If you're a patient and you're not happy with the work your doctor or surgeon does and you leave a bad review on one of those online physician review sites, be prepared to get sued. Chicago plastic surgeon Dr Jay Pensler has filed a defamation lawsuit against three women who left anonymous reviews on online medical doctor review sites (Yelp and Citysearch).
Here's my thought. First of all, online medical review sites are a one way street for patients. With anonymous reviews, doctors, even if they know which patient the anonymous poster was, can't respond to their case because that would constitute a violation of HIPAA regulations.
Doctors are at the mercy of the public when it comes to online reviews and they can't defend themselves in the public eye against unhappy patients. So the next best thing they can do is to fight fire with FREE=MORE.
Don't sue your patients. That just makes the lawyers rich and you're not likely going to win. And even if you do win, you're going to be known as the doctor that sues unhappy patients. Instead, the best thing to do is use your office as an opportunity to overwhelm these sites with positive comments. If you think these sites are important, then do something about it. Happy people are less likely to take the time to hunt down review sites than folks with an ax to grind. It's the same with Happy's nursing and patient surveys. Unhappy people naturally gravitate to the desire to speak out. Take them with a grain of salt.
Instead of fighting back with lawyers, fight back with positive comments. How you ask? By giving your clients a discount for leaving comments on these online review sites. If you are a physician in a a mostly insurance business, nobody cares about online review sites. Most physicians wouldn't care either. Their offices are booked weeks to months in advance.
If you are a physician in a cash business, online reviews may be the difference between success or failure. So play the game. Offer your patients a discount for leaving online comments and reviews. By paying the happy people to leave comments, your going to get a much more balanced view from hundreds, if not thousands of happy customers every year. Here's how you get your patients involved.
- Inform your patient client up front about your payment for honest reviews at the online review sites.
- In the case of pre paid cash services, offer your patient a rebate if they place a comment on the most popular online review sites. Offer them an extra bonus if they are willing to use their real name.
- Create a unique and identifying moniker that only your client and you, the physician, would know about.
- Have the patient inform your office when their comments have been made using the agreed upon moniker.
- Once you have verified that your patient has left a comment on the online review sites, send them the agreed upon rebate check.
I'm sure most people would respond to a $100 rebate. That's a small price to pay if you're going to use these review sites as a form of advertising. My opinion? These online review sites are mostly garbage. I'm sure there are suckers here and there that use them in their decision to find a doctor. But if patients who aren't happy with their results are going to flame doctors who have no ability to respond, then doctors should fight the fire with FREE=MORE, not with lawyers. A little incentive goes a long way.
