With more and more patients consulting physician reviews before choosing a new doctor, there’s more information out there than ever. Is what’s being portrayed really fair and accurate, or does this system do more harm than good?
There are a number of online sites that allow potential clients to read and evaluate physician reviews,
helping patients to find the best physicians for their needs, and raise awareness about those who are less than proficient at what they do. While the benefit for the customers is obvious, there are also a number of benefits for the physician as well.
First, these websites can help to attract new patients to the practice. It is well known among industry professionals that the most successful form of advertising is still word of mouth referrals, and that when people have either a positive or negative experience, they are eager to share their news with others. When prospective clients have the opportunity to read the reviews and comments posted by other patients, they may be more willing to give that practice a chance than if they just happened upon the listing in a phone book or online directory, and had nothing but basic information to go on.
In addition to increasing business for the office, these reviews also provide important feedback to the physician regarding his or her strengths, as well as the areas where improvement might be needed. This electronic version of the comment card not only benefits the practice, but also the environment, by reducing the number of trees being cut down to make paper.
Another benefit to reading physicians’ reviews is that they can help you to decide which doctors you might be interested in learning more about, and which to pass by. These evaluations are particularly helpful to those who are new to an area, and have no one that they can contact to get references or opinions about medical professionals in the community. They can also help to ease concerns for those who have a specific physician in mind, or are having difficulty with the idea of getting comfortable with a new practitioner.
When going through the reviews, try to keep in mind that the reviews, although based on facts, are still someone’s opinion. It is a good idea to try to read as many as possible for each candidate, to get as complete a picture of the physician and the practice as possible. Also, don’t be completely put off if one individual seems to have an overall bad review, as there might be other reasons for it, such as a small number of responses.
As with anything, there are also drawbacks to the practice of posting physicians’ reviews online. The chief problem is that while a highly positive review has the potential to increase business, a severely negative one can do serious damage to the practice, depending on the number of people viewing the site at any one time.
Another hazard of these sites is that a patient’s negative posting may actually have little or nothing to do with the quality of care they did or did not receive. Any number of things can prompt a dissatisfactory review, from forgetting an insurance card to the office not having a favorite magazine that particular visit, to a personal grudge against a medical professional. Regardless of the reason for it, once posted, the evaluation is there for all to see, and could cause someone to miss out on seeing an excellent physician by dramatically lowering the practice’s standings on the site.
