Survey Shows Seventy Percent of Patients are Influenced by Online Reviews When Selecting a Medical Professional
(PRWEB) January 29, 2014 -- According to a recent survey conducted by Digital Assent, the leading provider of real-time patient satisfaction surveys and online reputation marketing solutions for the United States healthcare market, online reviews for doctors and medical practices are influential in a patient’s decision when visiting the doctor’s office. A resounding seventy-two percent of patients reported that bad reviews would prevent them from going to see a particular doctor. Forty-six percent of patients said it only takes two to five bad reviews out of one hundred to discourage them from a particular practice.
Digital Assent’s first annual Online Patient Review Survey had 341 participants and the data collected demonstrates that in order to achieve what patients consider a healthy online reputation, physicians need to consistently receive positive reviews from their patients. Despite these findings, the fact remains that many doctors are reluctant to adopt practices to actively solicit patient feedback and collect more patient reviews. Digital Assent, the makers of PatientPad, wrote a blog post earlier this month titled ‘Do Patients Care About Online Doctor Reviews?’ which outlines why doctors are often the last to accept the value of online patient reviews.
“PatientPad was originally focused on enhancing the patient experience on the front-end of a patient’s visit – by making it easy for patients to electronically check in for their appointment and browse relevant health information while waiting to see their doctor,” explained Whit Lanier, vice president of sales and marketing for Digital Assent. “Today, PatientPad also offers practices the opportunity to capture real-time feedback from patients on the back-end of each visit - while the experience is fresh in the patient’s mind,” continued Lanier. In this way, PatientPad is helping doctors around the country improve patient satisfaction, while at the same time helping them create a more robust online presence.”
In a time when online reputations mean more than ever, PatientPad has proven itself to be the ideal vehicle for doctor’s offices looking to improve their online presence with better social marketing. Digital Assent’s data shows that it is not just important for doctors to have good online reviews, they need to maintain a steady stream of fresh reviews to be considered relevant by patients. The survey shows that by the time a review is twelve months old, seventy-five percent of patients feel that it has lost credibility.
To download Digital Assent’s complete survey results click the following link. If you are interested in learning more about PatientPad or would like to view a demo click here.
About Digital Assent
Digital Assent is a healthcare technology company that helps physicians improve patient satisfaction and grow their online reputation. The company’s award-winning PatientPad® technology makes it easy for doctors to collect real-time feedback from patients while their experience is top of mind. Patient reviews and testimonials can be automatically published to the physician’s website, Facebook page, Google search results and popular doctor ratings websites. At any time during their visit, patients can also learn more about the practice, browse relevant health information, apply for financing and much more. Digital Assent’s rapidly growing PatientPad® network spans every major metropolitan market in the country. For more information, please visit Digital Assent's homepage.
Whit Lanier, Digital Assent, http://www.digitalassent.com, 404.382.7574, [email protected]
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