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Practice Management
Internet Doctor Reviews:
How Many Stars Did You Get?
Mark S. DeFrancesco, MD, MBA, FACOG
Up until now, “doctor ratings” have been done informally and locally—essentially by current or past patients’ word of mouth. You know the old adage: If a patient likes you, she will tell her best friend, but if she doesn’t like you, she’ll tell 10 people…at least. Well, the world has changed, not only because of the Internet but also because of the social networking phenomenon and the amazing ability for even one person to reach an audience of millions.
An acquaintance I’ll call “Doctor X” was once advised by a tech-savvy colleague to “Google yourself” every so often to see what the rest of the world is saying about you. He did so and, lo and behold, was astounded when the first link popped up with a reference to his “1-star rating” on a popular physician rating service. Devastated but intrigued, he clicked on the link and was magically transported to a page that showed his name and practice address—and his 1-star rating in highlights—with an invitation to “click here to see what patients are saying about this doctor.”
He clicked and found a paragraph written by an unhappy patient complaining about “Dr Y” (note: NOT “Dr X”) because all Dr Y did was gripe to her about the rising cost of his malpractice insurance. The patient went on and said that on her next visit she saw “Dr Z in the same practice” and that Dr Z was totally unsympathetic, in a big rush, and just hurried her out of the office.
It turns out Dr Y and Dr Z both have offices in the same medical building but are not in Dr X’s practice. In fact, these doctors don’t even cross-cover with Dr X. But Dr X was unfairly splattered with the mud that was being thrown at Drs Y and Z.
This story eventually had a relatively happy ending, though, as the rating service responded positively to Dr X’s e-mailed plea to simply READ THE POSTING. Once they did so and realized Drs Y and Z were NOT Dr X, the complaint was taken off the site. No one knows how many patients (or worse, potential patients) saw the erroneous rating, however, before it was noted by Dr X.
“Googling” oneself is becoming a national pastime. In the January 7, 2010, New England Journal of Medicine, there is an excellent “Perspective” on performing this very exercise.1 The author correctly points out that there is much we can learn from reading patients’ comments. If we can get beyond our sensitivity to criticism, we can learn more about what patients want in a clinician and try to meet those needs.
In this age of consumerism and “transparency” (a word that is rapidly becoming cliché), the newest challenge (or opportunity?) we face is the increasing prominence of various rating systems for doctors. Like it or not, we would be wise to recognize this trend and try to avoid the surprise experienced by Dr X.
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RATING SERVICES
A variety of rating services have arisen in recent years. These include sites like HealthGrades, Angie’s List, Vitals.com, RateMDs, and many more. More than 2 years ago, WellPoint actually partnered with Zagat to allow patients to rate their doctors online.2 The categories on which patients were asked to grade their doctors included “trust, communication, availability, and office environment.” Regardless of the service, most will base their rankings on these types of issues. Some also include specific items like how long a patient waited in the office. Many ask about the doctor’s communication skills and if the patient felt rushed. Most also ask about the friendliness of the staff and the cleanliness of the exam room.
Most of these services are relatively new and so far not heavily used by patients. If you visit any of these sites you can search for yourself or other colleagues. In many cases you will be told you can “be the first to rate this doctor.” Or you will see that only one or two reviews are on the service so far. That’s even more concerning, as until a significant number of reviewers are involved, the results can easily be skewed by an unhappy patient.
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WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
- Monitor yourself on the Net. You not only can “Google yourself” periodically but can even have Google do the work for you by signing up for “Google alerts.” This is a free service whereby Google will send you an e-mail when your name pops up somewhere on the Web. It is definitely worth subscribing to, in order to monitor your online presence.
- Take a proactive stance and ask patients to go online and actually rate you. This raises potential ethical questions, of course. We are not recommending “stuffing the ballot box.” There is nothing wrong, however, with informing patients about some of these ratings websites and letting them know that you would appreciate their honest feedback.
- If you do ask patients to participate, do not provide a kiosk or tablet for them to use to access these sites, as the origin of the comments will be suspect; the site may not post them if multiple comments are coming from the same origin—your office. Ask them to do this from home…where they will also feel freer to be candid.
- If you find negative information or comments, it is important that you first assess the validity of the comments. If they are accurate, learn from them! Sometimes we need a wake-up call or a reality check. If they are inaccurate (and not simply a difference of opinion), however, reach out to the rating service (as Dr X did) and present your evidence to the contrary. Clearly this is easier to do if it is something that is objectively provable, like “Dr X is NOT Dr Y or Dr Z.”
- You can also “register” on most of these sites and provide accurate and updated information on your background and practice. Turn
it around, in a sense, and let the website be
part of your “marketing” program to the outside world.
The bottom line is we have always been “rated” by our patients. What’s different today is that these ratings are now being done in a much more public way.
The author reports no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this article.
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Mark S. DeFrancesco, MD, MBA, FACOG, is Chief Medical Officer, Women’s Health Connecticut, Avon, CT.
References
- Jain S. Googling ourselves—what physicians can learn from online rating sites. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(1):6-7.
- Appleby J. WellPoint doctors to get Zagat ratings. USA Today. October 22, 2007.
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