches such as Google. Regardless of how potential patients learn about a doctor, they are likely to read online reviews before making a decision.

Unless they have good, recent reviews on all review websites that patients visit, health care providers could lose thousands of dollars per month.

Inaccurate Online Reputations Hurt Health Care Practices

For our new health care clients, we frequently discover that overall patient satisfaction levels are not accurately reflected online. Their online reputation is frequently overstated in comparison to the actual patient satisfaction that we begin tracking when they sign up for our services.

A study discovered that doctors with poor reviews lacked in areas other than patient interaction, such as front desk, wait time, and so on — which is typically the cause of low review ratings. 

According to research, more than 90% of consumers trust online reviews. Patients seeking medical services are more likely to switch to another provider if they read negative reviews about a practice.

What Might Hurt Your Online Reputation?

As seen, patients are generally pleased with their doctors. However, according to the negative reviews, the most common complaints are inaccurate billing, unprofessional front desk personnel, long wait times, and a lack of communication between visits. A prospective patient, on the other hand, lacks background information and judges the physician solely on negative reviews.

Practices must ensure that online reviews accurately reflect the provider's true patient satisfaction. They also require processes to address negative patient experiences caused by other factors as soon as possible. Paying close attention to patients' experiences converts many dissatisfied patients into satisfied ones because they can see that the provider genuinely cares about them.

How to Create an Accurate Online Reputation

As a health care practice, you should be proactive in developing and maintaining an accurate online presence. A few pointers are listed below to help you get started:

Generate more reviews. Obtaining more patient reviews is an effective way to increase your health care business's online credibility and ensure that your online reviews accurately reflect your actual patient satisfaction. PatientMD ensures that you are listed in major directories and review sites, and closely monitors any feedback. Encourage your staff to ask patients for reviews and explain how it will help your practice grow.

Respond to any negative reviews. When you receive a negative review, make sure to respond as soon as possible. You have no control over what a patient says, but you do have control over how you respond to them.

Survey patients after appointments. Conducting patient satisfaction surveys shows your patients that you value their feedback and are eager to improve service quality based on it. Make sure to do it right after an appointment. Your patient's experience will be fresh at this point, and they will be able to provide more detailed feedback.

You'll know what you need to do to improve the quality of the health care you're providing once you've compiled an accurate picture of patient experiences. 

• Identifying patient care gaps and developing an effective action plan to improve health care quality in your practice.
• Allowing patients to direct any negative feedback to you first.
• Improved patient engagement. 
• Patients will appreciate the fact that you are concerned about their experience.

Measure patient satisfaction. It's not enough to simply ask questions or read reviews; you should also rate customer satisfaction. You can obtain scores indicative of patient experience levels depending on how your patient satisfaction survey is structured. Make sure to include online star ratings in your evaluation.

Final thoughts:

Accurate online representation is essential for establishing and maintaining a positive online reputation. As a result, having a good online reputation can help you get more business and increase your profits. PatientMD, an AI-driven Digital Health Platform, provides digital marketing services and patient engagement solutions to healthcare businesses. Our services can be integrated into your website and marketed to attract and engage new patients, allowing you to expand your practice more quickly. To know more about our services, text us at +18727048154.