Patient reviews of medical professionals on websites, like Google, Yelp and Facebook, can make or break a medical practice. Online review sites give patients control over their healthcare experience. However, negative reviews can harm a medical provider’s reputation. Even the best medical practices receive negative reviews. It is, therefore, inevitable that your medical practice will receive a bad review. However, managing it correctly can help your practice.
How Doctors Should Deal with Negative Online Reviews
While typical businesses have considerable freedom in how they respond to positive or negative online reviews. By contrast, medical practices are limited in how they can publicly communicate with patients. Doctors should not respond with specific details to negative reviews. This can violate HIPAA regulations.
Unlike other service providers who can freely respond to online reviews, medical professionals must be aware of the ethical and legal ramifications. These best practices in responding should be followed:
- Follow HIPPA regulations by not acknowledging that the reviewer was a patient or identifying them by name.
- Avoid responding impulsively or defensively.
- Include simple statements about your practices and procedures.
- If appropriate, reach out to the patient via a phone call.
HIPAA prevents responses that are not simple statements about general practices and procedures. You should stick to phrases, such as “I provide all of my patients with good patient care,” or “Thank you for your feedback. We aim to provide the highest service to all of our patients and encourage you to contact us directly to discuss questions or concerns.” Responses that acknowledge a patient or discuss any details violate HIPAA and can result in fines or disciplinary action.
All negative reviews should be reviewed and handled when appropriate because even a single negative review can lead to a decrease in practice rating and ultimately a potential loss in patients.
Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to Improve the Patient Experience
Public reviews must be dealt with carefully by medical professionals. However, there are other ways to gain great feedback about your practice that can help improve the patient experience and cut down on the number of negative reviews.
NPS is one of the most effective survey methods for patient experience metrics. The data that is produced from an NPS campaign can assist in the patient review process. The Net Promoter Score system categorizes your reviewers into three categories: Promoters, Detractors, and Passives.
Promoters are those patients that like your practice and would recommend it to their friends. On a scale of 1-10, the patient would rate the experience as a 9-10. Those who would rate a practice 7-8 out of 10 as the likelihood of recommending the practice are considered Passives. The Detractors are those who are unhappy with the practice and are likely to leave a poor review. They would rate their likelihood of recommending the practice as a 0-6 out of 10. The key to maximizing the Net Promoter Score is to focus on all the feedback you receive, not just the Promoters and Detractors.
A Passive is easier to get feedback from, compared to a Detractor. This is because they have a strong feeling about your practice. If the Passive was vocal about the negative experience with a bad review, they are more likely to respond if you reach out directly. By validating the Passive’s feelings, they can be moved up to a higher NPS ranking. This is an opportunity to move the patient up the NPS ladder.
A Detractor, on the other hand, might not be quite as receptive to your effort to reach out. However, they can provide the best insight on how to improve the patient experience. They are often an untapped resource for a practice’s new business. The best way to reach a Detractor is with a very direct message that asks how you can improve on their experience. It is even possible to send a short email with a direct question, such as, “What specifically could we do to improve our score?” By listening to their feedback, a personal connection is created. It is possible to turn them into a lifelong patient.
Close the Loop
After collecting and evaluating the feedback that you have received, you need to take action and respond to your patients’ feedback. This is the most important step in the interaction process. Detractors and Passives can be turned into Promoters, by asking for their feedback, acting on it and then letting the patient know that the situation was remedied. This will increase their positive feelings towards your practice, which will increase their lifetime value and improve referral rates.
If you would like to improve your patient experience and grow your practice, Net One Click can help get feedback to better understand how to improve.
Manage Your Reputation and Drive Business Growth