BEST PRACTICES

The Internet is a double-edged sword. When utilized correctly, it provides a wellspring of information that can propel your business to new heights. But, like many tools, if mismanaged, it will not perform for you. Worse, it may even end up hurting your business.

For example, with over 90% of new patients looking for their next health care provider on the Internet, the ability for people to easily find your listings online is critical. And, once they find you, it is equally important that you portray the true quality of the services you provide in order to attract the right patients to your practice.

The great majority of patients utilize online reviews to help them decide which practice is right for them. Patients are motivated to visit a practice (or avoid a practice) by the stories that other patients post about their experiences. These stories may take the form of a short testimonial, a long-form review, or even a video.

For years, practices have engaged their patients to share their experiences. Not only do patients provide advocacy, but they also serve as a source of feedback. The best practices utilize the feedback to identify deficiencies and improve their practice.

If you haven’t been collecting feedback from patients, it is likely that they have shared their stories online already, and you may not even be aware of it. For example, patients may submit reviews to a multitude of online review sites, either singing your praises or criticizing your performance.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

If you are interested in developing the best possible practice, it is incumbent on you to be aware of this feedback and engage patients to obtain more feedback. In many cases, practices get involved in the patient feedback process only after they have been made aware of negative feedback.  At this point, damage has already been done.

Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how good you are or how well you are liked... If you are in clinical practice you will eventually have a dissatisfied patient post a negative review about you.

And, no matter what the so-called “Reputation Management” services tell you, the chances are that no matter what you do, no matter how much you spend, no matter how much time you invest, it is highly unlikely that you can have this negative information removed from the Internet.

Fortunately, there is a solution...

The daily use of monitoring and prevention techniques enable leading practices to enhance their practice and see more patients. The good news is, when you implement these techniques you not only improve your practice, you reduce your risk for negative feedback to appear online. And, if you'd like, you can do all of this yourself without spending any money.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

STEP 1 - Monitor Your Online Brand

Google provides a free service where you can set up an "Alert" or notification for any keyword. Google will notify you whenever they find a website or document that contains the keywords. You can set up keywords with your name and the name of your practice.

Each day, Google will email you the results from its automated searches. Simply click on the link in the email to view the full listing.

You should also make sure your brand is represented across the internet correctly. You may be surprised to learn that many sites have incorrect information regarding your practice location and phone number. It would be a shame for a patient to try to contact you using the wrong information. 

One way to quickly check this information is to “Google” your name and the name of your practice. Visit each of the websites that are displayed and verify that their information is correct. When you find inaccurate information, contact the site and request that your address and phone number be updated.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Another option is to use one of the many free Site Checker tools found on the internet. After you enter your name, address and phone number, the tool will alert you to the directory sites that contain inaccurate information about your listing. Many of the sites enable you to update the listed information at no charge.

STEP 2 - Monitor the Rating and Review Sites

There are a number of different types of rating and review sites. Some, such as Healthgrades, only collect ratings. Others, such as RateMDs, proclaim to be unbiased, but clearly are not "friendly" to doctors - they have even removed positive reviews that patients have posted. And some, such as Yelp, have even had lawsuits filed against them for attempting to extort fees from doctors to remove anonymous negative reviews. A few are doctor "friendly" and work hard to demonstrate a balanced viewpoint.

It is important to visit each of these on a regular basis and search for your name. If a good review is identified, contact the patient and thank them. Ask if they would also post their review on other review sites.

If a negative review is identified, contact the patient privately to try and rectify the situation. In general, it is a bad idea to respond to online negative postings. It is also a bad idea to suddenly flood review sites with positive reviews as this may be interpreted as spam and result in your account being blacklisted.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

In some cases, negative reviews will be posted by an "anonymous" user. In this case, unless you can identify the individual by the description provided, you may be out of luck. Of course, you can try to contact the review site to ask for the review to be removed. But the review sites are protected from having any responsibility for capitulating, and, in most cases, it is unlikely that you will have any success.

Note: Many of the review sites (notably, Yelp and Google) have a grievance procedure where you can request that a falsified review be removed. But, current experience shows that the sites are unlikely to act even when compelling evidence is provided.

When a negative review is posted by an anonymous person (and you are not able to identify who they are), you may be able to respond in a way that shows you are receptive to the feedback, that you are humble, and that you genuinely care about making changes. For example, you can use a variation of one of the following responses:

“At the XYZ Center we strive for patient satisfaction. We would love the opportunity to address your concerns. Please contact us and we will arrange to see you at your convenience to discuss how we can help you.”

“It is with deep regret that I learned of your dissatisfaction. At the XYZ Center, our goal is to help each patient achieve their goals. It would be our privilege to see you again to help resolve your concerns. Your satisfaction is our ultimate goal.”

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

“Based on your feedback, we have implemented changes at the XYZ Center. While we regret that you had a less than optimal visit, we take your concerns seriously. We invite you to return for a completely different experience.”

Of course, if you do choose to respond, it is essential that you do not divulge any PHI (Protected Health Information) and that you are compliant with HIPAA regulations. There are several resources that can serve as a guide if you are interested in learning more about optimal response techniques.

In rare cases, a doctor will actually be “attacked” online. In these cases, it is usually best to avoid engaging the attacker. If you feel the need to respond, take a deep breath and call for professional assistance. Without objective guidance, you are likely to make things worse. 

Our advice is that if you see one (or even a few) unfavorable reviews, don't get bent out of shape or lose sleep over it. And don't feel like you need to hire an attorney or reputation management company for thousands (or tens-of-thousands) of dollars. The best way to counter the presence of any negative review is to build a large number of positive reviews to provide a fair and balanced picture of your performance.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

STEP 3 - Check Quality Assurance

You should have a Quality Assurance system setup in your practice. This is simple to do and a highly effective method for achieving reputation management. First, ask each patient to complete a simple review form after each procedure.

The form is designed to collect some basic information that you can review, in aggregate with other completed forms, to assess how you and your practice are performing.

The form can also collect a review that you can share with other patients. You can collect a binder full of these and allow your patients to read through them while they are waiting for their initial consultation with you.

Save the form in each patient's chart. In the event a patient is initially satisfied with the outcome of their procedure but later becomes dissatisfied, showing them a copy of the form, completed by them, with their signature, helps them “remember” that the last time they communicated with you they expressed satisfaction.

Finally, save a copy of every form in a separate folder. In the event you are ever audited by a state agency or the FTC, you will be able to show them your stack of reviews from all your patients. 

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

You need to have this available because there are specific regulations regarding advertising and marketing that the FTC will enforce. Basically, you need to be able to demonstrate that the results you promote in your advertisements and marketing are "typical results" that the "average person" can reasonably expect to achieve.

STEP 4 - Communicate with Patients

Ok, so this may seem obvious… You communicate with patients all the time. But you are most likely communicating in a haphazard fashion. You need a system where you can document your communications and keep an audit trail. This helps to avoid miscommunication and, in the event of any legal action, helps to show you were involved in providing optimal care. A synopsis of every phone call related to patient satisfaction (happy patients and not-so-happy patients) should be memorialized in writing and shared with the patient. The most efficient way to do this is via email.

Unfortunately, standard email is not secure (copies may be left on every intermediate server the email moves though) and, thus, is not HIPAA-compliant. Also, you should not count on Facebook messaging or other instant messaging technologies to provide a HIPAA-compliant solution.

The good news is that there are a number of free secure messaging applications available that you can access. Check search engine listings for reviews of the currently available applications to decide which one is right for your practice.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

STEP 5 - See More Patients Using Reviews

For many practices, especially those with a large percentage of elective surgery patients, the Internet has become the #1 source for new patient consultations. And the two most motivating factors that cause a patient to request a consultation are (1) good “before and after” photographs, and (2) reviews from happy patients.

Because it is relatively easy to leverage your reviews, you should have a strategy for displaying them whenever you receive new ones. But first, before you use any review from a patient, make sure that you have obtained the patient's permission to use their review in writing. Also, you must verify that you are permitted to display their name along with the review.

Next, you should contact your website hosting provider and ask them to post the review on your website. Please be aware that some website hosting companies charge for each change you make. Other companies enable the practice to make as many changes as desired without any additional fee.

Caution: In some regions in the US, notably New York and Texas, posting reviews on your website is prohibited by law. In this case, it IS legal to use a third party rating system, such as the Better Business Bureau or Patient Approved®, to provide a link to your patient reviews.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Next, post the review on your practice Facebook fanpage - you do have one, don't you? There is no charge to set up a Facebook page and you can configure it to lock-out unwanted comments, so go for it! 

Facebook has over 1 billion users, so it is likely that many of your patients (and their friends - your future patients) are on Facebook. Also, ask your patients to post their review on Facebook. Although some won't do this, you will be surprised how many will. And, since the average Facebook user has about 300 "friends", you are likely to receive new patient consultation requests with each review posted.

Next, contact every directory listing site you work with to add to your list of reviews. Not every directory site displays reviews, but many do. It is probably a good idea to give them a bunch of updated reviews all at once, rather than send reviews to them one at a time.

Finally, don't forget to ask patients to personally post their reviews on all of the rating and review sites. It would be fantastic if each of your happy patients would take the time to visit Yelp, Vitals, DexKnows, RateMDs, DoctorBase, Avvo, Wellness, Healthgrades, and the rest of the rating and review sites to post their positive rating and review for you.

Did you recognize each of these sites mentioned? This is only a small list - please see the end of this document for a more complete list. But be aware that the list is always changing, with some sites gaining more prominence and popularity while others become less relevant over time.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a satisfied patient, even a very happy patient, will post their review about you on every rating and review site on the Internet - there are just too many of these sites. Ironically, a patient who is very unhappy is more likely to take the time to go to every review site and post their dissatisfaction. That means, if you haven't been asking your patients to post their positive experience, you may run into a situation where a review site has a very skewed or unbalanced ratio of positive vs. negative reviews.

The best way to address this is to keep a list of the sites from STEP 2 above that need balancing reviews, and ask your patients to post reviews on those sites. You can update your request for future patients as you continue to monitor the sites.

By the way, don't succumb to the temptation to post the reviews to the review sites yourself. First of all, it's called "astroturfing" and is illegal -- fines have been levied against companies for doing this very thing. Secondly, most of the review sites have technology that helps them to identify when a person is attempting to submit multiple reviews. When this occurs, the sites have been known to disable posting of any positive reviews. It is important to know that Yelp will display negative reviews but suppress the display of positive reviews if they believe that your Yelp profile is being manipulated.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

STEP 6 - See More Patients With Social Media

Social media sites are places where individuals can aggregate and interact. This is quite different from a typical practice website that acts as a display advertisement and blog sites that serve as a type of diary or running newsfeed. Most of the directory/blog sites, such as New Beauty, have developed a social twist where readers can interact with authors. Of course, the best known social media site is the juggernaut, Facebook. One of the most popular social media sites specific to health and wellness is RealSelf. Other niche oriented sites, such as "mommy" sites and others, exist with a variety of social tools.

In the past, many health care professionals have published articles in peer review journals. In addition to contributing to the general database of medical knowledge, this was, and still is, highly effective at enabling physicians to tout their credentials and stand out from their peers. However, this type of writing does not engage a broad base of consumers.

It turns out that practices that are seen as authoritative or as a center of influence on social media sites are more likely to gather a loyal following of current and new patients. In fact, regularly writing on social media sites and interactive blog sites has helped many physicians spread their name and enabled them to expand their patient base. So, it is recommended that you regularly post information on the major places where you are found, or where you want to be found.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Make sure that you have a contact form on each social media site where you are posting. When a patient is intrigued by your writing, you want to give them the opportunity to contact you directly.

SUMMARY

You can certainly "Do It All Yourself" -- monitor the search engines, monitor the review sites, ask patients to provide you with quality assurance feedback, obtain reviews from patients, engage patients that are dissatisfied, ask happy patients to submit their reviews across the Internet, post your reviews on your website, Facebook, and all directory listing sites, and engage your patients across social media.

Of course, doing all of these tasks day-after-day becomes monotonous. Worse, it is a highly inefficient use of time. While it may seem cost-efficient to do all of these tasks yourself during "down time", you might want to consider if this is an optimal use of your time or if you can be doing other tasks that have a greater impact on the growth of your practice.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Work Smarter NOT Harder

Alternatively, you can use online tools to help you organize and facilitate your efforts. This is the smart way for you to enhance your practice and see more patients.

Specifically, you can use the Patient Approved® system. It is the only system of its kind designed by physicians for physicians to focus on the special needs related to health care practices.

Instead of manually performing the six steps above, the Patient Approved® system turns this into an automated four step system that creates a positive feedback loop to help you enhance your practice and attract more patients to your practice.

Specifically, the Patient Approved® system monitors the Internet and informs you of new postings that may affect your reputation, it stimulates new patient consultations by showing your reviews across all websites you control, it publishes approved reviews to the health-related rating and review sites, it captures and sends new leads to you via e-mail or directly into your EMR or lead management system, it creates a Facebook fan page tab for you, and more.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Patient Approved® Features…

Patient Survey - When integrated with your other software systems (eg. EMR/EHR, scheduling, etc) the Patient Approved® system can automatically request feedback from all of your patients via email and text message (SMS). Additionally, practices can use the Patient Approved® tools such as the desktop application and Insights smartphone application to request feedback from patients at any time. All feedback is aggregated in one location for your review. Valuable metrics are collected enabling you to assess the performance of your practice both historically and as benchmarked against other practices.

The Patient Approved® Website Seal - consider this to be your "Good House-Keeping Seal of Approval". You can have your website company install the seal on the "Homepage” of your website, or if you have a website that you can edit, you can quickly install it yourself. Once installed, the seal will display the number of stars you have achieved along with the number of ratings that have been entered about you. The seal enables patients to enter a request for a consultation which is sent to you via e-mail or sent directly into your EMR or lead management system.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

The Patient Approved® Facebook Widget - this is an application that is installed on your practice page and displays all of your ratings and reviews for people who visit your site. With just a few clicks, the application will enable the display of your ratings and reviews on your Facebook page. The system also enables you to gather new patient consultations, all from within Facebook. Of course, the display of reviews is completely under your control using the Patient Approved® application.

Website Widgets - these include the ability to display your reviews in a scrolling list on any page of your website, display your announcements in a scrolling list on your website, place a contact form anywhere you desire, display videos on your website and Facebook page. Also, you will have a personal link you can include on your website, in e-mails to your patients, or in your newsletter that encourages patients to provide a rating or review about you.

Review Promotion - when patients choose to share their review, the Patient Approved® system automatically inserts a link back to your website into the review, then publishes the review to highly visible sites, such as Facebook and Google. This automatically harnesses the viral nature of social media.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Your Internet Score - this is a very helpful feature that is seen every time you login. Your Internet Score is a weighted average of all the rating and review sites that have listings about you. Your score is updated regularly by the system to reflect your current information. You can improve your score by increasing the number of positive ratings and reviews available online. Note: the first time you log into the system, your score may not be displayed. Patient Approved® is designed to only update information related to users that have logged into the system, so it may take a few days before your first reviews and scores are updated.

Ratings Summary Panel - this is where you will find a summary of information about you and your practice as seen on the major rating and review sites. When new information is found about you or your practice, it will present the reviews to you in your personal dashboard. You can read the actual reviews in the privacy of your dashboard, without having to visit each rating and review site.

When you read a positive review you will want to share that review across the Internet. Simply choose the "Save" or "Publish" option and the system will help validate the review for you. Once the validation process is completed, the system will automatically display the review on any website, on your Facebook fan page, and any social media site where you post a comment. 

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

Health Care Rating & Review Sites*

*This is a partial list as of the original date of this document. Some sites may no longer exist.

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC

BEST PRACTICES

1. Visit http://login.PatientApproved.com 

2. Click the “New Account” link for a FREE account

3. Get the FREE smartphone app to monitor your practice 

4. Collect FREE Google reviews for your practice

5. Install your custom Patient Approved® website seal

6. Attend a complimentary training to learn more!

Questions? Call 800-216-5789 for assistance

Copyright 2021 by Patient Approved® - a series of Fantastic Companies, LLC