Online reviews have become the norm for businesses, and this includes medicine. But how should you respond to negative trash talk?
So you have yourself a negative patient review. And while you would like to resolve the issue, it can be immensely frustrating – especially when your reputation and business is on the line. Patient reviews are delicate, and you must treat them very carefully.
As more people turn to the web to voice their opinion and help make decisions about healthcare, more potential patients will check online reviews about doctors.
Having positive patient reviews is becoming an important tool for attracting and attaining patient traffic.
Patient reviews matter
Today, word-of-mouth referral is no longer limited to people talking face to face. The internet allows anyone with access to a computer to share his or her opinions and speak publicly about their experiences and influence other prospective patients.
Patients can’t judge the quality of medical advice – but patient reviews often address matters unrelated to a doctor’s medical advice and in these cases the patient’s lack of medical expertise is irrelevant.
Dealing with bad reviews
No one likes criticism, and negative reviews can really sting. Some feel that patients have an unfair leverage, and that that they are unfairly blamed or have become a target and can’t step out to defend him or herself.
Others feel that these types of evaluations are constructive and a core part of personal care, giving them the opportunity to review their performance as a practitioner and a medical practice as a whole.
If you do find a negative review, the first step is to stay calm and keep it in perspective. Bad reviews happen – no matter what you do there will always be a few bumps in the road. It helps to be thick-skinned – and remember that disgruntled patients are more likely to post than happy patients.
Although negative reviews can often be unfair, how you respond can be crucial and it most likely depends on the nature of the review. If the post sounds irrational or crude, experts advise that in most cases it is best not to try to refute it and to ignore it. Ask yourself if it is worth responding, because usually there is no upside to getting into a heated debate with a patient.
If you do respond, keep it polite, and only respond once. It may be better to post a general positive response, in order to protect both patient anonymity and the reputation of your business.
It is often hard to get negative reviews removed from websites and it may cost more time and money than it is worth. However, if the review contains obscenities or crude language, some sites will be partial to removing the content if asked, if it violates terms of use.
Going legal
Experts highly advise to not file a lawsuit – practitioners rarely win these cases. In many cases filing a suit only brings attention to the patient’s complaints (which would otherwise have gone largely unnoticed) and it often gets put down to being free speech about a public issue.
On top of this, the majority of practitioners believe that online ratings have no impact on their business and don’t believe patients give them much weight when they make health care decisions.
In a 2013 study, researchers at Vanguard Communications found that patients who posted negative reviews were four times more likely to complain about a provider’s indifference, bedside manner or customer service than about his or her medical skills.
The power behind the positive review
Positive online review sites may be especially beneficial for practitioners offering not only a powerful way to promote a practice but also the best defence against negative reviews.
At the end of the day, practitioners in most cases should strive to ignore crude or blatantly unhelpful attacks, while giving an open mind to consider criticisms as potentially important insights.
