Do Patients Have the Right to Rant or Rave about Their Doctors Online?
January 26th, 2010 by Carol Dobies
Transparency in quality reporting goes both ways. Good ratings – and bad – are posted every day for all kinds of products and services. When it comes to health care, I absolutely believe in transparency and public reporting of quality and patient safety measures. In fact, right now we’re in the process of creating a brand new “Quality Matters” microsite for one of our clients.
Recently, MSNBC reported that some physicians were having patients sign “gag order” waivers to prevent their ranting on review Web sites. Unbelievable. Would you trust a physician who required you to sign such a document? Allowing patients to review doctors on Web sites is not only is in the best interest of consumers and public health, but it is also a matter of freedom of speech. In fairness, however, I believe doctors should be exempt from federal privacy laws that prevent them from publicly responding to patients.
As healthcare marketers, we may not be able to change federal law, but we can help manage the reputation of our physician clients on these Web sites. Here’s how:
- Use a username that clearly identifies you as a representative from the practice, such as OfficeMgr_SmithMedical, with proper contact information in the user profile.
- Acknowledge comments with replies that let reviewers know you are listening (without, of course, acknowledging patient name or identification).
- Direct patients to contact a specific person at the practice to voice concerns and resolve issues.
- Encourage reviewers to continue the conversation with your practice.
