What Trip Advisor, Yelp and Healthgrades Have in Common

Call it empowerment. A movement. A cultural change. A new generation. People are not shy about sharing their opinion these days. Loudly and for all to see and hear. Social media started the phenomenon with people expressing their every thought with a click of a button.

Knowledge on anything and everything lives online. Whether speaking to Siri or clicking through Google, consumers can virtually do everything online. Healthcare may be a bit slower to adapt to the digital world, but patients are forcing them to do so – especially the younger generation.

According to the Pew Research Center – 72% of consumers search online for health information, including finding a doctor. Research shows they don’t settle on the first one they find. The average search is 10 sites. And a big part of that searching is looking at online reviews of providers. These reviews are often the first place a patient may look for a new doctor. Patients use these reviews mostly for looking at the quality of care and accuracy of the diagnosis.

It’s no surprise doctors have strong opinions about online reviews. Some embrace and love them -- and even promote them to their patients. While others loathe the thought and find the systems flawed – from hostile patients who didn’t get the answer they wanted to paid searches by practices wanting providers to have a high search ranking.

Regardless, patient reviews are here to stay and embracing them would be wise. Many practices have chosen to be proactive and have selected many online review services to make sure they have accurate data and profiles. Some of the most popular being Healthgrades, Yelp, ZocDoc, Vitals, WebMD, Rate MDs, Care Dash, Angie’s List and Top Doctors.

Practices are creating patient marketing collateral promoting online review information. Other popular marketing includes online review promotion on business cards, e-signatures, practice websites, social media and more.

Being proactive and embracing the trend can help grow your practice and make changes to improve the overall patient experience.

So the next time you search for the best burger in town, search your provider and see what you find.

1. online reviews