Do You Consistently Monitor Your Online Reviews?


Many healthcare providers pay very little attention to their online reviews.

That is a big mistake!

Most providers believe they have no control over their online reviews. They believe that, if a patient leaves a bad review, there is nothing they can do about it. That is just not true.

There are a number of online sites where patients can leave a review of you. These include your Google Business Profile, Healthgrades, Yelp, Facebook, Vitals.com, WebMD, Caredash, US News, etc.

It can be overwhelming to keep up with all of your reviews.

Do you monitor all of these sites? You should.

Do you have an automated monitoring system in place to alert you to any poor reviews? You should.

These automated monitoring software systems can be set by you to monitor any review sites you choose. You can then receive alerts regarding any bad reviews.

When you are made aware of a poor review, you should not ignore it. You need to address it.

Patients looking at your reviews do not expect that you have never had a bad review. They understand some patients are never happy.

But what patients do expect is that you respond to any bad reviews. Your response needs to be very general. You must be very careful not to violate any HIPAA regulations.

Just because a patient may reveal some of their private health information in their bad review, you cannot discuss it with them publicly. You should respond, provide your phone number, and ask them to call you to discuss their concerns.

Many dissatisfied patients just want to feel heard. So, don’t ignore bad reviews.

And other patients just want to see that you didn’t ignore the bad reviews.

The other aspect of reviews you do have some control of is how many reviews you receive.

Do you ask patients to leave reviews for you?

Do you email or text patients consistently after appointments asking for reviews?

Do you utilize an automated system to request reviews? You should.

Please note, the entire November, 2023 issue of the Healthcare Marketing Secrets Journal covered online reviews in depth.

If you utilize an automated system, how many reviews are you generating per month?

When you see patients in clinic, do you tell them they will receive a review request after they leave?

It has been shown that, when providers personally ask patients for a review, 70% of patients will leave one.

However, when patients are not personally asked, only 10% will leave a review.

So again, do you ask patients to respond to the email or text message review requests they will receive?

The most important point is that you have way more control over your reviews than most providers believe.


Recommendations:

1. Use a review monitoring software so you will be alerted to any bad reviews.

2. Use an automated review-generating software system to increase the number of reviews.

3. Be sure to respond to every bad review.

4. Check your reviews every three months to see what your rating is and how many new reviews you are generating each month.


​Patients look at and read your reviews.

Be sure you know what they learn from doing so.