More
patients are using online provider reviews for patient access decisions,
looking for providers who are empathetic and drive positive experiences.
By Sara Heath
September 04, 2019
- Seventy-five percent of patients consult an online provider review
website before booking an appointment, highlighting the increasing influence
these websites have on patient access to care, according to a new survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of
Binary Fountain.
In total, 60 percent
of patients research their providers on a search engine before scheduling an
appointment, up from 38 percent of patients who did so in 2017. Fifty-one
percent of patients are looking up their providers on social media and 31
percent via voice search, like a Siri or Alexa home device. These numbers are
up from 7 and 4 percent, respectively, back in 2017.
These findings
highlight just how important having a good online reputation is for providers and healthcare
organizations. Patients are increasingly in charge of their own health, with
more and more shopping around for care and learning more about services before
booking an appointment.
And with 45 percent
more patients saying online provider reviews are “very reliable” than in 2018,
it will be important for providers to understand how patients value, access,
and use these reviews.
Patients are
primarily leaning on Google to churn up reliable provider reviews, with 54
percent of patients saying they use the search engine to learn more about their
clinicians. Forty-eight percent consult the hospital or facility website, 45
percent search Facebook, and 42 percent look at Healthgrades.
Fewer patients are
looking at Instagram (29 percent), RateMDs (23 percent), Twitter (21 percent),
and US News & World Report (21 percent) to know more about their provider
services.
But online reviews are not the only factors
patients are looking at when deciding which facilities they will visit. The
survey asked patients about the influence of their family and friends’ provider
reviews, with 54 percent saying a positive or negative experience for a family
member could dissuade them from visiting a certain doctor themselves.
Thirty-six percent of
patients said the facility location and hospital affiliation are important when
picking a clinician, although those numbers are waning, the survey found.
Thirteen percent fewer patients said hospital affiliation was important compared
to last year’s data, and 48 and 62 percent fewer ranked location and insurance
acceptance as important compared to last year.
Instead, patients are
increasingly focused on patient experience data. Over 250 percent more patients
ranked CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Processes and System) survey data as important for healthcare decision-making
this year as they did last year, the survey found.
The survey likewise
looked at patient’s habits posting their own online provider reviews, with the
number of patients leaving online comments increasing by 306 percent since
2017. Patients are turning to Facebook (57 percent), Google (49 percent),
Healthgrades (40 percent), hospital/facility website (40 percent), and
Instagram (30 percent) to leave their own reviews of their providers.
And increasingly,
patients are commenting their experiences and level of satisfaction in these
reviews, with 41 percent saying that the thoroughness of a provider’s examination
is the most important factor when leaving comments.
Thirty-nine percent
said they comment on a clinician’s friendly or caring attitude, 36 percent
about a provider’s ability to answer questions, and 33 percent about their own
level of involvement in shared decision-making.
These findings align
with a growing trend toward consumer and patient satisfaction, the survey
authors pointed out. While patient safety and quality care outcomes will always
be top-of-mind, the rise of consumerism in healthcare has led more providers to
consider the customer service aspects that can impact a patient’s experience
and eventually their online review.
And with more than 20
percent of patients saying ease of appointment scheduling and in-office wait
times were the leading sticking points in their healthcare experiences,
organizations are looking for tools to solve those issues. Digitization, the
survey found, will serve organizations well as patients continue to demand
online options for healthcare access.
The number of
patients booking appointments over the telephone was cut in half of the past
year, going down from 84 percent of appointments to 47 percent this year.
Meanwhile, the number of patients booking through a provider website has nearly
doubled, going from 14 percent of appointments booked to 29 percent, the survey
found.
While these numbers
certainly suggest that organizations should consider online appointment
scheduling systems, leaders should be wary of doing away with the phone
altogether. After all, nearly half of all patients booked their appointments
over the phone this year, meaning there is still a significant market for
organization call centers.
Nonetheless, these
findings suggest a path forward for patient access and acquisition that is
marked by positive and seamless experiences. As patients are increasingly
concerned with having a satisfactory healthcare visit, and learning the details
of their peers’ experiences, organizations need to understand online provider
reviews.
By learning more
about how patients use online reviews and the factors that influence them
writing their own reviews, organizations can pinpoint areas for improvement.
No comments:
Post a Comment