Online reviews may significantly affect patients' decisions when choosing their healthcare providers, and that is something that physicians pay close attention to, according to a new survey from the N.Y.-based ZocDoc, an online medical care scheduling service.
Eighty-five percent of physician respondents proactively monitor online reviews about themselves, and 36 percent look at their competitors' reviews. Additionally, ZocDoc asked physicians to rank the fairness of online reviews on a scale of 1-10, and found the following:
- 23 percent said they're very fair (rating of 8-10)
- 62 percent said they're fair (rating of 4-7)
- 15 percent said they're not fair (rating of 1-3)
New healthcare guidelines make it increasingly important for physicians to leverage technology to keep their practices connected. ZocDoc found that almost 75 percent of physicians surveyed have implemented a practice management system in their office.
The survey also questioned physicians about their social media usage. It found that 53 percent of physicians surveyed have a Facebook account for their practice; 34 percent are using Google+; 28 percent are using LinkedIn; and 21 percent are using Twitter. Overall social media usage is 22 percent higher among physicians between the ages of 26 and 55 than among physicians between 56 and 75 years of age. Thirty percent of practitioners report that they still do not have any social media presence.
