Dive Brief:
- As the use of online reviews continues to grow, some hospitals are starting to provide their own.
- Rather than simply leaving their online reputations to sites such as Healthgrades.com, Vitals.com, or rateMDs.com, some hospitals are trying to "out-Yelp Yelp" by posting their own patient satisfaction information, says Andy Ibbotson, vice president of the National Research Corporation.
- According to Ibbotson, 77% of consumers begin their search for healthcare online, and one out of three will avoid those physicians for whom they saw negative reviews.
Dive Insight:
Ibbotson has a stake in the concept, as the provider of a service that helps hospitals provide their patient feedback on their own websites. However, the idea has indeed taken off with systems including the Cleveland Clinic.
"We make hospital websites the most-trusted source for patient ratings and reviews anywhere on the web," Ibbotson told CNBC.
Ibbotson founded a company in 2009 to help providers impact their online reputation, which was then acquired in 2014 by National Research Corporation.