Patient Engagement

Why can’t we all get along online?

A Yelp representative and an entrepreneur discuss how to keep online conversations productive and civil. They will offer tips for improving the patient experience in the office and on the Internet at MedCity's annual patient engagement conference, ENGAGE, in San Diego in October.

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Why can’t we all get along online?

Patients increasingly have shown a willingness to write online reviews of their healthcare experiences and opine on social media, and there are plenty of places for them to do so. Sometimes, though, this feedback prompts physicians and their staff to want to defend themselves.

And sometimes, providers react too strongly. A pediatric practice in Fort Myers, Florida, reportedly cut ties with eight families last month over negative comments posted in a private Facebook group.

“Most physician practices are still not really comfortable with all-out engagement online,” said Sunnie Southern, CEO of Cincinnati-based health innovation firm Viable Synergy and founder of the Innov8 for Health online community.

Southern and Emily Washcovick, manager of local business outreach for consumer rating site Yelp, will discuss online behavior during an Oct. 18 session at MedCity ENGAGE in San Diego. They will explore how to keep conversations productive, civil and useful for patients and healthcare providers alike.

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MedCity ENGAGE is an executive-level event that features the most innovative thinking from hospital systems, providers, insurers, health IT, doctors and other innovators to discuss best-in-class approaches to advance patient engagement and healthcare delivery. The 4th annual MedCity ENGAGE will be held October 18-19 in San Diego. Register today & save $400. Register now and save.

In case of a negative review, Washcovick recommends being polite and offering a private way to follow up. This is especially pertinent in healthcare, where HIPAA comes into play.

As a hospital or provider responding to a negative review, say that you appreciate the feedback and provide a way to connect offline. Express empathy by making sure acknowledge and perhaps apologize for the negative experience, Washcovick advised.

“Thanks for reaching out. Please call the office to discuss” is a good way to handle it, she believes. “It shows every other person looking at your review that you take the patient experience seriously.”

She added that responding to negative reviews can help to get new patients as well. Southern of Viable Synergy agreed.

“At the end of the day, patients have a voice that they never had before,” she said.

With that in mind, Viable Synergy offers physician practices customized marketing content to distribute both in the office and online. For example, there might be a brochure, branded with the practice’s name, explaining how meditation can be beneficial to health, and then offering tips for a 5-minute meditation that patients can do while sitting in the office.

To reinforce the message, Viable Synergy produces “staff flags” — buttons or stickers for office staff to wear — with messages to help engage patients. If the brochure does in fact talk about meditation, a flag might say, “Tell me about your 5-minute meditation,” Southern explained. “It puts a personal element to it.”

Printed material might include a takeaway item like a card saying, “If you like the 5-minute meditation, here’s a 10-minute meditation to try at home.”

The card also lists a URL that could link to the practice’s Facebook and Yelp pages because it’s sometimes hard to find social and feedback links on practice websites, she said.

Online rating sites do tend to come up high in Google searches, and often, rating sites list outdated phone numbers, hours and even addresses, so it’s important for practices to make sure their own listings are current.

It goes without saying that practices should make it easy for people visiting their websites to find the phone number and business hours, Southern said.

Similarly, in the name of customer service, practices should never try to suppress online reviews, Southern said. Instead, they should actively engage the public.

“It’s no longer a ‘nice to do’ anymore. It’s an absolute ‘have to do,'” she said.

Practices are truly starting to care when patients have a bad experience, Southern said, though the recently departed Jess Jacobs may have taken issue with that statement. It does help, though, if they pay attention to what’s being said online.

“They begin to understand how patients are seeing them,” Southern said.

Photo: Flickr user Jay Cox

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