“You can’t keep your head in the sand or the top page of results will be things over which you have no control,” says Dr. Duszak.


So what should you do? Begin with creating or enhancing your profile on such professional social media sites as LinkedIn and Doximity. Drs. Pho and Duszak are especially enthusiastic about Doximity because the site’s content feeds into the physician ratings issued by US News & World Report. Further, they emphasize, it’s easy: Doximity provides a tool that allows you to upload your CV; the site does the rest.


Next, review and correct the information on third-party sites. In the case of negative reviews that you suspect to be erroneous or egregious, report them to site management. Dr. Pho had this experience, in which suddenly multiple negative reviews appeared online, all nearly identical except with many different usernames. “The terms of service [of those sites] are designed to protect providers,” he says.


Under guidelines established by HealthGrades’ Editorial Policy Review Board, site management monitors reviews for fraudulent activity. If more than one survey is received from the same email address, only the most recent is published. Marks reports that the company receives about 300 inquiries per month from providers; research finds basis for removal in about half the cases.


There is no doubt that negative reviews are not necessarily about you—people comment about parking, support staff and old magazines in the waiting room, but this online feedback can be valuable, says Dr. Pho.


“The physician may not know about the quality of experience; these are things they want to know if they are interested in understanding the reputation of their business,” says Marks. If you find that legitimate surveys are returning comments and results that concern you, take the opportunity to do some service recovery. Thank the commenter online and ask them to call the office to discuss their experience. “Trying to clear up the problem offline can work— patients may then amend the reviews online,” says Pho.


University of Utah Patient Experience Survey 1. Was this your first visit here? (y/n)


2. How many minutes did you wait after your scheduled appointment time before you were called to an exam room?


3. How many minutes did you wait in the exam room before you were seen by the doctor, PA, NP or midwife?


The following questions are evaluated on a 1–5 ranking (very poor, poor, fair, good, very good):


4. Ease of getting through to the clinic on the phone


5. Convenience of our office hours


6. Ease of scheduling your appointment


7. Courtesy of the staff in the registration area


8. Degree to which you were informed about any delays


9. Wait time at clinic (from arriving to leaving)


10. Friendliness/courtesy of the nurse/assistant


11. Explanations the care provider gave you about your problem or condition


12. Concern the care provider showed for your questions or worries


If you are affiliated with a large academic medical center, it is likely that it provides support and personnel who work to protect physicians’ reputations. Staff at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, for example, have been working for the past couple of years to create robust, accurate online profiles for their employed physicians—and even to get doctors to create thought leadership through original online content such as blog posts.


At the far end of the spectrum are organizations such as University


of Utah Hospitals & Clinics, which took total control of patient reviews by conducting its own survey and publishing the results. Although some of their doctors were nervous initially, the campaign was “based on a sense of the future,” says Tom Miller, MD, chief medical officer. When Dr. Miller came across Trip Advisor and recognized it as a game-changer for the travel industry, he said, “This is coming our way. We won’t get away from it; the public will have their say.”


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13. Care provider’s efforts to include you in decision about your treatment


14. Information the care provider gave you about medications (if any)


15. Instructions the care provider gave you about follow-up care (if any)


16. Degree to which care provider talked with you using words you could understand


17. Amount of time the care provider spent with you


18. Your confidence in this care provider


19. Likelihood of your recommending this care provider to others


20. How well staff protected your safety (by washing hands, wearing gloves, etc.)


21. Our sensitivity to your needs 22. Our concern for your privacy 23. Cleanliness of our practice


24. How well the staff worked together to care for you


25. Likelihood of your recommending our practice to others


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