A recently released study from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reveals that more patients are using online doctor reviews to choose physicians. In fact, of those using physician review sites, says Modern Healthcare, “Thirty five percent reported selecting a physician based on good reviews, while 37 percent avoided a physician based on bad reviews.” And according to the JAMA data, 40 percent of respondents indicate that “physician rating sites were ‘very important’ when choosing a physician.”
However, that’s only part of the story. The study also shows that the ratings sites still fall below recommendations from family and friends and that four in 10 respondents don’t trust the information on the physician review sites. And there are plenty of doctors filing lawsuits challenging their negative reviews.
Trustworthy (or not) and accurate (or not), consumers are using them at least in part to select their healthcare providers. In a world where you can comment or search on every aspect of a purchase or experience, that is no surprise. And as more “shopping” behaviors are adopted in healthcare, these reviews can be perceived as measurements. But what is being measured? Outcomes? Costs? Bedside manners? Patient satisfaction does not necessarily equal quality care, and viewpoints in healthcare are highly subjective. There is likely to be consumer pressure for more standardized and better ranking methods overall, but even so, currently there are rarely enough comments on any given site for them to be statistically meaningful.
But even if there’s a better way is it a good idea? As a recent Forbes piece points out, there’s another big consequence to online doctor reviews: how they may influence doctors’ treatment decisions. In “Why Rating Your Doctor Is Bad For Your Health,” Kai Falkenberg writes, “Many doctors, in order to get high ratings, overprescribe and overtest, just to ‘satisfy’ patients, who probably aren’t qualified to judge their care. And there’s a financial cost, as flawed survey methods and the decisions they induce, produce billions more in waste. It’s a case of good intentions gone badly awry—and it’s only getting worse.”
Imagine the consequences if this became a real trend: doctors succumbing to pressure from patients out of fear of bad reviews. Is it possible, as Falkenberg suggests, that “the need to please customers often trump[s] their health”? It’s a tricky dynamic for sure: how can doctors get the patient to leave satisfied if an open dialogue on a sensitive issue like smoking cessation or weight loss is required?
Ethical questions aside (and lawsuits aside, since proving defamation vs. opinion can cost you either way), what can hospitals and doctors do to manage risk from – and maybe even benefit from – online reviews? First, monitor the review sites; providers (and the hospitals where they work) need to know “what’s out there.” Second, when possible, solve an issue directly with an individual who’s posted negative feedback. And finally, encourage patients to share their positive experiences. However, these are all fairly passive approaches and hard to scale for a larger impact.
That’s one reason we recommend taking control of your online reputation. Instead of allowing review sites to dominate the conversation, physician groups and doctors must market themselves. With healthcare moving to a more retail-like model, the notion that patients will stick with a lifelong doctor-patient relationship may not be as steadfast as it’s been in the past. Doctors and hospitals must invest in their own voices.
With healthcare consumers developing “shopping” behaviors – and consulting online reviews – doctors and hospitals can’t afford to let third party sites speak for them. Google your doctors’ names. Google the names of the practices within your hospital system. If the only results that appear are review sites or directory listings (like yellow pages), then your brand is in someone else’s hands. Providers must invest in their own online presences. Doctor and hospital microsites that feature great content (blogs, provider videos, patient testimonials, photos, etc.) are far more likely to influence consumers than bad reviews.
In other words, use your own existing digital assets (or create new ones), including social media streams, to manage your online reputation. When consumers search online, make sure your perspective and expertise is available for them to consider among their many options.