Online reviews are shaping your brand and if you’re not paying attention, you could be at risk. Just one negative review about one provider can spread like wildfire across the web, deterring new patients and weakening even the strongest of brands.

Organizations that keep a close watch on reviews, ratings and social comments about their locations can mitigate the impact of a negative patient experiences if they tune in and take action. This requires an online reputation management platform that monitors reviews in real time and sends up red flags when negative reviews comes in.

Turning a Frown Upside Down

Ochsner Health System is one organization who uses online patient feedback to improve patient experience. In one example, they took a negative patient review and turned it into a positive experience for the patient.

The problem? A patient had scheduled an appointment online at a location that was about an hour from her home. When she arrived on time at the clinic, she was sent away. Office staff told her the clinic was closing soon, and they didn’t have time to see her. The patient posted a negative review, which had the potential to damage the clinic, and the Ochsner Health System brand, if it went without response.

Fortunately Ochsner uses Reputation.com for review monitoring and responding, so when the review came in, they knew right away. The review was flagged in the platform and escalated immediately to Ochsner’s Vice President of Access, who is responsible for patient experience.

The  access team was able to identify the patient and confirm what had happened, then contacted her to issue an apology. Thanks to the quick response and proactive outreach, they were able to reschedule the patient — this time to a location closer to her home. The patient received the care she needed, and Ochsner retained her business.

Automation and Alerts Streamline Processes and Eliminate Delay

The small digital team at Ochsner focuses on responding to extreme cases — reviews that mention profanity, harassment or a particularly bad experience — while a dedicated team at Reputation.com responds to all other reviews on behalf of Ochsner. Monitoring the reviews in real time from the Reputation.com dashboard enables the team to send critical information to appropriate patient relations contacts, who can then take rapid action to remediate an issue.

Operational Insights Enable Data-Driven Decisions

Monitoring and responding to online reviews is the critical first step to improving patient sentiment about your brand, as well as your overall online reputation, helping you to identify isolated issues and address them quickly, like in this case with Ochsner Health System.

But the most important step is identifying and taking action on the broader trends or issues that underlie the feedback. To fully understand persistent or recurring issues requires the use of  analytics and reporting tools that help spot trouble areas, provide comparative data and steer decision-making, ultimately delivering long-term patient satisfaction..

Learn more about how you can make operational improvements to your business by analyzing online reviews, surveys and social comments using sentiment and thematic analysis tools.

Also, check out our on-demand Webinar which provides a blueprint for healthcare marketers interested in improving online reputation, featuring Ochsner Health System’s ORM success story.