These 12 case studies highlight the importance of doctors' reputations and their impact on the profitability and brand recognition of a practice or hospital. These case studies are courtesy of http://www.HealthcareMarketingCOE.com from doctor reputation management campaigns installed in May and June of 2012.
2. Case Study #1
How one review can spell disaster for getting new
patient volumes
Could this review have been prevented if the doctor
asked for feedback during the follow up?
3. Disaster for the doctor - Case Study #1
It was quite unfortunate that this doctor commented
on this review, getting 5 new negative comments.
Result: New surgical-patient volume dropped by 15
patients the following month
4. Solution - Case Study #1
Doctor subscribed to HMCOE’s reputation management & PR
Within 7 weeks he was able to gather 55 great reviews from his
patients, and caught one complaint before it was published
We combined updates to his website with profiles on 5 doctor-
review sites where we published the new reviews.
He now dominates 2 first pages of Google results for his specialty,
and 10 pages for his name.
Result, in 8 weeks his new surgical-patient volume increased by ~9
patients per month – without spending ANY money on
advertisements.
5. Case Study#2 –
(Nationally recognized Hospital)
Celebrates all their doctors and their sub-expertise
Googl’ing 40% of their doctors shows below average statistics:
Are 10 surveys from 2008 (that’s 4 years ago) representative of the
doctors’ several thousand procedures?
6. Solution for Case Study#2 –
(Nationally recognized Hospital)
1 month Project to verify patient satisfaction
20 doctors used HMCOE service to gather
patient feedback for internal purposes
Of the 350 reviews, 90 were not-satisfactory
From 90 reviews, 55 were directly aimed at the doctors. Quote: “I
waited over 45 minutes for Dr. X”
Quick fix: Hospital hired a nurse-practitioner to assist in patient-
flow in the doctors’ offices.
Cost for the hospital to verify patient experience: $4,000
Hospital now uses the service for all its operations, including
vendor management
7. Case Study #3 - One bad review leads to
“group mentality”
What if that March review was never posted and was handled
in real-time at the followup visit? Would others not join the “gang”
8. Same Doctor … Another review…
Is it Credible?
What kind of credibility does this have?
Could it be an office staff member?
How do you know it’s a true review?
9. Case Study #4 - Patients recognize the “brand” but
Google the doctor they want to see
HMCOE ran a well-tracked Google advertising
campaign for a 50-practice-group for 30 days with
ads specifically highlighting the brand.
The following month HMCOE ran advertisements
specifically highlighting each doctor’s expertise
Result: 200% increase of new appointments.
10. Case Study #5
Increasing Out-of-Network patient volume
HMCOE ran a 2 month advertising campaign for a 3-
surgeon Orthopaedic practice resulting in 40 new
patients, 5 of which were out-of-network
We followed up with a 1 month ad campaign specific
to the newly improved reputation of each doctor for
their sub-expertise (~30+ new reviews/doctor)
Result: 12 more new out-of-network patients
~$7,000 surgeon’s fees per patient
11. ROI
That equals to 1766% ROI
on a $4500 investment
(just on the out-of-network goal at month #2)
Total 2 month ROI=(profit-cost)/cost= 2111%
12. Reason for 2111% ROI
Each Doctor had 30+ publicly-
displayed positive reviews
…from verified patients.
13. It’s about Patient Demographics
It’s a known fact that if a person has $100,000+ salary
and is within the 24-45 age group … 80% of this
demographic Googles their doctors before scheduling an
appointment and considers their social media presence
as a “must” – Why?
Because customer service & background checks matter to
“educated shoppers” who pay out of pocket!
They are also the ones with private insurance with out-
of-network benefits.
14. Case Study #6: Are Employed Doctors Proactive?
80% of hospital-employed doctors have never
Googled their own names (based on our analysis of 3
hospitals with a total of 250 employed doctors)
20% of doctors at these same hospitals have bad to
awful patient reviews.
Most of those poor reviews within past 6 months.
15. Case Study #7: Doctor’s Reputations versus
where patients go for surgery
HMCOE analyzed one 700-bed hospital and #1 local
competitor – a local ASC owned by 20 doctors with
STELLAR reputations (without ANY brand recognition)
It took 5 weeks for HMCOE to help 42 hospital-employed
doctors raise their reputation levels.
Within 1st month: advertising spend decreased by
$60,000 and case volumes skyrocketed by 120%.
During 2nd month: HMCOE continued highlighting sub-
expertise of each doctor resulting in additional 30%
increase in case volume.
16. Case Study #8 – Save your money!
Another 50-practice-group spending $150,000 on
internet advertising alone + city-wide billboards
($500,000/mo). They now own 80% of doctors
within their specialty. Last year they spent
$7.8Million on advertising.
From the remaining profitable practices in the
region 1% refused to join and have started to
promote their reputations
17. Case Study #8 – (Continued)
We helped 3 of the 40 independent doctors put
together advertising campaigns based on their
growing reputations.
One of the 3 doctors shared with us his old Google
Adwords campaign results: 1 new out-of-network
patient for every $700 spent.
His new conversion rate combining reputation
platform and Google Ads – 1 new patient for every
$300 spent. (Each patient on average brings $3500
profit to the practice. Savings per month - $4500)
18. Case Study #9 – Chiropractor
(2 week time-frame)
Gathered 15 reviews for his new highly profitable
and highly effective all-natural therapy
Within 4 days of publishing them he got 3 NEW
patients. All three commented about those reviews as
the reason why they scheduled the appointment.
Without any extra work… he received two calls from
Pain Management doctors to work with their
patients. Both commented about the reviews.
19. Case Study #10 –
(Ambulatory Surgery Center - 15 doctors. 5 weeks time-frame)
9 stellar-reputation doctors, 2 average, 4 sub-par
highlighted as part of the same practice on public site
22 reviews for the 6 sub-par surgeons were published
within 3 weeks
At week Four, 33 additional appointments were
scheduled equaling to $132,000 in surgeons’ fees alone
3 complaints were managed. They were never
published. 2 complaints turned into great reviews!
20. Case Study #11 –
(Medical Spa with 2 plastic surgeons. 5 weeks time-frame)
5 terrible reviews because of a failed Groupon “steal”
Review-Site replaced their website’s position on Google
resulting in 22 canceled appointments and no new-
patient calls for 2 weeks straight, despite more than
$15,000 in advertisements
At week #3, they published 25 reviews to 10 different
review sites where we updated their profiles resulting
in 5 new calls the same week
21. Case Study #12 – Dental Office
Spending $8,000/month on Google Advertisements
Decreased Ad spending to $1500/month due to the
enormous SEO boost of their website after 40
testimonials were published & the dentists finally
Owned their name on Google.
Got rid of a 1-800 “service” - $4,000/month
Got rid of 5 directory listings - $6,000/month
Total savings for same new patient volume:
$16,500/month – that’s $198,000 a year!
22. Customer Service
Customer service at a hospital or practice is
EVERYONE’s job, including the doctor
Even coming in late once can affect a doctor’s and the
practice’s reputation
But it’s about addressing those mistakes in real-time
that make the difference in patient satisfaction.
23. Streamline Customer Service at Hospital / Practice
Training per doctor about our technology – 2 minutes
Asking a patient “Please write about your experience as it’s
very important for me” … 3 seconds.
A doctor showing his patient that he cares about their
experience … Priceless.
Earning thousands of positive patient experiences,
controlling poor experiences, and having an extra
accountability process streamlined? Brand Recognition
24. Save $Millions in Advertising Costs
If your doctors have stellar reputations and you
understand the patient mind-set when looking for a
new doctor (refer to slide #3) …
Do you think your conversion rates from Ad-Clicks / Radio/ Etc. to
Appointments will increase?
Will you be able to get more of the patients that make your
practice or hospital successful?
Will you be able to spread awareness about your top area of
expertise faster and easier when you have hundreds of patient
advocates on your side… working for you 24/7 (for free)?
Will you be able to gain recognition among your referring doctors
if they see their patients’ comments about you?
What about the savings in promoting your Brand?