Reviews Make the Experience Visible
Medical practices have recognized that patient reviews are an essential part of the recipe required for healthy and sustainable practice growth. What gets missed in the effort to get more reviews is why they are so important.
In a word, they make the experience visible. Visibility is critical, especially in the modern era where so much of medicine looks the same. Doctors and their practices long believed they could differentiate based on the quality of care, clinical skill, or surgical outcome.
The problem: Patients increasingly expect clinical excellence. They may not know how to evaluate every technical distinction, but they assume you will deliver a great result. Clinical excellence is the price of admission. Patient experience becomes the differentiator.
As technology handles more tasks, what becomes more valuable? The distinctly human experience of care. Patients still need trust, clarity, confidence, and the feeling that someone understands what this decision means in their life.
Don’t get me wrong.
Clinical excellence makes patient transformation possible. Your judgment, technical skill, and commitment to outcomes will always matter. Nothing in a conversation about patient experience diminishes that. The clinical work remains the foundation for everything else.
And that’s where reviews come in.
Practices that have embraced the PX Movement are reporting that the training program has taken their patient reviews to a new level. In our recent interview, Dr Arthur Cummings and clinic manager Liz Hogan described what’s changed in the year since his entire team went through PX90. One big shift has been in patient reviews. The quantity as well as the quality. “As I read through them, it’s clear that we are striking a deeper chord with our patients. Seeing 5-6 team members mentioned is typical, which is amazing. You can’t make this stuff up.”
Reviews are not the reason to create a great experience. They are the public record that the experience occurred. They allow one patient’s trust and gratitude to help the next patient feel confident choosing you.
What’s at stake is nothing less than the future vitality of your practice. Press Ganey, one of the nation’s leading healthcare patient-experience research firms, did a 2024 survey of 1,000 consumers to understand decision-making behavior and found:
- Consumers read 4 to 5 online before deciding on a healthcare provider.
- Even when someone already has a physician referral, 83.5% at least occasionally check online reviews to validate that recommendation.
- 37% of consumers now find their doctors online, and consumers consult multiple websites and read multiple reviews before choosing.
- 84% would not consider a physician rated below four stars.
I rest my case.
If you want to go from hahving a patient experience that is invisible (or forgettable) to one that is memorable and worth sharing, we can help. Schedule a PX FitCheck and we will help guide you.