While you may want to have all 5-star reviews, that’s not necessarily realistic. A patient could misinterpret your or your staff’s words or actions. A patient may not understand why they had a complication or poor treatment outcome. A patient may not understand their condition. There could be a host of reasons a patient might post a negative review.
Preventing Negative Reviews
Negative reviews can often be prevented by providing patients with excellent customer service and meaningful communication so that patients are fully informed and understand their condition, plans for treatment, reasonable outcomes from treatment, charges, and payment policies.
If a patient voices a concern while in the office, this is an excellent opportunity to discuss and address the patient’s concerns, which can turn a dissatisfied patient into a satisfied patient and prevent a negative review.
Guidance for Responding to Negative Reviews
Despite your (and your staff’s) best efforts, you may still receive a negative review on social media or any other online public platform. While your first instinct may be to write a detailed explanation to defend yourself, that is not a good idea. Healthcare professionals must adhere to HIPAA regulations and confidentiality obligations. That means you cannot acknowledge that the reviewer was a patient, identify the patient by name, or discuss patient experiences. It is best to avoid responding impulsively or defensively, because otherwise, you could find yourself in a back-and-forth argument that never really gets resolved.
Do not ignore negative reviews, either. Negative reviews can be used to identify potential areas of improvement for your practice, so try to take them as potential feedback. Ignoring negative reviews can lead to increased patient frustration and a breakdown of the physician-patient relationship. Consider calling the patient to discuss their concerns, think objectively about the patient’s point of view, and try to resolve their concerns offline.
Typically, a good practice is to respond to the reviewer and generally acknowledge their feedback, while seeking to take the conversation offline. Keep it polite, brief, and generic. For example, “We strive to provide high-quality patient care and exceptional customer service. We encourage you to contact our office to discuss any concerns.”
You can also create a strategy at your practice for acquiring positive reviews from satisfied patients. When you have a lot of positive reviews, a few negative ones will not take away from your overall online reputation.
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