Hospital-Sponsored Physician Review Site a Success

by Sheryl S. Jackson

Rich Snippets, Robust Information Boost SEO and Visits to Hospital Website

It happens every day. Someone visits a hotel review website to determine the best place to stay for the next vacation or business trip.

But what happens when patients use the Web to find reviews of physi­cians? Although sites are available, the number of reviews is often limited and the information is some­times skewed to one extreme or the other. However, patients looking for in­formation about a University of Utah Health Care physician are in luck. Having launched its initiative in December 2012, the Salt Lake City hospital is the first to provide open, online access to physician reviews, ratings, and biographical information. A five-star rating system – similar to Yelp, Angie’s List, and Healthgrades and based on results of the hospital’s online patient satisfaction survey – provides information on patients’ experiences with a physician.

There are several benefits to pro­viding physician online reviews, says Brian Gresh, senior director of inter­active marketing and Web for the academic medical center. “From a Web marketing perspective, this program has improved our search engine optimization results signifi­cantly,” he points out. Following the launch of the program, organic search results showed a 75 percent increase over the same period last year for the organization, with a 65 percent increase related to finding a doctor.

“From a public relations perspective, it gives us an opportunity to manage the organization’s reputation on­line,” says Gresh. Reputation man­agement does not mean editing patient comments to include only positive reviews; in fact, the negative ones make the site credible, he ex­plains, noting that more than 99 per­cent of comments are posted. The only comments omitted are those that are libelous, profane, or risk patient privacy. The online survey form clearly explains the guidelines to respondents.

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