A Primary Care and Multi-Specialty Practice Achieves 75% Increase in Google Star Ratings in 3 Months
The Client
Name: Visalia Medical Clinic
Location: San Joaquin Valley, California
Specialties: Primary Care and Multi-specialty Practice
The Goal
Improve online reputation by collecting open and honest feedback from patients that more accurately captured the dedication of their care team.
The Result
Increased Visalia’s Google rating by 75% in just three months – bringing their total score from a 2.6 to a 4.5.
Rick Strid, CEO, Visalia Medical Clinic
The Challenge
An affiliate of Kaweah Delta Medical Center, Visalia Medical Clinic recognizes the importance of treating patients holistically. Through specialized programs, such as The Wellness Center, Visalia Medical Clinic promotes healthy lifestyle choices while working to prevent chronic disease.
As the healthcare industry continues its reimbursement evolution from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance, Visalia Medical Clinic identified an opportunity to revitalize efforts to improve patient satisfaction.
However, despite multi-million dollar investments in modern facilities and operations, Visalia Medical Clinic discovered many patients only posted to review sites like Google+ when there was dissatisfaction, resulting in an unfairly skewed online reputation.
To encourage positive reviews and improve online ratings, Visalia Medical Clinic sought a partner who would help collect open and honest feedback from patients that more accurately captured the dedication of their care team.
Visalia Medical Clinic contacted Providertech, a patient-focused technology company with whom they had previously worked with to conduct patient appointment reminders via text and voice message. Because Visalia Medical Clinic experienced positive results with Providertech’s team of clinicians in the past, they were confident Providertech could help them generate an online reputation that was reflective of their patient-focused work.
How it Works
Step 1:
Following their appointment, patients receive a text asking them to rate their experience using the Net Promoter Scale® from 0-10.
Step 2:
Patients who respond with a high experience score will automatically receive links to social media review sites where they can share their positive experience with the public.
Step 3:
Dissatisfied patient responses with a score below your preset threshold will be sent in real-time to your management team for follow-up.
The Solution
Visalia Medical Clinic engaged Providertech to implement their advanced patient experience score solution, which would capture patient satisfaction and encourage positive online reviews.
Rather than waiting for patients to take the initiative and post about a posi-tive experience online, Providertech’s patient experience solution automati-cally distributed patient surveys following their visit.
Using the 0-10 Net Promoter Scale® (NPS), Visalia Medical Clinic worked with Providertech’s patient outreach software to automatically send a text message to patients one week after their visit. The text message read:
“Based on your recent visit to Visalia Medical Clinic, how likely would you be to recommend our clinic to a friend or colleague? Please respond with a number from 0 (not likely) to 10 (extremely likely).”
In contrast, patients who responded with a low experience score were automatically routed to Visalia Medical Clinic’s service management team for immediate follow-up.
This allowed them to respond with timely service recovery with the opportunity to resolve the patient’s complaint and deescalate a potential conflict while keeping the interaction offline.
Results at
a Glance
The Result
Within the first three months of using Providertech’s patient outreach software, Visalia Medical Clinic’s patient satisfaction improved significantly, as did their online reviews and ratings on popular sites such as Google and Yelp.
With an opportunity to correct both operational and clinical issues before patients post negative reviews online, Visalia Medical Clinic’s Google rating increased from 2.6 stars to 4.5 stars in just 90 days.
This 75% increase in Google Star ratings was attributed to the influx of patients who were motivated to leave online reviews following their visit as a result of being asked to do so.
In addition, 35 out of 36 of the reviews posted throughout the first three months were five-star ratings, were automatically routed to reputation sites. This quick increase in positive reviews for Visalia Medical Clinic’s providers and locations helped them to leave a good first impression online.
During the three month pilot, Visalia Medical Clinic also received fewer since patients responding with high scores 1-star Google reviews than before launch, since patient scores below a predetermined threshold were sent to their service recovery team for immediate follow-up.
With service recovery embedded in their workflow, Visalia Medical Clinic’s care team is able to address patient concerns before they are made public, which minimizes the volume of low ratings they receive.
And, regular escalation reports are reviewed frequently by the CEO to ensure quality service is top priority at Visalia Medical Clinic.
Today, Visalia Medical Clinic maintains a high online review score of 4.6 stars as they continue to use Providertech’s patient experience solution. Achieving over 275 total reviews to-date, Visalia Medical Clinic now has an online reputation that is consistent with the performance of their health-care practice.
In addition, they consistently monitor and respond to meaningful data that allows them to continue making improvements to their business model and care delivery as they attract and retain patients.
By automating the collection of patient feedback, Visalia Medical Clinic is able to gather helpful patient perspectives that affirms or identifies areas of improvement for their practice. It also serves as a catalyst for more favorable ratings on online review sites that are representative of their commitment to quality care delivery.
To learn more about how Providertech can help you scale your patient outreach without expanding your care team, visit Providertech.com or schedule a demo with an expert today.
75%
decrease in time spent confirming appointments
With Providertech’s help, we achieved a 75% decrease in time spent manually confirming appointments, helping us to more efficiently engage our patients using the resources we already had.
Amy Bastianelli |
Director of Population Health, La Communidad Hiispana
Results at
a Glance
