Consumer Reports, the venerable publication that rates everything from baby formula to automobiles, is now in the online ratings industry. Teaming up with the Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, Consumer Reports recently published and rated 500 adult and child primary care practices in Massachusetts. These findings were included in a supplement to New England readers of the magazine.
Five categories were evaluated on a 1 to 4 score based on surveys ascertaining patients experience. Performance indicators included how well the doctors communicated with their patients, coordination of care, how well doctors knew their patients, getting timely appointments, and office staff courtesy.
Doctors were rated using the familiar color-coded Consumer Reports scheme (“red circle, black circle”, full/half) to denote outstanding, average, or poor performance.
This may be a sign of things to come. In April, Consumer Reports ranked 27 practices as high-performing in partnership with the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Plans to audit Minnesota and Wisconsin practices will come next.
The goal of these surveys says Consumer Reports, is to give patients options of where to choose the next doctor, options in highly ranked physicians in your area, and ultimately use as a tool to help patient care.
Many practices now feel flat-footed when it comes to reputation. With now over fifty websites rating physicians and health care professionals, it can be overwhelming. Although understanding its importance, most medical practices are too busy to handle this on a regular basis.
That is where Medical Justice and it’s popular eMerit program can help. eMerit works by understanding that your reputation is a valuable asset. eMerit can monitor and respond to what is being said about you and your practice on the web. Each eMerit client receives regular reporting on troublesome issues, ascertaining new reviews from your patients, and reporting their findings to practices on a regular basis. The program can cover an individual physician, a group of physicians, or an entire practice depending on your reputation needs.
A positive presence can go along way in helping with the financial feasibility of a clinic. eMerit can help doctors improve and start taking control of their reputation. To learn how eMerit can help you and your practice, please call at 1-877-633-5878 for a free reputation management analysis.
eMerit Program – Online Physician Reputation Mangaement
When it comes to providing care, you strive to give the utmost professional care to patients at all times. And when it comes to choosing you as a high-quality doctor, many patients first turn to the Internet for their due diligence, researching that their doctor has the appropriate credentials plus a well established reputation.
Studies suggest that the rise of doctor rating sites has caused a ripple effect within the doctor-patient relationship, both positive and negative. Patients use these sites to give immediate feedback on their experiences. For doctors, the sites add another line of communication that too often goes unsaid.
Negative reviews can have a tremendous impact on your practice and your livelihood. The Internet allows you to find out just about anything there is to know about anyone. A doctor’s reputation not only affects the doctor, but his/her clinic, colleagues, employees, and current and past patients.
Of course no one wants to be defined by negative information on the Internet for all to see. Privacy laws limit how a doctor can respond online. As a leading advocate for doctors, Medical Justice has taken the initiative, and launched a comprehensive program exclusively for helping doctors manage their Internet reputation.
The eMerit Program by Medical Justice is available to help doctors and other health care professionals repair potential damage caused by unregulated anonymous reviews on the Internet. The eMerit program can help doctors review and respond to comments on the Internet that may potentially harm a doctor’s reputation.
The first step begins with an analysis of your current online reputation. An evaluation by experienced eMerit professionals will review positive and negative reviews on the net. After this initial audit, specific recommendations are made – how to potentially respond; and how to obtain real-time actionable feedback from all of your patients. The ultimate goal is for the public to have a fair representative balanced view of your practice. The best way to accomplish this task is crowd-sourcing real reviews from confirmed patients. eMerit makes this process seamless.
With over a decade in protecting doctors, you can be assured you are receiving the gold standard in reputation management for healthcare providers.
To learn how eMerit can help you and your practice, please call at 1-877-633-5878 for a free reputation management analysis.
http://www.medicaljustice.com - Run by physicians for physicians, Medical Justice is a membership-based organization that offers proven services and proprietary methods to protect physicians’ most valuable assets — their practice and reputation.
By Greg Barr
As doctors, dentists, and healthcare practitioners know, the Internet has become a place where the public can research and post reviews about one’s business and experiences that have occurred. We are living in the age of transparency. The days of “How Are We Doing?” locked customer support boxes, where responses could be privately addressed and hidden from the general patient population, or worse, ignored and buried in the bottom of a file cabinet, are over.
Doctors are now rated using the same systems as a restaurant or car dealership, a difficult dynamic at best. However, there are some things that can be done to help take control of what is being said and posted about you online.
It there is nothing but positive, glowing reviews about you. Congratulate yourself! Keep doing what you are doing and use this information to promote your business and bring in new patients. However, if there are negative reviews, then you should focus your attention on responding to these concerns and ask yourself why is this is happening to your practice.
As doctors see more and more patients every year; the time and resources they have to address what is being said about them on the Internet diminishes. One particular company is leading the effort to help doctors control their online reputations. Medical Justice (http://www.medicaljustice.com), and its revolutionary eMerit reputation management program has helped doctors regain control of their reputations in this era of social media and internet promotion.
eMerit emphasizes a “Monitor, Respond, and Promote” approach. The program can help build your practice and enhance your reputation on the Internet while keeping watch over mentions of your name within doctor rating sites and search engines. This in turn can strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and communications loop; resulting in stronger patient relations and optimal outcomes.
Online reviews are here to stay, and can have a dramatic affect to one’s business and the ability to generate new patients. Medical Justice has come up with an innovative approach for doctors. In our opinion, this is a step in the right direction for physicians and dentists who wish to address their image online.
Medical Justice announces the hiring of Chris Bulla as brand manager for e-Merit, an online reputation management program launched last fall exclusively for doctors and dentists. “We are pleased to bring Chris on board…. She brings a tremendous wealth of experience and knowledge to Medical Justice”. – states a Medical Justice spokesman.
The e-Merit program helps doctors ensure they get a complete picture of what is being said about them online. e-Merit was founded to help doctors build their own persona and enhance their reputation on the internet, monitor their name on doctor rating sites and search engines, and help strengthen the doctor-patient relationship with stronger communication.
Unlike many reputation programs, e-Merit was founded by doctors, and is backed by Medical Justice’s vast medico-legal expertise.
Medical Justice offers many services that are designed mainly to deter meritless malpractice claims and address unwarranted demands for refunds filed by plaintiffs and attorneys. With a team of experienced executives, Medical Justice is effective in developing services that support its members; such as proven early action plans, viable strategies to deter meritless medical malpractice lawsuits, and tools to protect and promote doctors online reputations.
Recent research conducted by various organizations reports that a large number of health care providers are facing litigation issues; issues that affect their professional and personal lives. To protect themselves from the negative impacts of meritless legal claims, physicians need to be proactive.
At Medical Justice, these proactive services are offered to protect members from the medical malpractice cases that are filed without any merit.
“Meritless medical malpractice suits against physicians are a real threat that can damage a doctor’s reputation and create other unwanted issues. As a membership-based organization, Medical Justice is relentlessly committed to protecting physicians’ reputations and practices,” stated a Medical Justice spokesman.
Compared to medical malpractice insurance policies, the proactive approach of Medical Justice protects against meritless lawsuits. Medical Justice also offers plans to address medical incidents from the past and pending frivolous lawsuits.
About MedicalJustice.com
MedicalJustice.com is a membership-based organization that is dedicated in protecting physicians from frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits through deterrence, early action, and effective response strategies. To learn more about Medical justice, visit http://www.medicaljustice.com
