How We're Enhancing Online Reviews

When you need to book a service or purchase a product, where do you turn to learn more? Chances are, you read online reviews to help you know where to go or what to buy.

Our patients are no different! Research indicates that online reviews influence a patient's decision to schedule an appointment with a clinician—and a positive reputation is the biggest factor in choosing one clinician over another.

Google is a key source for online reviews and where patients regularly seek this information. However, our clinicians currently average only a handful of reviews on that platform. With limited data, even a single unfavorable review can lower overall ratings, which inaccurately shows the quality care you give our patients every day.     

Our Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey results are overwhelmingly positive, demonstrating that our patients value the care you provide. Until now, we have translated those survey results into star ratings and published them with physician profiles on our website to address the issue of limited online reviews.  

New Efforts 

We're partnering with Press Ganey to launch 2 new initiatives that will boost the number and quality of our online reviews. 

• We will begin a review generation campaign, requesting patients who have received care and completed a CAHPS survey to leave a review on Google. Encouraging more reviews will increase the number of Google reviews for our physicians and locations, which can improve overall star ratings.
• Press Ganey reviews will also be delivered to other third-party sites such as WebMD, Healthgrades and Vitals.

This month, Press Ganey will begin sending texts or emails to our patients after they complete a CAHPS survey about their appointment, encouraging them to leave a Google review. Other organizations using the same program have tripled their number of Google reviews and raised their average Google star rating by 1.5 stars within a year.

More Information

These frequently asked questions are available in case you receive questions from patients.

Will patients get texts or emails?
Patients will receive a text message if their phone number is valid. Otherwise, they will receive an email.  

How soon after the appointment is the request made? 
CAHPS surveys are sent to patients 3 days after appointments. Google review requests will be sent 24 hours after the survey is completed.   

Will all patients be asked to complete a review? 
All patients who receive and complete a CAHPS survey will be asked to leave a review. 

What other sites will publish reviews in addition to Google?  

• WebMD
• Healthgrades
• RateMDs
• Wellness.com
• Sharecare
• CareDash
• Healthline
• DocSpot
• Vitals 

Can a negative review be removed? 
We are unable to remove comments from Google. However, anyone can report a comment for review, and Google will assess the request. Per their policy, reviews are only removed if they are found to be deceptive or inappropriate—not because a business disagrees with them. Individual providers maintain the control to report any reviews that are against the listed policy. Please see the steps to report a comment here.

If you have questions or need more information, contact Mike Marti with Communications, Marketing and Planning at mgmarti@carilionclinic.org.