When patients look for a doctor these days, they often choose the route via rating platforms such as Jameda.de, Sanego.de or DocInsider.de. There they can immediately check the "quality" of a doctor - supposedly at least. As a recent article by Marc Däumler in the Journal für Ästhetische Chirurgie (JÄC) shows, many reviews on such portals are "fake". According to Däumler's research, statistically speaking, every third review is fake.
We have summarised some relevant statements from the article "Breast expert in no time! - How rating portals manipulate" summarised by Marc Däumler:
How to recognise "fake" reviews
Whether a review is actually a fake can usually be recognised by a few specific indicators:
- For example, most patients often rate the waiting times at the doctor's, the friendliness of the staff and the doctor's commitment. If a review is specifically aimed at the doctor's expertise, excellent training and perfect specialist knowledge, this seems strange - especially if very technical language is used. After all, patients write for patients on online review portals, so the language is often rather simple.
- Detailed descriptions of the procedures are also rarely posted online by patients.
- In addition, patients rarely or often do not mention the (full) name of the doctor in their reviews because the rating is already based on the doctor's personal profile.
- Likewise, postings that directly follow a negative review and are exuberantly positive are very suspicious.
Serious ways for more positive reviews
First and foremost, it is important for a doctor to be present on a doctor review portal in the first place. We have already discussed which online platforms are particularly important for doctors in our article "Which doctor rating portals should doctors keep an eye on?" analysed.
- Satisfied patients should always be approached directly by the doctor and asked for a review.
- It is a good idea to give these patients a card with a list of all the important review portals. This makes it even more likely that a review will be submitted.
- As many patients have different preferences, it is also interesting for a doctor to be present on "topic-independent" portals with a review function (such as Facebook, Yelp or Google My Business).
- Another way to promote genuine, credible and reputable reviews is to send subsequent emails with the subject "Were you satisfied with your visit?", as is familiar from hotels, for example. The doctor can link directly to their profile (e.g. Jameda) and ask for a recommendation.
- A modern solution to Get Google reviewsThe company offers Socialwave. Waiting room WiFi is linked to automated patient assessment queries.
- In any case, reviews should never be written by the doctor himself. If it becomes public that the reviews on the online review portals are bought or written by the doctor himself, the doctor risks losing his credibility and respectability.
Interesting in this context:
In March 2016, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) issued a judgement in which it specified and significantly tightened the review obligations for online review portals (case reference: VI ZR 34/15). The specific case concerned a dentist who received very poor average ratings from a patient on the online platform Jameda.de. The dentist then demanded proof from Jameda.de that the patient had actually received treatment from him. The rating portal refused to do so. However, the BGH has now ruled that Jameda.de must comply with the dentist's demand.
This judgement will have far-reaching consequences for the entire industry. However, it is still unclear what the review obligations that review portals will have to fulfil in the future will look like. Details will only be announced in a few months' time with the written reasons for the judgement. You can find more information here here.
