Boosting the Online Reputation of Healthcare Practices

Understanding the Importance of Online Reputation for Healthcare Practices

In today’s digital age, patients heavily rely on online reviews when making most decisions, from which toaster they should buy to which doctor they should go to. Having a strong online reputation can have lasting impacts on a healthcare practice, bringing in new patients based on positive reviews.

The Role of Online Reputation in the Healthcare Sector

In the healthcare industry, there are multiple places for patients to leave reviews, the most common being:

• Online review sites, like Yelp

• Search engines, like Google

• Health insurance portals

• Healthcare practices’ own portals

Prospective patients will typically look at more than one review source, as some could be more reliable than others. For example, the reviews a healthcare practice posts on its own website will only include positive feedback. However, health insurance portals and online review platforms will include positive and negative reviews, which will give patients a more accurate understanding of the practice and provider.

Many health insurance portals will also include filters based on patient feedback, including star ratings and bedside manner. If prospective patients only want to view providers with a four-star rating or higher, they won’t even see providers with negative reviews.

Practical Strategies for Boosting the Online Reputation of Healthcare Practices

There are steps that medical practices can take to build a positive online presence, including turning patient feedback into online reviews and building a strong digital presence on social media.

Review Management: Turning Feedback into Favorable Reputation

Online reputation management can be difficult at the beginning because many patients don’t go through the effort of leaving reviews unless they had a negative experience. There are ways medical practices can combat this, primarily by encouraging patients to leave reviews if they had a positive experience.

Healthcare software has also made it easier to encourage patients to leave reviews about their experience with their healthcare provider. For example, when a patient is entered into a CRM system, they are typically prompted to provide an email address and opt into digital communication. With this information, healthcare practices can send emails after the patient’s visit and prompt them with a direct link to leave a review about their visit.

Once a practice starts to see more patient reviews coming in, it can build a page with positive reviews and start sharing them on social media, increasing online visibility.

Developing a Strong Social Media Presence for Enhanced Reputation

While patients will utilize online review sites to create a shortlist of potential healthcare providers, younger patients are also likely to see if a medical practice has social media accounts on popular platforms. If a medical practice has no social media presence or if it has poorly maintained accounts, then potential patients could feel mistrust and look elsewhere.

Healthcare practices should have active accounts on social media platforms to build a positive reputation among younger patients. Social media posts can include healthcare provider appreciation and sharing positive patient feedback on a semi-regular basis. This will build a positive online reputation and increase visibility among potential new patients.

Measuring and Maintaining Your Online Reputation

Once a healthcare practice builds an online reputation, it’s important to maintain that presence and course-correct when negative reviews are posted.

Tools for Monitoring Online Reputation

There are tools in the market for monitoring online reviews on public platforms, like review sites and search engines. If a healthcare practice is still in the early stages of online reputation management, then it can bookmark popular review platforms and set search engine alerts for when the practice is mentioned online. While it is a manual review that may take more time than an automated software system, it can go a long way in ensuring the practice has a positive online reputation.

Addressing Negative Reviews and Feedback

When negative reviews are posted online, it’s crucial that healthcare practices do not leave them unaddressed. Healthcare practices should respond to the feedback in an empathetic way, including a way for the patient to follow up with the practice regarding their experience. Responding this way results in three positives:

• The patient who had a negative experience can feel heard, contact the practice to provide more information, and understand that change may come from their review.

• The healthcare practice can identify an issue among their healthcare providers or patient process and implement a change to improve patients’ experience.

• Potential patients who see the negative review will also see the practice’s response, and can identify that the practice is understanding of negative experiences and wants to change in response.

Maintaining Consistency in Reputation Management Strategies

When building an online reputation, maintaining consistent strategies is essential to long-term success. For example, if a practice spends six months focusing on building positive online reviews and then stops, it can look like the practice was great years ago, but has since gone downhill. When practices have years’ worth of positive reviews, then new patients can feel more confident in their new healthcare provider.

How Geneca Can Help

Geneca has over 25 years of experience creating and maintaining high-quality, reliable custom software solutions. Our partners choose us because we:

• Understand software and business, including industry processes and regulations

• Use cutting-edge technology paired with trusted, evergreen tools

• Communicate changes, progress, and expectations through every step of the development process

• Honor your budget and timeline from the start

If you’re ready to improve your healthcare practice’s online reputation, contact us today!