Your Online Reputation Can Make or Break Patient Choices
As Starling embarks on pilot with new reputation management program, we have gotten the question – do online reviews matter? In one word – yes.
As seen below, statistics show that bad reviews can really hurt a provider when patients are selecting a doctor.
Research shows that internet information is the first tool of choice for more than 7 out of 10 users looking for health information. And as prospective patients adopt typical “online shopping” behavior, their buying decisions—primarily their selection of a doctor or hospital—is strongly influenced by online resources, in particular, doctor reviews.
This is why Starling is piloting our new Reputation Management program. Our goal is to not let good reviews out the door and to encourage patients to provide us with their feedback after a visit. Good feedback will be shared online, and negative feedback will be forwarded to our operations team so we can determine how to continually improve our operations and deliver healthcare the way it should be.
Here are some other statics from according to the Digital Assent Online Patient Reviews survey.
- Eighty-two percent of patients said that online reviews influence their willingness to be treated by a doctor.
- Fifty percent believe that a doctor’s online reputation is worth considering, if they have at least 10 reviews.
- Eighty percent of patients reported that an average rating of four stars or better was ‘good enough’.
- Eighty-five percent said they would not be comfortable selecting a doctor if more than ten percent of their reviews had a one-star rating.
- Seventy-five percent of patients feel that reviews lose credibility if they are more than 12 months old
Source:
How Your Online Doctor Reputation Can Make or Break Patient Choices