Regardless of the specialty of your practice, your reputation is always going to be one of the most valuable tools that you have when it comes to attracting new patients. The expansion of technology intersecting with the advancement and growth of the field of medicine means that patients have more choice when it comes time to receive care. In order to ensure that you are maintaining your existing client base while also adding new patients, you need to protect and maintain your reputation. While this may have once been solely about offering the best care possible, times have changed. Whether you feel that you're already doing enough to bolster and protect your practice's reputation or are looking for a crash course in it, take a look at these tips.
Communication is key
They say communication is the key to all successful relationships, and the relationship between a medical service provider and its patients is no exception to this rule. Your practice's reputation is always going to be built on the word of the patients whom you serve, so you'll want to ensure that you're doing everything in your power to ensure patient satisfaction and provide quality care. Communication is at the heart of this issue. First and foremost, you should be speaking directly with your patients during their visit, making an effort to determine how pleased they are with their experience. Further, any effort you can make to demonstrate their value to you will go a long way. Sending personalized or friendly patient appointment reminders is a great way to do this. Another way to measure satisfaction is to create a follow up survey to be emailed or posted on a patient portal at the conclusion of the visit.
"Create your own website to help control your Web presence."
Take some control of your online presence
The expansion in availability of medical information online is a double-edged sword. While this scenario benefits your patients by providing them with information regarding which physician or practice to choose, it can also serve as a way for negative or inaccurate reviews to pile up. According to Physician's Practice, it's imperative that you take control of your online presence by creating your own website with up to date and accurate information about you and your practice and that is optimized for mobile platforms. However, keep in mind that launching and maintaining a Web presence and online profiles takes a lot of work. If you feel that it may interfere with the daily duties of your staff to do so, you will potentially want to bring a staff member on board who is solely responsible for marketing your practice and managing your Web presence.
Fight negativity with positivity
According to AdWeek, it's important that all businesses, medical practices included, learn to never respond negatively to online reviews. If a client or patient has written something negative about your practice on a review site, it is far more beneficial to simply respond to him or her positively, perhaps offering an explanation or resolution. Responding negatively will only further a bad image in the eyes of the general public. Maintaining positivity will help protect your reputation.
