With the power of the internet at their disposal, today’s patients are increasingly discerning and they have a wide choice of healthcare practitioners before them.
Patients regularly look into a doctor’s online reviews before visiting for consultation. Regardless whether you are a specialist, a general practitioner, a dentist or a subsidiary healthcare provider- it is important to protect and preserve your reputation online.
The reviews patients read about you online largely influence how they assess your medical practice. A good review may be helpful but a bad review can be terribly destructive and do serious damage to your reputation.
For medical professionals to have robust practice, it is crucial for them to protect and preserve their online reputation. An effective strategy for online reputation management is a compelling necessity.
Please bear in mind that a disgruntled patient or an unscrupulous fellow-professional could be commenting something adverse online against you. The bad review has a tendency to spread rapidly unless you do something urgently to arrest its percolating.
Defending online reputation of medical professionals is a delicate task as it has a lot to do with people’s perceptions. The reputation management process entails mitigating bad reviews, highlighting positive reviews and sustaining a powerful online presence supported by a patient-friendly website.
Patient advocacy management constitutes in educating the patient about his/her specific health care needs, intelligent use of all available health care plans, the specialists they need to consult and how to avail the best treatment at minimum expenses.
Patient advocacy includes patient awareness about the diseases they suffer from, the nature and duration of treatment, the convalescence period etc.
There are several government sponsored and not-for-profit advocacy agencies, which provide efficient information services to the patients at large. In fact, patient advocacy can include groups that develop policies and legislation to improve medical facilities for patients – such as the Alzheimer’s Association, the Geriatric Association, the Diabetic Association, and the Cancer Care Society etc.
Some of these groups may work for the institutions that are directly responsible for the patient’s care.
The specialist doctors must ensure they maintain robust relationships with the respective groups and there are no bad or adverse reports about them.
There are reputation management professional agencies to assist doctors – particularly in today’s increased competition, continued government health care policy reforms and the constant emergence of new technologies.