Topic: Binary Fountain Survey Finds 70% of Millennials Share Their Healthcare Experiences Online and 70% of Americans Say Online Reviews Influence Their Healthcare Choices

Online reputation management is increasingly becoming a critical function that all providers, including clinical laboratories, must address or risk losing revenue.

Recent surveys cite growing evidence that Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and online review sites such as Yelp (NYSE:YELP) are swiftly becoming healthcare consumers’ preferred sources for researching doctors, hospitals, medical laboratories, and other medical service providers.

Healthcare consumers are using the Internet to review information on healthcare providers prior to visits. More important, data show a majority of Americans share their healthcare experiences publicly online following visits with providers.

This should serve as a wakeup call for clinical laboratories and anatomic pathology groups that have not developed effective social media strategies, as they are clearly among the health services being evaluated.

Significance of Online Reputation Management

Healthcare Dive reported research conducted by Binary Fountain indicated that:

• More than half of Americans (51%) reported sharing their healthcare experiences online, an increase of 65% over just one year ago;
• Among Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) that number jumps to 70%, a 94% increase over last year;
• 70% of Americans overall say online ratings and reviews influenced their choices of physicians and facilities;
• More than 40% of respondents admitted they researched doctors online even after being referred to them by another healthcare professional.

Healthcare Dive also noted that Millennials are likely to consider online reviews and ratings of healthcare professionals to be trustworthy.

• 97% of 24- to 34-year-olds report believing online comments are reliable;
• While 100% of the 18- to 24-year-olds surveyed felt similarly.

Pathologists and clinical laboratory administrators should consider the two findings above as evidence that a major change has already happened in how the younger generations look for—and select—their hospitals, their physicians, and their clinical laboratory providers. Thus, every pathology group and clinical laboratory should have a business strategy for managing the Internet presence of their labs. Failure to do so means that competing labs that do a good job of managing their Internet presence will be more successful at winning the lab testing business of Gen Xers (born 1965-1980), Millennials (Gen Y, born 1981-1996), and Gen Z (born 1997-2009).

In addition, the survey discovered that the most important qualities consumers look for in a doctor are:

• Friendly and caring attitudes;
• Physicians’ ability to answer questions; and
• Thoroughness of examinations.

Those polled reported the most frustrating issues when dealing with healthcare professionals were:

• Office wait times;
• Cost and payment concerns;
• Wait times for exam and medical laboratory results; and
• Scheduling appointments.

Topic Discussed: Binary Fountain Survey Finds 70% of Millennials Share Their Healthcare Experiences Online and 70% of Americans Say Online Reviews Influence Their Healthcare Choices

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