Patients are giving healthcare reviews fewer stars. A recent survey on the health care decision-making process showed that reviews have become less important to the patient — in 2016 more than 50% of respondents said that reviews were either “important” or “very important” and in 2018 this number went down to 32%. Additionally, only 17% of patients selected doctor after reading a review.
This finding is surprising in light of other sources that have reported up to 92% of potential patients read online reviews of their health care provider before making an appointment.
Movéo suggests several possible reasons for this decline:
With increasing deductibles and rising health care costs, consumers are becoming more savvy health care shoppers, viewing reviews as just one input in a complex decision.
Reviews are still important but other factors have increased proportionally. For example, 62% of patients now indicate that insurance accepted is very important.
Reviews are becoming less trusted. Reviews are becoming more positive in general, and 95% of consumers suspect censorship or faked reviews when they don’t see bad scores.
Do you think perceptions of reviews are evolving? Let us know how.
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