Skip to main content

The importance of online reputation management for physicians and healthcare practices

Just like restaurants, hotels, schools, or any other organization that provides a service to the general public, healthcare providers are becoming increasingly affected by their online reputation. Continue reading to learn what reputation is all about, why it’s so important, some tips to improve profiles, and what the future has in store online reputation management when it comes to healthcare providers.

What Is Physician Online Reputation Management

The best way to understand physician online reputation management is to consider what happens when you want to find a restaurant. Imagine you want to have dinner this evening and are unsure of what restaurants are on offer. While you can ask friends and family for their recommendations, what if you’re in a new town that you’re not familiar with? In order to make sure you make the best possible choice you’re probably going to turn to the internet.

One of the best things about the internet is that there are plenty of impartial sites that allow the general public to leave ratings and write reviews. In the same way that you would like an unbiased set of opinions from the general public when it’s time to choose your restaurant, why would this be any different when you want to choose a service for your health and wellbeing.

Why Is Medical Online Reputation Management So Important?


If you’re having any doubts about the importance of medical online reputation management then you don’t have to look any further than the numbers.

  • Almost two-thirds of adults are of the opinion that the online reviews and ratings that a provider has will affect their decision on whether to use them or not.

  • Over a third of adults will not even go and visit a doctor if they encounter negative reviews on the internet.

  • A third of patients have said that good reviews will have an influence on their decision.

The survey results are a clear indication that online reputations matter.

Ways That Doctor Online Reputation Management Can Enhance Your Profile

If you’re not fully content with your current ratings and reviews, or you feel you need more of them, then here are some doctor online reputation management strategies that you can consider the following:

  • Make a review of all the sites that people go to for advice or to assess the reputations of doctors. Read through any reviews and comments to get a general idea of what people are saying about you.

  • Create accounts for all these sites and begin to reply to any feedback that has been left. That way, if there are any negative comments, you at least get to have ‘your say’ and any readers can hear your side of the argument.

  • If the internet and reputation management is not something you want to invest your time in, then consider using a third party service provider to take care of it for you. While it costs you money, you can get a professional who has experience in these matters. This will free up more of your time to focus your efforts on being a doctor.


What Does The Future Hold For Healthcare Online Reputation Management?

Make no mistake, healthcare online reputation management is not something that can be overlooked by any doctor, physician, or healthcare provider. Currently, a third of patients have said that positive reviews will influence their decision. This number is only likely to continue increasing in the future as more and more individuals rely on internet sites to provide honest information that doesn’t receive a bias that most marketing channels have.

Getting unbiased information to the general public can only be a good thing.  With so many different sites like HealthGrades, RateMD’s, YP, Yelp, and of course Google, it helps to have all the ratings and reviews consolidated in one place. That way, reviewing and managing your online reputation becomes so much easier and more efficient. And, if you don’t have the time or resources to keep on top of things yourself, then it’s definitely advisable to hire a third party service provider to take care of it yourself. Your online reputation is fast becoming just as popular as your offline reputation in your local community.
 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The truth about patient satisfaction surveys

When it comes to the medical institutions, we don’t always realize how important it is to know if you can trust the institution or not. To know if you can trust the institution or doctor with something as essential as your life. This is where the patient satisfaction surveys come it. With these surveys you will know for sure that you are going to the right medical facility or doctor practice for assistance when you are not feeling great. However, there are still people that doesn’t know everything there is to know about these surveys. And, they don’t know why this is important to ensure that they are doing these surveys as well. This is the truth about these surveys to completely understand what this is all about: What is patient feedback survey Before you can know the truth about these surveys, you first need to know what a patient feedback survey is. This is something that you are filling in to make sure that the facility knows if you were satisfied with the facility or not. There a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Online Reputation Management Matters and How Patient Surveys Can Help You-management

Patients can no longer be seen as individuals . In fact, they are the lifeblood that sustains any modern healthcare practice. Therefore, your online reputation needs to reflect a positive image that keeps patients coming back (when they’re sick) and recommending you to friends, family, and online connections. Is medical online reputation management that big a deal? There’s so much more to medical online reputation management than meets the eye. In recent years your online presence can be the difference between success and failure for just about every industry. More and more patients are no longer going to their local practice because “it’s where they’ve always gone.” Nowadays, people have more choice than ever thanks to the advancement of the internet. It’s because of this that people are taking the time to research their healthcare professionals. Therefore, when they come online and come across your practice, you want to make sure you come across in the best possib...
Post a Comment
Read more

Doctor surveys. Everything you need to know

When you are looking for a product or a service, you are normally reading reviews and surveys that people filled in about the product. This is the only way that you can make sure that you are getting value for money. When it comes to medical practices, there are people that are doing the same. They are reading as many doctor surveys as possible to ensure that they are going to the right doctor or clinic. But, because there are so many people that don’t know much about these surveys, we are going to give you all the information you need to know. What are doctor surveys? It’s important to understand the surveys that you can get from different patient surveys companies . These surveys are actually nothing more than reviews. Reviews about the practice, the doctor, and the service that you are getting from them. This is beneficial to everyone involved. From the doctor working at the practice, the personnel, and the patients. It gives everyone an insight about what people think about the pra...
Post a Comment
Read more