The surprising reason why physicians should embrace rating sites

 A continuing series on physician online reputation.  

Physicians can use online rating sites to establish your online reputation by asking more patients to rate them online. Don’t just cherry pick or pressure patients into giving you good ratings. Ask all your patients to do so, in a low-key, low-pressure way.

There are dozens of studies showing that the majority of online ratings for doctors are, in fact, positive, and better than a lot of doctors would think. If you ask more patients to rate you online, it’s going to dilute the effect of negative ratings, and make them look all liars.

Let me share a story. The other day I brought my car in for service, and after I paid my bill, they gave me a card with specific instructions on how to rate that dealership on Google. I talk to medical practices all the time, and they’re recognizing the value of online ratings, and they’re handing out similar cards to their patients, to rate their doctors online.

That’s a great way to leverage visibility of physician ratings sites to establish an online reputation.

Kevin Pho is an internal medicine physician and founder of KevinMD.com, social media's leading physician voice.